A Change in the Weather.

Hello! Sorry this is late, I was enjoying that beautiful summer-type day we had last week! Unfortunately, it didn't stay with us for long. Anyway, here is the next chapter in 'The Sisters Club'

A Change in the Weather.

One minute we were just talking and being sisters. The next minute, we were in the dark.
Here's what happened. Alex, Medieval Fashion Designer, was stretched out on the floor, surrounded by twenty-seven thousand colored pencils scattered like Pick-up Sticks. She was designing a fancy costume for Juliet ("Romeo's better half," she says) instead of drawing a self-portrait for Art class. Joey was making animal sculptures out of colored marshmallows. She found an old cookbook of Mom's from the 1960s with marshmallow animals, and she's working on a whole zoo,complete with lions, elephants, and giraffes. I was way into pasting pictures of clouds on a giant three-fold poster board for Mr. Petry's Earth Science class. "Since when did the Sisters Club become the Homework Club?" I asked. Just then, a giant boom of thunder shook the house. Rain pelted the windows, rattling them in their frames. A crack of lightning lit the room with an   eerie flash. "Wow. It's a real weather freak show out there." I said. The lights flickered. On-off. On-off-on. Alex looked up from her sketch book. "Uh-oh." said Joey. In a blink,the whole went dark. We're talking pitch-black, can't-see-your-hand-in-front-of-you night. Joey ran to get a flashlight, bouncing it off the walls like a light    show. Ahh! She shined the light right in my face just to bug me. "Okay, Duck," I said, holding up my arm to shield my face. Mom burst through the door, smelling of pine and mud and bark. "Wind's really wicked out there," she said, plunking down an armload of wood, her wild hair studded with wet leaves. "Mom. Hair." Alex pointed. "You wouldn't believe all the branches that have come down," she said, pulling leaves from her hair. "Dad's trying to clear the sidewalk. Power could be out for a while. I'm going to build up the fire. The heat may not come back on right away, so we better keep the fire going." "Just like Victorian times!" said Joey. Ever since Joey's Little Women phase, she thinks old-timey stuff is way cool. Me, I like my electricity. Not to mention soap. Mom poked at the logs in the fireplace until the fire blazed bright orange. The back door blew open. Dad came in and set a flashlight on the counter, shaking rain from his hair like a dog after a bath. "Phew. It's a real tempest out there."Dad's an actor and owns the Raven Theater next door. He's always spouting Shakespeare and stuff. Dad dried his sleeves and warmed his hands in front of the fire. Wind whistled down the chimney. "'Blow winds and crack your cheeks. Rage! Blow!' You know girls, in Shakespeare, when there's a wild storm like this, like in King Lear, it means something big is about to happen. "Yeah, like murder!" I said. Joey clutched my arm. "The storm can't be all bad. Maybe something different and exciting is going to happen to us," said Dad. "Dad, you're such a Drama   Queen," said Alex. "Look who's talking," I said. "I love storms," said Joey. "No, you love frogs," I said."Duh.After a storm, millions of frogs come out." "Girls, help me with the candles," Mom said. Alex helped Mom light tea candles in tuna fish cans.Spooky shadows like wolves and flying birds flickered across the walls. "Let's make hand shadows!" said Joey. "Like they did in Victorian times. I know how to make a swan." Joey formed a beak with one hand and made feathers with the other. "Well," said Dad. "Time to go brave the elements again. A huge tree limb came down and fell across the back fence." He shrugged on his already dripping-wet coat and headed out the back door. "So, are you girls okay for now? I'll check back in a while. I better help Dad with the branch if there's any hope of saving the fence." "We're okay," I answered. "It's all good." "Except Alex stepped on my marshmallow giraffe," said Joey, shining the flashlight on her smushed creation. "Now he looks like a headless weasel." "Did not," said Alex. "How do you know it wasn't  Stevie?" "Because," I said."She can tell that is was your big old teenager feet." "Girls," said Mom. "I'm sure you can come up with something to do in the dark besides drive each other crazy. Stevie, keep the fire going,okay? And try to keep your sisters from squabbling." She headed out the back door after Dad. "Me? Why's it always me?" I asked as soon as she was gone. "Squabble, squabble." said Alex, making turkey gobbling sounds, and we couldn't help cracking up. "Oh, well. I guess we'll just have to eat this one." Joey held up her headless weasel-giraffe with the broken neck. "Ha. I don't think so! Not after you licked every one of them," said Alex. "Not every one." "Whatever happened to Jell-O?" I asked. "I thought you lived for Jell-O," Jell-O's cool. But,it's just so third grade." Alex cracked up. "Check it out! Creck-eck. Creck-eck." Joey made a hand shadow frog on the wall. "Well, if you guys aren't going to make hand shadows, let's do something scary since the lights are out. Like tell scary stories," she suggested. A crack of thunder made Joey jump. "You always want us to tell scary stories, Duck. Then you keep me up all night because you're too scared to go to sleep or you have bad dreams." "We could have a seance," said Joey. "Maybe there's a ghost of a dead person who used to live here hundreds of years ago and we could communicate with it." "How do you know about seances?" Alex asked."Victorian times," Joey and I said at the exact same time. "Jinx. You owe me a hot chocolate," I said punching Joey in the arm. "I know. How about fortune-telling?" said Alex. "I went to this girl Mira's fourteenth birthday party. Remember? It was a sleepover and we stayed up all night for the first time ever. Well, all except for this one girl, Alyssa." "Mira? Alyssa? Who are they?" I asked. "Just some girls I know. Anyway-the really cool part was Mira's mom hired this fortune-teller to read our palms. Check out my heart line." She pointed to a line that creased her palm like a half-moon. "The fortune-teller said it means that I'm very lovable." I peered at my palm in the candlelight. A map of glue was stuck to my hand. "What does it mean if your heart line is covered in glue?" "It means you're stuck up." said Alex. "Ha, ha. Very funny." "You guys," said Joey. "Let's roast marshmallows in the fire. Please? I have pink, blue, and green marshmallows. We can make rainbow s'mores!" I was only half listening. I stared at the fire, hypnotized, peeling glue off my palm as if shedding an old skin. A small yellow flame licked the edges of a piece of kindling, then burst into a blaze. Orange fingers of fire flickered and danced, casting a spell on me. Alex's excited voice broke into my far-off day-dream. "I got it, you guys," said Alex. "I know what we can do. It's perfect." "What? Joey and I said at the same time again. But by the time I'd gotten done jinxing her, Alex had left and gone upstairs.

