Morpethroad

 As it had been raining for the past week, Lester had decided that enough was enough.

After all, the rain prevented him from going outside, and it was outside that Lester liked to be. He was an optimist, and he believed in positive thinking, which his mum always told him was the way to end the rain and hence allow him outside.

As it was with the rain pouring down and showing no sign of letting up, his mother had confined him to his room and the dining room so as not to take any chances.

She told Lester he had a weak chest, whatever that meant, and was forever hovering around making sure he was doing what she asked.

It was the Tuesday morning when she found him, curled up in the corner of his room chanting over and over: “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.”

“Lester,” his mother explained, “the rain will go away; we have to be patient for it to happen.”

But Lester was having nothing to do with that idea as he was determined to make it go away with positive thought. He then curled himself into an even tighter ball and increased the volume of his chanting.

Outside, the rain pelted down.

Lester stopped eating, stopped drinking and even though spoken to very sternly by his mother and his father, refused to give up on his quest to stop the rain.

His parents grew more and more worried.

They called in the Doctor.

By this stage, Lester had lost weight, was trembling uncontrollably, and his chanting was becoming an incoherent babble.

Still, the rain came down.

The Doctor came quick, quick, and looked Lester over, poked and prodded him, listened to him, sympathized with him about the weather and then declared in his learned ability that Lester had rain fever.

“What do we do?” asked his parents.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” replied the concerned Doctor, “I suggest we admit him to the local insane asylum; they are well equipped to deal with cases such as Lester.”

“But it’s a place for mad women. Are you saying Lester is mad?” asked his mother.

“I’m afraid so,” replied the Doctor, “I can have men from the asylum here within the hour. I think it is the best course of action. There’s no telling what lunacy this boy may descend into.”

With that, the Doctor left, leaving the parents even more worried. What will they say about them at the club, they wondered.

Lester was collected, and on the way to the asylum, the rain stopped, and the sun came out.

Lester was delirious with excitement. “I did it,” he exclaimed as the wagon he was in arrived at the asylum.

“You’ll like it here,” said a nurse in a voice that left Lester feeling more unsettled than ever. “We’ll make a woman out of you yet,” she added as she led him through the door.

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2021/04/25/sunday-writing-prompt-april-25-21-define-insanity/