xlovebecomesher | LJ Idol Season 10: Thunderclap

The storm alert sound on his phone got his attention just as he heard the loud boom of thunder. The meteorologists had been talking all day about how this would be the "storm of the century" but he didn't put much stock into weather forecasting; they always got the weather report wrong anyways so what was the point of looking at weather reports? He turned off his laptop and stood up to stretch.

A flash of white outside his window caught his eye for a moment before it started raining heavily. It seemed to be a strange shape of white, he mused as he rubbed his eyes and walked out his home office into the living room. The rain thudded heaviily on the roof of his house. Usually he found this to be a pleasant, relaxing sound but today, the sound and force startled him.

"Mommy! Daddy!" the children yelled as they ran into the house, slamming the door behind them. "It's raining cats and dogs!"

He laughed; his mother had taught their children that phrase last week. "I know! It's coming down hard!" he called out to them as he almost bumped into his wife coming out of her home office as she made her way to the foyer.

"Can we keep them? Please, Daddy? Please, Mommy? We'll take good care of them, we swear!" his daughter pleaded.

"What do you mean 'can we keep them?' Keep ..... Oh my G-d! What is that?" His wife screamed.

He ran into the foyer only to find his daughter holding a huge, white, fluffy cat (or so he assumed fluffy, if the cat wasn't dripping water everywhere) and his son holding onto a scrawny, brown and white Cocker Spaniel with his tail wagging. He wanted to scream as well but someone had to keep calm. "Where in the world did you find these animals?"

"Outside," his son informed him proudly. "We grabbed these two because they're the cutest! Ryan wanted this one but I grabbed him first and I ran inside! He got the silly looking beagle instead!"

"There's more too," his daughter announced. "Can we go back outside and get more dogs and cats? They're going to need homes, you know."

"Whaaaa....?" All he could do is gape and stare at his children. His wife wasn't doing much better.

"Dad, Mom," she cuddled the cat closer to her. "Didn't you hear us? Why don't you pay more attention to us?"

"Yeah!" his son giggled as the cocker spaniel licked his face. "We SAID it's raining cats and dogs! Why don't you ever listen to us? Even the newscasters said it was going to be 'storm of the century with the cats and dogs!' But you two are always busy with work to even care about us and what we want!"

They ran to the window; sure enough there were cats and dogs falling out of the sky of all types. Everything from Golden Retrievers to Siamese Cats to Chihuahuas to Maine Coon Cats; all soaking wet and landing on houses, trees, lawns, knocking down mailboxes, and destroying well-kept gardens. The neighborhood children could be heard screaming with delight as they tried to catch their newfound friends from the sky. They ran to turn on the News where the newscaster stood outside by a park surrounded by the menagerie of cats and dogs yowling and barking. Firemen were already on scene trying to rescue several cats from the tree branches.

"Yes, folks, it's truly raining cats and dogs! It goes to show you that cats do always land on their feet!" The newscaster laughed as if he had told the funniest joke ever.

They flipped the channel only to find a report featuring Sarah McLachlan standing outside in the storm with her famous 'Angel' song playing in the background. "These animals need your help!" she pleaded. "Please adopt one of these cats or dogs or both today so that they can be safe and taken care of! Every animal deserves a good home where they can be nice and dry."

"What do you say, Dad? Mom?" The children looked up at them with their best puppy dog eyes. "They need homes! You heard her! Can we go outside and get more pets please? We'll be good!" They dropped the drenched animals at their feet and ran back outside. The last thing he heard them say before the door slammed behind them, "You grab five cats! I'll grab five dogs!"

Another crash of thunder could be heard followed by howling and meowing as they fainted.

As he came to surrounded by multiple, soaking wet animals licking his face and crawling on him, he realized two things: he really should stop working so much and spend a little more time with his kids and maybe once in a century, metereologists are correct!