“…Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Noah. Happy birthday to you,” chanted Noah’s discordant parents.
“Blow out the candle Noah!” His mother said her voice full of ardency.
Noah blew out the 16 candles on the cake.
It’s a new year, Noah thought to himself, hopefully this one will be better than the last.
“Open your present! Open your present!” Noah’s mom shouted with glee, interrupting his thoughts.
For a preacher she is very animated.
She handed him the expertly wrapped gift, her slender hand shaking with anxiety.
“Oh thanks Mom,” Noah rolled his eyes with obvious sarcasm, “I wonder what this could be?”
Oblivious to the harsh words, his mom bites her lip, almost unable to contain her excitement. “Well, why don’t you open it, dear?”
Noah unwrapped the package and found a Bible.
Noah sighed, Just another to add to the growing pile.
“Don’t you like it dear?” his mom asked gingerly.
She’s probably afraid I won’t like it, Noah thought, but I wouldn’t tell a preacher that.
“Yea, Mom, I love it, thanks. I’ve been needing one anyways, my other one’s getting old.”
Of course, that was a lie. Added up to all the other lies, that makes about 20 million.
Noah’s mom smiled at him, her eyes crinkling. “I knew you would like it! Lets thank God we have enough money to buy these wonderful gifts!” Noah’s mom dropped her head whispering a prayer.
After the prayer Noah’s parents walked over to him and gave him a hug. “We are so proud of you, son!” His dad’s voice shook with gratification.
His mom pressed tighter against him. “We love you so much dear!”

Later at Noah’s friend, Logan’s house, Noah complained to Logan about his parents. “I mean every year they give me the same thing! A Bible! For goodness sake, at least get me something good, like a baseball!”
“Well Noah I’m sorry,” Logan patted Noah on the back “But your parents have a point.”
“What!?!” Noah screamed, “You’re siding with them? They’re the enemy!”
“I’m sorry Noah, but they’re right. They’re just watching out for…”
“Enough!” Noah yelled standing up, “I’m sick and tired of everybody siding with them!” Noah stormed out of Logan’s house and ran back to his 2 doors down. Running into his room, Noah slammed the door, a picture falling from the wall.
Minutes later Noah heard his parents at the door.
“Dear, are you okay?” Noah saw his mom’s shadow under the door, “we just came to…”
Noah drowned them out with his headphones. His parents knocked louder and Noah turned up the volume. Finally, when the knocking stopped, Noah turned off his music and sighed. He scrutinized The Bible sitting on his dresser, untouched since he had first unwrapped it.
Maybe Logan’s right, Noah pondered, maybe I should give it a shot. It won’t hurt to try.
Noah walked over to the dresser and picked up The Bible, giving attention to it for the first time. It was an old Bible, its leather cover wearing at the edges.
It must have been expensive, Noah thought stroking an intricate drawing of a cross on the front.
Noah brought the book back to his bed and sat down opening it to a random page. He stared down at the page reading the first thing he saw, Genesis 7:12.
Oh, about Noah’s ark, Noah thought to himself, how ironic.
“And the rain was upon the Earth forty days and forty nights,” Noah whispered.
And just when he was about to read the next lines he felt a drop of water hit his head. Noah felt his head, and it was wet. Just as he gazed up water began pouring down from the ceiling.
Noah jumped up, water cascading down on him. The oddly warm water was already up to his knees. Noah started wading into the hallway, almost diving into the water from the weight of it rushing down. When he got to the end of the hallway, the water was up to his chest and still raining down.
Trying not to be pulled under water, Noah searched around for somewhere to take cover. He thought of the attic in the office and tried to swim towards it, but the water kept flowing the opposite way. Putting his hands on one wall and his feet on the other Noah slowly started to crawl on the wall to the office.
The door of the attic had fallen off of the hinges and the doorway was almost covered in water. The only way in was going under the water. Noah looked in the water, shadows moving eerily across the floor, and shivered. Alright, here we go… 1… 2… 3…
Noah plunged into the lukewarm water.
Noah broke the surface of the water gasping for air; his head inches away from the ceiling. Seeing the attic Noah grabbed onto the door, the end of the ladder descending into the water. He started climbing onto the rickety ladder warily. As he was reaching for the top, CRACK, the ladder started breaking. Scrambling for the edge, Noah made the ladder fall deeper into the water. He caught the edge just as the ladder fell all the way in, floating off to who knows where.
