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This one goes to the guys at the DW Message Board. They the ones that
encouraged me to do this. Thanks guys!
The Party
By:Dawn Powell
It all started one October day. Gosalyn Mallard had just gotten home from
school and as usual seated herself in front of the TV. "Ah this is the
life, or it is until Dad get's home." Just then the blue chairs along the
far wall started to spin. "Great. There goes my TV time." The chairs
stopped. Where they were once empty there now sat Gosalyn's dad, Drake and
his sidekick, Launchpad. It sounded like they were in the middle of a
conversation.
"I think this weather has everyone a little crazy. If this keeps up I
don't know what I'm going to do."
"You know, DW, it could be that everyone is just practicing for Halloween.
You know it's tomorrow."
"I know. How could I forget. Gosalyn's been going on about how much..."
Drake finally noticed Gosalyn sitting on the couch. "Gosalyn! What are you
doing home?"
Goslayn rolled her eyes. "It's three thirty, Dad. School's out for the
day." Drake looked at the clock on the VCR.
"So it is. How was school today?"
"Same old, same old. So what were you saying about me?" Drake actually
looked sheepish. Almost like the kid that got his hand caught in the
cookie jar. "Oh, Uh. I was just telling LP here how you were bragging
about how much candy you were going to get tomorrow."
Goslayn grinned. "I sure am. Not just tomorrow night when Honk and I go
trick'r treating but also at the party at school. Remember the one that
you volunteered to help at?"
Drake held up a finger. "Now you hold on there missy. I didn't volunteer.
A certain little girl with red pig tails did."
The grin got bigger. "That's right. Oops. I forgot that part. And did I
also tell you that you have to dress up?"
"No, you didn't. And just what am I supposed to dress up as?" He got up
from the chair and started pacing.
Launchpad decided to get in on the conversation. "Gee, DW. How about you
go as yourself?"
Drake snapped his fingers. "That's it. I could go as Darkwing. No one
would suspect that I'm actually him."
Gosalyn rubbed a hand over her face. "You could be a little more creative,
you know."
"Well, if I had more notice I would've gotten myself a costume." It was
Gosalyn's turrn to look sheepish. She decided it was time to make her
leave. "Um. I'm going over to Honk's, Dad. I'll be home for dinner." She
ran out of the room before he could say anything.
Drake turned back to Launchpad his mind now on dinner and not the party.
"Now what am I going to fix for dinner?"
The next morning Gosalyn and Drake were back at it. This time though
Launchpad was not there to play referee. He was in town getting candy for
that night. "Dad, you don't have to do this you know. You can dress up as
something else."
"I know." He was putting the finishing touches on his costume.
"There won't be any criminals there."
He paused in putting on his mask. "You never know. There might be."
"Believe me, Dad, there won't be any criminals."
He shook his head and went back to tying on the mask. "Sure, sure.
Whatever you say. Besides you didn't really give me enough time to come up
with something else."
*Smacks her forhead* "Then I should have told you sooner." She pointed at
him. "Are you going to the school in that?"
He looks down at himself. "And what is wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"Nothing. But usually people wait until they get there to dress up.
Besides there could always be the slight chance that someone would
recognize you."
"Who's going to think that I am really Darkwing?"
"I don't know, but stranger things have happened."
"True. I'll get back into my regular clothes then we can get going. How
long does this party last anyway?"
"All day."
"Great." He went up to his room to change. When he came back down he was
back in his usual shirt and sweater vest. "Welp, we better get going if
we're going to make to your school in time for the party."
"OK."
At the school they saw kids and a few parents already in costume. Drake
glared at his daughter. "I thought you said everyone got dressed at
school."
"Hee. Hee. Did I say that?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we are at
school and they are dressed, so it's possible that they already got to the
bathrooms and dressed."
Drake rolled his eyes. "Well, we're here. Let's get dressed, so I can help
you with your makeup." Gosalyn had decided to be a zombie. Luckily, the
makeup for it was fairly easy to put on. All they had to do was smeer
greenish-black makeup on her face, but it was still messy.
A few minutes the two met in front of the doors to the bathrooms, fully
dressed and ready to meet the rest of Gosalyn's class. Then they heard a
pair of voices that Drake dreaded to hear everyday coming from behind
them."Well hiya, nieghbor! I didn't know you were coming today." Drake
gritted his teeth and looked around for an escape route. Unfortunatly
there was none to be found. Then he felt the arm clamp down in his
shoulder and he knew that there was no wayout of his own private Hell.
His eyes grew dark as they quickly swung from the hand on his shoulder to
his daughter's face. What he saw on it made him want to scream. Gosalyn's
face showed a mixture of amusment and horror. To Drake that meant only one
thing. She knew they were coming and didn't tell him. This was as bad as
that whole Christmas dinner fiasco last year. But at least then Megavolt
showed up and in a way saved him from it, this time he couldn't even have
that pleasure. Even if there was a criminal here he didn't think he could
take care of them without compromising his real identity.
