Big Easy, Small Difficult

It was a weeknight in mid-December, and I was crouched on the top step of the stairs with my laptop, trying to work, when my brother called to discuss Christmas presents for my parents. I was in a mood and he could tell. He asked what was wrong.

“There’s a tornado warning and they say the safest place in your house is in a central, enclosed area away from any windows, like the staircase, but the fleas are back so I can’t actually go downstairs, so I’m just huddled here trying to work.”