Chapter 10 - Family Sticks Together
"This bus heads to Neverlandia, right?" Yakko added, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. This was the third bus they had stopped - the first one was out of service, and the second one was going to Plimpton - definitely didn't want to head there.
The bus driver, a sleepy looking chimpanzee, nodded his head, smiling.
Seems like a friendly sort…
"Yeah kid, heading straight there. You want on or you gonna stand in the door all night?"
"Yeah, on, we need to get there."
Yakko threw money in the box for the three of them. Turning, he motioned to Wakko and Dane to follow him, and they hesitantly came up the stairs.
The driver eyed them, then turned back to Yakko.
"Sound like you kids are in a hurry. You guys are a little young to be out so late - everything OK?"
Great, he's so friendly he's going to be nosy.
"Yeah, yeah it's fine – just really late for curfew."
If he buys that, I'll eat my shirt.
"Shame; hope you don't get in trouble. Folks can be unreasonable."
Damn. Better find some salt.
"We'll be fine, just tired and in a bit of a hurry."
"I hear ya, driving these night shifts, ugh," the chimp said, pulling the handle to close the door.
Pushing his hat forward with his tail, the driver leaned over the wheel like Dick Dastardly in the last lap of a Wacky Race.
Yakko sat in a seat in the middle of the empty bus, pulling Wakko into his lap, while Dane stretched out in a seat across the aisle from him. Pulling a comb from his hammerspace, Dane began to comb the tangles out of his long striped tail. Yakko rested his chin on Wakko's head when the driver spoke again.
"What part of Neverlandia you going to kiddies?"
Why won't this guy be quiet?
"Mitchell Street."
That's where the home is - hopefully this guy knows where Mitchell Street is - hell, he's the bus driver, he should know.
The driver snorted. "Mitchell is a big street. Any particular area?"
Damn. Be stupid to mention the home - home was at 512 Mitchell Street - heck with it, just give him the block…
"We'll be OK if you drop us near the 500 block."
Please don't ask any more questions…
"Will do kid; there's a stop near there."
The driver fell quiet, and Yakko settled back into the seat, exhausted. Feeling Wakko lean back into his chest, he ruffled his hair briefly.
"Yakko, I'm cold."
Yakko gave a little shiver as well; the air conditioning on the bus was turned pretty high.
"Here kid, wear this," Dane said from across the aisle. He reached into his hammerspace and after a few seconds pulled out an oil-stained denim jacket and tossed it to Wakko.
"Thanks."
"No problem little man; I outgrew that shit awhile ago; keep it."
Wakko began to put it on over his t-shirt that he had changed into. Yakko threw Dane a smile of thanks as he held the right arm for Wakko.
"Will we be able to find her?" Wakko asked as he settled back into Yakko's chest.
Yakko looked down at his brother.
"I hope so Wak."
Yakko curled his arms around him and looked up; the driver was watching them in the mirror up front. Yakko was thankful that he had all of them change clothing before they got on the bus. If the driver was a little suspicious now, he would have been more so if they were running around in the trademark TIS uniform.
He had made them run for almost eight blocks before taking a break, having to carry Wakko at one point. Dane struggled to keep up with Yakko's longer legs, and finally had to beg off for a breather. Yakko had spied an alley between two stores, a tea shop and a gown shop, and had gotten everyone in the alley, finally changing clothing behind a dumpster.
Wakko had been thrilled his jeans and dark blue t-shirt fit better; they were Yakko's outgrown clothing, and were still slightly too big, but he would grow into them. Yakko noticed his own clothing actually fit; his own grey t-shirt and jeans having been too big for him the last time he wore them.
Yakko had momentarily worried; he didn't have any extra clothing for Dane, and they couldn't run around with him in the uniform without it being noticeable. Once again though, the resourceful toon surprised him, pulling an odd assortment of clothing and other items out of his own hammerspace.
Dane finally decided on a pair of jeans with a black t-shirt, also pulling on a black sweatshirt a size too big, saying that he wanted everything to blend into the night if they were going to be creeping around another TIS home. Pulling on a black ball cap, he had thrown the uniform on the ground and walked off to the front of the alley to keep watch while the brothers finished changing.
Yakko had nodded and taken everyone's discarded uniforms and stuffed them deep in the dumpster; no sense in leaving a trail if they could help it. He had really wanted to burn the uniforms, preferably on O'Leaginous desk, but that was a dream that would have to be denied.
Taking another glace down at Wakko, he noticed that his brother had fallen asleep in his lap, tongue gently hanging out of the left side of his mouth.
Glancing over at Dane, he noticed that the raccoon had given up on his grooming and had leaned his upper body against the wall, eyes closed as his head bounced against the window with the movement of the bus.
Yakko shrugged; everyone might as well grab a cat-nap while they could; he had a feeling they had one hell of a night still ahead of them.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Hey kids, you gonna nap on my bus all night?"
Yakko jerked awake, momentarily groggy, and looked around, wondering where the hell he was.
Seeing the interior of the bus, his sleeping brother in his lap, the driver looking at them in the rear view mirror, and the raccoon across the aisle from him, he remembered.
"Yeah, sorry about that mister."
Dane was waking up, uncurling his tail from his lap and stretching. Yakko, rubbing sleep from his own eyes, stood, holding Wakko against his chest. Dane had gotten up and was almost off the bus, pulling his cap low over his face as he went down the stairs.
As Yakko passed the driver, he tried to avoid the chimp's gaze, muttering a thanks as he passed him. He hated having the man see them, but hoped that if they got in and out of the home quickly, they could go into hiding before anyone started a search and began interviewing witnesses.
Yakko stepped off the bus step and onto the pavement, feeling Wakko start to stir in his arms. Looking around, Yakko tried to get his bearings, and noticed they were in the 600 block of Mitchell Street. Oh well, only a block off - they could do more walking.
"Gotta haul - we want to hit this place while everyone's still knocked the fuck out snoozing."
"Do you swear like this all the time, or is it just stress?" Yakko asked, annoyed.
"Oh bite me, it's fun," Dane said cheerfully. "You gotta lighten up slick, be cool -"
"It's not cool, and you aren't cool because you -"
"Yakko, Dane is cool," Wakko piped in, still in his arms. "He's not like some cock-knockers who have no fucking manners."
Yakko stared at Wakko, wide-eyed, almost dropping him he was so shocked. Meanwhile Dane threw his head back and laughed, finally having to lean against the wall of a tea shop, holding his left side while wiping tears from his eyes, trying to catch his breath.
Making a mental note to scold Wakko later about his language, Yakko slid him to the ground as Dane continued to chuckle. At the moment, the biggest concern was finding this home, and getting Dot.
"Ok, we need 512 -"
Wakko was looking at a few buildings, squinting at the numbers.
"This is 609," he said, then pointed to another building to the right. "That's 607 - we need to go that way."
"Right. Lets move guys; night's slipping away," Yakko replied, moving down the sidewalk, watching the numbers continue to go down.
They spotted the home before they reached it. It was no mansion, but this home actually looked like a house, and was considerably larger and better kept than the Brutus-Nero House. This home had a whitewashed brick exterior, many windows, and a large porch complete with several pillars supporting a black shingled balcony for the second floor. He was vaguely reminded of Tara in 'Gone with the Wind'.
Baker Estates was sitting in the middle of a large grassy yard, tucked away behind a tall brick and wrought iron fence. The gate was closed; just as well, it was too well lit for him to even consider going in. Up the driveway he could see five of the yellow and white TIS cars sitting in front of the house.
Coming up on the home on the wrong side of the street, they stood in the shadow of a shop specializing in apparel for pixie's and elves. They looked at the home for a few minutes; Yakko with his arm around Wakko, Dane leaning against the wall of the building flipping a coin, no one saying a word.
Finally, Wakko spoke quietly.
"It's sort of pretty."
