Emilia took another few moments to gaze at her property from the front step.
Even at this hour of the morning, the neighborhood was largely inactive. A great deal of fall activities were happening downtown and most of the neighbors had gone in that direction. Emilia appeared to be the only one still in the neighborhood.
And that was what she preferred.
After a hectic few weeks, she finally had a chance to have some peace and quiet. No loud shouts from the neighborhood kids, no lawnmowers roaring. Her daughter, Kay, was away at school, so Emilia finally had the house to herself. While she loved her daughter, it was admittedly hard to find moments to herself, especially when the prospect loomed around every corner of her daughter ambushing her and tickling her senseless. This was Emilia's first chance at a peaceful morning.
And it was already off to a rough start.
A sleepless night, followed by a call from the office for a trivial matter at 5 a.m. and now......even finding her morning paper was proving to be a hassle. She knew the paperboy had been by. She'd heard the sound of the bell on his bicycle. Yet somehow, as her eyes scanned her lush green lawn and driveway, the paper was nowhere to be found.
Then she spotted it.
High in the branches of the lone tree in the front yard. And of course there was no one else around to help her. If she wanted to get the paper, she'd have to do it herself.
Heaving a frustrated sigh, Emilia stomped across the yard towards the tree.
Then, another misfortune struck. A thick mud puddle in the yard, a remnant from last night's rain. The thick, frigid water soaked through her slippers. Emilia hopped out of the muck, but the damage was done. Now her feet were wrapped in a damp, freezing cold cloth. Uttering another frustrated groan, she removed the slippers, carrying them beneath her arm, while stomping across the rest of her yard barefoot.
At the foot of the tree, Emilia looked up at the branch where the newspaper had landed. It wasn't AS high up as she thought, but it would still require some effort to shake down. On her tiptoes, Emilia was able to barely grasp the branch with both hands and started to shuffle across the branch.
Then another misfortune. The bottom of her bathrobe caught and Emilia heard a loud rip. There a nice large tear in her expensive robe.
Uttering an exasperated scream, Emilia dropped to the ground again, removed her robe and hurled it to the ground. Now left in her long sleeve flannel pajamas, Emilia once more grabbed the branch and shuffled across towards the newspaper that lay in a cluster of leaves at the end of the branch.
Once she had shuffled within a few yards of it, she began to shake the branch to try and get the paper loose. It successfully shifted a few inches, but ultimately it would not fall to the ground.
Emilia tried to drop to the ground..........but found somehow both her wrists were caught. A few knots in the branch had caught the sleeves of her pajama top. Now Emilia was worried if she made a sudden move down, her pajama top would tear as well.
Exhausted and frustrated, Emilia took stock of her unfortunate situation. She dangled like a kid on the monkey bars in her pajamas from the tree, slippers and robe ruined and no closer to getting her paper.
"How could this get worse?" she wondered.
Then, suddenly, she................................
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