Down came the rain and...I panicked

You know how it is. You put away your winter coat, finally, and the next day it snows. So three times this winter, Mom and Dad put away my crate, sized XL, wanting a more streamlined look to our living room, they said. Like, so sorry that my comfort gets in the way of your design preferences!

Well, they received their comeuppance. Each time, thunderstorms wreaked havoc on our sweet home environment that very night!

Just last week, they put the crate away again. Now, while it didn't storm that night, Mr. Smoke Detector did become riled up, beeping and screaming his "Evacuate! Evacuate!" alerts. At 2 a.m., of course, creating not only a panic attack on my part but great grumbling from the parental units. Had they changed the batteries on time, they could have avoided the whole thing. But no.

Inevitably, then, the rain came tonight, with thunderstorms predicted before 5 a.m. Not wanting a repeat, because she was the one who had to get a stepladder and change the batteries, with me whining and shaking the whole time, and it being 2 a.m. and all, Mom insisted on bringing up the crate from the basement. Dad, Mr. Too Much Trouble, was the naysayer. Just to make a point, I'm refusing to get into it.