"Yeah, it's pretty, on the outside," Yakko said. "Remember what happens on the inside of these places though."
Wakko nodded.
"We gonna do this slick?"
Yakko turned to look at the raccoon.
Tense, he swallowed. "Yeah, we better get going I guess. You guys ready?"
Both boys nodded.
"OK. The street lights are illuminating the yard on this side. I'm thinking we'll be better off heading toward the back of the house; it looks darker back in that direction."
With that, they all began to walk down the sidewalk, finally leaving the shadow of the apparel shop to cross the street, running down the fence line that was now completely obscured by shadows from the home and trees near the fence.
Once again, due to their small size, Wakko and Dane could squeeze through the bars, though this squeeze was much tighter than at their home.
Yakko looked overhead and saw a branch hanging low enough that he could grab it if he could make a fantastic jump. Seeing the brick base of the fence, he climbed on it and started trying to jump to grab it. After four or five unsuccessful attempts and landing on his ass in the sidewalk and giving Wakko and Dane a few minutes of chuckles, he was able to grab at the end of the branch and pull himself up and over the fence.
Pointing, he started to make his way toward the home, staying low. Unlike the other home which had few bedrooms, this one looked like it could host more children. That meant more kid's that could be awake, or perhaps even caretakers that were keeping a watch out at night.
Finally, after an agonizingly slow crawl across the side lawn, they were on the side of the house.
The bottom level on this side had two windows, extremely high up on the house. He wanted to look in and make sure the coast was clear before they went barging in like the swat team.
Motioning Wakko over to him, he picked him up and stood him on his shoulders, trying to avoid standing in the multitude of azalea bushes lining the side of the house. Unfortunately Wakko was still a good foot too short. Yakko, who had been loosely holding his ankles, felt him try to jump up, and thought his collarbone was going to break with Wakko landing back on it.
"Stop that Wakko," he hissed. "You wanna break every bone I have?"
"Sorry – I can't see."
"Hold still for a second."
Dane climbed onto Yakko, almost pulling his pants off in the process, then climbed onto Wakko, who whined that Dane was too heavy for him. Yakko hushed him and looked up to see Dane grabbing the sill and pulling himself up.
Wakko, who had been crumbling under Dane's weight, toppled over backwards from Yakko's shoulders. Yakko barely caught his ankles before he hit the ground. Setting him upright, he saw Dane motioning him to move, and he backed up as the little toon tried to jump into his arms. He missed and ended up jumping into the azalea bush with a thud and a muttered 'fuck me'.
I'm so tempted to start whistling 'Three Blind Mice'.
"It's clear– not a damn person stirring in this part of the house," Dane whispered, crawling out of the bush, pink flowers stuck in his left ear.
Yakko nodded. "Good. There's a side door farther down; we'll try to get in there."
"Let's have a look then, get this going and rescue the damsel in distress and all that other Disney crap."
Snorting , Yakko followed behind the raccoon, Wakko directly behind him. When they reached the door, they climbed the three steps leading up to it. Standing on the small wooden porch, Yakko looked inside the door's window to see it lead to the kitchen – a very large kitchen. Dane bent to examine the lock, hemming and hawing and muttering to himself like a scientist examining a new specimen for the first time.
Anxiously, Yakko asked, "Can you pick it or not stripes? If not, I'll have to -"
"Chill slick – leave it to me," he said, continuing to mutter to himself. "Basic lock; two tumblers, no catch." He threw his head back and laughed. "What a bullshit lock! Be more secure if they had locked it with a Twizzler!"
"Keep it down you nut!" Yakko hissed. "You want the whole house to hear what you think of their lock?"
Knew this was a bad idea.
"Wouldn't mind a bit – if they knew, they could upgrade and offer me a challenge."
Wakko scratched his head. "If they had better locks though, it would be harder to get in. Wouldn't that be bad for us?"
Sometimes, Wakko could bring a refreshing naivety to a conversation.
"Uh, yeah, right little man," Dane mumbled as Yakko just put his hand over his eyes and shook his head, having a feeling that they were all going to get arrested for trespassing before the night was out.
Yakko began to pace in front of the door, while Wakko sat on the step, chin propped up on his knees, tongue peeking out the side of his mouth while Dane went to work.
Ten minutes later, Dane was still working on the lock, Yakko was afraid he was going to wear a path in the wooden planks of the porch, and Wakko had moved to stand beside Dane, holding a multitude of tools the raccoon had dug out of his hammerspace.
Finally, Yakko stopped pacing on the porch and turned to Dane, saying sarcastically, "Uh, stripes, thought you said this lock was a piece of cake?"
Dane turned to look at him, scowling. "It will be – don't rush me slick – good things take time."
"I wish it was a lock made of Twizzlers," Wakko mumbled. "I'm hungry."
"Hell, we make it out of this I'll buy us all some Twizzlers," muttered Yakko.
"Make it M&M's," Dane muttered back at him, holding a metal rod in his mouth while talking. "Twizzlers suck, little plastic pieces of sh-yeah! Got it!"
Yakko had turned back toward him as the grinning lock pick pumped his fist in the air, then turned the doorknob, opening the door.
Gratefully, Yakko picked the kid up and hugged him, twirling him around before dumping him on the step next to Wakko. Dane staggered, finally leaning against the porch railing trying to regain his equilibrium. Meanwhile, Wakko thrust all the burglar tools into the stunned boy's arms and started to run in the door.
Yakko grabbed Wakko by the back of his jacket before he got both feet on the linoleum floor. Closing the door to try to dull the sound of the potential argument that was sure to be looming, he lifted Wakko up, depositing him on the bottom step out of the way.
"No way pal - you're staying out here."
"But Dot -"
"No Wakko - I've got to rescue one sibling. The sibling that I know where he's at is staying put. You stand right there," Yakko said, pointing to the right corner of the building, which was heavily shadowed, "and you don't move, got it?"
Wakko crossed his arms and gave him a sulky look while Yakko looked back at him, crossing his own arms and standing firm.
"I mean it Wakko - don't push me on this. Not now."
I'm nervous and edgy enough as it is.
After a full minute of staring at each other while Dane stood to the side and watched in amusement, Wakko backed down.
"Oh all right," he muttered, sulking and going to stand where indicated. Leaning his back against the wall, almost hidden in the shadow except his face and feet, he crossed his arms and looked at the ground.
Lot less arguing than usual anyway.
"What about me slick?" Dane asked, smirking. "Am I gonna have to go stand in the corner too?" He batted his eyes at him. "I promise I'll behave…"
"Look, I should be the one to go in-"
"Gonna come as a shock to you, but I do know how to take care of myself."
Yakko ran his hand through his hair; already on edge, he didn't want to have to worry about Wakko and this kid too.
"Look, I can appreciate that," Yakko said, then stopped, coming up with an idea as he watched Wakko starting to bounce around in the shadows. "Honestly, you want to do something helpful - really helpful?"
Hate to even think this, but the kid was smart enough to realize the situation, and I think I trust him enough…
Dane shrugged, then nodded.
Yakko took a breath, hoping he wasn't sounding too desperate, or, God-forbid, too much like the damn closing reel of a Disney film.
"Watch Wakko. Please. I know him; he won't want to stay there too long." Worried, he took a breath, then continued as Dane watched him, looking surprised. "Look, I hate to ask, really, but I don't want to be worrying…not about him too... if something happens, I get caught - just, ya know…"
"It's OK slick, I understand…" the raccoon trailed off for a second with a strange look on his face. "Look, I'm only gonna say this one time, then I'll deny I said this shit till the day I die." He stuck his hand out. "You trust me with something you really value while you go creeping around Hell House looking for your sis. Appreciate that."
Yakko sent a silent thank you out to whatever deity watches over toons that they had the fortune to run into the little criminal.
Yakko snorted and shook his hand.
Now, try to recover whatever's left of my manhood.
"Stripes, that was so touching I'm about to wipe a tear from my eye."
