Believe it or not, but this was perhaps the hardest chapter to come up with a plot for.

I had so many requests for a "K is for Kitten" chapter that I really wanted to do it, but could find no reasonable siduation that would include both brothers (at this age) with a kitten. Charlie with a kitten I could do, but a teenage Don with a kitten ... that was another story.

So, here is the compromise, a double length chapter where the first part deals with Charlie and the kitten while the second part has the brothers.

Enjoy ...

K is for Kitten

August 12, 1985

Charlie smiled as the tiny whiskers tickled his chin. Gently grabbing the kitten, he pulled it back to his chest before he once again tried to escape over the nine-year-old's shoulder.

"So which one is that?" Bobby asked, pointing to the wiggling ball of fur in Charlie's hands.

"They don't all have names yet." Lauren answered, picking up dark colored calico out of the box. "Just Ruby."

Greg Leaned over the top of the box, selecting a striped tabby for the bunch still inside.

"And your dad said you can keep them?" He asked, stroking the gray and black fur.

"Not all of them." She sighed, placing Ruby back in with her brothers and sisters. "But me and each of my sisters get one."

"Which one are you taking?" Charlie asked, handing Bobby the one he was holding.

Lauren looked over the group of kittens, sighing dramatically.

"I don't know. They are all so cute."

"Well, you could always use process of elimination." Charlie suggested. "For example, Marcie already claimed Ruby, so that one you are guaranteed to have. Do you know which ones your other sisters want?"

"Well … Gretchen likes these two best." She started, pointed out two of the kittens. "And April likes them too, but also that one."

"Okay, that means two out of those three will be chosen." Bobby summarized. "Right Charlie?"

"Right." He smiled at his friend.

It felt so good when he could get his friends to understand what he was talking about, even better when they realized how helpful basic mathematical systems were. Maybe, after he had made a name for himself in the academic community, he could become a teacher. Professor Charles Eppes, had a nice ring to it.

"Uh-oh!" Greg half shouted. "We're loosing him! Come back to us Charlie!"

He had a hard time maintaining his glare while he three friends nearly doubled over laughing. Soon however, his smile won and Charlie joined them until the group calmed down to just the occasional chuckle.

"So I was thinking," Lauren started once they were able to talk again, "maybe I should choose one of the others, you know, since the chances are high for these three."

She shot Charlie a look, as if asking if she got it right. He just grinned and nodded. Yup, he definitely wanted to be a teacher some day.

"Good, so I will take … that one." She stated, pointed to the tabby in Greg's hand.

"Nice." Greg nodded in approval. "So, what are you going to call him?"

"I don't know." Lauren shook her head. "I mean I could always call him something like Tiger or Tigger or something like that, but wouldn't that be … I don't know … lame?"

"I think the word your looking for is cliché." Charlie interjected. "But whatever name you pick will be just fine."

"I guess." Lauren shrugged. "What would you guys call him?"

The three boys looked at the kitten before each giving their suggestion.

"Killer." Said Greg with a wide grin.

"Buster." Bobby added.

"Fibonacci." Charlie finished.

His friends stared at him with looks of pure confusion. Looks like he might ghave a bit of explaining to do.

"Fiba-what?" Lauren questioned.

Yup, he would definitely have to explain this.

"Fibonacci. He was an Italian mathematician during the middle ages. He's famous for a number sequence, named after him, that describes math in nature. The petals on a flower, a fingerprint, and …" he gestured toward the kitten, "the stripes on a cat."

"Oh, that's so cool." Lauren said, scooping her cat out of Greg's arms. "You like it? You want to be named Fibonacci?"

"How do you even spell that?" Bobby asked Charlie.

"Please." Greg rolled his eyes. "You are talking to the guy who misspelled pie."

"I did not misspell pie." Charlie insisted. "I'm telling you, there is no E in the mathematical version."

"You just keep thinking that." Greg grinned, patting his friends shoulder.

Charlie had just opened his mouth to protest, when a shadow fell over their group. Looking up, he saw a man wearing a button up shirt and slacks carrying a package under with arm.

"Hey kids." He smiled. "I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

Giving the man a wary glance, Charlie rose to his feet, along with the others. Skipping as many grades as he had, he had missed out on most of the stranger danger lectures his friends had gone to, but being a nine-year-old high school freshman had taught him enough to know better then to trust someone just because they seem nice.

"Relax." Th man said calmly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Then what do you want?' Greg demanded, stepping slightly in front of the others.

"Well … the thing is, I just got a new job and I am running late, but my boss will kill me if this package doesn't get delivered, like, now." He explained. "But I can't find this address and I don't have anymore time to look for it. I was wondering if you kids could deliver it for me."

"What is it?" Bobby asked curiously.

"It's a prototype." The man answered. "Brand new piece of equipment from my company and we need to get it to the tester. Can I trust you kids to drop it off for me? I'll give you 200 bucks."

"200 bucks!" Greg exclaimed. "Yeah, sure, we can do that for you."

"Great." The man grinned, handing Greg the package and an envelope. "The money and address are in here, but don't open the box."

"Sure thing, dude." Greg agreed.