Noah climbed into the attic shivering. The air felt freezing compared to the warm water. He shivered in the cold, his favorite Yankee shirt clinging to him, and waited for the nightmare to stop.
Forty minutes later, the flood stopped. It ended suddenly. There one minute, gone the next. Noah stared down in surprise and nearly fell out marveling the miracle. When Noah was done, he realized it was about ten feet to the floor and the ladder was gone.
Oh no, he thought in despair. Noah then scanned the cramped attic for some sort of rope and found it- a coil of thick rope from when he had taken rock climbing lessons. He got the rope and tied one end to the edge of the attic door and the other to him. Then, ever so slowly, Noah descended.
When Noah reached the bottom, he gasped in horror. The whole house was in ravages. He walked all around the house inspecting the devastation. The water line was all the way to the ceiling, and all the furniture was soaked. Noah went into his room hesitantly, scared to see what the flood had left for him. Inside the room everything was soaked. His desk, his signed baseball and glove, his walls…
But where’s the Bible?, Noah thought. He gaped at his bed. There in the middle of it was The Bible; completely dry. Noah went over to it and picked it up, leaving an imprint of the book on the bed. The book was dry, not a single drop of water left on the leather surface. Flabbergasted by this enigma, Noah dropped The Bible on the floor. The sound startled him back into reality. When Noah bent down to retrieve it, he saw the words on the page. Genesis 7:8. Noah picked up The Bible murmuring the words.
“Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth”
BOOM. The room vibrated, knocking Noah off of his feet.
BOOM. Getting up, Noah advanced to his window, peering around the blinds. His jaw dropped at the sight.
Noah opened the front door and ran down the front steps, the sun blinding him. Blinking away sunspots, he saw animals sitting in front of him. Wild Animals. Up and down the street, animals sat of every kind. From lions to tigers to bears. Oh my… gosh, Noah thought glancing around. The animals were just sitting there, staring at him.
Regaining his posture Noah crept to Logan’s house, keeping his eyes on the animals, who kept theirs on him. When he got to Logan’s house, he took his eyes off the street and rang the doorbell. No one answered, so he tried knocking. He waited forty seconds, then tried the door.
The door was unlocked. Noah opened it and walked into Logan’s house.
“Hello? Anyone home?” No one answered so Noah wandered through the house. Walking through the house, Noah for the first time felt what loneliness was like.
“Hello?” he tried one last time, but again, no one answered. As he walked out the front door he noticed he was still holding The Bible. The burgundy cover gleamed in the sun. Noah studied the animals. They were still on the street but they stopped staring at him. Instead they were staring at his house. When Noah saw where they were looking he dropped The Bible for the second time. Sitting on his lawn was the biggest boat Noah had ever seen. Noah scooped up The Bible and sprinted to his house forgetting about the numerous animals on the road.
In front of his lawn, Noah stood and stared at the boat. It was huge, stretching all the way across Noah’s next door neighbor’s lawn. At the bottom of the boat was a gigantic door, with the words “Noah’s Ark” written on it. Noah stared awestruck at the boat unable to tear his blue eyes away from the words.
ROAR. Noah turned around at the noise and came face to face with a full grown lion. Noah squeaked, unable to make any other sound. He looked, and in the lion’s mouth was The Bible. He had dropped it again. Slowly Noah grabbed The Bible out of the lion’s mouth, drool dripping on the cover.
Eww, Noah wiped the slobber off. The lion backed up and stood with the other animals, staring at Noah. Sighing Noah opened the now wet Bible to a random page.
“Genesis 7:9, there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah,” Noah said out loud a little louder than before.
He looked up at the animals waiting for something to happen and the animals stared back.
“I guess I have to do it myself,” Noah said talking to the lion.
What am I doing, talking to a lion? Noah shook his head and turned to the boat. He opened the massive door and turned to the animals saying to himself, “and they walked into the boat two and two”. And the animals did just that.
When all the animals were on the boat Noah glanced at the sky, watching it darken, as the clouds covered the sun. He climbed into the boat and glimpsed at the sky once more.
“Forty days and forty nights” Noah whispered, rain just starting to fall outside. And he closed the door.
Noah woke up suddenly, sweat rolling down his forehead. He glanced outside, rain pouring on the empty street. On his lap laid The Bible, still open from when he read it. Noah read the first words he saw.
“Genesis 8:5. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.”
He thought, and the sun finally came out.
Then the rain stopped. And the sun came out…