Cyndi: I haven't napped in two hours and yet I can't get to sleep, Marcus. You're a guy with stories. Tell me a bedtime one, please.
Marcus: Okay. It was a semi-dark and overcast, and drizzly morning yesterday. Jan was fixing our breakfast when she heard the faint but clear sound of popcorn popping. She checked the microwave, even pulled the plug. It wasn't the toaster; the coffeepot wasn't dripping, neither was the tea kettle. It had to be the gas stove. You know about a gas stove, Cyndi. If it was leaking, it could go KABOOM!
Cyndi: *leaps into air* I asked for a bedtime story, not a nightmare!
Marcus: Jan moved everything including the metal burners from the old stove and lifted the top. Wow, was it crumby in there! She stopped investigating to do some cleanup.
Cyndi: Is she crazy? She stopped searching for the source to clean under the stove top? What if the popping corn had exploded?
Marcus: You know how easily Jan is distracted.
She started pulling things away from the wall. She rolled away the plastic drawers and then the microwave cart.
Cyndi: Let me guess. She grabbed a broom and started sweeping back there!
Marcus: No. She looked behind the cabinet and stove. The area was dry and there was no sign of popping corn.
Cyndi: I know! Mama mouse was in the wall popping corn while her little ones watched mini TV.
Marcus: Stop interrupting me. You know if there were mice, all of you cats would have been back there trying to punch a hole in the wall.
Jan glanced out the window.. Raindrops were bouncing off the igloo doghouse near the window in time to the popping corn. Relieved, she moved everything back where it belonged.
Cyndi: And then she finished fixing our breakfast?
Marcus: Not yet. Jan got to wondering why that igloo had been near the house for several years but it had never popped corn before. It wasn't the igloo. She went back to the window, leaned closer for a better view, and - You'll have to excuse me. I need to go pee. Must be all this talk about rain.
Cyndi: Marcus, come back here! You haven't finished your story.
Marcus: I'm sorry. Jan forgot to come right back to let me inside. Where was I? Oh, yes, Jan leaned closer for a better view and saw the plastic storage bin she had been using to haul leaves to the curb upside down beside the igloo and the raindrops falling from the roof onto it did sound like popping corn. The mystery was solved.
While Jan had been dawdling, Rusty had calmly munched half of Merci's kibble. Jan refilled Merci's bowl and finally served us all breakfast.
There, now you can go to sleep.
Cyndi: How? I'm wide awake after your bedtime story..
Marcus: Would you like me to tell you another one?
Cyndi: Are you kidding!
