Hanami – Chapter 3
Leo brought an old beaten up armchair from the basement. It sagged so much it was less of a chair and more of a coincidental arrangement of "chair-ness." He set it up near the fireplace in the living room, so that his sensei could avoid the major drafts in the room. Piling the old chair frame with even older throw pillows and some spare couch cushions, he wrapped the newly reborn armchair in a rag rug to keep its components in place. It was not the best looking thing, but, with the added pillows, Splinter assured Leonardo it was quite comfortable.
Mikey started up a pot of tea and the beginnings of dinner, puttering around in the kitchen while he sang himself a Doris Day tune. Donnie fished out the old weather radio, and scouted through the fridge for some fresh DD batteries. "…Will I be pretty? / Will I be rich? / Here's what she said to me…"
"Mikey where did you put the batteries? I know they're in here."
With out missing a beat he warbled, "They're in the Lunchmeat bin/ Behind all that other stuff/ The future's not ours to see/ Que sera sera…" Shaking his head, Donnie liberated the Rayovacs from the fridge and turned on the weather channel on his portable radio. After some volume issues, he gave up and moved the radio into the living room where Mikey's volume ceased to be an issue.
"Falling temperatures, and the incoming cold front…" Don nudged Raph. "Hey you wanna help pull the boxes in here? The temp's falling and the weathergirl seems to think there may be an ice storm on the way."
" If that's the case we'll want as much dry wood as we can get for a good fire tonight," said Leo. " I'm glad we brought the water cooler. So if we loose all electricity we'll still have water."
Raph leaned over into his brother's face. "Leo, why are you talking, huh?! That made NO sense. How are electricity and water linked? We've got a well, fer cryin'out loud!"
"Well, Raph, since the pump on the well is ELECTRIC I thought it stood to reason that no electricity meant no water!"
Raph sat back. "Oh, I can fill the cooler up then." Leo and Donnie exchanged a glance that said, "He backed off? I haven't seen him bow down to logic or hell even just plain common sense in forever. I'm not gonna argue if he's gonna be reasonable, but damn that was unexpected. I wonder if he's sick. It might have been those muffins. Oh well." It was a very expressive glance.
"Donnie, find the flashlights, matches, and emergency candles. Mikey, take stock of the canned goods situation. I'll go get the boxes."
"Leo, wait for me!"
"Hey one of those boxes is mine!"
"Bro that is unfair, I wanna get a chance to shake a box too. Then I bet could guess what's in it!"
Leo changed the plan, "FINE! We each get a box. Bring it in here. Then Raph and I search for dry wood. Mikey, you start filling the cooler and spare pitchers up with water, and make sure we've got enough canned food/pasta to last out the storm. Even if it's only over night, April won't be here to pick us up until sometime Monday night. Don find the flashlights, matches, candles and drag the mattresses down here with the spare blankets. It'll be warmer to sleep down here by the fire."
As Splinter smiled at his sons from his chair and opened the envelope the wind began to pick up outside.