Lilo ran to the elevator that led up to her room, eager to get out of the grass skirt that she was wearing. It was one of her old ones, and it was really itchy. It only took her a moment to get out of her whole hula outfit, grass skirt and all, and into her normal dress. Knowing that she didn't have much time before Nani returned home, Lilo quietly got out her catalog of experiments. Maybe she could get some more of the pictures before her older sister got home.
Several hours later, Nani still had not returned home, and Lilo couldn't help but begin to worry. It was true that Nani sometimes had to stay at work later than she had planed, but she always managed to call to inform the family. But as far as Lilo knew, there had been no phone calls at all since the three of them had returned from the hula practice. The hiss of the elevator distracted Lilo from her thoughts and made her look up. What she saw was Pleakley's slender body rising out of the hole in the floor.
"Did Nani tell you when she was going to be home?" the noodle-like alien asked.
"Yeah," Lilo answered, "Three hours ago." This just made Pleakley stand in the middle of the room, looking a bit confused. Lilo sighed; he still hadn't fully grasped sarcasm. The sound of the door opening made them both jump. Lilo gasped and pushed Pleakley out of the way in her hurry to get downstairs. When she arrived downstairs, she saw none other than her older sister walking through the door.
"Hey, Nani," Lilo chimed, running up to her sister, "How come you were so late?"
"Just a little car trouble," Nani responded, taking a knee to be level with Lilo's height. It wasn't really a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. "In fact, I need to go pick up the car real quick. So why don't you stay here and help Pleakley order some pizza?" Lilo nodded, not entirely convinced.
"Alright, if you say so," Lilo said, with a tilt of the head and a squint of the eye that was meant to tell Nani that she wasn't buying it. But she still left and went back to her room to retrieve Pleakley.
"Jumba," Nani addressed, standing up and turning to face the large alien. The Quelta Quanien had seated himself on the sofa, and had to look up from a copy of 'National Geographic' that he had found on the street. "Jumba, I need your help."
"What with, Larger Girl?" Jumba asked, flopping the magazine shut. Nani took a quick look around, moved over to him, and bent down, practically whispering in his ear.
"My car got in an accident, and I need your help to tow it to a body shop," Nani explained in a hushed voice. Jumba understood why she kept the accident hushed. Lilo and Nani's parents had died in a car accident, and Lilo might get upset if she learned that another one of her family had gotten into a car crash.
"Okay, let us be going," Jumba stood up and put his hand on her shoulder, guiding her outside to the bright red buggy that served as the family's second car and as Lilo and Stitch's joy-rider. Nani slipped into the passenger's seat as Jumba squeezed into the driver's seat. Then they took off.
A few quiet moments went by before someone decided to break the silence. "Have you ever felt that someone was watching you?" Nani asked, almost hesitantly. The question was so out of the ordinary that Jumba had to steal a glance at her out of the corner of one of his many eyes. She was slightly curled up in the seat, her arms wrapped around her as if she was cold in this warm weather.
"Sometimes, yes. I get that tingle on the back of my neck. Like the hairs would be standing up, if I was to be having any," Jumba stole another glance at her. "Are you being alright?" he asked, letting his massive hand eclipse her slight shoulder.
"Yeah, it's just that after the accident…there was…I'll tell you when we get there." Getting there didn't take much longer, and it was then that Jumba understood why she had been acting weird.
The car was still propped up on its side, two of the wheels standing high in the air. Paint from the car was spattered across the asphalt from when it had slid across the road. Not only that, but Jumba did some quick calculations, and then came to a conclusion that he didn't like.
"Was Larger Girl wearing safety restraint when this happened?" Jumba inquired as he stepped out of the buggy.
"No, she was not," Nani answered, also getting out of the buggy.
"Then, you must have been…" Jumba started in disbelief
"Tossed from the car, over the side of that cliff? Yeah," Nani finished. "That was what that question was about." Jumba gave her a quizzical look. "When I was thrown from the car, I managed to catch the side of this cliff." Just being here made her want to start crying. "Then the rock gave out and I started to fall." She didn't even want to think about it. "But this man caught me, and pulled me back up. But it was really odd; he just came out of nowhere, and then vanished. It was just so random, him being there at just the right time. It made me think. So, I guess my real question is do you believe that angels watch over us?"
"No," Jumba murmured rubbing the back of his neck, it tingled. "No, I am just not being the religious sort of person." In fact, all of this talk of angels and stuff was making him uneasy. "So he is just saving you, then leaving? No name or anything?"
Nani shook her head, "No, but he would stick out here in Hawaii, wearing a coat, gloves, and a hat. Even if they were white. It's just too hot."
"White coat?" Jumba whispered, and then his eyes went wide.
There was a gunshot followed by a pained grunt, and then the dull thud of a body hitting the floor. But when Jumba opened his four eyes, what he saw was not what he expected. The gun was on the table with a smoking bullet hole above it on the ceiling. Face down on the ground was the robber, his arm bent in an odd way. The man in the white coat was gone, just vanished as if he had never been.
"The man at the diner," Jumba said. A small sob broke him from his thoughts. He turned to see Nani kneeling at the edge of the cliff, her back heaving. He walked over to her and lifted her to her feet. She sagged against him and sobbed softly. He wrapped his arm around her and did his best to be comforting, but he didn't feel like he was doing a very good job, because she started to cry harder. The only thing that he could think to do was let her cry herself out, and that was what he did. He stood there for the better part of an hour, just being the shoulder to cry on. And that was fine with him.
