PART 1:

ARRIVAL

"SURPRISE!" Charlotte said as Miriam opened the front door. Miriam's jaw dropped. What was her older sister doing here?

"Oh, Mims, you look fabulous!" the tall blonde exclaimed and pulled her little sister close for a tight hug. Miriam was still in shock. Behind Charlotte were her husband, Drew, and their daughter, Angelica. Finally, Miriam found her tongue and regained the power of speech.

"Char? This is quite a surprise! What are you doing here?" she asked in what she hoped was a casual voice. Charlotte smiled and put her hands on her hips.

"Does a girl need a reason to visit her little sister?"

"Well, I guess not. But it's been so long . . . " Miriam was interrupted by Charlotte's cell phone. Charlotte pulled it out and held up a finger to her sister.

"Just a sec, Mims." She flipped open the phone. "Yes, Jonathan. What? They expect us to accept that bid? Of course not! Now you listen to me, Jonathan, this is what I want you to do . . . " Charlotte walked inside the house, still giving Jonathan orders. Drew looked at Miriam apologetically.

"I'm sorry to barge in on you like this, Miriam," he said. "We were supposed to be in town on a business trip, but that fell through. Then she remembered that you lived here and, well, here we are." He leaned close to her. "Besides, you know how she gets when she's got her mind made up." Miriam sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, I know how she can be." Her sister had always been stubborn. If someone told her she couldn't do something, that just made her want to do it more. And once she made up her mind about something, it was easier to let her get it out of her system than talk her out of it. "Come on in."

Drew carried their luggage inside, followed closely by Angelica.

"Hello, Aunt Miriam!" the little girl said cheerily. "It's nice to see you again!"

"Hello, Angelica. It's nice to see you, too. Helga's upstairs in her room, why don't you go on up and say hello?" Miriam suggested. Angelica smiled and nodded.

"Okay!" she exclaimed, and ran up the stairs.

"Be good, Angel!" Drew called after her.

"Oh, I will, Daddy!" she called back, turned the corner and headed for her cousin's room. She knocked.

"What?" a voice called from the other side. Smiling, Angelica knocked again.

"What do you want?" the voice was angrier and coming closer. Another few taps. Angelica could hear footsteps reach the door and the knob turned.

"What's the matter, don't you understand english?" Helga sneered as she opened her door. When she saw who was on the other side, she stopped cold. "ANGELICA?"

"Hi, Helga!" the girl screamed happily as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around her cousin's neck. She did it with such force that Helga had to grab onto the door jam to keep them from toppling backwards.

"What are you doing here?" Helga asked as she walked over to the bed and pried the girl's arms from her neck. Angelica flopped down on the bedspread with a wide grin on her face.

"One of Mommy's clients couldn't make bail, so she decided she wanted to see Aunt Miriam. We'll be here all week!"

"Really?" Helga asked in shock. "Where will you be staying?" Not here, not here, not here, not here, PLEASE not here!

"HERE!" she cried excitedly. "We can hang around and have fun, and best of all, I won't have to put up with any dumb babies!"

"Great."

Meanwhile, downstairs, Charlotte had just hung up and was coming back into the hallway. She smiled at her sister.

"Now, where were we? Oh, yes. I'm sorry to just drop by like this Mims, but a client bailed on us, and I thought, 'When was the last time I saw my little sister?'"

"Well, it has been a while," Miriam agreed. "And we have the empty bedroom upstairs, since Olga left for college. How long are you thinking of staying?"

"Oh, only for about a week. Drew and I took a few vacation days and aren't due back at work until next Tuesday. We thought it might be nice for Angelica to spend some time with some family on my side." Drew nodded.

"Yeah, she's been spending a lot of time with my brother's kids and a couple of other babies from the neighborhood. We thought it might be good for her to spend some time with some older kids. She's sort of mature for her age, you know."

"Uh, huh," Miriam commented as she looked up the stairs. It was awfully quiet up there.

"So where do you keep your toys?" Angelica asked, starting to look through Helga's things.

"Hey!" Helga shouted, trying to catch the little blonde whirlwind. "Cut it out! I don't have any toys!" Angelica ran to the closet and threw open the door. "NO!"

The young girl crawled inside and stopped when she got to the back. There was a curtain strung up, and a faint light coming from behind it. She pulled the curtain back.

