One of the Guys

Chapter 6

Chapter 6.0: Rainy Day

It did rain the next day.  I had completely forgotten about Ogie and Cullen’s little race until I woke up the next morning and heard the sound of rain pattering at the roof above me.  I let out a happy sigh and lazily got out of bed, and went into the living room to look outside at the nasty (but beautiful, in my eyes) weather.

It really was nasty.  It was gray and the rain was coming down in small, hard drops.  I watched the canal ripple from the many little drops and thought to myself, at least the water will get higher.

I knew Cullen, though.  Maybe he had already forgotten about this whole little racing idea.  He was flaky, after all.

But, whether Cullen remembered or not, there would not be a race as long as the rain was pouring down.

After I got dressed and ready for the day, however, I just glanced outside and then stopped in my tracks, after taking a double-take.  Cullen and Ogie were over on Ogie’s dock, on either side of Ogie’s jet-ski, looking at something or other.  Squinting, I realized that Cullen was crouched down, toying around with something on the jet-ski’s motor.  Ogie was leaning over from the other side, watching Cullen’s actions.

Quickly, I darted back to my room and grabbed a sweatshirt, which I quickly pulled over my head.  I yanked the hood up, tying it tightly into a bow, not caring how ridiculous it looked, and slid on my flip-flops, and out the door I went.

“What are you guys doing?” I cried out into the warm, moist air.

Ogie instantly looked over at me, but Cullen’s head was still in the motor area of the jet-ski. 

“Oh hey!” Ogie greeted, waving to me.

It was then that Cullen’s head emerged, and he turned to face me, and said, “Wait, Ronald, go grab my toolbox from my garage.  It’s unlocked!”

“Oh, okay!” I said, stopping in the wet grass.  I turned around and darted off back across my yard, and into Cullen’s.  The door to the garage was indeed unlocked, and I allowed myself in.  I spotted Cullen’s toolbox lying carelessly on the ground, so I grabbed it, and darted back out into the rain, and back across Cullen’s yard, followed by my yard, and finally into Ogie’s.

“What’s going on?” I asked, completely out of breath as I handed the toolbox over to Ogie.

“We’re souping up the ‘ski,” Cullen said, his head back into the jet-ski’s front.

“For what?” I naively asked.

“The race!” came Ogie’s strangely excited chirp.

The race. 

“What?” I cried.  “In the rain?”

“Ronald,” Cullen said, now facing me, “we can’t lose a day because some water has decided to fall from the sky.”  He held out his hand to Ogie then, and said, “Pliers.”

Ogie smiled at me as if to silently agree with Cullen, and he pulled out the pliers from the toolbox I had just brought over.

I let out a sigh then, and jumped onto the jet-ski with them, and peeked in the working area.

“Do you guys even know what you’re doing?” I questioned.

“Of course not,” came Cullen’s reply, along with a smirk.  “But we’re not really doing anything.  Just making sure everything’s tight and ready to go.  Last night we took a little trip over to the other side and had a glance at Bradley’s jet-ski.  We’ll be able to take his without a problem.”