Chapter seven: Where's Jake?
The cop motioned for us to walk outside, I nodded and held up a hand.
"One second please." I replied. He nodded and I turned back to the others.
"We are so dead!" I squeaked. Tom sighed and opened the door as I walked over to the box. Tom opened the door all the way and Art and I hauled the alien out side and sat it behind us then stood there in a line while an awkard silence filled the air. Finally he spoke again:
"I don't know how much you kids know about penal codes, but making phone calls with the intent to annoy or harass is a serious offence. It's called criminal mischief and it could mean six months in jail." He said. Wow... 6 months for that? Harsh... The box shook violently and I looked back at it briefly then looked back at the cop. He didn't seem to notice which I was thankful for.
"911 is for emergency calls only, and any misuse of this system could compromise this county's only line of defense." He continued, I fought the urge to roll my eyes. This was going to be a boring speech over some stupid phone call.
"And around here… That's me. I'm the law. Literally, I'm the only one. My deputy's on maternity leave." He added. I raised my eyebrows at him. He thought he was awfully important didn't he?
"Look Sherriff, we told we're sorry. It won't happen again. We promise…" Tom said.
"So you can leave now, we're good. We swear." I added. He looked at us, perplexed. Oh no...
"Oh, so I can leave? That's it? Problem solved?" He asked. The box shook again, even more noticeable now. The Sherriff looked down at is suspiciously. Oh he had no idea how suspicious he should be.…. Tom kicked it and the alien stopped moving.
"What's that there?" He asked, looking at it closer. We all looked at each other stumbling for an answer. When we couldn't come up with one he sighed.
"Step aside kids." He ordered. Uh oh.
"No! It's just my sisters robot dog!" Tom protested..
"Y-y-yeah, it's sound a-activated. R-right H-h-h-Hannah?" I added, looking down at her.
"RIGHT!" She responded, a little too enthusiastically.
"It's not an alien!" She said, I noticed her wink up at Tom. I smiled a bit. She was catching on fast.
"Uh-huh, right. I'm gonna take a look inside that chest. Step aside kids." He said. Damn persistent cops… They can never just be like "Oh no! We believe you! Bye-bye! Have fun!" NO! They gotta be all up in your business... As if it's any of their concern… It's not! Jerks! We all stepped aside and he pulled out his little baton thing and bent down towards the chest. My heartbeat was slowly inching higher and higher. Then, as if we had a guardian angel or something, a horn blared from behind us. We spun around to see the adults…. Oh shit… Definately not an angel... We had some splainin' to do now…. Nate pulled to a stop and they all stepped out of the car. Nate looked careless, as usual, Mr. P was sporting his furious face, something I'm starting to grow used to seeing and Mrs. P looked worried. Hopefully that worry will outlast the anger.
"One hour! We're gone one hour! What happened?" Mr. P demanded walking up to us. No need to say hello...
"Hi! Nina Pearson. What happened? Are you kids okay? Is everything okay?" Mrs. P asked, shaking the cops hand then walking towards us. Sheesh people, give us kids a chance to speak before the 20 questions start!
"Well I'd say making a fraudulent call about an alien invasion is most definitely not okay!" The officer replied. The adults looked at us, shocked. Well that was a bit dramatic...
"You called 911?" Mr. P exclaimed. Right in my ear! Thank you very freaking much!
"Come on buddy. I'm sure you can let the kids off with a warning. I mean look at them." Nate said, pointing to us. We all smiled innocently. The cop just looked pissed off.
"1) Not your buddy. 2) I noticed your vehicle is missing a front license plate. And 3) How bout I write you up a ticket?" The cop snapped in reply.
"How about you don't?" Nate laughed. What an idiot...
"Nate, stop talking." Mrs. P demanded. Haha Nate!
"Do you usually leave your children unsupervised like this?" Mr. Cop asked accusingly.
"No! No! We had to run into town to go to the leasing office. They shut our power off." Mr. P replied. Mr. Cop looked up at the porch.
