April 3

Trader Joe’s. Mom pushed the big cart, Linnea pushed the little cart, and Collette pushed Puck in the stroller. At the check-out, they had the same checker who remembered them every time.
“Haven’t seen you guys in awhile,” he said. “Been shopping somewhere else?”
He handed them two orange balloons and a red.
“One for Mom too,” he said cheerfully.
It had happened again. Carrie-Bri had arrived at the point of boredom, where she was past the point of no return. She walked into the dining room where Collette and Linnea were playing Monopoly.
“What do you think?”
“Oh no,” said Collette.
Carrie had three long strands of hair dyed clown red.
“I guess you have no plans to be looking for a job anytime soon,” said Joe.
“I have a job,” said Carrie.
(A box of programming books had just come in the mail after there was the usual fight between the kids to avoid answering the doorbell.
“You get it!”
“No, you get it!”
“Wait. She’s already gone.”
Once the mail truck had left the street, Carrie opened the door to find the package sitting at the door.)
“Air dry,” she said, tying the three Trader Joe’s balloons, one to each strand of freshly dyed hair.
The strands floated into the air after the balloons.
Outside, the rain continued to come and go. Flood waters rose.