21. Note
"Why did you record that?" Virgil asked, covering his ears as Alan and Gordon smiled at him. They'd lured him into Gordon's room and it was only now that Virgil realized it was a mistake.
"But Lady P has such a beautiful singing voice!" Gordon said, grinning wildly.
"Yeah, just about as good as yours," Virgil commented. "You both get about twenty percent of the notes correct."
"Twenty percent! Oh, so scientific!" Alan said, turning the dial to increase the volume of the playback. It reverberated in the small room, attacking Virgil's sensitive eardrums.
"Just please turn it off!" he said.
"Not until you make it worth it for us," Gordon replied. Alan turned up the volume again.
"What did I do to deserve this?" Virgil asked.
"You were born with perfect pitch and we weren't," Alan said. "That's reason enough."
"You're really using genetics as an excuse right now?" Virgil asked.
"We have to use whatever we have," Gordon said. "So, one month of making our beds."
"And taking our dish-cleaning shifts," Alan added.
"Okay, fine," Virgil agreed. "just turn off this infernal racket."
"And you have to wax Four," Gordon said, his hand hovering over the stop button.
"And Three!" Alan said.
"Now this is getting out of hand," Virgil said, glaring at his younger brothers. "I'll do the chores, but I am not waxing a submarine and a rocket! That's just insane."
"You know what else is insane?" Gordon asked, restarting the recording.
"That's it," Virgil said, running for the door. But Alan and Gordon were too fast and, with their combined strength, they were able to stop him.
"This is cruel and unusual punishment," Virgil complained. "I plead the eighth!"
"You're such a nerd!" Gordon shouted over the music.
"We're not letting you go until you agree to do our chores and wax the 'birds," Alan said.
Virgil hesitated in his brothers' grip, the off-key notes of Penny's singing eating viciously at his highly-trained brain. Suddenly, it was too much.
"Okay!" Virgil gave in. "I'll do it. Just stop this torture."
"Whatever you say," Gordon said, releasing Virgil and shutting off the recording.
Sweet silence filled Virgil's ears and he couldn't help but smile.
3 days later…
"Why are we doing this again?" Scott asked, rubbing wax onto Thunderbird Four.
"You don't want to know," Virgil replied, rubbing an aching arm before returning to the waxing job.