R. L. Sisters

Chapter 10

"Ben? Ben! He hung up on me!" I complained. "How dare he? Humph!" After slamming the phone shut, I slumped against the wall, trying to figure out what to do next. My cousin and I were standing on the front porch of the old farm house. "I can't believe him sometimes."

Hi, I'm Beth. Yes, I'm just one of many. There's about fourteen of us in all, and I happen to be the oldest girl. However, my cousin Ben happens to be the oldest of us all. Actually, he does a pretty good job of it, being the oldest that is, until he just randomly decides to loose his mind!

"What did he do this time?" Bari asked. Bari's the closest cousin to my age, and practically my best friend. We do everything together!...at least when we can. We even had our tenth birthday party on the same day, though I'm a little older than she is, but only by a few months. Oh, and Bari's also the oldest daughter of Buttercup and Butch.

"He said that they got caught in the exhaust of that UFO thing we just saw, and everyone lost their powers!"

"What?" Bari looked at me with wide eyes. "You're kidding, right?…he has to be kidding."

"He sounded serious," I told her, shaking my head in confusion. "And why would he kid around about something like that?"

"Here, let me see your phone."

"He hung up on me before I could ask him anything else." I answered. Despite my doubt of ever reaching Ben again, I handed Bari the phone, and she began to search through my contact list. After pressing the send button, Bari levered the device up to her ear and gazed angrily into the distance.

"I'm going to give him a piece of my mind…."

Bari is not the one to anger during situations like this. I love her, but she can have some anger issues…and it wouldn't hurt to learn a few lessons on patience either. Ben is her older brother, and she never tolerates any of his stupidity. Well, maybe I'm being sort of harsh today, but hey! Don't all families do this?

"He's not answering! What's his problem? Ok, that's it! I'm going after him." Bari prepared herself to take off into the air, but I skipped over just in time to stop her.

"No! Bari, don't. We have no idea where they are, and the last thing we want is for more kids to go missing."

"We won't go missing," Bari interjected. "All we need to do is just fly around the plain and find them."

"But what if we don't find them! What if we get lost?"

"We won't get lost! We have our cell phones, and who gets lost out here?" Bari spread out her arms and looked all around the grimy plain. Unfortunately, she was right. You had to be pretty lost to lose your way out here. Everything is so level; you could see a mouse from a mile away.

"Look," I began, trying to clear my head. "If this is really a joke, than Ben will come back, and so will the others. If not, then we'll go out to find them…but not now!"

"Why not?" Bari placed her hands onto her hips this time, demanding an explanation for her plan to be denied.

"Because if we leave right now, we'd have to leave Brett in charge, and we all know what will happen if we do that." I moaned.

Bari growled in frustration as she spoke. "Ok, I guess your right, but what are we supposed to do until they come back?"

"We'll just cover for them, and they can pay us back later. If they don't show up after lunch time, then we'll go after them. The most important thing right now is that we find them before our parents do." Bari nodded quietly and stomped off the porch when the plan was settled.

"Ugh, I can't have a normal vacation because of that stupid brother of mine!"

I rolled my eyes irritably as she stomped past the comfort of the shade. Bari seemed to like making things difficult. I began to wonder if my cousins really were in danger. After all, it is unlike them to play pranks like this, at least at this time! I didn't know how we were going to keep this from our parents, anyways.

Uncle Boomer would be easy, and Uncle Butch probably wouldn't care, but my dad is a little more suspicious, and so is my mother.

I didn't have time to think after that. The screen door to the farm house creaked open and slammed against the front wall.

"Hey kids, it's lunch time." My uncle announced.

"Woo! Food," Brett cheered as he threw his hands in the air, and clumped up the porch like a champion. Brother's never cease to annoy. I folded my arms casually and walked up behind the remaining children, trying to keep my head down in order to avoid eye contact. My uncle stood in the doorway allowing the kids to enter.

"What have you guys been up to?" he asked curiously.

"Ummm, nothing!" I answered in a hurry. I must admit, my response was quick and you could tell I was trying to hide something, but it seemed like enough for my uncle Boomer, so it's good enough for me.

As we made our way into the kitchen, I saw Uncle Butch leaning against the wall. He seemed relaxed, but his face immediately changed when he watched us enter the house.

"Wait a minute…" he began. "I only see half of my kids…and the missing half is the boy half…Bari, what's going on?"

"Oh…nothing."

"Where are your brothers?" I froze in my tracks when I heard the conversation. Nothing could be worse than this!..At least at this moment.

"They're just outside, but they'll come back in a minute. They might take a while, but they'll come back."

"What are they doing?"

"Just…stuff." Bari walked away as quickly as possible after her father stopped interrogating. This was going to be a little harder than I thought. Ok, guys. If this is a joke, it isn't funny!