Winter Is Coming: The Roof, The Roof Part One

DISCLAIMER: Daria is the creation of Glen Eichler and is the property of MTV Viacom. A Song of Ice and Fire is the creation of George RR Martin and is the property of GRR Martin and HBO. I own neither franchise and neither expect nor deserve any financial compensation for this work. I am writing this work for my own amusement and ego gratification. Speaking of ego gratification, I find good reviews pleasantly gratifying. If you like what I'm writing, how about writing and posting a nice review?

Winter Is Coming*Winter Is Coming*Winter Is Coming

The cordless phone rang while Ben was watching the sports channel in the living room. Jakey and Helen were running errands and their two daughters were visiting friends. Little Rikka was upstairs. He turned it over to press the "ANSWER" button and glanced at the telephone ID. He'd guessed wrong. It was Mom.

"Hi, Mom," he said.

"No, I'm over at Jakey's," he said. "Didn't you get my messages? I left Las Vegas and came east. Little Brother is putting me up for a while."

"I thought I told you. I'm sick."

"Yes, I saw the doctors," said Ben. "I saw several doctors. It's very serious. It's cancer. The docs back in Vegas talked a good game, but I did some research on my own. It doesn't look good."

"No, I'm not by myself. Rikka is with me," he said. "So's Jakey, Helen, and his two girls."

"They're out, but they'll be back in a couple of hours," he said.

"No, Rikka's going to stay with me," he said. "If things get really bad, I want her to stay with Jakey and Helen.

"Mom, she doesn't have any folks to go back to," he said. "Not only was her Mom murdered, but there's nobody else here from that village she came from."

"I'm sorry, Mom, but Breeze took Melanie and Jade with her when we divorced. I haven't heard from them since Breeze took them with her."

"You have?" he said. "How are they doing? Rikka and I miss the hell out of them, and we'd love to talk to them."

"They've come east?" he said. "Where are they?"

"Jade's still living with Breeze?" he said.

"And Melanie's in college? Where is she?" he said.

"Harrisburg?" he said. "That's not too far from here. I'd be thrilled to see her again."

"If the girls do call, please write down their phone numbers and please let me know," said Ben.

"Yes, I'll tell Jakey you called," he said.

I love you too. Goodbye, Mom," he said, then ended the call.

-(((O-O)))—

School was called off the day after Rikka enrolled at Overhill Elementary school when the mid-Atlantic Seaboard was hit by a massive ice storm. The Morgendorffers' power and phone lines remained on, but the storm forced school cancellations. Helen started out for the office after she laboriously scraped the ice off her windshield, but turned around and came back when she called the office and got a recording saying that the office was closed on account of the weather.

School did re-open on Thursday afternoon. It was still cold and windy, the temperature remaining in the mid-thirties. Jake dropped all three girls off at school as well as detouring over to Howard Lane to pick up Jane.

It began to rain again. Daria knew that the temperature was supposed to go below freezing that evening and wondered if Ms. Li would call off school in the morning.

Despite the freezing pre-dawn temperatures, school was on the next morning. Lawndale's road crew had done heroic work keeping the streets from icing over and Lawndale High's custodians and student volunteers had managed to scrape paths from the driveways and parking lots to the school entrance. Daria used the afternoon to go to the library and do some writing. She would have had the library to herself, except that Brittany and Kevin chose to come in to make out. Despite their love-making, Daria managed to ignore them and start work on a paper for social studies. Her concentration was interrupted by an ominous crackling sound; she looked up and saw that the roof was cracking. She glanced around to see if she could get out in time. She wouldn't; barely avoiding giving in to panic, she dived under the desk before the roof collapsed.

Daria, Kevin, and Brittany were lucky; none of them were seriously injured. The library desk Daria sheltered under was a hold-over from a previous school administration and was sturdy enough to stay intact despite the weight of the library roof and its frozen cover. The Lawndale Fire Department was there in minutes, and all three students were extricated from the wreckage. Daria had gotten some bruises, and Kevin and Brittany were spared from more serious injury by the library's bookshelves. After a cursory examination by Lawndale High's school nurse, all three students were released to join the exodus of students heading home. Quinn found her own way home with one of the J's; Jane managed to talk one of her female team-mates to drive Daria home with her.

Ben was at home to greet his nieces. "You're home early," he said, greeting Quinn.

"My G*d, what the Hell happened to you?" he said, taking in Daria's battered appearance.

"The school library's roof fell in," said Daria.

"My God," said Ben. "Were you hurt?"

"I was in the library when it happened," said Daria. "I only took some bruising. I got under a desk in time."

"Did you see the docs?" said Ben.

"I saw the school nurse," said Daria.

"I'll call Jake and Helen," said Ben.

"Please don't make a production of it," said Daria.

"I'm calling them anyway," said Ben.

Jake moved to the edge of hysteria when Ben told him the news and Ben had to calm him down. He then called Helen and told her what had happened. He then learned what his sister-in-law sounded like when she really got angry. Helen hung up and announced that she was coming home.

Daria's adventure was the big news that evening at Schloss Morgendorffer, eclipsing Quinn's latest report on her social life and Rikka's day at Overhill. The local television station rolled footage of the damaged library, the Fire Department trucks, firefighters extricating a shocky Daria, and the mayor and school board officials saying that they were planning to look in on reasons for the library roof's collapse.

The kids were in bed and asleep when the network late night news program reported a story out of Baltimore saying that an unidentified dark-haired male speaking Andal had turned up in the emergency room of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore suffering from a major stab wound. The man had appeared on a gurney in front of the reception desk and had immediately been taken into the operating room; it was supposedly touch-and-go as to whether he'd survive. The man who brought him had dropped him off there had disappeared, and the Baltimore police had asked anyone who had any information about a Quirinus Quigley to contact them as soon as possible.

-(((O-O)))—

Author's notes:

This chapter's title comes from a couple of popular songs titled The Roof Is On Fire. I used the Cumbia Kings' version.

A note for non-Daria fans: the library roof's collapse comes from the Daria "Fair Enough" episode. I thought that having the roof collapse right after an ice storm not only suited my plot better but was more realistic than having it collapse during a thunderstorm like it did on TV. Moreover, the ice storm, roof collapse, and school closure extends the Lawndale High school year into the summer, which gives Ms. Li some more leeway for planning the Medieval Fair fund-raiser that will pay for the new roof and "further the glory of Lawndale High."

No, I didn't give out Quirinus Quigley's real name. You'll have to guess on your own. 😉