Raven's Wordzzle Challenge # 62

For the rules of the game, go to Raven's Nest

Ten Word Challenge: gentle spring rain, mammoth, soap opera, worry, bubble gum, garden gate, seizure, of Biblical proportions, paralysis, wrinkles

Mini Challenge: operatic, stuffed animals, anger management, biographical, paint splatters

The Slumber Party Mystery
Chapter 9 - A drama of Biblical proportions

(You'll find links to my previous chapters in the margin further down the page.)

Having unloaded the groceries from the van, William knocked on the kitchen door, but no one opened. Chewing his bubble gum, he hesitated for a moment, then opened the garden gate and went round the back of the house. As he turned round the corner, he felt like he had stepped into a soap opera, or even a drama of Biblical proportions. Bumblebee, the butler, was standing in the swimming pool, fully dressed, water up to his knees, talking into his cellphone. Beside him, the brigadier general, whom William knew to be suffering from paralysis after some kind of seizure, seemed to be floating on the surface of the water. In the grass beside the pool, a fire was spreading.

Just a few seconds later, Diana came out on the terrace from the library. Putting on her sunglasses to avoid getting wrinkles, her eyes fell on an issue of the Antiquity Journal that someone had dropped on the terrace floor; it had a picture of a mammoth on the front cover. (Her grandfather would have loved to have one of those in his own collection of rare stuffed animals, she thought automatically.) She also noticed some some yellow stains on the white marble floor tiles – was that paint splatters or juice? Then she suddenly smelt smoke and was immediately filled with worry. Lifting up her eyes, she, too, had the sensation of having stepped into some kind of crazy operatic scene. But before she had time to react, the sprinklers on the lawn were suddenly turned on, and water began falling like a gentle spring rain over the fire.

At the front of the house, Dr Adam Challenge was again parking his car. He had not the faintest idea how this would end, but decided he must try to practise all he knew about anger management and forget about his own biographical tragedies for now.

(Author's comment: I know, I know. The pace of this story is getting irritatingly slow. I just couldn't find a way with this week's words to speed it up...)