Dane jerked his hand away, shoving it in his pocket. "Yeah, whatever. I'll watch after Fievel no matter what - go find your sister."
Yakko gave him a smile as he jumped off the porch and began to walk toward Wakko, who had been watching them. He gave his brother a small wave, which Wakko half-heartedly returned.
"Good Luck."
Yakko turned around before heading into the house, whispering to Dane, "Thanks. You too."
XXXXXXXXXX
Wakko watched Dane walk toward him as Yakko, with a small wave, went through the door, gently closing it behind him.
He never lets me do anything!
Dane walked up to him, putting his arm around his shoulder and talking quietly.
"Come on little man, what's the problem? We got your bro in, no one's spotted us -"
"He never lets me help though," Wakko grumbled. "He always wants me to wait on the side, like I'm some little kid that can't do anything."
"He's just worried," Dane replied, still talking quietly. "Hey, would it be better if he didn't worry, let you run all over and not caring if you got hurt?" Dane sighed, looking at the sky before turning back to him. "Probably nice to have someone looking out for you."
Wakko thought about it for a minute, then finally shrugged.
"It's ok. Just be nice to be able to do something."
"Well, staying here is doing something - you're keeping me company - slick didn't want me in there either -"
Wakko shook his head - Dane didn't understand either.
"No! I want to actually do something - something to help - not just 'stay out of the way Wakko'," he said, trying to mimic Yakko's high voice.
Suddenly a thought came to him. "Hey, I know what we can do!"
"Oh shit," muttered Dane, but Wakko ignored him.
"That was the kitchen! We should grab some food! Might be awhile till we can eat, but if we have stuff with us -"
Dane cut him off, smiling. "You know little man, that's actually not a bad idea...though slick's gonna be mad if yo-I mean we - leave this spot..."
"He won't even know! Maybe we can surprise him later by making him a sandwich," Wakko said, grinning at the other boy.
Dane then slapped him five. "Thought I was a crafty shit - you got me beat though! All right - let's go get us some grub!" Dane looked at him again. "We do this though little man, we gotta be really quiet – we don't want to alert anyone to what's going on down here or with your bro, OK?"
Wakko nodded – it was a reasonable request.
With that, both boys headed back toward the door, Dane in the lead, and quietly climbed the porch. Wakko, nervous but happy to be doing something, stood guard on the porch as Dane peeked in the door, then slowly pushed it open creeping inside. Wakko followed him in.
Stepping into the darkened kitchen, Wakko looked around. It was really big, and a lot nicer than the one at the old home. All the appliances were shiny and new, the floor wasn't scuffed with pieces of the linoleum peeling up, and even in the dim light, he could tell the walls didn't have that dull look to the paint.
Wakko turned to see Dane already going through a drawer in the island in the middle of the floor. Shrugging, Wakko went to a cabinet near the stove and opened it; cooking pots and pans.
"Come here little man," Dane hissed quietly. "Look what I found – freaking-A huh?"
Wakko looked inside and grinned – candy – no Twizzlers, but plenty of little multi-colored hard candy. Wakko grabbed a handful, stuffing them into his pockets for later. He'd share with Yakko and Dot, but he wouldn't tell Yakko how much he had – Yakko wouldn't let him totally fill up on sweets.
"OK, we got dessert – need to find the real food now." Dane turned around, and grabbed a stool from the island, carrying it to the tall counter. On the way, his tail hit a bag of potatoes, causing it to thud to the floor. Cringing at the noise, they both paused for a few seconds, until they determined that no one but them had heard the sound.
Shrugging, Dane hopped onto the stool, holding his hand down to Wakko, who grabbed it and also stood up.
On the counter were several loaves of bread, a bunch of bananas, a bag with about four apples in it, some chips...
"Wow," Wakko said quietly. "They eat better here than they did where we were."
Girls were always lucky.
Dane gave a quiet laugh.
"Got ourselves the makings of a fine meal here – wanna grab a snack before we go pillaging the rest of this joint?" Dane asked, rubbing his hands together in glee.
Wakko looked at him, confused. "What's that mean?"
Dane sighed. "Wanna eat before we rob these bastards blind?"
"Ok. You should just say so."
"Thought I did," Dane muttered at him, crawling across the counter to the sink to wash his hands.
Wakko looked at him like he was crazy.
"Force of habit," Dane shrugged, drying his hands off on his shirt. Crawling back over, he grabbed the bread. "Look in the fridge – see what they got; I'll take care of this end."
Wakko hopped down as Dane began to go through the overhead cabinets.
Opening the refrigerator, he found ham, bologna, and some cheese. Not a feast, but definitely better than nothing.
Grabbing the food, he carried it over to the stool, handing the items up to Dane, who was quickly making the sandwiches on the counter. He put together a bologna and cheese one for Wakko and handed it down to him. He took it and gratefully bit into it; sinking to the floor as he did so. It was really late, and all the sneaking and running around was making him sleepy.
Making a few more, Dane grabbed the chips and sat on the floor with Wakko, both of them stuffing the sandwiches in their mouths as quickly as possible, not talking.
After they were done, Dane turned to him, smirking and saying quietly, "Best part about this dinner little man?"
Wakko looked up at him and shrugged.
"We don't have to clean up a damn thing – imagine some old matron's surprise in the morning!"
Wakko snickered at the thought, trying to keep quiet.
They quickly finished their pilfered meal. Energized, they set to work rummaging through the kitchen. Dane told Wakko to grab mostly things that would hold without refrigeration like crackers and peanut putter.
While Wakko was going though the cabinets, he looked over at Dane, who had pulled a large canvas bag out of his hammerspace and was currently standing on the stool, loading all the silverware from the drawer in it.
When Dane turned around and saw Wakko watching him, he grinned.
"Eh, could be worth something...saw it in a movie once."
Wakko shrugged and nodded, continuing to go through a cabinet on the other side of the stove, which held cleaning supplies.
Dane finished purloining all the silverware, being surprisingly quiet about it, he put the bag by the back door with a small clanking sound and came over to where Wakko was. He had found a good cabinet.
"Look Dane!" he whispered excitedly. "Cakes!"
Dane turned his nose up at them and started grumbling. "Be careful; could be stale, treacherous damn pieces of –"
He was cut off by a sound, and both boys froze, crawling under the island for a minute. Not hearing any further noise, they finally crawled back out.
When they had gone through every cabinet and drawer in the kitchen, they had six sleeves of saltines, three big jars of peanut butter, a can of sardines, some candy, two loaves of bread, the apples, the bananas, and the leftover lunch meat from earlier.
"Now what Dane?"
"We'll split this up between us later." Dane regarded the pile of food on the floor. "I don't care for bananas; you like them?"
"They're OK," he shrugged, wondering why he cared.
"I've got an idea."
Wakko looked at him. "With bananas?" Then he gasped. "Are you gonna make banana splits?"
Dane smirked. "Eh, no – but when we're splitting, it might be useful to have taken some," he snickered before saying, "preventative action. And if not, it'll be a useful prank for you to know; we did it to the cop cars all the time in Clampett. You like pranks?"
Wakko nodded. Pranks were fun, as long as he didn't get caught.
"Grab them 'nanners and come on – I'm grabbing those potatoes. We're gonna make sure that just in case we get spotted, they'll have a hard time chasing us. Even if not, still be a blast. I'm bored right now."
Wakko grabbed the bunch off the floor while Dane grabbed the sack of potatoes and led them out the door.
Dane led him around to the front of the home, telling him to be careful and not make one sound. Wakko nodded – he knew he was supposed to be quiet; everyone didn't have to keep telling him that.
When they got to the front driveway, he watched in wonder as Dane took the potatoes and showed him how to shove them up into the tailpipes, so that the cars would stall. Wakko asked Dane to explain it to him; he didn't understand.
