Episode Five: Rainy Day
(Revised Version - 2018)
On what was supposed to be a very hot and sunshiny summer day, it rained. It poured. Finally, it stormed. Jack, of course, loved the rain. He loved to laugh in it, he loved to play in it, he loved to sing and dance in it, and he loved to make a mess in it. Unfortunately, on this particular dark and stormy day, the roof of Jack's house was leaking.
At first, the young rascal was overjoyed by the thought of his house becoming like a swimming pool, but then he realized it would be all for naught when he finally opened the door to the entrance. Being the sly chap that he was, he knew that his first course of action would be to take care of the leak on the inside. A bucket would have been sufficient if placed directly under the leak, but what was to happen when it overflowed? No, a bucket wouldn't do at all. Instead, Jack went out to his tool shed and grabbed his trusty sledge hammer, still coated with the blood of the elf he had mutilated not one month ago. With a gigantic swing, Jack put a hole in his floor right beneath the leaky spot in the ceiling.
Proud of his quick thinking, he then decided that he could handle this entire job of fixing the roof on his own, without the help of the carpenter or his trusty aide.
A crash of thunder sounded quickly after a blast of lightning lit up the sky outside of Jack's small farmhouse, scaring Jack's little dog, Ruff, to the point of yelping.
"I'm not afraid at all," Jack announced proudly.
The next step would be actually going onto the roof and fixing the leak. Now, he could have waited until the storm was over, but his house could be flooded completely by that point. In the end, Jack made the decision to fix it now rather than later.
Back in the tool shed, Jack prepared the necessary equipment to complete the task. First, he was going to make steps on the side of his house to allow him to go on the rooftops whenever he pleased. For this, he fetched a hammer and some nails. The next step required that he fill in the hole. For that he chose chewing gum.
Soon, Jack was outside in the middle of the storm, hammering nails deep into the side of his house. Considering his lack of competence, he did a fine job in the reckless destruction of the side wall, and was quickly able to climb the nails to the top of the roof with little difficulty.
Ruff watched from down below as Jack tried clumsily to walk along the slanted surface until slipping on the wet logs and falling helplessly to the dampened ground. This happened three times.
It was then that it occurred to the youngster that perhaps he should go find something in the shed to help him keep his balance while upon the roof. Frustrated and embarrassed at having such difficulties, Jack marched angrily back to the shed where he searched long and hard for a long stick of some sort. There were no sticks to speak of, but he did manage to find a long metal pole that perhaps may have been used for various jobs around the farm by his grandfather.
Jack went back outside into the worsening storm and again climbed up the side of the house to the roof where he attempted to plant the pole down between the wooden logs to help him gain his balance. This did not work, and Jack fell to the ground once more. Despite how he felt after this failed attempt, the brave little soldier got back up and continued to climb to the rooftops. This time his plan was foolproof, he drove the pole right through the logs and into the ceiling and held on tightly as he examined the roof for the source of the leak.
"I found it!" He yelled down to his loyal dog, and placed the chewing gum in the appropriate spot. Jumping up and down on the spot in celebration led to yet another fall, as the pole stayed planted in the roof.
"Well, that takes care of that!" Jack grinned down at Ruff proudly.
CRASH!
Lightning struck the pole in a quick flash and within seconds the roof was on fire.
"What are the chances of that?!" Jack cried.
Intermission
The boy and his dog stared as the flames began to engulf the whole of the rooftops.
"It's okay, pal, the fire can't get to the inside of the house," Jack reassured his friend. "Plus, I'm pretty sure the rain will put it out."
But the rain did not work fast enough, and it soon became apparent to the farmer that the situation was becoming very critical very fast. After numerous failed attempts to convince Ruff to go get help, Jack decided it was all up to him once again.
At a fast pace, Jack ran inside the house and grabbed his favorite belongings to move them to the henhouse.
First, he grabbed his diary and ran it over to its new location. Then, he struggled to carry the television out, which ended in him dragging it through the mud across the way. The last thing to go was his bed. It was then that he realized the fire was now on the inside of the house and would soon engulf the entire premises.
With all his might, he pulled the bed out from the corner of the room, and then got in behind it and pushed. All was going well until one of the bed legs got stuck in the hole he had recently created under the leaking ceiling.
"I know what you are trying to do, God, but I will NOT go to church!" Jack tried lifting the bed, but to no avail. The roof was now beginning to collapse, and Jack realized he was running out of time.
Just then, the pole that had been wedged in the roof fell down right in front of the bed. Jack attempted to pick it up, but it was too hot and he quickly dropped it. He could not for the life of him figure out how the pole had survived so long when his roof had easily been burned to ashes.
Ruff barked weakly from outside the burning house, and Jack took that as a signal to leave. There was nothing more that could be done for the home, and Jack would have to find something else to sleep in from now on. Side by side, the boy and his dog stood watching as the house collapsed into a flaming heap before them.
"Oops."
Then Jack realized something: if the villagers found out what had happened, he would be cast out and would have to go back home to his parents and admit his failure. No matter what, Jack had to make sure that no one ever found out about this! It would mean the end of him.
The only thing he could think to do was to go to town and make sure that no one came to visit him today, even though it was still storming terribly and no one would be outside anyways… it didn't occur to poor old Jack. Running at a fast pace towards town, Ruff following close behind as Jack's shoes filled with water, his heart started racing very fast at what may soon happen to him.
The town looked deserted, and Jack thought perhaps his luck was changing for the better. He then began to think hard about what could be done to fix the situation. The obvious answer was to rebuild, and rebuild he would!
"It can't be that hard, can it?" Jack turned to Ruff for guidance. "People make houses, and I'm people! All I need is some wood. And if I finish before the storm ends, no one will know a thing!" He smiled excitedly at his resolve.
