“Dad, what are you doing? The avalanche is coming soon! Why aren’t you evacuating?!” I asked frantically.
Mayor Thompson slowly eyed me, then turned to her father. “Is this your son–in–law? He looks decent enough, but his character
seems. questionable. Tricking everyone with such a tale?”
Her father walked over, then lifted his leg and viciously kicked my shin. “Alex! You’re an adult! How can you make up such outrage ous lies? If I hadn’t called Elara, I might actually have believed your nonsense and put the whole town through pointless panic! Ima- gine the gossip that would have spread about us!”
3
10.06 )
They didn’t believe me either!
I opened my mouth to say something, but my phone suddenly rang. It was Elara! I answered, desperate.
“Elara, quick, tell your dad! Willow Creek is really going to have an avalanche! You need to get-”
She cut me off coldly. “Alex, have you lost your mind? Chris and I are just on a trip; why are you being so dramatic?”
Chris chimed in, fanning the flames. “Yeah, buddy,” he drawled. “If you keep this up, Elara’s just going to despise you even more.”
Elara threatened me. “That’s enough! Otherwise, I really will divorce you, and then you can prepare to leave with nothing!”
With that, she hung up.
I had put the call on speaker, to make it easier for Elara and her father to talk. Elara’s father, having heard the whole exchange,
glared at me. “What in the world is going on between you two? You’re talking about divorce?”
desperately wanted to explain. But this was no time for explanations. I turned to Mayor Thompson.
“Mayor Thompson, I am an engineer from the National Catastrophe Alert Center. Due to Category Eight winds, Willow Creek will
experience an avalanche. I have accurately predicted it will begin at eleven PM tonight, and its danger level is Category Five. This
entire area will be buried under snow. Please, you must believe me!”
