Noah's Rainy Day by Sandra Brannan Page A

thing.”
    “She’ll be the envy of the local kids,” Frances said.
    Emma was a good sister to Noah. A great sister, in fact. She had always been there for him. She understood him better than anyone did. She knew exactly what to say to him. She never treated Noah like a baby even though Frances sometimes made her change his diapers. Around her friends, he was Emma’s big brother and she expected them to treat him with respect. All they saw was how different he was. And when Noah took an occasional hike to the top of Mount Pity Pod, it was Emma who knocked him off it. Just as a sister should.
    “Heard you guys saw a mountain lion this morning,” Frances said as she and Elizabeth closed in behind me.
    Elizabeth was tiny, like my mom. Although Frances was shorter than me, taller than Elizabeth, she had all Mom’s beauty and grace. Even the scolding tone in her polite question was exactly like something Mom would say to me. She looked relaxed, with her arms folded loosely at her thin waste, her eyes soft with compassion and absent any judgment. Her hair was the soft brown of pine trees and smelled of woodsy vanilla, fresh and natural. Which suited her life as Gabriel’s wife, since he reminded me of the lumberjack character on the Brawny commercials.
    “And you got hurt?” Frances added.
    I groaned as I realized her request for me to move Noah was a test. Elizabeth unfolded the blanket in front of the television in the living room for me to set Noah down.
    Noah laughed.
    “You? Traitor,” I whispered to Noah, who stopped laughing. “Tickle torture for whoever told on me.”
    “Don’t blame him,” Frances scolded.
    “Elizabeth?” I asked.
    “Yep,” Elizabeth said, as I lowered Noah onto the blanket with a few expletives of my own. “Michael told me about how you slipped on some ice and broke a rib.”
    I paused, glad Michael hadn’t ratted me out. Completely. Noah giggled, knowing everyone was bending the truth.
    “But that sounded too convenient,” Elizabeth said. “So I forced the truth out of him.”
    “See? Tickle torture works,” I said to Noah, who laughed again.
    I noticed that both my sisters were now standing with arms folded, glaring down at me as they watched me struggle with Noah. They had allowed me to move Noah to test the extent of damage from my alleged broken rib.
    I stood up and took a bow and said, “See? Not broken. I wouldn’t have been able to do that. Bruised, is all.” Noah moaned. Leveling my gaze at Frances, I added, “I’m okay. Really. What else did Elizabeth tell you?”
    “That’s it,” Frances said.
    “Traitor,” I said to Elizabeth. “As is your hubby.”
    “Speaking of hubby, what did Michael leave out of the story, CM?” Elizabeth said, her elfish stance as menacing as ever. The bright yellow and brown spikes of her hair were vibrating, which indicated her underlying excitement. Or anger at Michael for not telling her the whole story. I decided to cover for him, since he’d covered for me, by telling them we’d seen a mountain lion, but not the whole story about almost getting killed by the mountain lion.
    “Apparently he told you more than he should have. It’s not like I need a mother, so stop treating me like a kid. I was doing fieldwork, training exercises, and a mountain lion spooked Beulah, who got startled and pulled me off my feet. I landed wrong, my ribs are bruised, and I scraped my hands. That’s all. End of story.”
    Elizabeth jerked her chin at me with her arms still folded. “By the looks of your mug, CM, the cat used you as a scratching post.”
    “Pine needles. And quit calling me CM. I am not Critical Mass. Shit happens to everyone. Not just me.”
    Over the sound of Noah’s laughter, Frances scolded me, “How many times have I told you not to swear around the kids?”
    “Don’t worry. New Year’s is just around the corner and CM will undoubtedly pretend to work on that flaw of hers with her notorious resolution to stop