Before heading up to the mountains to cut some trees down, Jack and Ruff made a quick stop back at the farm to pick up an axe from the tool shed, which was now his new home. The mountains had trees all around, and Jack wouldn't have any problem getting enough wood. Choosing the biggest tree he could find, he began to hack away at it in hopes that it would come down easily. It took longer than he had expected, but eventually, the tree came down with a thud. The next tree was a little bit smaller and Jack was able to chop it down with little problem. The third tree was an issue, although he did not know why. Something told him deep inside that he should not touch this tree and that he should leave it alone, but he couldn't remember why; so he began to hack at it anyway. The surface of the tree seemed thicker somehow, and jack was having a very hard time cutting through… but that didn't stop him, as nothing would. With all his might, he pressed on and soon he was able to knock it down.
What he saw next reminded him why he was not supposed to knock this particular tree down. This tree was the tree that the carpenter lived in, and where he was at this very moment recovering from last season's 'incident'. The house remained the same, except that it now had no walls or ceiling to protect it, and the carpenter was just waking up from a nap to find that his tree had been knocked down.
Seeing this, Jack froze in panic. The carpenter looked around, unable to think straight and refusing to believe what his eyes were telling him.
"Some storm we're having today..." Jack smiled as he hid the axe behind his back.
"J…Jack? What happened?"
Jack ran away, leaving the axe on the ground. This was the last straw. The carpenter could not take this troubled boy or his bologna any longer, it was time to get even with him. The carpenter, in a rage of fury, decided he was going to kill the destroyer of his home and health. Getting out of his now soaking wet bed, the carpenter picked up the axe from the ground and began walking towards town where Jack had run for safety.
"This time you've gone too far, runt!"
Intermission
Jack did not know what to do now. The carpenter had caught him in the act, he was finished! The carpenter was probably on his way to the mayor's house to tell him what had happened right then, and there was nothing he could do about it. Unless…
Despite how out of breath the young farmer was from all of the running, he jogged at a steady pace towards the mayor's house in hopes of beating the carpenter there. His mission was a success. Knocking on the door, Jack began to call for help.
The door opened slowly and a tired mayor could now be seen, "Jack? What seems to be the problem?"
"I'm going to kill you!" The carpenter yelled from twenty feet away, holding high the axe that was used to cut down his home.
"Oh, my…!" The mayor looked on in shock.
"What did you do to him?" Jack stared stupidly at the mayor.
"I think he means you!" The mayor grabbed Jack and pulled him inside, tightly shutting the door and locking it for security.
Like a scene from a horror movie, the carpenter began to hack at the front door of the mayor's house, determined to end the life of the poor unlucky young man who had accidentally destroyed his life.
Inside the house, the family began to panic. They had no clue what had driven the carpenter to such madness, but they knew that they had to do something to protect themselves or be murdered in a matter of minutes. The mayor, his lovely wife, and their precious daughter all stood close to each other as they discussed a plan of escape while Jack fixed himself a snack in the kitchen. When he turned around, the family was gone, apparently forgetting the poor defenseless youth by himself.
With a final swing of the axe, the carpenter had penetrated through the doorway and entered the home in a mad frenzy.
"You! Why did you take everything from me? Why?! You murdered an elf and left me for dead, then you chopped down my home… and for what?" The carpenter lifted the axe high in the air, closing the gap between him and Jack.
"I have good answers for all of those," Jack proclaimed.
"It's too late for that!" The carpenter began to swing downward at the boy. Jack closed his eyes tightly as he was about to meet his end, but it never came. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Ruff was biting the carpenter's leg and refused to let go. The carpenter kicked hard in an attempt to rid himself of the dog, and Jack took his chance to escape.
Jack ran back out the front door and the carpenter soon followed, now running at an equally fast pace.
"Put the axe down!" Called the voice of the bartender. He was standing not 10 feet away, joined by the carpenter's worried younger apprentice, the fisherman, and the town priest.
"He… he… he!" The carpenter couldn't think straight. He was too angry, too overcome with rage to speak the words he wanted to.
"It's okay, we can fix this. You just need to calm yourself and put down the weapon." The priest assured him.
The carpenter did not know what to do. With all the courage left in his heart, he dropped the axe and surrendered. Upon hearing all the commotion, other townsfolk began pouring into the stormy streets to see what had happened.
"We'll fix this," the priest walked up to him and smiled. "We want to help."
"Speak for yourself! He tried to kill us!" The mayor and his family showed up.
"He broke down my door!" The mayor's wife cried in peril.
"He scared me half to death!" Maria was in tears.
"I just came from the mountains, he chopped down all the trees!" The fisherman yelled in outrage.
"He…" Jack was feeling left out by the torrent of accusations. "He burned down my house!"
Shocked, the townsfolk went into a frenzy. They yelled, they screamed, they cursed at the carpenter. The man was ruined, and now he was also unarmed.
Intermission
It was decided that the carpenter would be sent away. Something had thrown him over the edge of sanity, and there was no saving him now. The townspeople felt sorry for Jack, and everyone offered to help rebuild his home just the way it was… but bigger!
The carpenter's apprentice became the new carpenter in town and everyone was happy with how things were going from then on - especially Jack.
A doghouse was built for Ruff in honor of his brave actions in saving his master's life. The people praised the young pup as a hero, and everyone met in the church the next day to thank God for allowing Jack to survive all of the ordeals that faced him. Jack was absent.
Yeer: 1 Munth: 2 Day: 11
The farm didnnt bern daoon I swaar. It got biggr. The carpintr wint crazie and tride to kill me but im aliv. Hes gonn nao. Ruff got a doggee haoose to and its cool. I miss yoo both a lot and im ok. I donnt lik storms aneemore.
Curling up in his nice new bed, Jack drifted off to sleep.
THE END