Gosalyn saw the look on her dad's face and knew she had been caught. It
wasn't as if she had intentionaly not told him, it just slipped her mind.
Her mind quickly went through different ways that she could make this up
to her dad. From past experience she knew that none of them would work,
though. The only thing she could do was look cute and at the first moment
make a run for it. She didn't think her dad would be able to catch her.
Because of his job he had to keep fit, but she was ten-year old kid. She
had the edge of being able to fit into small spaces. She just hoped it
would help her in getting out of this situation.
Drake glared once more at Gosalyn before he slowly turned around. "Hello
Herb, Binkie." His voice had a hard edge to it. When he saw their costumes
he thought they fit them perfectly. Herb was a big slimy alien, while
Binkie was an astronaut. *Big surprise there. I always considered those
two to be space cadets. *
"Why Drake, isn't that cute. Your dressed just like Darkwing Duck. Did you
know Herb met him once? Maybe you should have asked him for ideas on how
he dresses." This time Drake's eyes saw red. How dare she tell him how to
dress. She doesn't even know Darkwing.
Meanwhile, Goslayn was trying to look for cover. Her dad was irritated and
she knew that any moment he would blow and that was not something she
wanted to see first hand. At least not today. When she couldn't find any
she decided to try to distract her dad before he said or did something
that he would later regret. Of course it was the Muddlefoot's he might
not. She grabbed a hold of his cape and gave it a sharp tug. Gosalyn knew
that would work, there was nothing he hated worse than someone messing
with his cape. "Dad?"
He turned and looked at her. His eyes were still that dark blue they got
when he was furious. *This is going to be a long day. * "What is it,
Gosalyn?" He hissed. The Muddlefoot's didn't even realize that he was
about to lose control.
In a low tone she said. "I think we should be getting to my class now. The
party's about to start."
At this suggestion all emotion drained from his face. Then some of it
returned, but it wasn't as fierce. "Uh, OK. Sure." With out saying
anything else to the Muddlefoot's, he turned on his heel and started down
the hall. Gosalyn paused long enough to say, "Bye, Mr. and Mrs.
Muddlefoot."
"Bye, Gosalyn. Tell your dad that we'll see him later."
"OK." She turned and followed after her dad. Behind her she could hear
Mrs., Muddlefoot say, "That was rude of him. He didn't even say goodbye."
Gosalyn was out of earshot before Mr. Muddlefoot replied.
"Dad! Wait up!" She yelled as she ran down the hall. Drake stopped in the
middle of the hall and without turning, waited for her to catch up. When
she did she asked, "Dad, what was that all about?"
Finally, he turned to look at her. "I… I don't know. When she said that I
should have asked Herb about how to dress as Darkwing I guess I just
snapped."
"I'll say. You just about tore his head off."
"I know." He bowed his head in shame. Then he lifted it. "What did you
think of their costumes?"
Gosalyn grinned, she had succeeded in getting her dad out of his mood. "I
thought they were pretty cool. Why?"
Drake returned the grin. "Oh, I don't know. I thought it suited them."
Gosalyn looked at him curiously. "They're a pair of space cases."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Come on we better get going before they come back." He
grabbed her hand and led her down the hall.
"Dad, do you know where you're going?"
He paused for a second. "Sure I do. I've been here before. Don't you
remember, for your parent/teacher conference?"
"Oh, yeah. I do. I think it had to be the first time you ever grounded me
for life for not breaking something."
Drake chuckled. "I know. And it probably won't be the last."
"No, it probably won't be." The rest of the walk was spent in a
comfortable silence.
When they reached Gosalyn's homeroom they found it full of kids and
parents dressed in colorful costumes. There was even another Darkwing
roaming around. Drake pointed him out to Goslayn. Bending down she
whispered in her ear. "Look, Gos. I'm famous." She giggled. "Yeah, Dad,
you are. Maybe you should go over and introduce yourself."
"Nah. Might give away my secret. So what do we do now?"
Gosalyn looked around. Most of the kids were on one side while the parents
were on the other. "I don't know. It looks like everyone is just in their
own little groups. There's Miss Honey. We can ask her." The two headed
over to where a petite women in her early twenties was standing. "Miss
Honey? When do we start with the games?"
Sarah Honey looked down at her most spirited student. Mockingly clutching
her chest she said, "Gosalyn? Is that you? You gave me a fright." Gosalyn
rolled her eyes. Eventhough she liked her teacher sometimes her jokes were
a little corny.
"Yes, Miss Honey, it's me."
Miss Honey laughed. "I know. And this must be your dad."
They shook hands. "It's nice to see you again, Miss Honey."
Sarah turned back to Gosalyn. "Now what was it that you wanted to know?"
