Head canons

Umbrellas

848 words. Probably stolen from Tumblr, possibly Pinterest

     For the science fair his senior year, Carlos made an umbrella fire proof. The rest of the project was about the dangers of acid precipitation. The umbrella was the manditory prop/visual in the project. Carlos decided to make something that would be resistant to acid precipitation instead of just making a poster.
     "Hello, Carlos." His favorite teacher, and one of the judges, said.
     "Hello, Mrs. Jennings." Carlos replied.
     "The other two judges," Mrs. Jennings gestured to a man and woman standing behind her. "Ms. Eckle and Mr. Faller."
     The two judges didn't say anything. They looked disdainfully at the unbrella. They read the tag attached to the umbrella before asking Carlos to explain his project.
     "With all the dangers of acid precipitation, the pH level in rain is almost flammable. I've designed this umbrella to withstand acid precipitation. It is completely fireproof as well as waterproof." Carlos said.
     "Carlos," Ms. Eckle said, reading his nametag. "If it's raining, it's not going to be on fire."
     "That's the point, ma'am. The pH in precipitation is dangerous in some places. If someone was using an open flame around the rain, it could potentially set something on fire." Carlos explained.
     "Thank you, Carlos." Mrs. Jennings said.
     She knew it would be better if he didn't keep going. Carlos knew this too and was thankful. Mrs. Jennings and Ms. Eckle walked away to judge the next project. Mr. Faller stayed behind. He put his hand on Carlos's shoulder.
     "Stick to science, son." He said before walking away.
     With that, Carlos's hopes of the schollarship money was thrown out the window. He wasn't sure how he was going to pay for the advanced classes he'd been accepted into.

     Seven years later, Carlos was almost drowning in student loans. The FAFSA grant and all the scholarships weren't enough for several classes. He took taking Junior classes as a Freshman. That hurt his scholarships, but he was done with college two years early. He got a job in a lab, which helped pay for the loans. It was when he moved out of the dorms that he found his umbrella again. He showed it to his coworkers, determined for someone to see what he was talking about. No one did. He got the same answer Mr. Faller had given him almost a decade ago; Stick to science. That's what he did... until he moved to Night Vale.

     One day, during the community Calender, Cecil said that it was supposed to rain fire all week. Everyone panicked. They stocked up on everything they needed. Cecil was prepaired to stay at the radio station for a week until the rain passed. Carlos, who happened to have a fireproof umbrella, wasn't going to let that happen.
     "Your time has come." He said to he umbrella when he dug it out of a box in the hall closet. "You're talking to an umbrella." He said after a small pause.
     Then, he ran out to the car with the umbrella and drove to the radio station. He listened to Cecil's show on the way there.
     "I don't know if we'll survive the rain, listeners." Cecil said. "If you're outside when the rain hits, you will, most likely, die. So I advide you all stay inside. Make sure you have all the necessary items for a lock in." Cecil then gave a full list. It included pot of glue, small throwing stars, large throwing stars, fire extinguisher, bronze trumpet, and a first edition of 'Lee Marvin, A Novel.' written by Lee Marvin, who turns 30 today.
     Carlos knocked on the door to the booth. Cecil let him in. "Listeners, we have a special guest today. Carlos is here. He is holding an umbrella. Carlos, why are you holding an umbrella? It won't do anything excpt catch on fire."
     "It's fireproof." Carlos said. "I invented it."
     "It's fireproof?" Cecil asked.
     "Yeah. I only have one though." Carlos replied. "At least I can study why the rain is on fire. By the way, what do you want for dinner tonight?"
     "Um... you have a fireproof umbrella." Cecil said again.
     "Yeah, it lost me a bunch of scholarship money." Carlos said nonchalantly.
     Cecil stared at Carlos. He rustled some of his papers so there wasn't complete scilence. "If one of Night Vale High School's students created that, they would get a full ride to Night Vale Community College. It rains acid, fire, gasoline, and sometimes death." Cecil said after awhile.
     "I could probably make more." Carlos said. "I just came here to pick you up since you can't go outside without the umbrella."
     "Listeners, it turns out that we can end this broadcast at our normal time instead of me talking to you nonstop for a week. I'll talk to you tomorrow. My voice, reaching your ears at the same time in a different plane of existance that we, today, call tomorrow. But we all know, tomorrow will never come because it is always today. Good night, Night Vale. Good night."
     The next day, Night Vale citizens were walking around with fireproof umbrellas.