Chris Cottom

Listen to Chris read his story here

After tea, Dad pushes his plate aside. ‘I’ve been promoted. It means bringing work home.’

Mum stops in the doorway, dishes in her hands. ‘Hang on. You’re a meteorologist.’ 

‘Senior meteorologist,’ he says, opening his briefcase to release a cumulonimbus.

I stand up. ‘I’m going to have a shower.’

‘Heavy or light?’ 

~

Soon they’re all at it. Very keepy-uppy, the dads in our cul-de-sac. Petronella’s is a shepherd and fences off the mini roundabout for his North Country Cheviots. Kara’s is a choreographer and holds Nutcracker rehearsals on their patio. Fortunately, when the phlebotomist has an overflow, Dad’s able to bring back a flash flood in his lunchbox. 

~

The grumbling starts when, next door at number seven, the prison governor packs his shed with bad boys. After the seismologist’s fissure threatens the turning circle, the mums call a meeting in what remains of the road. 

‘Enough is enough!’ they shout.

‘Enough is a relative concept,’ says the philosopher from forty-two. ‘I’ve got some spare in my garage.’

~

As Mum mithers Dad about drizzle in the dining room, I wonder why he can’t simply buzz his power tools every weekend like a normal father. I worry that the grumbling mums will get fed up with ever-variable weather and we’ll have to move, that tomorrow’s street party will be our last.

~

In the morning the sky is school-skirt grey. Dad hands me a bag. ‘Can you hold this while I fetch the ladder? No peeping.’ 

Petronella’s dad has promised sheep shearing, Kara’s a pas de deux.

Of course I peep; at what I realise will make it the best street party ever.

Orange and yellow … green and blue … indigo and violet …

This piece was previously published by The Plaza Prizes Anthology 2

Chris Cottom lives near Macclesfield, UK. His work features in 100 Word Story, Fictive Dream, FlashFlood, Flash Frontier, Gooseberry Pie, Leon Literary Review, MoonPark Review, NFFD NZ, Oyster River Pages, Roi Fainéant, The Lascaux Review, and elsewhere. Find him at chriscottom.wixsite.com/chriscottom