"When do the games start?" She started with her impatience.
Sarah smiled at her enthusiasm. "Soon, Gosalyn. Right now everyone's
mostly talking to each other. Why don't you two go join them until they
start."
Both father and daughter said, "Sure." They looked at each other and
laughed. That hadn't happened for a while. This time Sarah laughed with
them before she moved to the front of the room.
"Dad, I'm going over there with my friends. Do you think you can behave
yourself until I get back?" She grinned to show him that she was only half
kidding.
Drake returned the grin, understanding the meaning behind it. "I think I
can behave myself for a few minutes. Who knows, maybe I'll actually have
something in common with the other parents."
"Yeah, I bet every kid has a crime fighter for a parent."
He repeated his words from earlier. "You never know."
Gosalyn put up a hand in defeat. "Whatever. Just go mingle. And remember,
behave yourself." Drake laughed and moved over to one of the groups of
parents. Gosalyn just shook her head and went over to a group of her own
friends
Drake nervously went up to a group of men about his own age. He never had
been good at doing this. The only reason he was here was because Goslayn
looked at him with those big green eyes and he just melted. For some
reason he never could resist those eyes.
The men all stopped in thier conversation and looked at the newcomer. One
burly dog dressed as a football player started things off. He reached over
to shake Drake's hand all the while saying, "I'm Jake Lab. This is Larry
Pike and Max Samuel." Every guy nodded when Jake said thier names.
"Drake Mallard."
"So, Drake, what do you do for a living?"
"I work out of the home."
"That must be nice. So what does the Missus do?"
"I'm single."
"What!? You mean to tell me that your not married. Yet you have a kid. How
did you manage that?"
Drake was starting to get really irritated at the man. It wasn't any of
his business why he has a kid. Through a tight smile he said, "My daughter
is adopted. Now if you'll ecsuse me." He left in a hurry.
Goslayn had been watching her dad the whole time. When she saw him leave
the group in a huff she excused herself and went after him. She found him
out in the hall. "Dad? Didn't like those guys, did you?"
He smiled and ruffled her hair. "No, I didn't. They were pigs. They
thought it was wierd for a single guy to have a daughter."
She reached around and hugged him. "It's not wierd. I bet none of those
guys has done anything for thier kids. At least not like what you've done
for me."
"Well, it doesn't look like they've been blowen up, shot at, or have been
through time either." They laughed and hugged eachother. Just then the
teacher poked her head out the door. Drake heard her and turn to look at
her.
"Oops. Sorry to disturb you, but we're starting."
Gosalyn let go of her dad and hopped towards the door. "Come on, Dad. I
want to win as much loot as I can today and you're going to help me." Miss
Honey and Drake looked at eachother and grinned.
In a voice that was supposed to be stern, but instead came out
affectionately Drake said,"Now Goslayn. You have to learn patience. We'll
play all the games. I promise."
Gosalyn just stared at him and rolled her eyes. "Sure, Daaad. This coming
from the master of patience." The sarcasm in her voice was easy to pick
out. Miss Honey looked at Gosalyn in shock. She never heard her talk to an
elder like that. She looked at Drake to see his reaction, thinking that
she was going to be repermanded for that but instead she saw him smiling.
She didn't understand it.
Trying to keep from laughing at Miss Honey's reaction, Drake turned his
attention to Gosalyn. "Now look at that, Gos. You gave poor Miss Honey a
shock. Shouldn't you apologize to her?" He gave her a wink.
"I'm sorry, Miss Honey." She bounded for the safety of the room before she
said anything else.
Miss Honey stood stock still. Then she whirled at Drake and with an
accusing glint in her eyes she demanded to know what just went on. "Well,
I'm one of those people that aren't known to be very patient with other
people. Gosalyn likes to remind of that fact. Sorry for that?"
Sarah nodded her understanding. "My brother is the same way. He isn't
exactly a people person. So don't worry about it. It just surprised me to
hear Goslayn take that tone towards you." She paused as if what she said
was shameful.
Drake decided to let her off the hook. "How about we get in there before
my little girl decides to take matters into her own hands." He waved
towards the door and she gave a small laugh.
"OK. Gosalyn does seem to be the type that would do that." The two headed
back into the classroom and found that Gosalyn was indeed taking charge.
She was standing on a desk waving her arms around trying to get everyone
quiet.
"All right people! Settle down so Miss Honey can tell us what we're
doing." She hopped off the desk and went to stand next to her dad.
"Thank you, Gosalyn. The first event is the parade. What this is is that
everyone gets in line and we go through all the classrooms to show off our
costumes. This will take approximately 30 minutes. Any questions?"
Jake Lab raised his hand. "Yeah. Do the parents have to do this?" Secretly
Drake was wondering the same thing. It wasn't that he minded it. He went
out every night in his costume so parading around a school would be no big
deal, but he didn't like the fact that if he some how screwed it up
Gosalyn would have blackmail material. It wasn't something he wanted over
his head at the moment.
