As soon as Henry, Charlotte and Jasper were out of the sight of Junk N' Stuff's security cameras, Ray hit the button to call the elevator back down. Once it arrived, he led Gooch and Bork to the elevator, where they blew a bubble as it went up to the store. Schwoz stayed behind to further examine the seaweed, or whatever it really is. Well, was, seeing as how it was picked apart. He decided to just keep calling it seaweed for now.
The three adults who left the Man Cave were happy to look like they should as they went through the back room. Except the happy feeling was easily combated by the reason why they had to change appearances in the first place. Among other things, obviously. Like confusion, fear, worry…
You get the point.
Gooch automatically found his place behind the counter, having stood there for so long- jeez, he wasn't even sure how long the store had been around; Bork stood diagonal from him on the other side of the counter, and Ray placed himself across from Gooch.
"So this morning," began Ray. "The kids decided they wanted to go swimming over in Swellview Park."
…
Henry, Charlotte and Jasper had been walking (but not talking) for about five minutes when Charlotte stopped short. "Uh… guys?"
Henry, who has stopped as soon as Charlotte stopped, looked alarmed. So did Jasper. "What? What is it?!" Henry cried out, horrified something was going wrong.
Again.
Charlotte realized she was making both of her friends freak out and put her hands up. "Relax! Relax!... I- I just realized… didn't we leave our stuff in Schwoz's car and at the store?"
Henry and Jasper did, in fact, relax, but then groaned. They sank down onto the bench that sat about a foot away from where Charlotte was still standing. They forgot their things, including their bikes. Which meant walking back to Junk N' Stuff, getting Schwoz to unlock his car, getting their stuff, locking the car, transforming, getting the stuff that is still down in the Man Cave, and then getting the right bikes to Henry's house, and getting him and Charlotte back to the Bolton house with Jasper at his own place.
Yay…
It was Charlotte's idea to call Schwoz ahead of time and see if he could just give it to them at the door. Jasper thought about just volunteering to get it all himself (he figured Henry and Charlotte needed some alone time- now that he knew something was going on, he was definitely committed to fanning the flames), but then remembered the Buddy System. Once again, I have reason to despise it, he thought. He bit his thumb as he walked. It dawned on him that there were three bikes and bags, so he couldn't do it by himself fast enough, anyway.
As they walked back, Henry decided to just call Schwoz on his phone (his swim trunks, which he was still wearing, had a zip-up pocket that was supposedly waterproof. Henry had taken his phone out of his backpack and put it in there a while back) instead of using his Whiz Watch since there were more people around than there had been earlier. Plus, it would be faster to walk and call instead of finding a hiding spot to Hologram Chat. They didn't even know for sure that Schwoz or anyone was down in the Man Cave.
Schwoz picked up on the first ring. "Everything okay?" was his immediate response to Henry's "Hey, dude."
"Yeah, everything's fine. We just-"
"Forgot your things?" Henry couldn't hide the look of surprise on his face. Charlotte and Jasper took note of this and raised their eyebrows in question.
"How did you know?"
"I spotted Ja- er, one of your backpacks in the M-" Schwoz muttered something under his breath that Henry decided to be glad he didn't hear "-I mean, the basement a few moments ago. In fact, I was just about to call you."
"Oh. Well, thanks anyway, dude." Henry silently congratulated himself for remembering the whole no-real-names rule. "Anyway, we're on our way and'll be there in a few."
"Okie-dokey. I will get it all ready for you. I guess you ready to go home already?" Henry laughed a little and said, "Oh yeah." He then said thanks and bye before hanging up and jamming his phone back into the pocket.
…
While Henry told Charlotte and Jasper what the plan was, Schwoz kept his promise and not a minute later was stepping out of the elevator into the back room of Junk N' Stuff with Jasper's backpack in his hand. He could hear voices and paused for a moment to listen.
"...which is when Henry realized that Charlotte was still in the water. I guess his Kid Danger instincts must have kicked in because he immediately went in and rescued her. Then they found the seaweed thingamabob…" Schwoz really didn't care to listen the story again, so he called to his boss and stepped into the main area of the store.
Ray, who had stopped telling Gooch and Bork what had happened when he heard his other adult employee, nodded to Schwoz as he made his entrance. "Hey, Schwoz, did you fi-" he noticed the backpack- "what is that?"
"Oh," said Schwoz, holding it up. "This is Jasper's backpack. He left it in the Man Cave. He and Henry and Charlotte left their stuff in my car earlier."
The three other adults nodded as they processed what the other was saying. "I told them I'd get the other things for them."
Ray and the others decided they may as well help out and not three minutes later had all three backpacks and bikes next to Ray on a bench.
Gooch and Bork returned to their rooms downstairs so they could finish their naps. (Well, Gooch did, anyway- Bork most likely couldn't fall asleep and picked up his weights. Truthfully, Gooch could sleep through a hurricane.) Schwoz followed them as far as the Man Cave so he could try (once again) to look for anything supsious in the seaweed and the spy rat, even though they were completely and utterly dismantled at this point. Still, occasionally the trick with staring at something forever and ever sometimes works.
Sometimes.
…
It didn't take more than two minutes before Ray saw his young employees coming. He realized that he technically wasn't supposed to be without a buddy, but decided to dismiss the thought for now. The event of picking up stuff went by fast:
Henry, Charlotte and Jasper all said hey to Ray (who said hi back) and grabbed their bikes and bags so they could get home. Other than the greetings, no words were spoken. None of the kids mentioned how Ray was alone (let's face it- they all had other things on their minds). They said bye to Ray (who said bye back) and took off.
Told you it went by fast.
Ray sighed a little (though he wasn't exactly sure why) and went back inside. He stood behind the counter playing games on his phone for about an hour and a half until the phone was almost dead. The man was thinking about going down for a nap while his phone charged (or a spar with Bork, whichever came first) when the door to Junk N' Stuff- Ray decided to flip the sign back to OPEN- suddenly swung wide open.
Whoa! Who do you think is coming? Leave your guesses in reviews and tune in next week to find out! (Realizing I sound a comic book narrator...)