리틀팍스

"This Saturday is going to be eventful...but we're stuck here even when we aren't sick." muttered Mike, drawing a picture comfortably on Jael's bed.

The owner of the bed was restlessly spinning her chair, Downy sitting on her lap. Then suddenly she stopped to gaze at Mike's drawing.

"What's that....a lion....in...a jungle?" she guessed. "What!" Mike sat straight up on the bed, shouting. "It's obviously a crazy scientist in his wrecked lab!"

"Hmm...maybe I should give you some tips." Jael said cautiously.

"Yeah, but maybe later," Mike stood up and pressed his ear to the door. "It sounds like Mom's finished moving the whole room downstairs. I think she's gonna check on us soon enough."

"Hey!" suddenly, Jael leaped up from her chair. Downy tumbled off her lap and rolled across the floor. Jael scooped the ferret up.

"What is it? Don't tell me we have to escape through the window again. Please! I really don't want to go along with your insane plans!" Mike wailed. Jael gave him a funny look. "We don't. No need to squeal like an injured pig." she snapped. Jael quickly filled him in about her plans.

"And that's it. Any complaints?" she concluded.

"No. But I'm gonna give up. Maybe I should be an athlete as Mom likes me to. I heard that good athletes make a lot of money." Mike looked deflated.

Jael threw herself face-down on her bed. "This is hopeless, totally hopeless! We'll never get what we want!" she cried.

"Now, no need to squeal like an injured pig," said Mike a little jokingly. "Hey, that's my line. But go on," Jael said, turning to face the ceiling.

"You've got a persistent mind. You can probably figure out how to become a fencer, as you wish, but without me."

"But even if I change Mom's mind, I'll be the worst fencer ever in the whole wide world. I'll not even make a single team. And Mike, I don't think you will enjoy reviewing your life in heaven when you become an athlete," said Jael blankly.

"I know. But you just saw that my painting stinks─enough for you to recognize a crazy scientist as a lion!" Mike cried. Jael wanted to change the subject.

"Hey, do you want to go to the river for a while? I heard that turtle and frog eggs hatched there few day ago, let's see them." she suggested.

"Ooh, creepy. But if you say, sis..." Mike turned the doorknob, but it refused to move.

"Hey! What's wrong with-" his words trailed off as he turned the doorknob in every direction. It wasn't long before the twins figured out that the doorknob was stuck, and they were trapped.

"Way to go, dear doorknob for taring apart our last strand of hope!" Jael cried, annoyed. Anger bubbled hot inside her, and she twisted and pulled the sore doorknob until it dangled loose on its place.

"And now you bullies the doorknob! I'd be thrilled to see it helps us get out," said Mike sarcastically. Jael gritted her teeth and stalked away from the door. A moment later, she was doing what she'd done five minutes ago─lying face-down on her bed with her face on her pillow.

"Stop talking. Talking in a locked-up place like this uses up the air, don't you know?" called out Jael in a muffled voice because of her pillow.

"Then open the window," Mike said, pulling downy from between the books. Jael did as she was told. Opening the window wouldn't make the situation worser, it couldn't.

'Or maybe it could!' though Jael, rattled as she saw gusts of wind carried dusts and sand through the tree branches. They shook violently, and the fallen leaves were great addition to the rushing wind flashing past her house. The sky was still blue, but Jael could see only glimpses of blue through the dusty air.

She cried, "Gosh, Mike, come and look, the wind is howling like a famished wolf!"

Right away, her brother came running toward the window. "Whoa! There's got to be a blizzard!" he cried.

"A blizzard?" Jael echoed. "But it's March!"

Mike shrugged. "It's still cold. Anyway, we've got to tell Mom."

"Mike, I told you we won't have to escape through a window again," cried Jael.

"So what?"

"I think we'll eventually have to do that during the worst."

Mike looked horror-stricken. "Do we really have no other choice?" he asked desperately.

"Maybe...maybe I can break the locking equipment and get through!" Jael's eyes lit up. Just in case Mike asks something discouraging, cracking her knuckles, she added,

"I'm sure I can break through. After all, that worser thing can happen when I fail?"