My mood doesn't improve when I get home and find the small creek that runs through the middle of the property has broken its banks and gone exploring. Those puddles I'd encountered earlier are nothing compared to the muddy water now inching across the floor of the living room and into my bedroom.
The rain in the mountains must have been torrential to cause flooding this bad. And if the forecast is right for once, it's going to get worse.
Possibly a lot worse.
Rather than stay standing in the middle of the living room cussing and swearing, I march into my bedroom. There, I grab a suitcase off the top of my restored armoire and stuff everything I can inside.
The one pair of shoes to escape the rising flood waters are my dress shoes, which are still in a box on the top shelf. My suit has also survived thanks to being wrapped in plastic. The blasted thing cost me an arm and a leg, so there's no way I'm leaving it to the mercy of the flood.
I'll be the best-dressed homeless person in Coogan's Break.
I know I should also grab any paperwork I can lay my hands on, but with the water now swirling around my knees, I don't want to risk it. Charlie, my old-as-dirt neighbor, often told of the great flood of 1955. While today mightn't be in that league, I'm not mucking about.
The other thing I take after I've jammed my suitcase in the back of my truck is the wooden box containing my late granddad's tools. While worthless on eBay, to me, they're priceless.
My dad sure hadn't wanted them after he'd had to give up work, thanks to his arthritis. And anyway, he was more about power tools than hand tools.
I'm about to go check if Charlie has gotten out when he backs that beat-up Ford truck of his out onto the road. A brief wave in my direction, and he's off, his retriever sitting in the passenger seat and sporting a huge doggy grin.
A couple of seconds later and I'm right behind them. It isn't until I'm down the valley and onto higher ground that I give thought to what I do now. The obvious place to stay is with Kelly, but that's a big step.
While it might be one that I'm ready for, I don't know if Kelly will agree with me. There's one way to find out.