Dane pointed to the vehicle next to him and told Wakko to shove the bananas in – he would do the potatoes since they were harder. Nodding and giggling, Wakko began to ram them in there as Dane began to explain about the car's cylinders and how they pull fuel and air in and push the exhaust out. But if the tailpipe is clogged, the exhaust can't go anywhere; if it stays in the cylinders, no fresh air gets in, and so the car will die.
Wakko listened, finding it interesting, and also getting a little satisfaction out of being able to do something to stop the TIS bullies from following them in their ugly cars if they were seen.
"After we're done with this little man, what say you and me go check out at least the bottom level of the house, huh?"
Wakko nodded; he had drifted off from the conversation for a minute, worried about his brother and sister.
"I wonder how Yakko's doing," he mumbled out loud, ramming another banana into the car's tailpipe and brushing his hands off on his jeans.
All the bananas were in this one car; it won't be moving. I hope they never even know we were here, at least until we are gone.
"He's probably doing great little man," Dane grunted quietly, using his foot to help wedge a particularly firm potato in. "Your brother's sharp – hell, might have already found your sister and is just up there malleting toons for the hell of it."
I really hope so, he thought, crossing his fingers.
"Son of a bitch," Dane said, and continued cursing quietly under his breath.
"What? What's wrong - ?" Wakko asked, but didn't need for him to answer. Looking up the driveway, he saw the gate slowly opening, but even more alarming, he saw headlights.
As the car slowly approached the house, he could see that the cab was yellow and white.
They'd been found.
Wakko grasped Dane's shirt. "What are we gonna do? We gotta warn Yakko!"
"No time little man," Dane replied. Shooting him a grim smile, he continued on. "Come on, I think I have an idea on how to stall though."
Dane took off back toward the kitchen door, Wakko on his heels.
XXXXXXXXXX
After Yakko waved to his sulking brother and Dane, he entered the door and softly closed it behind him, and stood still for several seconds with his back pressed against the door, listening with his ears raised.
Hearing nothing but his own quiet breathing and the sound of his own heart thudding in his chest, he swallowed and nodded to himself.
Now or never.
He walked across the shiny floor, noting that this home was a lot nicer than the one they had so recently vacated; all new appliances, a big airy industrial kitchen...he wondered how many children this home could hold.
Making his way out of the kitchen, he came to a short carpeted hallway that led into a parlor like setting; off to the left through an open doorway he could see a dining room with two long tables. To his left he saw three doors.
He guessed that the bedrooms were upstairs, but tried the doors anyway; one was a supply closet, the other two doors, much fancier were locked; one had a brass plaque marked Pearl Van Firman; Director, and the other name plate was blank.
No where to go but up.
Clenching his jaw, he grasped the light wood railing, and slowly began climbing the staircase, making not a sound as he trod up each carpeted step one at a time. He counted as he went; the staircase had twenty-two steps. It felt like a thousand – each step could either be bringing him closer to reuniting with Dot, or it could be a crushing blow to find out she had been moved to a new home, or worse, adopted or fostered out.
Damn you Dad, this is all your fault you worthless –
He cut off his mental tirade before it went too far; what was done was done. He'd rarely thought about his absentee parent in nine months; no sense in bringing him back into his mind now. He had other things to occupy his mind with, and he needed to keep all his wits about him.
Quickly hoping that Wakko and Dane were keeping out of trouble, he reached the top of the stairs and stood on the landing. To his left was a shiny wood wall; to his right was a hallway lined with doors and a few well-placed nightlights.
Not having a clue which one to check in first, he decided to just start opening doors one at a time, hoping that he would get lucky with the first two or three, and that anyone behind those doors was asleep. It was still really early; they should be.
Taking a deep breath, he walked up to the first door on the right. Trembling hand on the knob, he exhaled and slowly turned the knob, thankful that the door was well oiled and didn't squeak, and looked in the room.
It was dark. At this section of the house, the moonlight was not coming in the window, and he struggled to peer into the darkness. He could see ten beds, five on each side of the room, with two dressers and a closet on the far wall.
Creeping into the room further, he jumped at a sound and turned, already reaching into his hammerspace intent on pulling his mallet. He saw what the noise was; a hanger brushing against the back of the door. Hand to his chest in relief, he turned back to survey the beds; they were all empty.
Nervous and jumpy for an empty room and a hanger - feel like a sissy.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he walked back out of the room, closing the door just as silently as he opened it. The door across the hall was a bathroom.
Figuring that they would not stash his sister in there, he went down the hall to the next door, this time on the left side.
Again taking a deep breath, he reached for the knob with a shaky hand.
Get it together Yakko, he scolded himself.
Pausing a second to mentally calm his nerves, he silently cracked opened the door and peeked inside; more beds, this time occupied. Pushing the door open a little more, he could see that eight of the ten beds in the room held little girls. Looking closer, he recognized three girls from his prior residence.
Well, least I know that the girls from the home definitely came here. It is an improvement from their prior home. I hope.
One of the familiar girls, a little brown fox that he believed was named Vanessa, rolled over in her bed. Hearing the bed frame creak he froze, trying to hold his breath. Watching her snuggle down further into the bedding, he determined that she was not waking up.
Relieved, he backed out of the room, pausing again when another girl sighed in her sleep. When she didn't move again, he did a small leap out of the room, quickly and quietly closing the door. Those girls were older than Dot; she would not be in that room quite yet.
She'll never be in that room, he mentally corrected himself. She'll never see or even know about the inside of that room. If by some horrible chance she is not in this home, I'll search the entire Earth to find her.
Looking down the hall, he saw that there were still about eight doors.
Gotta give these goons credit – they're hiding Dottie well.
He went through the next three doors quickly - they were all empty bedrooms. Apparently this home was going to be able to hold a whole boatload of girls - fifty girls by his count at least. He wondered if all the doors down the hall were empty bedrooms.
Looking up the hall, this section of the corridor disappeared into blackness - at least the last section had been slightly lit by a few nightlights placed in the hallway.
Starting to run out of rooms...hope I'm not too late...
Pushing that thought right out of his head with a quiet shaky sigh, he crossed the hall to try a door on the left. Half expecting it to be yet another empty dormitory, he almost cried out in shock when he opened the door and saw what was a normal bedroom set-up.
Directly across the room from him was a window overlooking the yard. Next to the window was a door; there was also a nice chest of drawers and a vanity with a matching stool over to the left.
About three feet in front of him was a large four poster bed. And in the bed was Ms. Garbo, sound asleep, facing him. Dressed in a white cotton nightgown and cap, he watched her even breathing.
Frozen in fear and excitement, he knew that Dot had to be close, if she was still here. The cranky old badger was never far from the little girls.
On the right track at last.
There were two doors in this room, he noticed one on the other side of the bed now. He doubted that they both went to closets; probably an adjoining bedroom setup like at the old home.
Swallowing and mentally preparing himself, he silently padded into the room and closed the door.
Crossing the room quickly, he went to the first door, which was shut tight. Opening it, he saw that it was a closet. All of Garbo's dresses were hanging up in it, things stacked neatly on the floor, the shelf overhead empty.
Garbo started mumbling in her sleep, and he actually hopped in the closet and closed the door part of the way, feeling like he was starring in some Marx Brother's movie. Hearing her mumble the name Malocchio, he felt his lip curl up and he made a silent gagging motion.
Garbo and Malocchio - nightmare fodder for the next month.
Shaking his head, this time in disgust, he waited a few seconds until he determined that she was going to take no further action. He pushed open the closed door and walked to the second door, which was partially opened.
Even before he reached the door he felt himself growing excited – he could see a crib. A crib meant a baby, and all the five and under girls were kept in the same room...
Willing himself not to break out into a run, he continued to the door at a slow and silent pace – it would be a shame to get this close, and then get caught. He wouldn't get caught; he'd mallet Garbo like a Wack-A-Mole game if it meant getting him and his sibs out of there, but he'd rather not do it.
