The rain poured down the window glass in thick rivulets. Three days in a row, and she was getting awfully sick of it. The sun had been out for a few hours three days earlier, but it didn't seem like the glorious spring she'd been promised. The trees, still mostly naked, dripped cold rainwater from their tiny blossoms, and the early daffodils shivered in the brisk wind.

She groaned, rolled out of bed, and crossed her room to the phone, pulling on a sweatshirt as she went. The card was still tacked to the wall above the cordless phone, right where she'd pinned it up after the last time, knowing full well that the number written only half-legibly in blue ink would be just as useful sometime in the future. Today was that future. Ten numbers. Two rings, and then a perky female voice came on the line. "Customer Service,"� it said brightly.

"Yes, hello, I'd like to lodge a complaint."

"Yes, ma'am, what can we do for you today?"

"I'd like to lodge a complaint about the weather."

The voice didn't lose any of its cheer, but a wary note crept into it. "I'm sorry, miss, but that's not really our department."

She sighed and pulled a chair up to sit down. It was going to be another one of these conversations. "Look dearie, don't fuck with me. I know this is the right number, I know you know this is the right number, and if the sun doesn't fucking come out in the next twelve hours there's going to be a problem on your end of this number."

A pause. Too long to be coincidental, just long enough to be rude. When the voice spoke again, there was an unmistakable icy edge to it. "Yes, I'll see what I can do. You want to see the sun, you say?"

"Yes, the goddamn sun. Big, yellow round thing that gives life and warmth. No more of this rainy cloudy bullshit. This wasn't part of the deal, and I'm holding up my end of the bargain."

"Bargain?"

"Quit playing dumb and put in a word upstairs. The sun. Tomorrow." She hung up the phone and yawned, looking back out the window at the chilly gray day and the half-assed rain which, she thought, seemed to be slowing down a bit.

She leaned back in her chair, smiled, and lit a cigarette.

The next day dawned sunny and clear.