Rainy Weekend
I figured out how to translate stories on this website.
The Trins and Webby sighed. They looked out the window, but the rain came down mercilessly. It looked like it was going to be pouring all weekend. And it was MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND. They wanted to go outside and play, but were stuck inside, driving their Unca Scrooge to distraction with their boredom.
The news of this soon reached Launchpad.
"Mr. McDee, I was wondering if you could do me a favor..." Launchpad began.
"Do YOU a favor? Me nephews and Webby are this close to driving me to drink and you're asking me for a favor?" demanded Mr. McDuck.
"I want to borrow the boys and Webby. There's a Jr. Woodchuck jamboree this weekend and I could use help setting up..." Launchpad tried again.
"Borrow? As in take them away and bring them back? For the whole weekend?" Mr. McDuck asked, starting to be very interested.
"Far away. To where it ISN"T raining, I''ll bring 'em back in time for bedtime Monday night." Launchpad promised,
"Please Unca Scrooge? Can we go?" begged the kids, desperately.
"Well...you'll have to fly in this rain..." Mr. McDuck hemmed, very tempted.
"I've flown in a lot worse. WITHOUT CRASHING." said Launchpad with a lot more patient than I'll ever have.
So... Launchpad took the kids to a rambling old house that people were working on.
"A nice old lady left this house to the Jr. Woodchucks in her will. Some vets are helping fix it over in exchange for being taught carpentry skills which will hopefully make them more employable" Launchpad explained.
" I need you to help with the yard work. Raking leaves, weeding and some painting. Stuff like that." Launchpad said.
"We won't have to work inside on such a nice day?" Huey asked.
The weather was lovely here.
"Nope. The house is in pretty good shape. Only needs minor repairs. Isn't worth much, but will make a nice headquarters. Maybe we can sell another headquarters where the property is worth more. " Launchpad hoped.
"One of yours jobs will be guarding property we put outside so the inside can be fixed, dusted, painted. Somebody might try to steal stuff if nobody is watching. Not that any of this stuff is likely to be worth anything...but since collectors often pay good money for old stuff, you can never tell." Launchpad said.
"Where did you get all the paint and stuff from?" Dewey asked.
"Your Uncle Scrooge donated it because he couldn't sell it. So the paint is butt-ugly. We're using the lightest colors for the first coat of paint. You can help with that. Since a second coat of paint will be put on later, it doesn't have to be perfect. " Launchpad said.
"Hi, Sharan! How's it going?" Launchpad asked as he came to me taking care of our kids and watching over some other little kids. They were playing with water colors. Some other adults were watching the kids, too.
"Welcome to the art center! We're doing some artistic painting here. People over there are mixing the house paint, trying to come up with a color that's pretty to paint the house with. And making paintings with the mixed paints on pieces of wood." I said.
"Do you want me to take care of our kids awhile?" Launchpad asked.
"Actually, I'm enjoying myself. I have artistic tendencies you know. Why don't you come back at lunch time, help me feed the kids and we'll have a little picnic." I suggested.
"Fine. Be back at noon." Launchpad replied. And he kissed me.
"Mush Alert! Mush! Mush!" the Trins yelled.
"Don't knock it 'till you try it." Launchpad replied, after we disengaged.
Webby giggled.
The Trins were soon at work, weeding the lawn. Webby stood guard over some furniture that sat in the lawn while the inside was being cleaned, repaired, painted.
However, the Beagles soon learned that Mr. Duck's nephews were helping repair an old house. And naturally assumed their was some kind of treasure in the house. And wanted to steal it.
The Beagles started to sneak around, looking for the non-existent treasure. The furniture sitting outside was old and while solid and sound was obliviously worthless. Even the Beagles could see that.
"You know collectors pay good money for all kinds of old junk now..." Burger suggested.
"Like they'd leave a little girl as guard of furniture if it was worth anything?
That stuff is good enough to furnish the place, but ain't worth nothing or they would be selling it!" Big Time sneered, correctly.
So they sneaked into the house to look for a treasure they thought we were looking for. Webby spotted Burger as he swiped some burgers from the barbeque grill. And told on him.
