The Rain

3.

3.

The light streaming through my window woke me from my pleasantly dreamless sleep. Raider was now sprawled across both River and I's laps, and River had an arm lazily draped around my shoulders. I lifted my head from his chest (when did it get there?!?) and rubbed my eyes. The dog had noticed the subtle movement and leaped to the ground to go get a drink from his bowl.

I then noticed that as the dog trotted to the bowls, they moved across the floor to the west wall.

At first, I thought that this was a figment of my still half-asleep mind; after all, I had been known to confuse dreams with reality in the wee hours of the morning. Then I noticed that as the dog moved to got to the bowls' new location, the floor tilted. I stood up abruptly, River's arm falling limply to his side. Tentatively, I took a few steps, and the house tilted about thirty degrees. Now, I knew that I hadn't gained three hundred pounds overnight. A strange conclusion passed through my mind, but I quickly shook it away, calling it absurd. But still... what if? I glanced out the window, and my strange, unorthodox hypothesis was confirmed; my house was floating in a sea of last night's rain.

Two million thoughts ran through my mind at once. What am I supposed to do now? Call work and say I wasn't going to be able to go in? What was my excuse, "Hi, I'm sorry I can't work for Stephanie today, but my house is floating"? No one in their right mind would believe me; I wouldn't have believed that story if I was Mr. Boss-man.

"Did it stop raining?" River asked groggily as he sat up.

"Come see this!" I called from my position at the window.

He stood up, stretched, and felt the floor tip as I had. An inquisitive look crossed his face, but I motioned for him to continue his path. River joined me at the window and saw what I had saw; a house floating in the middle of the earth's newest sea, no, I take that back, ocean.

"Wha-How?" he asked as he quickly pulled my curtains farther apart. "Did the rain do that?!"

"Appears so."

"Are we even in the same state anymore, let alone town?"

River brought up an excellent point. I went to get my phone, and tapped the GPS app.

"Still in Wisconsin, but we're just a few miles east of the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota," I replied.

"Time?"

"Ten AM."

"Jesus," he muttered, and ran his hand through his hair manically, making it stick up all over the place. "What're we gonna do?"

"Float, I guess," I answered, and sat back on the couch, making Raider and River lose their balance and fall. "Sorry."

"Wait... I've got an idea..." River trailed off, and I could almost see a light bulb go off over his head. "Jules, is your garage still attached to the house?"

I got up, and this time River grabbed onto the windowsill, and the dog continued to lay down. I opened the door that would, under normal circumstances, lead to my garage. When I turned the handle and looked through the doorway, my garage was still there.

"Yep!" I called to him.

"Still got your canoeing stuff?" About a year ago, I took up canoeing, but since the summer had been so harsh this year I hadn't gotten out at all.

"Yep!"

"Get your oars and meet me on your porch!" he said, then to Raider, "C'mon, Raider, let's go outside."

I smiled, instantly knowing what River's plan was. He wanted to see if we could row ourselves out of the affected areas. Perhaps that was possible. It was a very small house, after all.