Kiss and Tell Read Free Page B

showered down.
    Duchess's frantic barking wasn't helping matters. "Shhh, girl. Shhh." The dog wriggled from beneath her but didn't stop her frantic barking.
    After several moments, when no more horrendous sounds ripped through the night, Marnie straightened. Bits of debris drifted off her head and shoulders. She stared uncomprehendingly at the quivering branches of a ponderosa pine poking through a huge gaping hole in the shake roof. Broken branches littered the floor. Heavy raindrops slashed through the opening. Wet branches moaned under the sodden weight, then dripped puddles on the bare wooden floor at her feet.
    The weight sprang the hinges on the front door, which now hung drunkenly, letting in a blast of wind and rain.
    "Oh, wow!" she whispered in a gross understatement.
    Duchess sniffed a branch, looking over her shoulder she let out a puzzled whine.
    "No kidding, Sherlock."
    A small whirlpool swirled pine needles and debris, stirring up the fire in the hearth into a shower of orange and blue sparks.
    The tree dropped another few feet.
    With a loud yelp, Duchess flew through the partially open front door and disappeared into the darkness.
    "Hey," Marnie yelled. "Wait for me!"
    She grabbed up her jacket and put it on, the sleeves of her sweatshirt bunched uncomfortably beneath it. She crammed sketch pad and pencils into her backpack, but there was no time to put on her boots.
    Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.
    The fire flared and sparked as more debris dropped into the room.
    Marnie grabbed the bootlaces in one hand, dug in her backpack, pulled out a bottle of water, and hurriedly doused the fire in the hearth. She left yesterday's damp clothes where they had been drying before the fire. Her problems were more immediate than having only the clothes she stood up in.
    Hurry. Hurry. Hurry.
    The tree creaked ominously then dropped another four feet into the room, effectively blocking the door.
    Nonplussed, she stared at the quaking branches for a second. The tree was huge, the branches thick and widespread.
    She slung her backpack over her shoulders, draped the lightweight sleeping bag around her neck, then grasped the closest branch. With more speed than grace, she clambered partway up the thick branches until she reached the broken window on the far side of the room. The backpack kept snagging on branches, and she had to repeatedly pause to unhook herself, all the while chanting under her breath, "Hurry. Hurry. Hurry."
    It wasn't easy to slide open the sash, which was partially blocked by foliage. By the time she was done, her hands were sticky with pitch from having to break off the small branches in her way, and she was breathing hard.
    Mindful of broken glass, she eased herself gingerly out of the narrow opening. The moment Marnie's stockinged foot touched the ground outside the window, she felt a tug on the hem of her jacket.
    "Gee, thanks for the help, you traitor." Duchess's cold nose nudged her knee, urging her to swing her other leg over the sill. "Yeah, yeah. I'm hurrying. Stop pulling."
    The monster tree dipped farther into the house with a shriek that sounded eerily like a woman's scream. The sound of glass shattering on the other side of the house was followed by a series of pops. Sounding like the score to a chain-saw horror movie, bark scraped across wood in the tree's long, slow descent.
    Duchess grabbed the sleeve of her mistress's jacket in her mouth and started pulling again. Hopping on one foot to regain her balance, Marnie was only too happy to follow. In seconds the rain plastered her hair against her face and pasted her clothing to her body. She managed to zip her jacket and push her hair out of her eyes before she felt far enough away to pause and tug on hiking boots over wet, muddy socks. "Ugh!"
    Duchess nudged her arm, almost knocking her over into the mud. "You could have waited for me. I was right behind you, you know."
    God, her heart was racing. She'd never been so happy to see her dog in her