"I would like it if you did, but it's not required." Drake gave a sigh of
relief. Then he looked down at his daughter and he could tell that she
knew what he was thinking.
"Forget it, Dad. You're going to be in that parade if you like it or not."
He tried to give her most innocent look, but she just shook her head."
"All right, you win. I'll march." This time she gave a firm nod and
grinned. He was such a pushover. "If I'm going to do this we better get in
line." He nodded his own head to where the rest of the class had already
lined up.
Once everyone was ready they waited for the signal. When they got it they
started off. Drake leaned over and whispered into Gosalyn's ear. "I feel
like I'm in the military." She gave a giggle.
The whole thing lasted exactly 30 minutes, just as Miss Honey said it
would. Afterwards the classes stayed in their rooms and played games until
lunchtime. Then the parents and kids were herded outside for a picnic that
the cafeteria had made for them.
That afternoon the staff had planned on a series of games that pitted each
grade against each other. The parents would also be involved with these
games. Gosalyn's grade was especially excited about this because Gosalyn
is known as one of the best athletes in the school.
The first event was the tug of war. While every two grades lined up with
the rope the others sat on the sidelines and cheered them on. It was funny
watching the younger grades because they didn't exactly know what to do.
Finally the teachers had to go up and explain what they were to do with
the rope. Once they got it through to the kids that they had to tug on it
until one side crossed the line they let them at it. As expected the first
grade won.
This repeated until finally it was down to the fourth and fifth grades. Up
until now it was obvious that the higher grades would win, but this one
would be different. Everyone had the feeling that the fourth grade would
win. Besides Gosalyn they had others that were just as athletic.
Drake stood near where Gosalyn was standing, waiting for the whistle to
blow that told them they could start pulling. Then he heard Herb's voice
coming from behind him. "Hey Drake!" Drake looked for an escape route and
found none. *Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away.* He tried to act as if
he hadn't heard anything, but that didn't work. Now the voice was right
next to him. "Hey Drake didn't you hear me?" *Yeah I heard you. I think
everyone in town heard you.* He decided to keep his comment to himself for
a change.
"Hi Herb." He looked around for the other part of the pair. But she was no
where to be found."So where's Binkie?"
Herb crooked his thumb towards the school. "Oh she's still in there.
Honker had some trouble with his makeup and Binkie's fixing it for him."
"Oh." Was all Drake said before he turned back to watch the contest that
was now underway. As expected the fourth grade was winning. "Go Gosalyn!"
He yelled out as she and her classmates gave a final tug to win the game.
Everyone started cheering.
Gosalyn ran over to where her dad and Herb were standing. "Did you see me?
Hi Mr. Muddlefoot."
"Of course I did. Didn't you hear me cheering?" All three glanced up when
the principle called everyone over for the last game which was the three
leg race. This time the parents were allowed to enter with their kids.
Drake took that opportunity and grabbed Gosalyn's hand. "I'll talk to you
later, Herb." And they were off. Behind them Drake could hear. "See ya."
When they stopped at the line with the other parents Gosalyn turned her
dad. "That was rude of you, Dad."
"What was?" He asked distracted with tying a rope around their ankles.
"How you left Mr. Muddlefoot standing there alone."
Drake straightened up and looked down at his daughter. "I thought you
wanted to do this."
"I do, but..."
"But what, Gos? That man is impossible. Look we've had this conversation
before. It's old. Come on the race is about to start and I want to win."
Gosalyn just shrugged her shoulders and sighed. When her dad had something
on his mind there was no way she could argue with him. He was too pig
headed.
"OK, Dad. You win. Let's go win this race." The whistle blew and they were
off. For awhile Drake and Gosalyn were ahead and then somehow they got
tangled in each others costumes and they fell to the ground. To some
people it looked like Drake would start yelling, but he didn't. Instead
they started laughing and tried to get up only to fall once again. By this
time it was too late. They had already lost. But they didn't care, they
were having too much fun.
When the games were done the prizes were given out. Of course all the kids
got a little bag with warnings about being safe while going out. Inside
they found it full of candy and other goodies.
As father and daughter left the party they were still laughing about the
events of the day, even the ones that weren't very pleasant at the time
they occured.
When they reached thier car Gosalyn stopped her dad with a hand on his
arm. He looked at her with a question in his eyes. She smiled and said,
"Thanks, Dad."
Again he looked for confused. "For what?"
"For being my dad."
He reached over and gave her a hug. "You're welcome, Kiddo. And thank you
for beng my daughter." They held on to each other for a few more minutes
before Drake broke it off and opened the door for her. She got in and he
went to his side. They drove off into the afternoon and waited for what
was to come with the night.