Finally, after long last, he reached the doorway and looked in, trying not to make a sound. This was the nursery; five cribs and five little girl sized beds. The cribs were side by side along the left side of the wall, the beds were lined along the right side of the wall. In the far left corner, he saw a door which he was hoping went to the hallway. He did not want to have to cross Garbo's room again.
Yakko felt a small hopeful smile begin to tug at his face. She just had to be here...
Ignoring the cribs, he slowly walked down the row of little beds; the first two beds held sleeping duck toons, a small dresser, then a sleeping bear toon, an empty bed, then...
There she was; he could barely make her out, she was buried so far under the yellow blanket. But he could see her; just the top portion of her white face fur gleaming in the dim moonlight; little black-furred hands clutching the pillow, but it was his Dottie.
Oh thank you thank you thank you!
Restraining himself from running and jumping on the bed with enough force to make his leg muscles hurt, he quickly began to walk to her bed. When he reached it, he stood over her, just letting his eyes drink their fill – after this nightmare of a week, of all the worry and heartache and agonizing, he'd finally found her. The family was complete; the Warner siblings were together once more, and now...
Time to get the hell out of here.
He paused, listening; a child cried out softly in her sleep, Garbo still mumbling, rustling of bed clothes as another girl turned. He had to pick up Dot, hope she didn't make any noise, and leave with all the stealth of a ninja.
He slowly and carefully leaned over and picked her up underneath her arms. Not caring about losing a few seconds, he cradled her to his chest, resting his chin on her head.
Holding his sister – hell – either of his siblings, something he'd never take for granted again.
He had no idea how he was going to take care of them really, but he would find some way. They'd never be hungry, they'd always feel safe, he'd have some sort of roof over their head, but this would never happen again.
"I'm so sorry Dot; I promise I'll never let them get you again," he mumbled into her hair, so quietly he'd almost just been thinking it.
Thought I lost you...
After letting himself have several selfish seconds of holding her, he realized he needed to move. Their risk was too great to let him stand there all night holding her. He had her back – she was never going anywhere again; he could hold her every night for as long as he wanted...if they got out of there.
If by chance Garbo or any other caretaker woke up, he would have trouble grabbing his mallet and putting up a fight with his arms occupied with Dot. He had to go, now.
Besides, who knew what the two nuts were doing downstairs by this point.
Moving Dot to a more secure position in his arms, he began to creep across the room toward the second door that he was desperately hoping lead to the hallway. Grasping the knob, he pulled and opened the door; it led to another closet.
Damn. No choice - have to go back through Garbo's room.
Praying that Dot stayed asleep until they were gone, he turned to creep in that direction, when he heard a noise.
A horrible, terrible noise he had never even thought of hearing.
A ringing phone.
Frozen in terror, mind screaming at him that he should have thought of this, he listened as Garbo picked up the phone - he hadn't even seen one in her room.
She spoke quickly to someone about the child being there, safe, and she'll check and make sure to be on the lookout, but nothing was going to happen…she hung up and Yakko, trembling, heard her bed moan as she got up.
Someone must have found Malocchio - he had hoped the man would lay there until dawn.
Damn, damn…Move your ass Yakko…
He was a few steps from the door to Garbo's room. Seeing the handle turn, he did the only thing he could think to do…
As the door opened, he ducked behind it, frantically pressing his back hard against the wall and standing on his toes as the door opened. Feeling the door back bump his nose, he bit his lip hard to keep from crying out.
Watching hours of Marx Brothers movies and Bugs Bunny cartoons paid off.
Thinking this was the most half-assed rescue in the history of half-assed rescues, he sucked in his non-existent gut, held his breath, and watched as Garbo came into the room.
A baby cried out in one of the cribs.
Garbo was muttering under her breath about the damn kids.
Then, even worse - Yakko felt Dot starting to stir in his arms.
Eyes widened in horror, he looked down at her, then up as Garbo began to slowly shuffle to the crib to check on the baby. Before long though, she would notice the empty bed that had been occupied by Dot until a few minutes ago.
He started to move out from behind the door, trying to move from behind it slowly enough he would not attract Garbo's attention. As soon as the door was blocking her view, he planned on running like hell.
Dot though, had other ideas. She yawned, looked down groggily at the floor, then back up. Catching her eye, he held a finger to his lip, hoping she would stay quiet.
Things had been going too smoothly.
With the most delighted look on her face, she threw her arms around his neck, shouting, "Yakko! You came for me!"
He tried to move his other hand to cover her mouth, but he had moved too slow, so while her second outburst was muffled, the damage had been done.
He looked up, shocked, to meet Ms. Garbo's eyes across the room. Yakko didn't move as Dot leaned up and planted a big wet kiss on his cheek, then hugged him.
"So happy Yakko - love you - let's leave now!"
Best suggestion I've heard all night…
Garbo hadn't moved, but her lips were moving, soundlessly forming words.
Finally, she choked out, quietly, "You…"
Shit.
"Eh, heh, you uh, wanna see my impression of Jessie Owens?"
While the woman tried to figure out who Jessie Owens was, he turned and ran out the open door, using his tail to slam it shut as the woman let out a shrill scream.
Taking off through the bedroom, he heard several babies start crying, and the sound of a door being thrown open behind him.
"Yakko! Let's go! Gotta go!" Dot shouted. "I don't like it here," she finished off with a whimper.
Hell, neither do I.
"I'm moving Dot, I'm moving!" he panted, running out of the bedroom and slamming that door too, catching the tip of his tail in it and letting out a yelp.
So much for a smooth, quiet, calm, rescue mission. He should have just sent Ren and Stimpy for all the competence he had shown tonight.
Never slowing, he heard a door open behind him, then another one. As he approached the staircase, he saw the bedroom that housed some of the little girls from the previous home open, and he jumped to the far side of the hallway as several girls stuck their heads out, still groggy with sleep, trying to figure out what had woken them so rudely.
Behind him, he heard Garbo, shouting for him to stop, calling him a kidnapper, telling him he was being a selfish fool...
Running so fast that he almost shot past the stair case and ran into the wall, he used his tail as a fulcrum, grabbing the handrail to pull himself in the right direction and pounding down the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time. Dot was screaming in his ear about moving and being happy and she loved him -
"Slick! Watch the bottom! Bottom!" Dane's voice rang out from below him.
What the hell?
Only assuming he meant the bottom stair, when Yakko got four steps from the bottom, he moved Dot to his left arm and, holding her tightly, used his free hand to leap the rail, landing with a sickening thump on the floor.
He gingerly moved - his ankles and knees hurt like they had been slammed with a hammer, but they weren't broken. Or maybe he was so pumped on adrenaline at the moment he didn't realize.
Either way, time to leave.
Dane came running at him from underneath the staircase, followed by Wakko, who was carrying a large tub of butter.
Yakko eyed them in shock as Garbo, still yelling began to slowly come down the stairs.
"We gotta move guys - now!" When neither child moved, he shouted, "Go!"
Grabbing Wakko around his waist and picking him up, he yelled to Dane, "Come on!"
"Damn, wanted to watch the show," Dane said, but followed him out of the entrance way.
"Yakko -"
"Later Wakko later -"
"No! People are outside - another car came -"
More people - another car - could this get any better?
"There were two people in it - Dane and I took care -"
Yakko heard a loud scream, then a crash behind him, and finally figured out why Wakko had a tub of butter and Dane had been yelling about the bottom step.
"Hope she had a nice trip," Wakko said, giving Dot a half hug, trying to reach over to her as she stared saying his name and giggling.
Yakko, scared and panicked, heard the quip and started laughing, still running. They were in the kitchen…why was there a pile of food on the floor?
I'm losing my mind…gotta get it together…
"OK - Dane!"
He looked behind him - where did he go?
Wakko started shouting for his friend, and Yakko was tempted to just curl up in the corner in the fetal position.