"Looks all right to me." He said, we all looked back to see the front porch light was indeed lit. Damn…. Should've shut it off…
"Sheriff I know that this doesn't look good. But they're really good kids. I mean why don't you stay and see for yourself. We're barbecuing." Mrs. P said. Oh man! Why invite a cop to dinner?
"Join us!" She said.
"Mom!" Tom started at the same said I said.
"Mrs. P-" But we both went silent as we were cut off.
"Ma'am I'd like to, but I'm on duty." Mr. Cop said. Yes! The guardian angel is back!
"Look. The kids made a big mistake. And I assure you, Tom will be punished. But my wife is right. We have plenty of great food. Why don't you stick around?" Thanks Mr. P…. Thanks. Crush my hopes and dreams why don't you!
"I know you're on duty. But there's no law against a home cooked meal." Mrs. P added. Mr. Cop smiled a bit.
"We've got lots of hotdogs, hamburgers and steaks…" Mrs. P started naming off all the food, making me hungry. The cop looked thoughtful for a minute.
"I have to admit. It has been awhile… All right, arm successfully twisted. I'll stay. I guess an hour off won't kill anyone." He said. The adults laughed while us kids exchanged worried looks. Oh how wrong he is…. All of a sudden, something shot down and hit the Sherriff's little star pin thing. I looked up at the roof then back down at the ground and saw a mind plug.. I nudged Tom, who instantly stepped forward and covered the thing with his shoe. He also totally invaded the man's personal bubble… Just saying.
"What was that?" He asked, looking up.
"What was what?" Tom asked back innocently.
"Just… Something." Mr. Cop replied.
"All right everyone! Dinner!" Tom exclaimed. We all chimed in with words of agreement and motioned the adults into the house. While the younger ones went on ahead, Tom and I stayed our front and looked up at the roof. I caught a glimpse of the ugly alien and then he disappeared. Tom nudged me. I looked at him
"Jake will be fine… He knows this sort of thing." He said. Why would I care about Jake? He's my nemesis.
"Psh…. Like I care…" I scoffed, attempting to act nonchalant.
"Rory. You can't lie to save your life." He reminded me. I glared at him and looked down at the alien in a box.
"Let's just get him inside." I muttered. Tom chuckled and grabbed the other handle. We carefully carried the thing inside and out back to the table. We set it down and Tom sat on it. Mr. P was grilling burgers, Beth was chilling by the pool and Mrs. P was helping Nana outside. I caught a snippet of the conversations.
"One minute I'm cleaning my chompers… The next I'm down here!" Nana was saying. I wonder how they shot her in the bathroom? Then again Nana's oblivious to almost everything around her...
"Well Mom, it's perfectly all right. You're entitled to a few senior moments." Mrs. P replied. I stifled a laugh and went to help Mr. P with the burgers and to remind him that I hate cheese while everyone liked it.
"Beth, honey, did you want cheese on your burger?" Mr. P asked. Beth looked over at him.
"No!" She snapped, taking me by surprise. I don't blame her though...
"I wanna find whoever invented love and hack them apart with a machete!" She growled. I laughed.
"I think that's Aphrodite!" I said. She glared at me and I instantly shut up. She was scary when she's mad. Mrs. P walked over, they looked at me.
"Boy trouble?" I guessed with a shrug before grabbed the cheese-less burger and walking away. I sat between Art and Lee and looked around. Where's Jake? I went to ask Mr. He'll be fine he knows what he's doing aka Tom, but I was cut off,
"Hey Nate, where's Jake?" Mrs. P asked. Can she read minds or something?
"I don't know." Nate replied. Parent of the year response...
"Well dinner's almost ready, why don't you track him down?" Mr. P suggested. It was extremely surprising that Nate and Mr. P were related. I mean they were complete opposites….
"Look, Jake's an adult. If he wants to eat, he'll come down and get it." Nate said. I arched an eyebrow at him. Jake? An adult? Who does he think he's kidding? If he's an adult then I'm a duck! Do I have a bill and feathers? I don't think so!
"Whatever." Mr. P sighed.
"So… What happened Rory?" Nate asked, making a scratching type motion towards his neck.
"Oh, um… I was in the woods with Jake and a tree branch scratched me…" I replied.