"Wow." Angelica stared in shock at what was behind the sheet. There was a little person sitting there, made of odds and ends. Its head was a football, and there were ski's for hair. There were also lots of pictures taped around it, of a boy with blonde hair sticking up in waves, and . . . was his head really shaped like that? The more she looked, the more the boy looked like the object sitting in front of her.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her from behind and yanked her out of the closet. Helga replaced the sheet and then turned to her young cousin.

"Don't you ever, EVER go in there again!" she growled, slamming the door shut. Angelica looked at her in amazement.

"What was that? Who was that boy? He's kind of cute, for a kid with a weird shaped head."

"Nevermind! That's none of your business!" Helga snapped. "Come on, let's go downstairs and see what our mom's are doing."

Before Angelica could say a word, Helga grabbed her hand and practically dragged her downstairs. The adults had moved to the kitchen, and were chatting while sipping coffee.

"Mom, we gotta talk," Helga said, walking in. Drew and Charlotte looked at her with wide eyes.

"Is this Helga?" Charlotte asked, a smile coming to her lips. "Look how big she is! I can't believe how much you've grown!"

"I'll bet she has all the boys just lining up to see her!" Drew added. Helga rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm a regular heartbreaker," she said sarcastically, then turned to her mother. "Mom, I really need to talk to you."

"Okay, Helga." She turned to her guests. "Will you excuse us?"

Charlotte and Drew nodded, and Helga left Angelica with them. Then she and her mother went to the other room to talk. As soon as they were out of earshot, Helga turned to Miriam.

"They can't stay here. Angelica will drive me nuts!"

"Now, honey, calm down. I'm not exactly thrilled they showed up like this, but we barely ever see each other."

"There's a reason for that," Helga replied.

"I know Angelica can get on your nerves, but she really loves you. You're her favorite cousin. She even started wearing her hair in pigtails because you do."

"But Mom! This is the second week of summer vacation! How am I going to enjoy my time off if I have to watch her the whole time? Besides, how's Dad going to react to this? He and Aunt Charlotte don't exactly get along."

"Oh, Helga, it'll only be for a week. You can take her along with you when you go and play with your friends. And Bob will just have to put up with my sister. I had to for almost 18 years," she added quietly.

"Can't they go to a hotel or something?"

"No, they're determined to stay here. Or should I say, SHE'S determined to stay here. And whatever CHARLOTTE wants, Charlotte gets."

Helga was surprised to hear the envy in her mother's voice. She was talking about her sister just like Helga talked about Olga. She sighed.

"Okay, Mom," she said, shrugging. "It's only for a week. I guess I can handle it. How bad could it be?"

"That's my big girl!" Miriam said, smiling. She leaned forward and hugged her daughter. "Don't worry, honey. I'm sure the week will just fly by!"

"It better," Helga mumbled, too low for her mother to hear.

They walked back to the kitchen, and Miriam showed them where they would be staying. The adults would take Olga's room, and Angelica would stay with Helga.

Once everyone was settled, the adults were once again in the kitchen. Drew was telling Miriam about his brother's family and their friends from the neighborhood as Charlotte received three more phone calls.

Meanwhile, Helga and Angelica were in the living room. Helga was flipping through the tv channels, while her cousin dug through her bag. Finally she found what she was looking for, and brought it over to show Helga.

"Look, Helga! This is Cynthia. I gave her hair like you!" she said, showing Helga a little fashion doll with chopped blonde hair. True enough, there were two pieces of hair sticking straight out from the sides of the doll's head.

"Yeah, that's great." Helga returned her attention to the tv. Angelica sat next to her cousin, and watched as Helga flipped through 5 more channels.

"What was that doll in your closet?" she asked after 7 more stations blurred by. Helga turned to the girl and scowled.

"I told you, it's none of your business! And it's not a doll."

"What was it?" Angelica asked. "It looked kinda like that boy in all those pictures. Who's he?"

"Just a boy in my class."

"Why do you have all those pictures of him? Did he move? Do you have those pictures so you don't forget him?"

"Drop it, kid. Just forget about it."

"But, Helga . . . "

"But nothing! Just forget about it, Angelica!" She was about to continue yelling at the girl when a familiar sound came to her ears. "Hey, it's the Jolly Olly man! How about some ice cream, kiddo?" Angelica's eyes grew wide and a smile bloomed on her little face.

