On a Dark and Stormy Night – Read and Print

By Rachel Dunstan Muller, copyright 2022

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It was a dark and stormy night – the kind of night when most children are tucked into their beds, with their heads on their pillows, and the covers pulled right to their chins.

But not Jeremiah.

Oh, no; Jeremiah wasn’t in his bed. Jeremiah, who lived in the house on the hill, with his mother, and his cat, Miss Maisy? He was standing at the window, waiting, in his raincoat, and his rainhat and his rainboots.  And Miss Maisy – she was waiting too, perched on the sill beside him.

The wind howled and the rain came down – and still they waited. “Are they almost here?” Jeremiah asked his mother.

“Oh, aye,” said his mother. “Don’t you worry, my wee bairn. Your uncles will be here before you can blink twice.”

And sure enough, even as his mother was speaking, Jeremiah heard a THUMP on the roof. A thump, and a bump, and a bumpety-thump. And a moment later, who had landed in the front garden, but his three favorite uncles: Mack and Jack and Fraser McTavish.

The three burly men looked like fishermen, with their thick beards and their bright yellow rain slickers. But their boat was a great, big washtub – a great, big bucket – and their sea was the stormy sky. And in their hands, they each carried a great, big scrub brush.

“Och, there’s just the lad we were looking for,” said Uncle Mack, as Jeremiah opened the door. “Are ye ready to scrub the sky, my wee man?”

Well, of course Jeremiah was ready! Hadn’t he been waiting by the window, with Miss Maisy right beside him?

“You mind your uncles, now,” said Jeremiah’s mother, as she kissed him on the forehead. “And don’t be leaning too far out of that washtub. We dinna want you tumbling down through the sky!”

And that was that. Jeremiah picked up Miss Maisy in one hand, and his own scrub brush in the other. Then he climbed into the giant washtub beside his uncles.

“Hold on tight, now,” said his Uncle Fraser, as the washtub began to rise. “The wind is right fierce tonight.”

“Aye,” said his Uncle Jack. “It’s a perfect night for scrubbing. The rain will rinse all the cobwebs away.”

Now, let me tell you, it’s hard work cleaning the sky – washing away all the dust, and the grime, and the soot, and the smoke. But Jeremiah and his uncles weren’t afraid of hard work. They started in the east and worked their way west, singing as they went: “Rub a dub-dub, it’s time for a scrub.” As the wind blew and the rain poured down around them, they scrubbed and scraped, washed and polished – until the entire sky was squeaky clean.

Jeremiah and his uncles were just checking to make sure their work was finished, when poor Miss Maisy had an accident. The little cat was only trying to help. But when she leaned out to flick a bit of dust with her front paw – she lost her balance, and out she tumbled, down and down and down through the night. Well of course Jeremiah and his uncles went after her – as fast as the washtub would carry them. But they weren’t quite fast enough. As they watched from above, poor Miss Maisy fell through the air and landed with a huge SPLASH, right in the middle of a duck pond.

Well, that caused quite a commotion, as you can imagine. Despite the stormy weather, the ducks had all been fast asleep, with their heads tucked under their wings. They didn’t like being woken like that. They quacked and quacked and quacked. And Miss Maisy – she wasn’t happy either. The poor soaked kitten meowed and meowed and meowed.

Jeremiah came to her rescue as soon as he could, of course. When the washtub was close enough to reach her, he scooped Miss Maisy out of the water and wrapped her in a warm blanket. Then he held her tight as his three uncles, Mack and Jack and Fraser McTavish, steered the washtub back across the sky towards home.

The rain had stopped falling and the wind had stopped blowing when they reached the house on the hill. And Jeremiah? He was so tired from scrubbing all night, that he needed his Uncle Mack’s help to climb down from the washtub. But as Jeremiah stood on his doorstep and watched the sun peek over the horizon, his chest filled with pride. The pale blue, scrubbed-fresh sky sparkled and shone in the early morning light, like it was the very first day of the world.

“Ah, there you are my wee bairn,” said Jeremiah’s mother. “Here’s a hot cup of chocolate to warm you up, and then it’s time for sleep.”

And so it was that as all the other children in the neighbourhood were rising to start the day, Jeremiah was just settling into bed, with his head on his pillow, and Miss Maisy curled beside him.

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