This was going so wrong…I just wanted my sister back…
Giving him a kick like he used to when he was younger, Wakko wiggled free of his grasp and took off back toward the front entry way. Yakko made a grab for him and missed.
"Wakko - damn it - get back here now!"
When I get my hands on him…
"Easy kid. We'll get him, the other one too," a voice said from behind him.
Yakko, who had his back to the rear door and the way to freedom, slowly turned at the sound of the voice, and saw a TIS worker, a tall muscular human toon, wearing the yellow and white jumpsuit .
Caught. Just four feet away from the door.
Yakko reached back and pulled his mallet as Dot gripped his shirt tighter, freezing in his arms.
Yakko looked up at the man - no way he would be able to jump high enough to hit him on the head, not while holding Dot.
She's scared…so am I…I should have acted sooner…
"Move," Yakko said in a low voice, hoping it wasn't wavering as much as he thought it was. He just got her back; he wasn't handing her over again.
"Why don't you just give this up kid - Yakko right?" The toon asked in a very fake sounding voice he presumed was supposed to be soothing. "Just put your sister down…I need to talk to you - I don't want to hurt any of you..."
"No, you just want to separate us -"
"Sometimes it's for the best - you really want to deny your baby sister the chance for a decent life with a real family -"
"She's got a family!" Yakko yelled, fur bristling.
"Love Yakko!" Dot screamed, pressing her face into his chest and staring to cry.
He was getting distracted; she was crying, the man was still standing in the doorway, Wakko had disappeared…
"What, a drunken deadbeat dad and two hellion brothers? Get real…look, why don't you set her down in the chair and we'll talk huh? Man to man…"
Yakko watched the man talking, but was distracted by something else - Wakko was behind the man. Trying not to look directly at his brother, he watched as Wakko gave him a wave, then got down on his hands and knees behind the man.
Yakko widened his eyes…his brother was crazy.
Still, best plan he had at the moment; he was going to have problems swinging his mallet correctly while holding Dot, not to mention the whole jumping issue.
"Yeah, yeah, maybe you're right," Yakko agreed, still looking at the man. "Let me just put this away…"
Yakko caught his brother's eye. Wakko gave him a small smile and waved again.
Can't believe we're even thinking of trying this...
Yakko put the mallet away and tightened his grip on Dot, still crying softly into his chest.
Taking a deep breath, he listened to the man tell him he was making a wise decision…
Yakko took off running toward the man. Surprised, the man put his arms up to cover his face, but Yakko wasn't aiming that high.
Jumping up, Yakko planted his feet in the man's abdomen, using his weight to try to knock the man backwards. Yakko bounced off him and landed on his rear in the middle of the floor, curling his body around Dot to protect her.
The man stumbled backwards over Wakko, practically crushing him. Yakko heard Wakko let out a yelp and get knocked down the steps. However, the man did not fall. Not at first.
Then Yakko heard a quiet 'thunk', and then saw the man go down on the porch with a groan.
He saw Wakko's head stick back up from the steps; he looked slightly stunned but otherwise OK.
Biting back several words that would have gotten Wakko a whole mouthful of soap, Yakko stood up, reasonably sure he bruised at least his tailbone, and ran, half-limping, to the doorframe. He saw Dane standing on the railing, holding his own small mallet, about a foot long and made of a dark oak.
"I can be pretty fucking faboo too, huh?" he said, smirking at Yakko.
Yakko ran his hand through his hair as he looked at the kid.
Freaking nut…
As Dot clung to him watching the proceedings and wiping her eyes, Yakko bent down to check Wakko.
"You OK kiddo?"
Wakko who had crawled up the steps and had been sitting down next to the unconscious man, looked up at him and nodded, biting the corner of his lip. The usual sign of him being guilty of doing something.
Must be because he was in the house in the first place, then ran away from me…
Helping Wakko stand up, Yakko gave him a quick smack on his rear end before picking him up and hugging him to his chest, Dot reaching over to hug him too.
"Don't you ever do that again! You trying to get caught?"
Or give me a coronary?
Wakko, who had been returning the hug, was about to answer when the downed TIS man groaned.
Yakko looked down at the man. He backed away a few steps, just in case, letting Wakko slide to the ground behind him.
"Well, not so faboo after all stripes," Yakko said. "He's not out."
"Give me a brake slick - my tutoring got interrupted by my parents getting hauled off. Thought I did pretty good actually," he grumbled.
Hell, who's tutoring wasn't interrupted in this group?
"I'm just funning ya stripes," he said, pulling the kid's cap down over his eyes. "You did good. Both of you," he added, looking at Wakko. "Even though I asked you -"
The man had not only started groaning, but was attempting to get up. Perking his ears up, Yakko could hear voices inside - Garbo and someone else, a woman's voice, and both sounded pissed.
"How about we continue this conversation somewhere else?" Yakko asked. "Far away?"
Dane nodded. "Yeah...How's New York sound?"
Wakko, who had been watching the conversation, said, "New York is supposed to be cold, can we go to -"
"Wak - discuss our tour of the country later OK?"
Seeing figures coming toward them through the kitchen, along with the man still trying to get up, Yakko scooped up his brother like a sack of potatoes and began running toward the back fence.
Turning behind him, he yelled, "Dane! Come on!"
"But the silverware and food -"
"Who cares! Leave it and come on!"
"It's OK Dane - I got something better!" Wakko yelled, still being carried under Yakko's arm.
What's that mean?
Dane shrugged and took off after them, reaching the fence seconds after Yakko.
Yakko dropped Wakko and pushed him through the fence as Dane climbed through. He handed Dot through to them, then jumped to grab the tree branch, fear and adrenaline making his jump slightly higher than normal, and climbed over the fence like a convict escaping a pack of baying hounds.
Landing on the other side of the fence with a crashing thud on the sidewalk, he wondered if his knees and tail would survive the night.
He heard the shouts behind him - they were being pursued.
Snatching the beaming Dot off the sidewalk from where she had been standing, holding Wakko's hand, Yakko said, "Damn we need to move guys -"
"Chill slick - none of them can fit through that fence."
"No, but they got cars -"
"No they don't," Wakko said cheerfully, "we took care of them."
"Burned the shit out of my hand doing the last one though; just a FYI guys - don't touch the tailpipe when you try to shove potatoes in it," Dane said.
Yakko stared at them.
Potatoes? What the hell did these two do?
"I don't - ehhhhhhhh - fine - leave me in the dark. Come on, lets get hidden before they come out - cars or not, they start putting calls out to the police and the rest of the goon squad -"
He stopped talking and picked Wakko up, pulling him and Dot tight to him, as he saw a few cars pulling up to the front entrance of the home.
"Let's get going - can you run Dane?"
"To get away from them? You bet."
"Where are we going Yakko?" Wakko asked.
"Anywhere but here."
"Faboo, we're having an adventure."
"Yep, just like the Goonies, Wakko." Shifting both Dot and Wakko higher, he looked at Dane and said, "Let's go – start cutting through yards. We need to get a good distance away very quickly."
With that, Dane began to sprint down the street, disappearing over a fence into the darkness, and Yakko followed, still carrying his siblings.
XXXXXXXXXX
Several hours later, they were sitting in an alley between a bar and grill and an abandoned video store in Babbitt District. They had run as far as they could, and not seeing any cars pursing them, Yakko had decided to risk a bus ride, hoping to put even more distance between them and the home.
The bus they found had been going to Babbitt; not the worse of the four Toon Town ghettos – that honor was reserved for Clampett – but not entirely safe either.
For Babbitt, and for an alley behind a bar, it was a surprisingly clean alley; only one mystery puddle, and very little trash and broken glass.
"Yakko."
He looked down at Dot in his arms.
"Yakko, I'm scared..."
"You're safe now Dot, I got you."
Safe...none of us even knows the meaning of the word.
"Hero -Yakko the hero," she sighed, cuddling back into his chest.
Yeah, right.
