44 Cherry Street continues:
Lorraine woke up with a start on Wednesday night when a loud clap of thunder rattled the windows of 44 Cherry Street. Rain was pounding on the roof so hard Lorraine was afraid it would cave in on her and Frederick, asleep in their small bedroom. Frederick was a sound sleeper and didn’t stir even though the thunder boomed as if it hit something right outside the house. Lorraine slid out of bed and peered through the window just to make sure there hadn’t been a fire or an explosion on Cherry Street.
Her heart was pounding and so sleep was impossible. She tiptoed to the kitchen to fix some chamomile tea. As she waited for the water to boil, she caught a scent of something nasty, and she sniffed around the apartment looking for something dead. Suki hadn’t rolled in something, She found nothing unusual and so stepped out into the hall and was overwhelmed with the stench of something rotting. What could it be?
It could only be Sauce Quaatch, her new neighbor. Sure he had been disgusting when he first moved in, but she and Frederick had taken him in hand. Joe at the barber shop had ruined several razors hacking his way through Sauce’s beard, and had used a garden rake in place of a comb to style Sauce’s hair. Lorraine had bought him some lye soap and Frederick had instructed Sauce on the use of the newly tiled shower in his apartment. The couple patted themselves on their backs and considered their good deed done.What had happened?
Even though it was the middle of the night, Lorraine couldn’t restrain herself and marched downstairs and pounded on the door of Sauce’s apartment. After a long pause, the door opened and Lorraine was confronted by a hairy mess. “Wuzzup?” he muttered, unsurprised at his midnight visitor. His hair had grown back everywhere and there were twigs and leaves caught in the tangle. Lorraine almost fainted from his smell.
“What happened to you, Sauce?” Lorraine demanded. “You looked so good and we gave you some nice soap. Did you forget how to work the shower?”
Sauce scratched his head and several moths flew out and circled up to the light in the vestibule. “Not forget. Soap you gave me too strong. Made me itch all over. Had to go outside and roll on the forest floor so stop itching. Sauce wants good smelling soap from Chifferobe. Soap you gave smells like monkey butt. Sauce needs shea butter to stop itching. Now go!”
