Supper was spooky, like a Hallowe’en party. There were candles in tall hurricane lamps, and none of the food was hot. The wind howled and rattled at the windows, and the rain beat at the panes and trickled in between the sash and the sill. Whenever the lightning would brighten the sky they would run to the windows to watch the lake.
The raft leaped at its anchor like a frightened horse. Janie pulled her knees up under her chin and hugged her legs.
“I’m glad Daddy isn’t here tonight,” she said. “He always feels sorry for the raft when it’s left out there in the lake all alone during a storm.”
“Humpf,” said Grandma, as she kept right on with her knitting. “What does he want us to do? Bring it right up here on the porch with us?”
Janie giggled, but Billy looked suddenly serious. The rabbits, he thought. How were they? Supposing they were wet and cold? He glanced at Mom, but changed his mind without speaking. She wouldn’t let him go out on a night like this.
He fidgeted for a while and then got up and went into the middle bedroom. Without a flashlight it was almost impossible to find anything in the clothes closet, but by rummaging around for a while he managed to find an old leather jacket and a base ball cap. He carefully opened the window and loosened the screen and then dropped down to the terrace.
The wind grabbed him by the shoulders and twirled him around and the rain drenched him. The window had to be closed again and the screen pushed back into place before he started for the back yard.
Crouching like a prize fighter, he fought his way, step by step, up through the rock garden. Small branches and leaves were whirling along through the air, and one branch whacked him on the head as it dropped to the ground. Just as he reached the gate there came a flash of brilliant lightning that for a moment made everything seem like day. The winding black-top road looked like a rushing river, and all the trees and bushes were bent over pointing in the direction of the storm. Then it was dark again, and he started in the direction of the little cottage. The garage was just forty feet beyond, but it was so dark it seemed much farther, and just as he got there he slipped and fell full length in the grass. The force of the driving rain seemed to pin him down, and half crawling, stumbling and slipping, he made his way to the rabbit hutch. The chicken wire wall guided him to the shelter. Just then there was another flash of lightning and he saw that the canvas flap had blown off in the wind. He reached inside, and there were the little rabbits huddled together. They were soaking wet, and their hearts were thumping in fright.
“I’ll take you down to the cottage and get you warm and dry again.”
He opened the front of his jacket and tucked them inside. They snuggled up close, and he walked carefully so as not to fall and hurt them. By being very careful to watch every step, he got as far as the road, but the gutter was his downfall. Slip! Splash! Down went Billy, Blackie and Queen. The breath was almost knocked out of him, but the rabbits were safe.