"What kind of tree?" He asked. Damn him… Damn him to hell! Not literally though… That's mean…
"Ummm…." I said.
"It was a broken branch… on the tree. She was climbing up the tree and it got her!" Tom just saved my ass from certain death… Well maybe not death but getting caught in a lie… Which could mean death… Whatever.… I just thank the Lord for my best friend…
"All right everyone! Dig in!" Mr. P exclaimed. We all busied ourselves with getting our burgers ready. Mine was plain, with some regular potato chips.
"Mmm." Everyone chorused, taking a bit from their burgers.
"These are really good Mr. P." I complimented. He nodded in thanks, looking kind of like a chipmunk….
"I'll tell ya, there's nothing more American than a charred chunk of meat hitting your stomach." Mr. Cop laughed. The adults laughed in agreement.
"I've got the pickles!" Nate smiled, attempting to get on the man's good side.
"Don't think a dill spear is gonna get you out of that ticket." Mr. Cop warned. I laughed, suddenly Tom jerked backwards. My eyes grew wide, the alien was trying to escape!
"Uh…" Tom said, all of a sudden there was a growl, he looked down and back up.
"My stomach!" He exclaimed, picking up his burger,
"I'm starving." He sighed. The adults nodded as I gave him a look. He shrugged and looked back down.
"Rory. Check your phone." Lee said, I nodded. I pulled out my cell.
"Found Jake?" Art asked.
"Still no signal." I replied, we looked at Lee who shook his head.
"Hey, kids. Not at the table." Mrs. P said. We all looked at her and nodded. I looked to see all the hotdogs from the tray disappear as Snugs grabbed them and hid again.
"Hannah! Did you eat all the hotdogs?" Mr. P asked, clearly shocked. Hannah looked down at the tray confused.
"No." She replied. All of a sudden we heard a very loud burp. She jumped and covered her mouth.
"I mean yes." She corrected her self. I giggled a little bit.
"Let me tell ya, this is way better than eating Ramen noodles in my squad car like every night… By myself." Mr. Cop said. We continued eating in silence until I heard crunching. I looked up to see Ricky stomping towards us.
"Attention all! Resistance is futile!" He exclaimed, Beth jumped up and reached for him.
"Oh baby, I knew you'd come back!" She exclaimed.
"Step aside hormonal female." Ricky replied, pushing her off to the side and continuing towards us. I laughed.
"You're calling me hormonal?" Beth exclaimed. I looked back at Tom who mouthed:
"He's gone!" My eyes grew wide and I looked at the twins. Art was searching for the controller, but it was gone. How did we not notice? I looked back at Ricky and Beth.
"Back away you are irrelevant to my mission." He stated, pulling out of her grasp.
"Irrelevant! I don't care how old you are! You can't talk to me like that!" Beth yelled, storming back to the house. Ricky walked over to us.
"What's going on?" Mr. P asked.
"Teen drama… I think…" Mrs. P replied. She looked up at Ricky.
"It is teen drama Ricky?" She asked. He just ignored her and grabbed Hannah's backpack from her.
"BACK OFF!" She shouted in a really funny voice. Ricky was too strong for and yanked the bag from her and walked away. We looked at Tom.
"Let's move. And bring Nana." He said. Lee nodded and we all got up and started for the house.
"Whoa, whoa. Freeze!" Mr. P shouted. We all froze and turned to look at him. Lee stood behind us and started controlling Nana.
"You kids haven't been excused yet." He said. We all stood silent, unsure how to answer. Nana shot up.
"Let them go!" She shouted. She turned towards Mr. P, looking straight ahead and not down at him.
"We're playing a game Uncle Stu, I mean Stu!" She declared.
"We're on vacation! Am I aging backwards? I don't think so! You really want to deny me my time with the kids?" She asked. I laughed. This was too good!
"Phew… Wow… Guilt never gets old." Mr. P said. He turned to us.
"Go ahead." He said. I smiled.
"Thanks Mr. P." I exclaimed. We all ran for the house with Nana following us. We made it to the house and as we opened the door, I found myself hoping and praying that Jake was okay...
Tell me what you thinkk! (: R&R!
Much Love.
Rhey