"And just remember," the man said seriously, "this is a top secret prototype, I shouldn't even let you kids know where it is going, so don't tell anyone. Okay?"

Greg nodded and the man went across the street and climbed into a silver sports car. Greg put the box on the ground and tore open the envelope. A slip of paper was inside, along with a small stack of tens and twenties.

"Oh man, check it out!" He grinned holding up the contents for the others to see.

"And look at this." Bobby added, unfolding the piece of paper. "The address he needed was only a few blocks away from here."

"Awesome." Greg nodded. "It shouldn't take us that long to deliver it then."

While two of his friends nodded in agrement, Charlie couldn't shake the bad feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach.

"I don't know about this." He said slowly.

"We're just helping a guy out." Lauren countered. "There is nothing wrong with it."

"And we are getting 200 bucks." Greg added. "That is fifty EACH."

"Yeah, I'm aware of the math, Greg." Charlie stated, a bit more irritated then he intended. "I just don't think it's a good idea to deliver the box without talking to someone first."

"Like who, our parents?" Greg shook his head. "They will just ground us for talking to strangers and keep the money for themselves."

"Besides," Bobby pipped up, 'he told us not to tell anyone."

Charlie shook his head. Something about this whole thing just seemed off, but Greg did have a point about telling their parents. There was only one thing left to do. He picked up the box, took the address, and headed back down the street toward his house.

"Come on!" Greg groaned. "You are not seriously going to ask your brother for advice on this."

"He is older then all of us." Charlie reasoned. "He'll know what to do. If he says it's fine, then we do it. If he says don't we don't."

"Fine." Greg called after him. "But I'm hanging onto the money until you come back."

Charlie nodded, but really didn't care. He just had a bad feeling about this box and, as childish as it was, he needed his big brother to tell him everything was going to be okay.

"Don?" He whispered, tentatively pushing open his big brother's bedroom door. "You in here?"

He was, but based on the fact he was absorbed in a magazine and Charlie could hear his music playing through his headphones, Don had no idea his brother was there. Creeping slowly towards the bed, the nine year old reached out and touched the teens leg. He jerked in surprise, his head snapping up, before he glared at Charlie and switched off his Walkman.

"What are you doing in my room?" He demanded irritably.

Charlie shrugged, dropping his gaze to the floor. Suddenly bothering Don seemed like a really bad idea, but knowing that a strange package was sitting on the floor in the hallway spurred him on.

"I … I have to ask you something." He said quietly, shuffling his feet.

"What?"

"Um … say someone asks you to do something for them, do you do it?"

Don narrowed his eyes and sat up on the edge of his bed.

"That depends." He answered slowly. "Is it someone from school?"

"No."

"A kid from the neighborhood?"

"No."

"Who was it?"

"I don't know … just some guy."

"Some- Charlie!" Don's eyes grew wide. "You know better then to talk to strangers!"

"It wasn't just me." He shot back. "Greg, Bobby, and Lauren were there too."

"And what exactly did this guy want you to do?"

"Just deliver a package for him." Charlie shrugged. "He said it was something for his job, but he was running late and couldn't drop it off. So, he gave us some money to drop it off for him."

"Wow." Don muttered, rubbing his hands over his face. "For a genius, you can sure be stupid sometimes."

Charlie glared at his brother, thinking that Greg was right. Don was a jerk sometimes. He just wanted some help and advice, but all his big brother does is call him stupid. Forget this! He turned to leave, but Don caught his arm.

"I didn't mean it like that." the fifteen-year-old groaned. "It's just that … you are way to trusting! There are probably drugs in the box, or something worse. You just don't take stuff like that from strangers."

Charlie could feel himself pale at the thought of what he might have just brought into his house. He took back what he thought before, he was so glad he had come to Don about this. But now what do they do?

"Where is this package now?"

"In the hall." Charlie answered quietly.

"Okay." Don nodded. "And where is the money?"

"Greg has it."

Again, the older boy nodded before pulling on his sneakers.

"What are you gonna do?"

"WE," he emphasized, "are taking the package AND the money straight to the police. Let them sort it out."

"But won't they tell Mom and Dad?"

Strange as it may be, the idea of his parents finding out that he may have talked to a drug dealer scared him a lot more than the stranger did. There was a reason that there were even gang members were scared to cross their moms.

"That's a risk we will have to take, buddy." Don sighed.

Charlie nodded glumly and headed into the hall to get the package. Don then ushered him to the front door, but didn't open it right away. Instead he knelt down and looked Charlie in the eye.

"I just want you to know that whatever is in that box, you did the right thing by coming to me."

"Really?" Charlie asked, a small smile forming on his face.

"Really." Don smiled back, before standing up and messing with Charlie's curls. "Now, lets go see if we can pry that money out of Gregs hands."

Charlie laughed and led the way down the street. Something told him that getting the elvelope back from his friend was going to be the hardest part of this entire ordeal … and that is including the possibility that there ARE drugs in the box.

So, how did I do? Like it? Hate it?

If you have any suggestions, challenge words OR things you would like to see (such as bullies, dating, pranks ...), feel free to let me know. After all, i still have 15 letters left. ;)