Flash Entries

Andrew's Decoration's (ID# 1730829)

Andrew's Decoration

“Andrew, please?” she batted those beautiful azure eyes at him and he melted.
“Oh, alright, let’s go to Lowe’s and see what they have on sale to decorate the house. You’ve done such a great job in the house; I guess I’ll take on the outside.”
Trips to four different Lowe’s, three Home Depots, and two Lighting Warehouses and a Peppermint Forest, he finally thought he had everything that he needed.
Angela regretted that her wish for a wreath and some lights for around the front door had exploded into this. Their neighbors that normally didn’t even have a flower or decoration anywhere had turned into the Anti-Grinch and lit up every inch of everything on their property.
Andrew drew out plans. His designs would beat the rest. He’d win the honored Yard of the Month trophy for December. He started his décor up on the roof of their bungalow. The dormers were a cinch to complete.
“Andrew, come on down. That’s enough decoration up there.”
Andrew yelled down, “I’m almost done.” Then he started bringing up Santa and his team of reindeers. He anchored them between the dormers.
Angela came out to check the progress. “That looks beautiful. Come on down, it’s starting to get cold.Oh yeah, I've started dinner, it will be done in 15 minutes.”
Andrew yelled down, “Just a couple of things to finish up.” He pulled up the candy cane North Pole light and anchored it to the chimney, after all Santa would be at the North Pole now.
Andrew worked diligently up on the roof for hours. He was determined to have the best decorated house on the block.
Angela came back and yelled up to Andrew, “You’d better come in it’s getting too cold, supper is ready anyway.”
“I’ll be right down, just one more thing to do up here.”
“Alright,” and she slammed the door.
Andrew started working on the icicle lights on the overhang, his last project for the roof. After he strung the last set of lights he started checking the connections to the maze of extension cords that lined roof. He worked his way back up to the chimney to where he had the transformer all set up and ready to go. Now he thought, all that’s left is to see if it really works. He walked over to where he’d left the ladder. It wasn’t there.
Dusk was setting in, and the long winter’s night would be arriving soon. Andrew couldn’t see the ladder. He thought maybe he was mistaken; he’d left it on the other side of the roof. He climbed back up to the chimney and started toward the back side of the house. Andrew slipped, grabbed the candy cane, and ripped it from its anchor. He slid down the steep pitch of the roof with the candy cane in hand. He hooked the gutter with the candy cane as he flew toward the ground and ended up dangling from the roof.
Andrew knew that he was still too far from the ground to safely let go and drop. He started yelling for all his might. He knew that his feet would be visible from the kitchen window. He hoped and prayed that Angela was close by and could hear him, almost as much as he prayed that his neighbors wouldn’t see him dangling there.
Angela fumed in the den. She’d spent hours on dinner, and now it was ruined, all because he went overboard on those silly decorations. She cranked the Christmas music up, started a fire, poured herself a second glass of wine and snuggled down with her book.
Minutes seemed like hours for poor Andrew. He held on with all of his might, but his arms were giving out. He was freezing cold, it was dark, windy and it was starting to sleet and rain. He tried pulling himself up the candy cane, but it was too slick. He tried throwing his foot up to the gutter, but all he accomplished was creating a humorous scene for the neighborhood cats. He debated dropping down to the ground and breaking a limb, or sticking it out a little bit longer.
Angela looked up from her book and realized it was really getting dark outside and Andrew still hadn’t come in. She got up and went to the front of the house. She opened the door, to see feet swinging in the air. Angela screamed and ran over to the dangling limbs and grabbed them. Andrew wanted nothing more than to have those arms around his neck, not his legs.
“Angela, get the ladder.”
Angela didn’t know if it was safe to let Andrew go or not. She reluctantly left her husband and went to retrieve the ladder that had fallen when she slammed the door. She braced the ladder next to Andrew’s hook. She watched him grab hold and slowly but surely climb down to safety. Naturally by that time, the neighbors were taking their dogs for their nightly walks, so they got in on the scene, too.
A couple of weeks later at the neighborhood Christmas party, Andrew did get his trophy. Not for the best decorated house, like he wanted. They'd created a special category with a home-made trophy just for him. A Matchbox Firetruck, with the title "Hook and Ladder Award", complete with the video from the biggest Anti-Grinch that lived across the street.