Finis
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This one goes to the guys at the DW Message Board. They the ones that
encouraged me to do this. Thanks guys!
The Party
By:Dawn Powell
It all started one October day. Gosalyn Mallard had just gotten home from
school and as usual seated herself in front of the TV. "Ah this is the
life, or it is until Dad get's home." Just then the blue chairs along the
far wall started to spin. "Great. There goes my TV time." The chairs
stopped. Where they were once empty there now sat Gosalyn's dad, Drake and
his sidekick, Launchpad. It sounded like they were in the middle of a
conversation.
"I think this weather has everyone a little crazy. If this keeps up I
don't know what I'm going to do."
"You know, DW, it could be that everyone is just practicing for Halloween.
You know it's tomorrow."
"I know. How could I forget. Gosalyn's been going on about how much..."
Drake finally noticed Gosalyn sitting on the couch. "Gosalyn! What are you
doing home?"
Goslayn rolled her eyes. "It's three thirty, Dad. School's out for the
day." Drake looked at the clock on the VCR.
"So it is. How was school today?"
"Same old, same old. So what were you saying about me?" Drake actually
looked sheepish. Almost like the kid that got his hand caught in the
cookie jar. "Oh, Uh. I was just telling LP here how you were bragging
about how much candy you were going to get tomorrow."
Goslayn grinned. "I sure am. Not just tomorrow night when Honk and I go
trick'r treating but also at the party at school. Remember the one that
you volunteered to help at?"
Drake held up a finger. "Now you hold on there missy. I didn't volunteer.
A certain little girl with red pig tails did."
The grin got bigger. "That's right. Oops. I forgot that part. And did I
also tell you that you have to dress up?"
"No, you didn't. And just what am I supposed to dress up as?" He got up
from the chair and started pacing.
Launchpad decided to get in on the conversation. "Gee, DW. How about you
go as yourself?"
Drake snapped his fingers. "That's it. I could go as Darkwing. No one
would suspect that I'm actually him."
Gosalyn rubbed a hand over her face. "You could be a little more creative,
you know."
"Well, if I had more notice I would've gotten myself a costume." It was
Gosalyn's turrn to look sheepish. She decided it was time to make her
leave. "Um. I'm going over to Honk's, Dad. I'll be home for dinner." She
ran out of the room before he could say anything.
Drake turned back to Launchpad his mind now on dinner and not the party.
"Now what am I going to fix for dinner?"
The next morning Gosalyn and Drake were back at it. This time though
Launchpad was not there to play referee. He was in town getting candy for
that night. "Dad, you don't have to do this you know. You can dress up as
something else."
"I know." He was putting the finishing touches on his costume.
"There won't be any criminals there."
He paused in putting on his mask. "You never know. There might be."
"Believe me, Dad, there won't be any criminals."
He shook his head and went back to tying on the mask. "Sure, sure.
Whatever you say. Besides you didn't really give me enough time to come up
with something else."
*Smacks her forhead* "Then I should have told you sooner." She pointed at
him. "Are you going to the school in that?"
He looks down at himself. "And what is wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"Nothing. But usually people wait until they get there to dress up.
Besides there could always be the slight chance that someone would
recognize you."
"Who's going to think that I am really Darkwing?"
"I don't know, but stranger things have happened."
"True. I'll get back into my regular clothes then we can get going. How
long does this party last anyway?"
"All day."
"Great." He went up to his room to change. When he came back down he was
back in his usual shirt and sweater vest. "Welp, we better get going if
we're going to make to your school in time for the party."
"OK."
At the school they saw kids and a few parents already in costume. Drake
glared at his daughter. "I thought you said everyone got dressed at
school."
"Hee. Hee. Did I say that?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we are at
school and they are dressed, so it's possible that they already got to the
bathrooms and dressed."
Drake rolled his eyes. "Well, we're here. Let's get dressed, so I can help
you with your makeup." Gosalyn had decided to be a zombie. Luckily, the
makeup for it was fairly easy to put on. All they had to do was smeer
greenish-black makeup on her face, but it was still messy.
A few minutes the two met in front of the doors to the bathrooms, fully
dressed and ready to meet the rest of Gosalyn's class. Then they heard a
pair of voices that Drake dreaded to hear everyday coming from behind
them."Well hiya, nieghbor! I didn't know you were coming today." Drake
gritted his teeth and looked around for an escape route. Unfortunatly
there was none to be found. Then he felt the arm clamp down in his
shoulder and he knew that there was no wayout of his own private Hell.
His eyes grew dark as they quickly swung from the hand on his shoulder to
his daughter's face. What he saw on it made him want to scream. Gosalyn's
face showed a mixture of amusment and horror. To Drake that meant only one
thing. She knew they were coming and didn't tell him. This was as bad as
that whole Christmas dinner fiasco last year. But at least then Megavolt
showed up and in a way saved him from it, this time he couldn't even have
that pleasure. Even if there was a criminal here he didn't think he could
take care of them without compromising his real identity.
