Swiss Family Conlon

Chapter 1:

"Bye! Bye!" The cries echoed throughout the docks as the Brooklyn newsies saw Rae, Spot, Ann, and Andy off onto their ship, The Minnow. Spot and Rae had randomly picked their ship, which was going to take them all the way to London. Needless to say, they were excited. Especially Ann and Andy.

Spot slipped his arm around his new wife's waist. "Well, Darling, we are off on another exciting adventure." he said with a smile.

Rae nodded, carefully avoiding Ann and Andy, who were bouncing around, shrieking, "We're going to London! We're going to London!"

"Do they even know what London is?" Spot whispered in her ear.  She shook her head. "I think they are just excited to be going somewhere!"

"Ann, Andy, quiet down some," she then reprimanded gently. They were receiving a few stares. Looking at Spot, she said, "I'm very proud of you."

"Oh really?" he asked.

She nodded. "You haven't stressed about your accident since you confronted everyone at the lodging house." She smiled, squeezing his arm.

"It's easier when you're by my side.  Everyone is so taken away by your beauty that they forget about my face." he replied with a grin.

Rae rolled her eyes some but grinned at the praise anyway.

He offered her his arm. "Shall we take those two bundles of energy and go settle into our rooms, Mrs. Conlon?"

"Why certainly, Mr. Kelly," she teased and winked at him.

"Hey!" he protested, but grinned at her.

They took the twins' hands and led them onto the ship, where one of the ship's crew showed them to decent living quarters.

They were given two rooms.  The slightly larger one was to be their living quarters of sorts.  The smaller one was a bedroom.  Rae dropped wearily on the couch and Ann crawled up beside her and rested her head on Rae's lap.

Andy, on the other hand, was busy racing around, testing out all the new gadgets and objects within the room in complete awe. "Lookit this! And this! Wow, what's this do? Can I have this?"

"Andy, settle down a bit, for the rest of us." Spot said, sitting on the other side of Ann.

"But I wanna play with this neat stuuuuuff!"

"Andy, you heard what Spot said. Besides, we are going to be on this boat for a long time."

He plopped down on the rug. "We are? Wow!"

"Why don't you two take short naps and then I'll take you to go explore the ship." Spot suggested.

Ann nodded agreeably, but Andy whined, "But I ain't tired Mr. Spot!"

"No nap, no exploring." Spot said, pulling the little boy to his feet.

He pouted but obediently headed for the bedroom. "Can we go see the ship's captain steer the boat then Mr. Spot?"

Spot laughed. "We'll see."

With a slight exclamation of glee, he dragged Ann with him, saying, "The sooner our nap is over, the sooner we get to see the ship's captain!"

Spot dropped back onto the couch and rested his head on Rae's lap.  She giggled. "You didn't want them to take naps. You were just jealous of Ann."

Spot grinned. "'Course I was jealous. She got to be all cuddly with you and I didn't," he teased.

She giggled. "You're horrible."

"But you love me anyway." he replied.

"Unfortunately." She winked at him and curled up next to him. "I can't believe we're really going to London."

"It seems so unreal."

"Everything that's happened recently seems that way."

He nodded. "I still keep expecting that house's owners to come back... what if they do?"

"Then we find somewhere else to live.  Putting that money in the bank was a good idea."

"Let's just hope if they do come back, we don't get chased down and arrested."

She nodded.   "I wish we could have figured out what happened to them."

He nodded and yawned. "Well, as long as the kids are getting some sleep, we may as well."

"Sounds good to me." she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

He smiled, stroking her hair gently. "Sweet dreams Mrs. Conlon."

* * *

The next night they were all sitting in their room talking, when the ship rocked suddenly, throwing Rae from the couch.

Andy quickly followed. Spot grabbed Ann before she slid off the couch and he ended up almost flipping backwards. "What in the world is going on?!"

"I wish I knew." Rae said, crawling back to him, Andy's arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

Spot stumbled to his feet and he fought to keep his balance as he crossed the floor. He opened the door as lightening flickered through the sky. Ear-splitting thunder boomed. "I figure it's safe to say that it is storming outside."

"Yes," Rae said.  When the thunder sounded, Ann had leapt into her arms.

"I'm scared," Ann whimpered. Andy latched onto Rae soon afterwards. "Me too..."

"I know," she whispered trying to comfort them. 'I am too.' she thought.

Spot pushed the stubborn door closed and sat next to them. "Come on... why don't you two go lie down. Rae and I can read to you, if you'd like."

"Can we stay in here?" Ann asked. 

"I don't want to go back in there, either." Andy added.

Spot glanced at Rae and she shrugged. "I suppose so."

Spot made his way to the other room and brought back several quilts.  Wrapping one around each of the twins, he settled them both on the floor. "Alright, which book do you want us to read?"

"Beauty and the Beast!" Ann exclaimed.

Rae bit her lip in an effort to keep from giggling, but one look at Spot was she was soon laughing.

Spot just smirked and took the book from Rae's pack. "All right then, what did you last hear?"

"Beauty had just agreed to come live with Beast." Rae said.

He nodded, opened the book, and began to read, making deep voices for the Beast and high voices for Beauty, which caused everyone to laugh.

The twins soon fell asleep and Rae moved over closer to Spot.  "I hope this storm doesn't keep up too much longer."

Spot nodded. "This isn't exactly what I had envisioned for this trip."

She rested her head on his shoulder. "Read me some more?"

He smiled. "Haven't you heard enough of this story?" he teased.

"Never."

He smiled. "All right then." He opened the book and continued to read.

* * *

The next day the storm raged on.  Our four friends were still huddled on the floor in their room, trying desperately not to get thrown around the room by the violent waves that were rocking the ship.

Andy had thrown up twice, Ann once, and Spot and Rae both felt seasickness creeping up. "I don't like London no more," Andy whimpered.

"I know, sweetheart." Rae said, brushing a stray lock of hair from his face.

"Can we go back home now?"

"No we can't Andy." Spot said from where he sat a few feet away, holding Ann who was crying. "We have to go to London and then we have to make the trip back."

Andy started to cry. "We didn't even get to look at the ship..."

Rae pulled him closer to her. "There will still be plenty of time, Andy."

"I hate London," he whined again.

"I think he thinks this ship is London," Spot whispered in Rae's ear, glad to find a little amusement in not such an amusing situation.

She nodded.  "Why don't you try to sleep, Andy, it will make you feel better."

"What if the boat tips over? What if the thunder breaks it? What if it hits an iceberg an' cracks in half and falls into the ocean-"

Spot put his hand up to stop him. "No more what-ifs, okay mister? That's not even possible. Everything will be fine."

"Quiet down and close your eyes, Andy." Rae whispered softly, rubbing his little back.

He whimpered and rested his head on the couch.

Once they were both sleeping Rae looked over at Spot, "I can't take another day of this."

"Neither can I. Andy's what-ifs have gotten me a little worried."

Rae sighed heavily.  "Come here, Darling." Spot said.  As she moved to crawl toward him, the boat shifted suddenly, sending them both flying into the far wall and knocking them both unconscious.