"Yakko, I'm getting hungry..." Wakko said, trailing off. He and Dane were currently sitting on a piece of cardboard on the ground; Yakko was squatting against the wall next to Wakko, all of them being hidden from view of the street by the large black dumpster.
Dane looked at Yakko.
"If you had let me go back for the food –"
"You'd be sitting back in a room with a HRC on your arm," Yakko finished for him. "I've still got a few dollars left –"
"I've got money too!" Wakko exclaimed. "Hold on!"
Yakko watched as Wakko began to dig into the pocket of his jacket, and narrowed his eyes when his younger brother pulled out several bills, a few of larger denominations, and handed them to him.
Yakko eyed him suspiciously. "Where'd you get that money sibling?"
"Uh, found it?"
Biting his lip again...
Yakko rolled his eyes. His brother couldn't lie to save his life. Well, to him anyway.
"Right. Try again."
"I did find it," Wakko mumbled. "I just found it in a purse."
Great – he's on his way to being a full blown kleptomaniac.
"Wakko, what did I say before?"
"Don't take anything without your permission," he answered. "But we're gonna need it –"
"Beside the point. You weren't even supposed to be in that house – what if you got caught huh?"
"It didn't all come from inside the house – some of it came from the man's wallet."
For the love of...
"OK, level with me Wakko – exactly who?"
When did he even have time to –
"The purse was my fault slick – I opened an office door at that shithole; purse was in there," Dane said, shrugging his shoulders. "He's right; not like we can go to the bank is it?"
Damn, he hated it when they were right.
He looked at Wakko. "And the wallet?"
"After Dane knocked the man out I took it," Wakko mumbled.
Great, and that guy wasn't even fully unconscious.
Grabbing Wakko's chin, he turned his head toward him so he was looking into his eyes.
"Free pass on this one; mostly because I wasn't there to stop you. Don't do it again, understand? It's wrong and way too dangerous. We work as a team only."
Wakko vigorously nodded his head while Dane chuckled.
Yakko began to count the crumbled bills, laying them flat on his leg to straighten them out. In all, Wakko had managed to grab sixty-seven dollars. Pulling forty dollars out, he handed that to Dane, who looked surprised, but shook his head no.
"Come on stripes – not like you didn't help us out a few different times – you've earned –"
"Forget it slick; you've got two kids with you." he started snickering again when he heard Wakko give an indignant snort. "I can take care of myself. Besides, deal was you buy me a bus ticket back to Clampett; long as you still do that, I'm good."
"Yeah, but –"
"I don't need it slick...thanks though."
Wakko pointed across the alley. "There's a convenience store over there; I saw it when we got off that other bus. Can we get something to eat?"
Yakko quickly went through the options in his mind. The sun was starting to come up; it had been a very long night. He really didn't want to move during the day, not yet anyway. TIS would no doubt be looking for them, and while he sincerely doubted that they would think that Babbitt would be where they headed, he wanted to be overly cautious this time.
On the other hand, everyone was hungry; even he could use a bite he admitted. And sleep; Dot was starting to doze off in his arms, and Wakko, while hungry, was jerking himself back awake every few minutes. Dane had his head braced against the wall and kept closing his eyes. They all needed to rest.
"OK, OK; I have an idea. I'll go grab some food. We'll stay in that abandoned building today, try to get some sleep. I'll tear some of the boards off one of these windows when I get back," he said, gesturing toward a boarded up window behind the two boys. "Tonight, we'll take you back to Clampett," he said, looking at Dane, "then we'll...well, figure out something then. But I think staying low today would be a very good idea."
Dane and Wakko both agreed. Even Dot threw her thoughts in by giving him a smile, kissing his cheek and going to sleep.
Yakko placed Dot on the piece of cardboard Wakko and Dane were currently sitting on and stood up.
"I'll grab some stuff. Look you two, please, if only for the sake of my blood pressure, just stay here, OK? No exploring –stay and watch Wa-Dot, OK?"
Yakko exchanged a look with Dane, who gave him a quick nod.
"Nothing's changed slick."
While Wakko gave him a confused look, Yakko nodded.
"I'll be right back. Try to keep it down – I don't want to attract any attention."
With that, Yakko walked out of the alley and across the street, into the dawn, trying to keep his head up, and not look too obvious about how nervous he was. There was no traffic on the street – when they had come through earlier, there had been a few dealers and johns wandering around, but it looked like they had all slunk back under their rocks. He was the only one around.
Pushing open the door to the convenience store, he looked around, barely stopping himself from wrinkling his nose. What a dump – the store was dark and dingy; the ostrich toon cashier behind the register barely looked conscious and the entire store smelled of bacon grease, motor oil, and dirt.
On the other hand, beggars can't be choosers.
It also wasn't any bigger than their old apartment, he thought with a small pang of homesickness. What the hell were they going to do?
Yakko pushed the doubts from his mind; they were family. They'd survive somehow.
Yakko began to walk the small crowded aisles – there was only two of them, so he was done within a few minutes. He had grabbed a variety of chips, crackers, some sodas, and a few pre-made sandwiches, hoping that they were prepared in a half-way sanitary environment.
The cashier managed to pull himself out of his drug induced coma long enough to ring him up, haphazardly tossing the sodas on top of the sandwiches and squishing them. Yakko didn't even bother to complain as he passed the man the money. The man gave him is change, threw in a nasty look for free, then went back to slouching on his stool behind the counter and glass without another look.
Grabbing the bag, Yakko quickly left the store, crossing the street still devoid of traffic and heading back to the alley.
Coming up behind the dumpster, he saw Dane showing Wakko his mallet, explaining to him how his parents bought it for him with money from a safe robbery at some rich duck's house over a year ago, and how they had started to teach him how to use it before they got hauled away. Wakko listened with tired but interested eyes.
They both looked up as he appeared in front of them, and Dane put his mallet away. Yakko began to hand out the food. Dot was sleeping and didn't seem inclined to wake anytime soon.
Taking a bologna sandwich, made so long ago the bread was getting soggy, Yakko told them to stay where they were and headed toward the window. He was going to investigate to see if they could get in the building; it wasn't a palace, but it would be some form of shelter, and keep them out of view of the general public.
The window was broken behind the boards, and he felt slightly less guilty about breaking in; he didn't want to add vandalism to his vast list of crimes.
Pulling at the board resulted in nothing more than several splinters in his gloves.
Cramming the rest of the mushy sandwich in his mouth, he pulled his mallet and pounded at the boards, splintering them in a few seconds. Behind him, he heard Dane and Wakko clapping.
"Way to go Gallagher - hold on, let me see if I can Fritz a watermelon -" Dane chortled.
"You do, and I'll use my mallet on your head," Yakko answered with a chuckle.
Ugh, I hate Gallagher.
Yakko lifted first Wakko, then Dane into the window. Handing the still sleeping Dot up to them, he pulled himself up onto the window sill into the window.
Looking around, the video store had been closed fairly recently; there was no build-up of dust on the empty shelves, the floor wasn't too filthy, though most of the windows were broken out and boarded over.
"Guys, stay here for a second. If you hear me yell, you grab Dot and get out, OK?"
They nodded, and Yakko went to check the rest of the store, pulling his mallet again and hoping he didn't run into any squatters or users who had claimed the building first.
There was a bathroom, a small break room, and an office, all empty. For now anyway, they would be safe here.
Walking back to the others, he told them they would be OK for the time being, and to stretch out and get some sleep. They agreed, waiting until he laid down underneath the un-boarded window. If someone came in, he wanted to be the first to know.
Grabbing Dot, he stretched out, resting her in the crook of his left arm. Wakko curled up on his right side, and Dane laid down on the other side of him.
Yakko closed his eyes, hoping he would wake up if anyone decided to come in, and listened to deep even breathing of the others, slowly drifting off to an exhausted sleep.