Gosalyn saw the look on her dad's face and knew she had been caught. It
wasn't as if she had intentionaly not told him, it just slipped her mind.
Her mind quickly went through different ways that she could make this up
to her dad. From past experience she knew that none of them would work,
though. The only thing she could do was look cute and at the first moment
make a run for it. She didn't think her dad would be able to catch her.
Because of his job he had to keep fit, but she was ten-year old kid. She
had the edge of being able to fit into small spaces. She just hoped it
would help her in getting out of this situation.
Drake glared once more at Gosalyn before he slowly turned around. "Hello
Herb, Binkie." His voice had a hard edge to it. When he saw their costumes
he thought they fit them perfectly. Herb was a big slimy alien, while
Binkie was an astronaut. *Big surprise there. I always considered those
two to be space cadets. *
"Why Drake, isn't that cute. Your dressed just like Darkwing Duck. Did you
know Herb met him once? Maybe you should have asked him for ideas on how
he dresses." This time Drake's eyes saw red. How dare she tell him how to
dress. She doesn't even know Darkwing.
Meanwhile, Goslayn was trying to look for cover. Her dad was irritated and
she knew that any moment he would blow and that was not something she
wanted to see first hand. At least not today. When she couldn't find any
she decided to try to distract her dad before he said or did something
that he would later regret. Of course it was the Muddlefoot's he might
not. She grabbed a hold of his cape and gave it a sharp tug. Gosalyn knew
that would work, there was nothing he hated worse than someone messing
with his cape. "Dad?"
He turned and looked at her. His eyes were still that dark blue they got
when he was furious. *This is going to be a long day. * "What is it,
Gosalyn?" He hissed. The Muddlefoot's didn't even realize that he was
about to lose control.
In a low tone she said. "I think we should be getting to my class now. The
party's about to start."
At this suggestion all emotion drained from his face. Then some of it
returned, but it wasn't as fierce. "Uh, OK. Sure." With out saying
anything else to the Muddlefoot's, he turned on his heel and started down
the hall. Gosalyn paused long enough to say, "Bye, Mr. and Mrs.
Muddlefoot."
"Bye, Gosalyn. Tell your dad that we'll see him later."
"OK." She turned and followed after her dad. Behind her she could hear
Mrs., Muddlefoot say, "That was rude of him. He didn't even say goodbye."
Gosalyn was out of earshot before Mr. Muddlefoot replied.
"Dad! Wait up!" She yelled as she ran down the hall. Drake stopped in the
middle of the hall and without turning, waited for her to catch up. When
she did she asked, "Dad, what was that all about?"
Finally, he turned to look at her. "I… I don't know. When she said that I
should have asked Herb about how to dress as Darkwing I guess I just
snapped."
"I'll say. You just about tore his head off."
"I know." He bowed his head in shame. Then he lifted it. "What did you
think of their costumes?"
Gosalyn grinned, she had succeeded in getting her dad out of his mood. "I
thought they were pretty cool. Why?"
Drake returned the grin. "Oh, I don't know. I thought it suited them."
Gosalyn looked at him curiously. "They're a pair of space cases."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Come on we better get going before they come back." He
grabbed her hand and led her down the hall.
"Dad, do you know where you're going?"
He paused for a second. "Sure I do. I've been here before. Don't you
remember, for your parent/teacher conference?"
"Oh, yeah. I do. I think it had to be the first time you ever grounded me
for life for not breaking something."
Drake chuckled. "I know. And it probably won't be the last."
"No, it probably won't be." The rest of the walk was spent in a
comfortable silence.
When they reached Gosalyn's homeroom they found it full of kids and
parents dressed in colorful costumes. There was even another Darkwing
roaming around. Drake pointed him out to Goslayn. Bending down she
whispered in her ear. "Look, Gos. I'm famous." She giggled. "Yeah, Dad,
you are. Maybe you should go over and introduce yourself."
"Nah. Might give away my secret. So what do we do now?"
Gosalyn looked around. Most of the kids were on one side while the parents
were on the other. "I don't know. It looks like everyone is just in their
own little groups. There's Miss Honey. We can ask her." The two headed
over to where a petite women in her early twenties was standing. "Miss
Honey? When do we start with the games?"
Sarah Honey looked down at her most spirited student. Mockingly clutching
her chest she said, "Gosalyn? Is that you? You gave me a fright." Gosalyn
rolled her eyes. Eventhough she liked her teacher sometimes her jokes were
a little corny.
"Yes, Miss Honey, it's me."
Miss Honey laughed. "I know. And this must be your dad."
They shook hands. "It's nice to see you again, Miss Honey."
Sarah turned back to Gosalyn. "Now what was it that you wanted to know?"