                                      Marshmallow Fun Facts.
                                           by Joey Reel.

                 Ancient Egyptians invented marshmallows four thousand years ago. Only gods, kings, and queens were allowed to eat them. They got them from the mallow plant, which grows wild in marshes. Get it? Marsh mallow.                              Alex can eat marshmallows because she is such a Drama QUEEN. ~S.
                                           Oh, like you're so "mallow." Ha,ha!  A.

In the U.S., people buy 90 million pounds of marshmallows every year. This equals the weight of 1,286 gray whales!

The marshmallow capital of the world is Acton, Oregon. Not! It's Ligonier, Indiana.

The largest s'more ever made weighed 1,600 pounds! It was made of 20,000 marshmallows and 7,000 chocolate bars and 24,00 graham crackers. Yum!

If you name your pet Marshmallow, that's a number 9 in numerology. Nine means your pet will be loyal and faithful to you.
                               Huh? ~S
                              It's true. I read it in a magazine. They
                               match a number to your pet's name. A.
                                 What if you name a frog Macbeth? -J
                                            Seven years BAD luck! A.


                                   Rainbow S'mores
                                    by Joey Reel. 
                                                                with help from me ~S

                                 You will need:
                                  ~Graham Crackers.
                                  ~Colored Marshmallows.
                                  ~Chocolate bars.

               1. Put one large colored marshmallow on the end of a long fork or stick. Hold over campfire 
                  or in fireplace until toasted.
               2. Break graham cracker in half and put piece of chocolate on it.
               
               3. Smush ooey-gooey marshmallow on top of chocolate.
                 
               4. Use other half of graham cracker for a lid, like a marshmallow sandwich.

               5. Don't forget to say you want 'some more'! Yum!
    
             HINT: Mix it up a little and add peanut butter! Or chocolate icing!

                    Try frozen s'mores. Use ice cream instead of marshmallows. ~S
                     
                     Stevie's chocolate chip cookies work too, in place of graham crackers. Decadent!  A.


Come back on Monday for the next chapter, Something Witchy This Way Comes!

Thanks for looking at my blog!


Emma.