XXXXXXXXXX
Yakko stepped off the bus, followed by Wakko, then Dane. Shifting Dot to his right arm, he checked his watch, 11:17 P.M.
He felt surprisingly good. The sleep in the video store had helped all of them; they all looked fairly spry considering the weekend they'd had. After waking up, he had gotten them all more food at the crap-tastic convenience store, and finally found a bus heading to Clampett.
Yakko looked around. He had heard Clampett was a dump, and what he had heard wasn't a lie. Plympton looked like an upper-middle class neighborhood compared to where they were at.
There was a hippo toon shooting up about five feet in front of them, leaning on a sign-post; he quickly grabbed the back of Wakko's collar. No way in hell was he letting him wander out of arm's reach in this place. Dot was practically crawling into his shirt she was so scared, staring around with wide eyes.
Across the street, he could see a mole toon sleeping on a sewer grate - or he hoped he was sleeping. He cringed when he heard a gun shot and several screams in the distance.
Wakko shrunk into his right leg, throwing his arms around his waist.
Putting his hand on Wakko's head trying to comfort him, he turned to Dane, who was watching them.
"Look, stripes, eh, Dane - you sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah, sure…Yakko. This is my home." Dane answered, not looking at him.
Wouldn't brag about that kid.
"Look…" Yakko trailed off, feeling a catch in his throat. Clearing it, he continued. "You're more than welcome to stay with us, you know Dot, Wakko and me…we haven't got much - hell - you know what we got…"
"Yeah, yeah I know," he said, looking up briefly at the three of them. "You've got quite a bit."
"Yeah, yeah I know," Yakko said.
"This is my home - my family's here -"
"Your family's in jail Dane, I know that -"
"Eh, I've got the other kids - most of them are in the same position. It's fine," he insisted when Yakko went to talk. "I'll run into some of the other kids here shortly; probably a few blocks in…"
I feel like such a lowlife - this is no place for a kid -
"You sure you'll be OK? TIS is going to be looking for you too -"
"I'll be fine," he smirked, "I'm back on my home turf, and trust me, I learned my lesson; never drop your guard, especially around the Tastey Cakes."
Yakko returned the smirk. "Or if you get distracted by them, at least make sure they're fresh, huh?"
"I know exactly where the expiration date is - I'll be checking from now on."
The little raccoon sighed, walking three steps to stand in front of Yakko. Sticking his hand out, he said, "I guess this is good-bye, at least for now."
Yakko regarded him for a moment, then stuck his own hand out. "Yeah, I guess so, if you're sure. Watch out for those yellow and white cabs -"
"That goes double for you three – they're gonna be hot on your asses too." Dane looked at them for a moment. Then rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward fashion he said quietly, "Look, I meant to say it before, no matter how cheesy it sounded…I'm glad we guys met, even if it was only for a little while."
"Me too," Wakko muttered, still holding on to Yakko.
Dane shot him a smile before continuing. "I sorta know what it feels like to have brothers or a sister now. Gotta say, it was pretty nice."
Yakko felt his face twitch momentarily. He really didn't want to leave the kid here. While he was slightly distrustful of him at first, he had actually grown to like the little delinquent.
"Yeah, siblings are great," he said, hugging Dot and Wakko closer to him momentarily. "I don't mind the thought of having another one…"
He wasn't going to beg, but he did want him to understand that he was welcome, no matter how sappy it sounded. It wouldn't erase any guilt about leaving a kid in this situation, but as he had said before, he could take care of himself, and make his own decisions. He just wanted him to know there was another option.
Dane gave a forced laugh. "Damn slick, you trying to pull some Disney shit on me?"
Yakko laughed back. "No way stripes; if I was, I'd be singing and trying to kiss you while a couple of bluebirds neck on a branch behind us."
"Try some shit like that and you'll be seeing how good I am with my mallet," Dane snorted. "I'll see ya around Yakko."
He turned to Wakko. "You too my man."
"I don't get a handshake too?" Wakko asked.
Dane sent him a smirk. "Course you do!"
Yakko watched with a small smile as Dane and Wakko shook hands.
"And don't annoy Yakko too much," Dane added, "because if I find out you do -"
"You'll come over to help me?" Wakko finished.
Yakko started laughing and rolled his eyes, wondering what he had to look forward to.
"Great minds think alike."
Dane looked at Dot, who was peering down at him from Yakko's arm. "And good-bye to you Dottie -"
"Dot. Just Dot. Not Dottie to you." she said in an insistent tone.
Wonder when that happened - she always liked Dottie -
"Ok then, just Dot, good-bye to you too. I'm sorry I spent more time rescuing you than getting to know you."
He held his hand up to touch her, and she almost fell out of Yakko's arms trying to reach over to hug him. Yakko quickly lowered her before she ate the pavement.
Seeing Dane distracted by Dot, Yakko made a move he had been trying to make all day.
He quickly slipped thirty dollars of Wakko's ill-gotten money into the boy's pocket. Sure, he could probably take care of himself, but it made Yakko feel slightly better, knowing the kid could eat for a few days before he had to start 'working'.
"Bye stripes," Dot said, giving him a small hug before returning to clutching Yakko's shirt.
Dane looked at them again, then spoke.
"OK guys - the other kids should be running around somewhere. I'm gonna run - thanks for everything…I mean that…see ya around slick."
"You too Dane. Thank you," Yakko said back, briefly hugging Dot tighter to him.
If he and Wakko hadn't become friends…
Yakko looked down at Wakko, who had buried his face in his pant leg. Yakko thought he was probably crying, and gave him a minute to compose himself as Dane trotted down the street.
With one final wave, he rounded the corner of an all-night deli, and was gone.
Rubbing Wakko's back as Dot kept asking what was wrong with Wakko, he heard Wakko speak quietly, wiping his face with his hands.
"I'll miss him."
"Me to Wak, but this is his home, he wants to be here."
"I know."
"Hopefully he'll take my advice and stay low."
"What do we do now?" Wakko asked him.
Yakko looked down at him, slowly steering him around.
"We walk."
"Where to?"
"Anywhere but here."
"OK. How much money we have left?" Wakko asked.
"Enough. Don't you even think about trying to grab anything," Yakko answered firmly. "And we'll be having a talk about what you did grab later."
"Shit," Wakko mumbled.
"Along with an additional talk about your language."
"Can't help it Yakko - there's no censoring on the street," Wakko said happily.
More interesting advice from Dane no doubt.
"You're not running around like a little thug -"
"But -"
"Drop it for now Wakko. Just know we'll be having a long talk when we're alone."
Yakko smirked when he heard Wakko sigh and mumble under his breath. He probably thought he was going to be allowed to run wild.
Sorry Wakko.
Yakko led them to a bus-stop and they waited, trying not to make eye contact with any of the …interesting toons around them. Yakko wanted to hop the next bus out of Clampett. He didn't even really care where it went, just out of there.
"Where we going?" Dot asked Yakko. "Home?"
Home…hopefully someday they'd have a home…someplace safe to return to…
"Not home Dot…I don't know. I'll find somewhere, OK?"
"So we just, I don't know, wander?" Wakko asked.
"I guess Wakko," he sighed.
"As long as it's not here. I don't like this place," Wakko said.
Yakko put his arm around him, repressing a shiver as the wind picked up.
"I don't either kiddo. If we're lucky, we'll never see Clampett again."
Or Plympton, or the inside of a TIS home, or Dad, or -
Wakko took his hand as Dot curled her arms around his neck. He felt Dot's tail curling and un-curling around his wrist.
"I think we're pretty lucky," Wakko said.
"I agree," Yakko said.
"I'm lucky," Dot mumbled into his neck.
"We're all pretty lucky," Yakko said.
They were.
"Thank you for being my brothers," Dot mumbled into his neck.
Wakko smiled up at her as Yakko gave her a small squeeze.
"No problem sis. We'd never leave you. I've told you both before, family sticks together."
End Chapter 10