"When do the games start?" She started with her impatience.
Sarah smiled at her enthusiasm. "Soon, Gosalyn. Right now everyone's
mostly talking to each other. Why don't you two go join them until they
start."
Both father and daughter said, "Sure." They looked at each other and
laughed. That hadn't happened for a while. This time Sarah laughed with
them before she moved to the front of the room.
"Dad, I'm going over there with my friends. Do you think you can behave
yourself until I get back?" She grinned to show him that she was only half
kidding.
Drake returned the grin, understanding the meaning behind it. "I think I
can behave myself for a few minutes. Who knows, maybe I'll actually have
something in common with the other parents."
"Yeah, I bet every kid has a crime fighter for a parent."
He repeated his words from earlier. "You never know."
Gosalyn put up a hand in defeat. "Whatever. Just go mingle. And remember,
behave yourself." Drake laughed and moved over to one of the groups of
parents. Gosalyn just shook her head and went over to a group of her own
friends
Drake nervously went up to a group of men about his own age. He never had
been good at doing this. The only reason he was here was because Goslayn
looked at him with those big green eyes and he just melted. For some
reason he never could resist those eyes.
The men all stopped in thier conversation and looked at the newcomer. One
burly dog dressed as a football player started things off. He reached over
to shake Drake's hand all the while saying, "I'm Jake Lab. This is Larry
Pike and Max Samuel." Every guy nodded when Jake said thier names.
"Drake Mallard."
"So, Drake, what do you do for a living?"
"I work out of the home."
"That must be nice. So what does the Missus do?"
"I'm single."
"What!? You mean to tell me that your not married. Yet you have a kid. How
did you manage that?"
Drake was starting to get really irritated at the man. It wasn't any of
his business why he has a kid. Through a tight smile he said, "My daughter
is adopted. Now if you'll ecsuse me." He left in a hurry.
Goslayn had been watching her dad the whole time. When she saw him leave
the group in a huff she excused herself and went after him. She found him
out in the hall. "Dad? Didn't like those guys, did you?"
He smiled and ruffled her hair. "No, I didn't. They were pigs. They
thought it was wierd for a single guy to have a daughter."
She reached around and hugged him. "It's not wierd. I bet none of those
guys has done anything for thier kids. At least not like what you've done
for me."
"Well, it doesn't look like they've been blowen up, shot at, or have been
through time either." They laughed and hugged eachother. Just then the
teacher poked her head out the door. Drake heard her and turn to look at
her.
"Oops. Sorry to disturb you, but we're starting."
Gosalyn let go of her dad and hopped towards the door. "Come on, Dad. I
want to win as much loot as I can today and you're going to help me." Miss
Honey and Drake looked at eachother and grinned.
In a voice that was supposed to be stern, but instead came out
affectionately Drake said,"Now Goslayn. You have to learn patience. We'll
play all the games. I promise."
Gosalyn just stared at him and rolled her eyes. "Sure, Daaad. This coming
from the master of patience." The sarcasm in her voice was easy to pick
out. Miss Honey looked at Gosalyn in shock. She never heard her talk to an
elder like that. She looked at Drake to see his reaction, thinking that
she was going to be repermanded for that but instead she saw him smiling.
She didn't understand it.
Trying to keep from laughing at Miss Honey's reaction, Drake turned his
attention to Gosalyn. "Now look at that, Gos. You gave poor Miss Honey a
shock. Shouldn't you apologize to her?" He gave her a wink.
"I'm sorry, Miss Honey." She bounded for the safety of the room before she
said anything else.
Miss Honey stood stock still. Then she whirled at Drake and with an
accusing glint in her eyes she demanded to know what just went on. "Well,
I'm one of those people that aren't known to be very patient with other
people. Gosalyn likes to remind of that fact. Sorry for that?"
Sarah nodded her understanding. "My brother is the same way. He isn't
exactly a people person. So don't worry about it. It just surprised me to
hear Goslayn take that tone towards you." She paused as if what she said
was shameful.
Drake decided to let her off the hook. "How about we get in there before
my little girl decides to take matters into her own hands." He waved
towards the door and she gave a small laugh.
"OK. Gosalyn does seem to be the type that would do that." The two headed
back into the classroom and found that Gosalyn was indeed taking charge.
She was standing on a desk waving her arms around trying to get everyone
quiet.
"All right people! Settle down so Miss Honey can tell us what we're
doing." She hopped off the desk and went to stand next to her dad.
"Thank you, Gosalyn. The first event is the parade. What this is is that
everyone gets in line and we go through all the classrooms to show off our
costumes. This will take approximately 30 minutes. Any questions?"
Jake Lab raised his hand. "Yeah. Do the parents have to do this?" Secretly
Drake was wondering the same thing. It wasn't that he minded it. He went
out every night in his costume so parading around a school would be no big
deal, but he didn't like the fact that if he some how screwed it up
Gosalyn would have blackmail material. It wasn't something he wanted over
his head at the moment.