"Ice cream! Now you're talking!" she said, beaming. "I'll go ask my Mommy for some money!" And ran off to do so.

The cousins got their ice cream and walked back to the stoop to eat it. Some other kids from Helga's class were coming over as well, Phoebe, Stinky and Harold.

"Hi, Helga. Who's your friend?" Phoebe asked, taking a seat next to her friend.

"Hi, Phoebs. This is my cousin, Angelica. Angelica, this is my best friend, Phoebe. And that's Stinky and Harold." The boys waved to the girl at the mention of their names.

"Hi, Angelica. Are you staying with Helga?" Phoebe asked politely.

"Yeah, my Mommy and Daddy decided to visit my Aunt Miriam. We'll be here for a week. That means I get to stay with Helga!" she exclaimed, leaned over and hugged her cousin. Helga's face turned red.

"Oh, knock it off, you little rugrat," she said jokingly, gently pushing Angelica away. She withdrew, still smiling at Helga. Helga smiled back. The kid could be a little annoying, but she had great taste.

"Helga's my favorite cousin, 'cause she's a growed up kid, like me. At home I have to play with my other cousins. They're just dumb babies, and I have to tell them everything," Angelica was saying around her chocolate ice cream. She had it smeared all over her mouth. Ordinarily Helga would have been embarrassed, but Stinky and Harold had their faces covered with their ice cream, too. Helga rolled her eyes. Boys.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Real interesting," Helga said, then turned to the boys. "Are we playing baseball today, or what?" Harold shrugged.

"We have to find out what Arnold and Gerald are doing. We were going to go over after we finished," he said. Helga nodded.

"Okay, sounds like a plan. Let me go in and tell my Mom so she can keep an eye on Angelica and we'll take off." Angelica looked at Helga with hurt in her eyes.

"But, I wanna stay with you."

"Well, too bad. I can't take you along with me, once we start the game I won't be able to watch you." she said, and went inside.

After about a minute, the kids could hear shouting.

"What do you mean take her with me?" Helga shouted. "Why can't you watch her?" Miriam said something the kids couldn't hear, then Helga was slamming the door and flopping back on the stoop.

"I can't go," she said, sounding highly ticked. "They said I'd have to take her with me, and I can't watch her AND play catcher at the same time."

"Oh, well. Too bad." Harold said, not sounding very disappointed. Stinky nodded.

"Yeah, better luck next time." Phoebe, however, had other ideas.

"Well, we could all take turns keeping an eye on her, Helga." she suggested. I'm sure the other kids wouldn't mind helping out." Harold and Stinky were looking at her unbelievably.

"Well . . . "

"Oh, come on, Helga!" Angelica pleaded. "I'll be good! Let me come, please! Please, please, please, please, PRETTY PLEASE!"

Helga thought for a second, then reluctantly nodded.

"Okay, Angelica. You can come, as long as you stay out of trouble. I'll go get my glove." Helga ran inside. Angelica ran in after her, and the boys looked at Phoebe.

"Thanks a lot, Phoebe," Stinky said.

"Yeah, I was looking forward to at least one game when she didn't pick on me!" Harold added.

"It'll just be for this one time, and she's only a child." Phoebe argued. "How bad could it be?"

The boys exchanged a glance and were about to say something else when the cousins returned. Helga had her mitt, and Angelica had gotten Cynthia.

"Okay," Helga said. "Let's go get Arnoldo and Geraldo."

They left for the boarding house just as Big Bob pulled into the driveway. As usual, he wasn't paying any attention, so he didn't notice his niece with his daughter and her friends. He walked into the kitchen and saw his sister-in-law at the table.

"For crying out loud, what are YOU doing here?" he boomed. Charlotte turned and fixed him with an icy stare.

"I am visiting with my baby sister, if you can't tell. Unfortunately, visiting with her means I'll have to visit with YOU as well." she hissed.

"Oh, yeah, like I'M thrilled to have you here!" he yelled at her. Drew was getting up and heading toward Bob.

"Hey, Bob! Why don't you fill me in on what's going on with your beeper store!" he said, leading Bob away from his sister-in-law. They were both glaring at each other.

"It's gonna be a loooong week," Miriam muttered.

~End of Part 1~