Rain, Rain Go Away
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
With thanks to Strech Snodgrass for suggestions when I got stuck. And I
liked Danny Kaye in "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" better.
This all started when Ludwig Von Strangeduck invented a rain making machine.
He brought it to where there was a bad drought going on, a nearby farming town.
The device at first, worked just fine. It brought rain to the area. But it kept on raining,
harder and harder, faster and faster until the area faced a flood. The more Dr. Strangeduck
tried to turn the fool thing OFF, the more it seem to stick, the harder it seemed to rain.
Dr. Strangeduck tried to yank the batteries out of it, but it was raining so hard, the
rainmaker slipped thur his fingers and sank into the water. It quickly got caught up in the
current of a fast-flowing river and disappeared.
So Dr. Strangeduck called Launchpad and Gizmoduck and told them what had happened.
"The rain won't stop till my device is turned off!" he told them.
I don't think they believed him, but the reports of the flooding there were getting
alarming, so we all went to help. We assumed this was a normal flood.
Soon, we were conferring with the National Guard and volunteers there to fight the
flooding.
We wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. We soon were delivering
sandbags and other equipment to people building make-shift dams, evaluating people
from low-lying areas, helping dig channels for drainage.
Giz was a big help there, using his gadgets to dig. Giz couldn't carry too much
equipment, what with the weight limitations on jet packs, but he carried delicate
stuff, directed traffic, kept everybody on the same page.
Launchpad used an adaption of his world's first cloudplower, putting long poles
with plows on the end at the front of our planes. We plowed ditches to carry for
rain water, Giz used the dirt we piled up for dams.
We were very busy. "Could you go get the Thunderquack and use it's ultrasonic
digger to dig thur cement instead of just earth?"
"No time and I might hit an electric cable or gas line or water main by accident!"
Launchpad replied.
"Good thing I asked before trying that with my gizmos!" Giz replied.
In between we kept our eyes open for people in danger from drowning (especially people
who WILL try to drive cars in flooded areas) I spotted an area where junk was damming
up a river in a bad place, causing flooding behide the jam.
And I spotted some fool in a boat, fishing. It was raining so hard he was in real danger
of his boat filling up with water. It was Dr, Strangeduck.
"What are you doing here? "I asked him.
I'm "fishing" for my rainmaker with an electromagnet. The rain won't stop unless
I turn it off! "Dr. Strangeduck replied. "It's very tough and I don't stop it soon, this
rain may not stop even if I turn it off!"
"Sir, are you sure the rainmaker is what's causing this rain?" I asked him, worried
he had cracked.
"Talk to the weather bureau if you don't believe me! They'll tell you they did not
spot any clouds on radar, that this storm came from nowhere and is only in this area."
Dr. Strangeduck.
Giz talked to the weather bureau with his radio, and they confirmed this: this storm
had NOT been tracked on radar, had come out of no place and was only in this area.
There was still a bad drought outside this tiny area.
"There is a bottleneck of junk below me! Junk is blocking up water and I think my
rainmaker is down there, someplace! I think it changes weather patterns- you know
how something it rains for days and does nothing but rain? This is worse! It literally
does nothing but rain and it may get stuck like this if I don't turn it off! The area it
effects may grow, too!" Dr. Strangeduck explained.
"I have a sub that might find it in time, but I don't know how to drive the silly
thing..." Dr. Strangeduck said.
"I do! I need to go down there to get rid of that bottleneck, it 's causing flooding.
I'll see if I spot that rainmaker of yours!" Launchpad said.
"Good. Here is a photo of my rainmaker. I will take you to my minisub, it's only a
3 person sub so I won't fit. I meant to hire somebody to test on this river anyway."
Dr. Strangeduck said. "Take my electromagnet, too."
Soon, Me, Launchpad and Giz were testing the minisub by looking for the rainmaker
and unstopping the bottleneck.
The river had even more junk in it then normal. Junk had been washed into it.
"I'm sure glad Mr. McDee ain't here." Launchpad soon commented.
I knew what he meant, the river had so much trash in it, it was impossible to avoid
it all. Swerve to avoid hitting something dangerous with ragged edges that might
damage the sub and you bump against something soft and harmless. But Mr. McDuck
would of throw a fit about "crashes" due to frustration about the fact he can't drive
anything with a motor and his temper.
Mr. McDuck is just one of those people who demand as his simple due the
impossible. Being as rich as he is, he gets away with it. Launchpad has learned
how to humor him.
Anyway, we managed to get to the blocked up section and there we spotted
the rainmaker in with a bunch of junk. On top of the rainmaker.
A bunch of junk was balanced above it, piled like a tent. Touch anything
and it would crush the rainmaker. Which I thought would shut it off but good,
but why take chances?
"How we supposed to get it out without crushing it?" Launchpad asked.
"Allow me. If you prepare the electromagnet and yank up the junk when
I say "NOW", I'll pull out the rainmaker." Giz replied.
Giz snaked out a sort-of-tentacle, a robotic arm that wrapped around the
rainmaker.
"NOW!" Giz yelled.
I had moved the electromagnet to metal junk above the rainmaker. I
turned it on at the signal and yanked out the rainmaker.
Launchpad was "driving" the sub.
Giz's robot arm retracted into the g-suit, carrying the rainmaker with it.
"Here's the "off" switch, but it's all rusty. "Launchpad said.
"No worries." Giz replied "I'm made of mostly iron and steel."
And Giz withdrew an oil can, oiled the "off" switch.
And then turned the rainmaker off.
"You've done it! The rain has stopped!" said Dr. Strangeduck, via
the radio from the shore.
"That CAN'T be a coincidence." I said. "The rainmaker MUST of started
the rain."
Well, we returned the rainmaker to Dr. Strangeduck.
"I'll put in some extra off switches, under plastic removable lids, and try
again. Carefully." Dr. Strangeduck said.
Well, while we helped diverted the water to areas still effected, Dr. Strangeduck
fiddled around with his device. He was soon bringing a little rain to drought
effected areas for a little while. And experimenting to see how long he could do
so safely, since the rain had to come from someplace and he still wasn't sure where.
What if he was causing a drought elsewhere?
The End.