Story by Lin Stone Noah was always ahead of his times by a good two hundred years. Consequently, he was always ready for things before they happened. For example: it was long before the rains came when Noah bought his first Flood Insurance Policy! Just a little bit before the ink was dry on that first insurance policy the mayor of Plainsville came up and stood before the ark to castigate the owners for making a laughing-stock of the whole town. He finished with a dire warning: "And furthermore, Mr. and Mrs. Noah, if your water bill isn't paid up by the 15th of this month we are going to cut your water off and leave you stranded up here high and dry." Mrs. Noah's personal memoirs record that she invented the world's first yard sale to raise enough money to get their water turned back on again. The sale attracted far more investigators than ever been seen before at Noah's little backwater church. About the only thing that didn't sell before noon was her latest invention, the umbrella. The money came just in time. As Noah topped off the last water tank with fresh water the snails, looking tired, thirsty, hot and dirty under their Raggedy-Ann parasols, were marching their way in!
The doors to the ark were ready to be shut when there was a confrontation. "Not before I go down to city hall," Mrs. Noah insisted righteously as she shoved her way through the doors. "I'm not going to have them saying we skipped town without paying our water bill off first!" |
