The Repairman: Part I

Dear Reader,

I apologize for missing last week’s Chronicle. Kale is still making me work hard and I thought I finally had it and was going to finish his book.

I was wrong.

We are at 117,000 words and still going. I will be crying later, but I am aiming to end this week and god, do I need to end this week. Nine months, people…nine long months, lol. I thought the Anger Management books made me work for it, but they have nothing on Kale. 

Happy 4th of July! 

And I hope everyone is staying safe and having fun tonight. 

The Repairman

Part I

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“Nooooo! Oh, God! This isn’t happening!” came the screams of agony that had tore Zoe out of sound sleep and had her jumping up and-

“Crap!” she muttered when her legs got tangled in the sheets and she stumbled over her feet and landed on the floor with a pained grunt.

“What the hell is happening?” Trevor asked, sitting up with a groan as he rubbed his hands down his face and-

“Why is this happening! WHY?” came the hysterical scream that had Trevor cursing as he shoved the covers out of the way and heading for the door as Zoe dragged herself back to her feet and stumbled after him as a thousand different things went through her mind, all of them scaring the hell out of her and had her moving faster, terrified that one of her babies was hurt.

She raced downstairs, through the living room, into the kitchen and…and…

“What’s going on?” Zoe found herself asking, admittedly out of breath, as she watched in confusion as Jonathan, who she was going to throttle for scaring the hell out of her, hugged the Tupperware container with the lasagna that Kasey sent over earlier.

“Why?” he asked, sobbing hysterically as he hugged the container against his chest as he blindly reached over and grabbed the deli meat only to fall over onto his side. “Why?”

Zoe opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when she saw it. A large puddle in front of the refrigerator. “What happened?” she asked, quickly making her way over to the refrigerator, pausing only long enough to step over her son who was now sobbing into the pudding cups and opened the fridge only to groan when the smell hit her.

For a moment, she stood there, praying that the light would come on, only it never did. God, she didn’t need this, not now, Zoe thought as she let the fridge door close and-

“Why did this have to happen?” Jonathan whispered hoarsely.

“Dead?” Trevor asked, picking her up and setting her aside so that he could check the refrigerator that had barely made it two years.

“Yes,” she mumbled, sighing heavily as she stepped out of the way.

“What’s going on?” Mathew asked as he walked into the room, rubbing his eyes only to drop his hands away and shake his head, licking his lips as he mumbled, “No, this can’t be happening.”

“Get ice!” Jonathan yelled, grabbing the ice cream only to rethink that decision when the move caused the melted ice cream to leak onto the floor.

Nodding, Mathew rushed over to the refrigerator, jumped over his brother and ripped the freezer drawer open only to release a whimper as his legs gave out and dropped him to the floor with a weakly mumbled, “This isn’t happening.”

“Boys, it’s just food,” Zoe said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she focused her attention on the refrigerator only to shake her head in disbelief when she found her husband pressing his forehead against the refrigerator door, his hand pressed against the door as he released a shuddering sigh.

“Just food?” Jonathan demanded in outrage as he shoved all the food that he’d taken out of the refrigerator and stacked on the floor and sat up. “Just food? That was Aunt Kasey’s lasagna! Do you know how many layers she puts in that, woman? Ten! Ten layers of cheese and meat deliciousness!”

“I’m sure that she has more and would be more than happy to give you some…in the…morning…” Zoe said, her words trailing off as she watched the boys shove each other out of the way as they rushed towards the door, shoving and slapping each other as they went until Jonathan was forced to grab his brother by the back of his pajama pants and-

“Ow!” Mathew gasped, forced to release his hold on the front door to shove his brother’s hands away, giving Jonathan the advantage.

With a chuckle, Jonathan shoved his little brother out of the way and ran out the door, leaving Zoe standing there, shaking her head in disbelief as she watched Mathew hobble out the door after his brother. “Where did we go wrong with them?” she asked, still shaking her head in disbelief as she looked back at her husband and-

Found him racing out the door after the boys.

Sighing heavily, Zoe grabbed a trash bag from underneath the kitchen sink and resigned herself to cleaning up this mess. As she grabbed the container of lasagna, she sent up a silent prayer that the refrigerator was still under warranty only to find herself frowning as she watched Jessica walk into the kitchen and-

Sighed heavily as she watched her baby girl turn right back around and race out of the room with a choked sob and a mumbled, “Not the lasagna,” while Zoe knelt there, wondering why her family didn’t get this upset when she had to throw out the lasagna that she made.

To be continued…

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