Plastered

“Please! Please!” Mom begged. “I’ll only be gone for fifteen minutes. Can you two girls try and behave? And husk the corn for supper?!”

I smiled and nodded. “Of course!” I looked at Sally.

Who was gazing out the back window.

“Sally?”

She turned toward us. “Hmmm?”

“Did you hear what Mom said?”

Sally squinched her eyes up thoughtfully. “Ummm . . .”

Mom sighed. “I asked you two girls to behave. I’ll only be gone fifteen minutes.”

“Oh, that! Yeah. Sure.” Sally shrugged and turned back toward the window.

“Okay, then,” Mom said uncertainly. She started toward the door, her eyes on her youngest daughter. “I’ll be right back.”

“Bye Mom!” I said cheerfully, waving. “See you soon!”

“Yeah.” She was still watching Sally as she slowly pulled the front door shut.

Sally leaped to her feet. “Come on!” she shouted, grabbing me by the ear.

I got up hurriedly. “Come where?”

“We only have fifteen minutes!”

“Ummm . . . what are we going to do?”

“We’re going sledding!”

I looked outside at the sweltering August afternoon. Heat was rising in waves above the houses across the street. A small sprinkler, looking like an afterthought in the eerie quiet, struggled mightily to moisten a corner of Mrs. Casper’s lawn.

It was so hot that even the vast army of neighbourhood children had taken refuge indoors. The uncommonly still street closely resembled a scene out of The Walking Dead.

I know because it’s my favourite show.

Sally released my ear and disappeared up the stairs. “Come on! I saw this on YouTube! It’ll be wonderful!”

I followed slowly. You have to know that Sally’s idea of ‘wonderful’ seldom meshes with mine. “But we were supposed to husk the corn,” I said without much force. I looked at the six little cobs stacked neatly on one end of the table. “Sally?”

I climbed the bottom two stairs and gained the lower landing. 
“Look out below!”

I had a brief glimpse of my sister perched at the top, seated on a magic carpet.

Without hesitating, I leaped away in one quick movement. I’ve been Sally’s sister for fifteen years. Out of necessity, the reflexes are pretty good.

“Yahoo!” I could hear the thump, thump, thump as Sally gained momentum on the thick carpet.

By the way, I should probably mention here that our stairway is not open to the world. It has walls on two sides, and ends at a landing and a third wall, with two extra steps leading down to the right and left. When descending, one must, of necessity, turn 90 degrees to avoid contact with that third wall.

I really don’t think Sally was anticipating this.

There was a loud bang.

Followed by a muffled screeching.

As there seemed to be no further movement, I ventured forward.

How can I describe this? Sally had made the descent without incident. But . . . who was it who said ‘It’s not the fall that kills you, but the sudden stop at the bottom’? Unable to make that last turn, Sally managed to hit the wall in such a fashion that her head went right through the plaster. 
There was some good news. She somehow managed to miss any of the wall studs that must lie somewhere behind the drywall.

But my errant sister was neck-deep in it. So to speak.

At first, I was understandably alarmed. But as she continued to screech, my fears soon evaporated. No one could make that much noise while mortally injured.

I hurried to her side and put my hands on her shoulders. “Hold still!” I shouted. “Here. I’ll get you out!” Say what you will about Sally, she knows when she needs help. She grew quiet.

It took some maneuvering, but we finally managed to pull her head out, whilst ensuring it was still attached to the rest of her.

Sally blinked plaster out of her eyes and grinned at me. “That was fun!”

And that’s when we both heard the front door open.

“Hello?” Mom’s voice. From the vantage point of the front door, nothing of what had just taken place was visible. I so wished it could remain thus.

I peeked around the corner and our eyes met.

Mom’s hopeful expression vanished like a wisp of smoke. “What happened?”

Sally stuck her thickly-powdered head around the wall. “Hi, Mom!” she said brightly. “You’ll never guess what I did!”

Each month, we of Karen's crew volunteer words to the collective.

And receive words back.

It's a wonderful, challenging, fun prompt!

This month, my words were: 
by the way ~ this ~ wonderful ~ ear ~ cob

And were given to me by my good friend Jules at The Bergham Chronicles

 There are quite a few of us involved in the challenge!
Care to see what my friends have crafted?
Baking In A Tornado 

The Bergham Chronicles
Southern Belle Charm
The Blogging 911
Cognitive Script
Part-Time Working Hockey Mom
My Brand of Crazy
Climaxed