The Smiles Family and There Special Guest Flamingo

CHAPTER TWO- THE BOILER

I start to freak out, THE HOUSE IS GONNA BLOW! Robert runs towards the door and throws it open, then signals me to run out the door. I dash out the door and run down the stairs while Robert follows behind me. We both run down the spiral staircase and then dash across the dining room, dodging the dining room table and its chairs. While running through the living room, I see the kids sitting on the couch. They sit there unaffected about what is happening except for Seth, who seems scared by the boiler. WHY AREN'T THEY RUNNING?! Seth looks at me running out of the house with his dad behind me. He got more scared and glanced at Matthew to ask a question. But I left before I could hear what they were going to say. I was already out the front door.

Robert passed me while I was going down the stone staircase then took a turn to the side of the house, guiding me to a door to the basement. We climbed down into the basement which is very dimly lit. The walls were made out of stone while the floor was just dirt. There were a few support beams around the basement but as soon as you get off the ladder and you turn around, you can see the boiler. On the front of the boiler was a thermometer the small hand in the thermometer over the red with steam coming out at random places while the boiler looked like it was about to burst! Robert runs over to the boiler and turns a red wheel next to the thermostat. The boiler started to return to the green while the ground also stopped shaking. 

"That was.. close.." I said while walking over to Robert and catching my breath.

"Thank gosh we came when we did," Robert said while trying to catch his own breath. Clair and Matthew climbed down the ladder and walked over to me and Robert.

"The darn boiler is so old you have to tend to it every day or else it'll blow up and well wake up on the darn moon!" Robert said while I looked at Clair and Matthew who looked fine. How can they be okay with this, also where did Seth go?

"Where's Seth?" I asked.

"He was scared so he stayed inside," Matthew responded. That scared me so much that I thought we were all going to die! That made my adrenalin rush.

"well we should head back upstairs," Robert said leading the way out of the basement. The kids and I started to follow Robert out of the basement and back into the house. We all walked inside and there Seth was, sitting on the couch looking a little frightened from the boiler.

"Can you kids go upstairs so me and the guest can chat?" Robert asked. The kids listened and they all walked upstairs leaving me and Robert. I can't believe that they could just brush off the fact that they just almost died! Wait, did Robert say that they had to do this every day?

"Do you want some Cola?" Robert asked getting me out of my own head. He was standing in the kitchen, the fridge door blocking his from my sight while I was just standing by the front door. 

"Sure," I said. He closed the fridge door and handed me a can of Cola. We both walked out the front door and onto the front porch. He sat on a bench swing and I sat next to him. We both open our cans of Cola and take a drink. I look at the sunset while I drink my Cola.

"The view is very beautiful here,  the water makes the sunset look nice," I say while taking another sip of my cola.

"Yes, it is very nice out here," Robert responded while looking off in the distance.

"How's it been, Robert?"

"Gosh, where do I begin," Robert says while sighing.

"Well, their mother and brother have passed, it's been very hard for them and even difficult for me to accept," Robert says. So he's now a single father with three kids, that's tough. I take a sip and then stop to listen.

"Loss isn't always an easy thing to get by," Robert says sadly. 

"it's often misunderstood, we all deal with it differently," I say trying to make him feel better. Robert takes another drink of his Cola finishing it.

"Well, how have you been Albert?" He asked, that question startled me.

"Well," I hesitated, my thoughts scrambling to come up with a response. Should I tell him about her?

"where is your wife?"Robert asked curiously.

"Oh uhh, she's sick, she has a cold!" I say trying to come up with an excuse. I guess I'm not telling him. We both go silent and I look down and take a small sip from my Cola.

"Wow, time flies by..." Robert said. I looked ahead and it was already night. Wow, time does fly by fast.

"Time flies with friends," I say cheerfully taking one last drink from my Cola and finishing it.

"You oughta be getting tired."

"A bit!"

"You know what, I'll set up the couch for you," Robert said getting up and going inside, I followed him. 

"I figured it would be such a long boat ride back home why not just stay here?" Robert walked over to the couch and set up the couch.

"It would, I appreciate it!" I walked over to the kitchen and threw away my empty can.

"it's set!" Robert said. I walked over to the couch while Robert walked over to the light switch and started to turn off some lights.

"Lights out!" Robert walked upstairs.

"Goodnight!"