Skits Under the Weather

Skits Under the Weather appeared in Season One as the 28th episode of the season, it premiered on March 18, 2009.

## Summary

Martha and Skits hate the sound of thunder. One day Skits gets fed up and tries to outrun the storm, but soon discovers that all roads somehow lead back home.

## Recap

It begins on a hot day; Helen, who is wearing a candy-striped shirt and blue shorts, is sitting on her front steps and eating an ice pop. Martha and Skits are lying on the grass. They flip over and see a man next door pour icy water from his icebox onto his lawn. The dogs run next door to lap it up, but by the time they get there it's melted into the ground. Helen goes inside, followed by the dogs. In the living room, Mariella, who's wearing black jandals, a red-brown T-shirt, and dark green shorts, is watching TV on the couch. The dogs watch too. On TV, Windy McCloud predicts a storm, which will herald the end of the heatwave. Upon hearing there will be thunder, Skits barks nervously, then jumps up onto the couch and looks out the window at the sky, which is clouding over. He barks at Martha, who says she used to be afraid of thunder too, but she believes she got over it. However, upon hearing thunder, she becomes scared again and runs away, followed by Skits.

Skits hides under Mariella and Daniel's bed and sees Martha hiding under the bed too. Martha, not wanting to admit to fear after having told Skits she was unafraid of storms, lies that she was looking for a shoebox that happens to be under the bed, which she makes out is her favourite. She starts to take it out but gets nervous upon hearing more thunder and runs back under the bed, proclaiming that under the bed is a good place to hang out with a shoebox. She then becomes confident again and reassures Skits that thunder is just a loud noise and can't hurt him, but when the thunder strikes again, both dogs get scared again. Skits comes out from under the bed. Martha asks him where he's going and upon hearing his answer, asks him how he would get away from the thunder as it's everywhere. He barks again and she wishes him good luck and tells him to let her know if she finds somewhere without thunder. She then does another "fear denial" while Skits runs off.

Outside, Skits runs down the street past the daycare where Truman is teaching five one-year-olds about how thunder and lightning works. One of the toddlers (a little ginger girl) says, "Doggie". Truman starts to tell her that there is no doggie but then sees Skits. Truman calls Skits, who runs under Truman's bed. Truman asks Skits what's wrong and hopes he won't chew on his slippers. Upon seeing Skits run out from under the bed when it thunders, Truman guesses correctly that Skits wants to get away from the thunder.

Truman then brings Skits home, where Helen is. She thanks Truman, who'd figured Skits would be less scared at home. He then goes home because he dislikes being rained on. Helen leads Skits back into the house, but Skits runs away again.

Skits runs up to a car, where a woman is putting a toddler named James into a car, telling him to hold still. James drops some crackers, which Skits eats. He then climbs into the car when the woman closes the door and climbs into her car. She then turns on the radio, which tells the listeners to take an umbrella. The woman realises she forgot her umbrella and drives off to get it. When it thunders again, Skits jumps into the front seat, and then the lady is shocked that there's a dog in the car and returns him home, noting it was a good thing he had tags. Helen supposes Skits wanted to hide, but reckons he'd feel safer at home. When it thunders again, Skits goes outside via the doggie door.

Skits dashes down the street, past a bookstore which is closed, a man sheltering from the rain, an old woman and a young woman, both with umbrellas, and a man without an umbrella who's trying to use a newspaper to keep dry. A car splashes Skits with water and he runs up to three people (two men and a woman) outside the grocery store. He shakes them with water, which makes them mad.

He then runs into a store, where a woman is sniffing some perfume, which she thinks smells like wet dog. She and the shopkeeper then see Skits.

A man shoos Skits out of the store, saying "No dogs allowed!". Kazuo drives down the street and Skits runs down the street. Skits and a couple with an umbrella watch some TVs in a shop window, which show the weather forecast: more rain. The man says that they need to go home before it really hits and the couple leave. Kazuo shows up, and wonders why Skits is outside in the pouring rain. He reads Skits's dog tag and wants to take him somewhere, but Skits runs off, while Windy McCloud on TV predicts that the storm will end in about an hour, but there will be light showers in the evening.

Kazuo chases Skits, who ends up at a hot dog store. He wants to eat the hot dog but is interrupted by Kazuo who chases him into an alley.

In Kazuo's van, Kazuo supposes dogs hate thunder and puts music on to cheer him up, but Skits dislikes the music.

Kazuo then returns Skits, recognising the house as Martha's home. Helen begins to explain Skits is her other dog, but the wind knocks over a trash can. Helen and Kazuo start to pick up the trash, while Skits runs away again.

He meets an old man, who asks him to keep an eye out for his glasses, which are missing. The old man says that he likes being in a rain shower as it reminds him of the sea. He then tries to get onto a dump truck, believing it to be his bus.

Skits goes down an alley and into a sports stadium. He darts about, confused and scared of the thunder. He runs into a bowling alley, where the sound of the bowling pins being knocked over reminds him of the sound of the thunder. He exits the stadium, where the same old man from earlier thinks that an ice cream truck is a bus that goes to "Rocky Road". Skits leads him away but the old man, despite being grateful, thinks Skits should be standing on his hind legs. He leads him to a bus, driven by Daniel, who welcomes them aboard. On the bus, the old man asks Danny if he is going to Rocky Road. He says no, and tries to speak in nautical slang, but the old man doesn't understand.

Daniel drops the old man off at the marina.

Danny drops Skits off at home, and Helen says that Skits must like thunderstorms as he was running around outside, while Martha was hiding under the bed. Martha denies that she was hiding. Daniel leaves, because he has a schedule, and then the rain stops and Skits rolls in the mud and tries to tell Martha about his escapade but she doesn't understand. The forecast then predicts sun showers for the evening and hail for the next day. Neither dog likes the idea of hail.

## Characters

* Martha
* Skits
* Helen
* Truman
* Kazuo
* Daniel Lorraine
* Mariella Lorraine

## Vocabulary

storm, thunder, lightning, shower, precipitation, hail, wet, downpour, rainfall, drizzle

## Trivia

* The episode's name is a pun on the phrase "under the weather" which means a little bit ill. However, in this instance, Skits is not ill, instead he is literally under the weather as in he is walking around in the rain.