“Can’t Penny go with you?”  Jake pleaded as Mom removed a bundle of keys from her purse.

“No, Jake.  A 12-year old like you can care for one little sister for a couple of hours,” Mom said.

I should be helping Dad fix broken windows and clean up wood and shingles in the yard after the storm, Jake thought.  Not babysitting my 4 year old step-sister!

Mom rested her hand on Jake's arm.  “Give her a chance, Jake.”  She winked.  “She looks like you.”

Penny was wearing princess pajamas with frog shaped slippers.  “She’s a girl,” Jake said.

Mom sighed.  “I’ll be home before bedtime.  Tell Penny a story, okay?”  She opened the front door and looked at the sky.  “And stay inside.  It’s raining.”  Mom frowned as thunder rumbled in the distance.  “Call me if you need me,” she said.  The door closed.

Jake stared at Penny.  When they played catch, Penny planted her feet, raised her arms – and the ball hit her!  When Penny ran, her arms flapped like a bird’s wings.  And she still couldn’t ride a bike!  Jake shook his head.

Thunder rumbled as rain pebbled the windows.  This is just how the storm started that did so much damage to Dad’s house, Jake thought.  The hair on his arms stood up. 

“What’s that noise, Jake?” said Penny.

The inside lights flickered and went out.  Jake found Penny in the shadows and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  “It’s just a thunderstorm,” he said.

Small white stones tapped the window panes.

“What’s that?” said Penny.  She leaned close to Jake.

“Hail,” said Jake.  Penny trembled.  She’s more scared than I am, he thought.

“Make hail go away!” said Penny.

Jake’s heart pounded as lightening brightened the room.  “Let’s play a game.  We'll crawl under Mom’s desk and pretend we’re hibernating bears!”

They squeezed under the desk.  “Hear that thunder?” said Jake.  “That’s a grizzly bear.  He's 10 feet tall and weighs 600 pounds.  Before hibernating for the winter, his three grizzly bear daughters ate a ton of fish.”  Jake took a deep breath, swallowed and burped.  “See what happens when you eat too much at bedtime?”

Penny giggled and laid her head on Jake’s shoulder.

Sitting close to Penny made Jake feel calmer.  Thunder rumbled.  “The girls climbed out of bed,” he said.  “Hear Dad growl?  He’s saying, ‘Go back to sleep, you naughty girls!  Can’t you see that I’m hibernating?!’”  Jake heard the tap, tap, tap of hail spit against the house.  “Listen to them dance their way back to bed!”

Penny’s head bobbed against Jake’s shoulder.  She’s sleeping!  Jake thought.  He placed his palm on Penny’s four-year-old sized hand.  Maybe she does look a little like me – even if she is a girl, Jake thought.

Thunder muttered faintly as the storm moved away.  Rain rinsed the windows and the lights blinked on.  Penny snuggled close to Jake.

The pond will be full tomorrow, Jake thought.  Maybe I’ll show Penny how to catch frogs.