Oh, it's you. I was talking to myself while waiting. I'm in my basement right now, you see.



You're wondering what I am doing here? Well, you could say I'm on a mission. I'm actually treasure hunting down here.

You want to know what kind of treasure I'm looking for? Oh, it's not really a treasure like a bag of gold or something like that. I'm looking for creatures in my flooded basement.

You seem perplexed. Let me explain.

I live in a place where after the summer it rains, and it rains a lot. Your fall season is my storm season, and believe me - when the rain comes, it falls as if it is never going to stop.

A few summers ago, it rained very hard and the rain lasted an entire week. I live on a street that never gets flooded. The basement in my house is lower than ground level, but normally it doesn't get wet even if it rains hard. What we - my family that is - did not know was that there was a broken window in the basement and the water from outside could flow inside. After the rains stopped, my mom sent me down there to get something; I think it was an old blanket, which she wanted to use as a rag.

So I went down, and what greeted me was a flooded basement. That was all right; I didn't mind sloshing around in my rain boots and mom's rubber gloves. While exploring the flooded basement for mom's old blanket, I heard a sound. It was so faint I thought it came from outside. In one of the dry corners away from the window, a cat had made a makeshift bed with the blanket, on which she had given birth to four little kittens.

We adopted the cat and her kittens, took them to the vet to make sure they were safe and healthy, and took care of them until the kittens grew up to be as big as their mom - cuddly with caramel and white striped fur.

From then on, every summer I would go hunting in the flooded basement, which I considered my own little escape from chores.

Since that year when I found the kittens, nothing has ever visited the flooded basement, though. I would hang out there for hours, or make frequent hunting trips to the flooded basement after school. Nothing. But that didn't discourage me; I thought that if I were patient enough, one day I'd discover something either really nice, or very strange. I happen to like strange and unusual things.

This year, I'm on my hunting trip again. Right now there's a very strong storm here. Dad has since had the broken window fixed, but I've opened it just in case some creature wants to come in and take shelter from the rain. A flooded basement is better than getting wet in the rain, I think. At least in here, they - whoever they are - can find a nice, warm corner and make a bed. I've brought an old blanket of mine down here too in case they need one.

Wait! I hear a sound, shhhh!

It's just my brother. He came down here to join me in the hunt.

What? You think this flooded basement might not be safe? Oh, don't worry. It's actually very clean, because we use this as our indoor playground every day. This place is actually cleaner than our tool closet in the small kitchen where we keep the cleaning stuff.

Oh, I hear my mom's voice. It's time for bed. I had better go; I'll come back tomorrow. Maybe I'll find another cat here. Anything but birds.

Why? I hate birds. But that's another story. And it has nothing to do with flooded basements.