"Burger Beagle? If he's here, some of his brothers must be here, too. They must think we're treasure hunting again. Oh well, they can't steal a treasure if there isn't one. Maybe we can trick them into helping." Launchpad said.
And Launchpad took the boys and Webby to the back where a bunch of old junk had been temporally dumped and had them sort it into piles: glass, metal, paper so it could be recycled. And left them there. Hardly had he left did the Beagles oh so innocently came to help. The kids pretended not to recognize them.
"Why don't you help with the metal? It's heavy and some of it might be rusty, which can be dangerous." Huey suggested.
Seeing "silver" and "gold" among the metal, some junk jewelry hopelessly tangled up among the junk the Beagles quickly jumped to the conclusion that the "treasure" was hiding there and got to work sorting out tin, copper, aluminum, cans.
The Beagles soon realized that the junk jewelry was just that. But not before they had untangled it, which means we could sell it to raise money for the Jr. Woodchucks. And they sorted out the metals and threw them onto a truck to get them out of the way, a truck that would take the stuff to be recycled.
The boys collected whole bottles and swept up broken glass. Webby collected paper into bales.
Launchpad, meanwhile was warning the other adults and talking them into conning the Beagles into helping.
"They're no point telling them there is no treasure. They won't believe you. And they haven't done anything illegal here and they may not be "wanted" for anything." Launchpad explained.
Soon, the Beagles were helping clean and paint the house so they could search for the "treasure".
I enjoyed conning some Beagles into sorting and cleaning paintings. They naturally thought one of the paintings might be the treasure, but they were all cheap reproductions or amateur paintings. But the Beagles didn't figure that out until the paintings had been cleaned and sorted into "can be sold" and "to be painted over".
The Beagles were so stupid, greedy and convinced we were treasure hunting, it was painfully easy to get them to help. They were, of course, planning on stealing the treasure that assumed we were hunting for.
As night neared, it got cool and the kids went up to the attic to help clean it up. There was lots and lots of junk up there.
About this time, the Beagles finally decided there was no treasure here. About time.
"Let's quit messing around and kidnap Scrooge's nephews and hold them for ransom. That way this day won't be a total loss." Big Time said.
Meanwhile,Webby helped sort and the boys carried the just plain junk down to be thrown or recycled. Then Webby found, in a box, under glass an old piece of music. Webby's grandma had taught her how to read music. And this song, a piano piece, was titled "Bethena". Just like her grandma's name.
So Webby took the piece of music to show to her Grammy. But first she took it down to show it to us. While she was doing this, the Beagles snuck up on the boys and grabbed them.
The boys yelled, the fought. Soon, Launchpad and a lot of the vets came running. The Beagles are cowards and only fight well when they outnumber their foes, especially when said foes are 10 year old boys. Or an 8 year old girl.
Against a greater number of grown ups- most of them seasoned fighters, the Beagles tried to run, but were soon surrounded. And now, the Beagles could be arrested for attempted kidnapping, a FEDERAL offense.
"And there wasn't even a treasure here!" screamed Big Time as the cops took him and his brother away.
"I didn't think so before, but now I'm not sure." Launchpad muttered "And thanks for helping us! We finished a lot sooner with you morons trying to steal treasure and being tricked into helping!" Launchpad called out, just to rub it in.
Later, Launchpad had Webby show the piece of music to Mr. McDuck.
"Holy Jumping Catfish!" screamed Mr. McDuck in surprise. "Webby, may I borrow this? I'll make you a copy on my printer, just like it. I have to check to see if this is authentic or not."
"Sure, Unca Scrooge. It's kind of delicate, anyway. Grammy might like a nice, clean copy better anyway." replied a puzzled Webby.
Well, Mr. McDuck checked with experts, and it was, indeed a unknown song written by IRVING BERLIN. He had written the song for the old woman's grandmother as a birthday present decades ago. She had been a good friend of his, maybe even a childhood sweetheart. She saved it out of sentiment and then forgot about it. Lord knows how.
"Webby, since you and the boys found this, the royalties for this song will go to the Jr. Woodchucks." Mr. McDuck declared.
"Yay!" we cheered in response.
The End.
You do know Irving Berlin gave the royalties to one of his songs to the Boy Scouts, right? And said royalties ran out some years ago?