"I would like it if you did, but it's not required." Drake gave a sigh of
relief. Then he looked down at his daughter and he could tell that she
knew what he was thinking.
"Forget it, Dad. You're going to be in that parade if you like it or not."
He tried to give her most innocent look, but she just shook her head."
"All right, you win. I'll march." This time she gave a firm nod and
grinned. He was such a pushover. "If I'm going to do this we better get in
line." He nodded his own head to where the rest of the class had already
lined up.
Once everyone was ready they waited for the signal. When they got it they
started off. Drake leaned over and whispered into Gosalyn's ear. "I feel
like I'm in the military." She gave a giggle.
The whole thing lasted exactly 30 minutes, just as Miss Honey said it
would. Afterwards the classes stayed in their rooms and played games until
lunchtime. Then the parents and kids were herded outside for a picnic that
the cafeteria had made for them.
That afternoon the staff had planned on a series of games that pitted each
grade against each other. The parents would also be involved with these
games. Gosalyn's grade was especially excited about this because Gosalyn
is known as one of the best athletes in the school.
The first event was the tug of war. While every two grades lined up with
the rope the others sat on the sidelines and cheered them on. It was funny
watching the younger grades because they didn't exactly know what to do.
Finally the teachers had to go up and explain what they were to do with
the rope. Once they got it through to the kids that they had to tug on it
until one side crossed the line they let them at it. As expected the first
grade won.
This repeated until finally it was down to the fourth and fifth grades. Up
until now it was obvious that the higher grades would win, but this one
would be different. Everyone had the feeling that the fourth grade would
win. Besides Gosalyn they had others that were just as athletic.
Drake stood near where Gosalyn was standing, waiting for the whistle to
blow that told them they could start pulling. Then he heard Herb's voice
coming from behind him. "Hey Drake!" Drake looked for an escape route and
found none. *Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away.* He tried to act as if
he hadn't heard anything, but that didn't work. Now the voice was right
next to him. "Hey Drake didn't you hear me?" *Yeah I heard you. I think
everyone in town heard you.* He decided to keep his comment to himself for
a change.
"Hi Herb." He looked around for the other part of the pair. But she was no
where to be found."So where's Binkie?"
Herb crooked his thumb towards the school. "Oh she's still in there.
Honker had some trouble with his makeup and Binkie's fixing it for him."
"Oh." Was all Drake said before he turned back to watch the contest that
was now underway. As expected the fourth grade was winning. "Go Gosalyn!"
He yelled out as she and her classmates gave a final tug to win the game.
Everyone started cheering.
Gosalyn ran over to where her dad and Herb were standing. "Did you see me?
Hi Mr. Muddlefoot."
"Of course I did. Didn't you hear me cheering?" All three glanced up when
the principle called everyone over for the last game which was the three
leg race. This time the parents were allowed to enter with their kids.
Drake took that opportunity and grabbed Gosalyn's hand. "I'll talk to you
later, Herb." And they were off. Behind them Drake could hear. "See ya."
When they stopped at the line with the other parents Gosalyn turned her
dad. "That was rude of you, Dad."
"What was?" He asked distracted with tying a rope around their ankles.
"How you left Mr. Muddlefoot standing there alone."
Drake straightened up and looked down at his daughter. "I thought you
wanted to do this."
"I do, but..."
"But what, Gos? That man is impossible. Look we've had this conversation
before. It's old. Come on the race is about to start and I want to win."
Gosalyn just shrugged her shoulders and sighed. When her dad had something
on his mind there was no way she could argue with him. He was too pig
headed.
"OK, Dad. You win. Let's go win this race." The whistle blew and they were
off. For awhile Drake and Gosalyn were ahead and then somehow they got
tangled in each others costumes and they fell to the ground. To some
people it looked like Drake would start yelling, but he didn't. Instead
they started laughing and tried to get up only to fall once again. By this
time it was too late. They had already lost. But they didn't care, they
were having too much fun.
When the games were done the prizes were given out. Of course all the kids
got a little bag with warnings about being safe while going out. Inside
they found it full of candy and other goodies.
As father and daughter left the party they were still laughing about the
events of the day, even the ones that weren't very pleasant at the time
they occured.
When they reached thier car Gosalyn stopped her dad with a hand on his
arm. He looked at her with a question in his eyes. She smiled and said,
"Thanks, Dad."
Again he looked for confused. "For what?"
"For being my dad."
He reached over and gave her a hug. "You're welcome, Kiddo. And thank you
for beng my daughter." They held on to each other for a few more minutes
before Drake broke it off and opened the door for her. She got in and he
went to his side. They drove off into the afternoon and waited for what
was to come with the night.
Finis