"Why do you always expect everything will end up in a disaster?" asked my wife as I sat in front of the computer, checking on the latest weather update.

"I don't always. I merely plan for the worst and hope for the best. If we're lucky, we end up somewhere in between, hopefully, more in favor of 'best.'"

"The last time a hurricane was heading our way, you put all the lawn furniture away except for the big heavy picnic table. You flipped it over on its head because you were afraid the wind would pick it up and send it headlong through the kitchen window. Nothing happened, did it?"

"No."

"It hardly rained. Am I right?"

"Yes. But disaster does strike. Look at the news after a storm hits. People lose power, or worse yet, a tree falls on their house, putting a massive hole through their roof."

"That's another thing. You were so worried about trees coming down that you had them all removed. Now we don't have any shade near the house."

"I like to prevent and prepare, that's all."

"But it annoys me the way you constantly worry about everything and anything that might happen."

"I can't help it. I'm a hopeless worrywart."

"It's okay to try and prevent a disaster if you can. But there's no use in worrying about every little thing that may or may not happen."

"Ha! The weather report says we're supposed to get over an inch of rain in only one hour."

"That doesn't sound like much."

"No, but it's a lot of rain all at once. We might get a leak somewhere."

"I think you've got a leak in your head!"

"Hey! That was uncalled for."

"I'm sorry," she said and immediately continued complaining about yet another topic. "And there was the time when we were planning on a vacation."

"What about it?"

"You suddenly became obsessed with the idea that someone might break into the house while we were away."

"It happens to people. A lot, I might add."

"Not to us."

"Not yet. But it could."

"But you spent a whole week and a thousand dollars buying and installing security cameras and alarms all over the place. You replaced all the outdoor lighting with new floodlights with motion detectors."

"It was four hundred dollars. And the security cameras came with floodlights."

"You were like a child with a new toy, wanting to see everything that happens at night while we're asleep. And then you had to show me all the videos the next morning - 'Look at the fox that came to our back door! Look at the two raccoons! Look at the deer!' And that was only the first two nights."

"Well, I bet you never knew there was so much wildlife so close to the house."

"Maybe not. But I don't think a fox is going to break into the house and steal our television or the computer no matter how clever he may be."

Story and Cover Illustration Copyright © 2021 by Michael DeFrancesco