“The streetlight outside my house is flickering like crazy! Can you help me Dad?”

“Uh… What would you like me to do about it? Rather, what do you think I can do about it, my darling daughter?”

“Argh! I don’t know. But you know all about electricity and that sort of stuff.”

“Sure. But I’m not a city engineer or anything like that.”

He heard Amelia sigh. “Yeah. I know. But it’s just been doing it so long. Since the last time you were here really.”

“Uh… You mean yesterday when I fixed your garbage disposal?”

“No.”

“Or the day before when I helped you find your dog? Who by the way, was asleep in your closet while we were wandering around the neighborhood.”

“No,” she whispered. “No. I mean the time when you and Mom brought me dinner.”

“Oh. The day before we went on a wild goose chase for your dog.”

“Yeah. The day before the day before yesterday.”

“For o so long.”

He figured that his daughter could hear him roll his eyes.

“Okay. So not that long. But it is really annoying.”

He breathed out. “Okay. Describe what it looks like.”

He heard Amelia breathe out. Just like he did when he was exasperated. “It looks like a street light.”

“Right. But what is the flickering like?”

He heard her walk to the front window to look out. “It’s just flickering. Blinka blinka blinka blinka blinka…”

He wondered if the line went dead because of the dead air. “Are you still there?”

It sounded like Amelia was on the move. He heard her rustling around in the kitchen drawer. It sounded like she grabbed something and was moving out of the kitchen. He could imagine her making her way to the front of her house again. He heard her breathing was shallower and faster than normal. He heard what he assumed was the front door and heard Amelia step out the front door onto her front porch. She was still silent.

“Hello… Amelia.”

“Shh. …your… base…ment. I… know… you… have… been… learn… ing… Morse… code… so… I… thought… I… could… get… your… attention… with… a… message… I am stuck in your basement. I know you have…”

“What?”

“The streetlight! It’s sending me Morse code. Something about being in my basement. But how…? Why…? Who’s in my basement?”

“I’ll be right over.”

***

It only took a few minutes for her father to arrive. After all, they lived in the same neighborhood. He was out of breath. Like he sprinted the less than half a mile to get there.

Amelia smiled at her father despite the serious nature of the message on her streetlight.

“You’re in great shape Dad.”

“Round… is… a… shape,” he said between huffs and puffs.

He was bent over with his hands on his knees, but he looked up at the streetlight and watched for a few moments.

“You’re right. Definitely a message. And your Morse code skills are getting better too.” He smiled and stood up straight. “But it’s not the message you told me.”

Amelia burst out laughing.

“When did you find it?”

Amelia nodded her head toward her dog, who was on a leash near her right foot. “I didn’t. Sissy did.”

“Sissy? Sissy couldn’t find her way out of a paper bag.”

Amelia shrugged. “Maybe. But she found your transmitter thingamabob. It was in with her in the back of the closet when we came back from looking for her. I checked it out and figured out how it worked and changed the message. And I saw your original message that first night after you and Mom left. I saw the flicker and noticed that it was not random. I saw the message that night.”

Amelia smiled as her father mussed her hair. He bent down to pet the dog. He stood and smiled. “Like father, like daughter.”

“True enough.” Amelia smiled back. “Which means that you need to watch out for payback.”

They walked arm in arm into Amelia’s house. Nothing like dessert for a couple of pranksters.