Hey, everybody. I'm so sorry I haven't been posting as much as usual. I've been sick, but I promise I haven't given up on the story. In fact, I have been getting better and I'm preparing to shift into final gear as this story is coming to a close. Too much of this has been written for me to throw it away. Thank you for all of your encouraging words!

Chapter 28: Even Then

"Radio, I've told you so many of my stories, why don't you share another one of yours?" Didi turned to her new friend as they climbed their way up the forest hill.

He shrugged, stepping over a broken twig already snapped by some reckless squirrel or bird. "As much as I appreciate the flattery… I doubt they are as good as you claim."

"Of course they are!" She smiled. "I should have let you speak more. I didn't realize just how much I was rambling on this whole time. Muse tells me I need to work on that... so did Arlo."

Radio laughed, patting her on the head. "Didi, you've already apologized a million times! Besides, I tend to ramble a little myself."

Her nervous giggle came back, soft against the afternoon breeze. Taking another step, her front right foot dug into the dirt, wet with perpetual dew in the cover of trees. It left a small hole, so similar to running barefoot through the newly-tilled carrot fields before planting, and yet, so different.

"If only Arlo could see me now. If she didn't throw me against a tree for being so stupid, she would be laughing her ratty pigtails off. She takes after Mom in every aspect, except she actually has a sense of humor."

"I'm certain you'll see her again soon," he shrugged, waving to a monarch butterfly floating towards the nearest milkweed. "All time apart is nothing but a chance to make new stories you can share when you meet up again."

"Hi butterfly," she muttered in response, his words not even registering at first. Turning back to her companion, she began to grin. "That's what she always said."

"Now, all you need to do is figure out how to explain all of this to her."

"Man, that's a toughy. Still, it'd probably be easier than explaining it to Mom."

After having fallen behind a couple paces, Radio bounced back to her side, and a sparkle of electricity ran through her in excitement for an actual adventure with a friend, even if it was about to end. "This just in," he called out. "Girl missing for three years returns home as a living radio!"

Didi rolled her eyes, something almost an obligation as the 'serious' friend, but she was still never above a joke. Even if it was at her expense. "Doctors around the globe are baffled, and her psychiatry bill is through the roof." Her laugh turned into a nervous giggle. "Oh god, I am going to need so much therapy after this. At least the local freak show paycheck will cover it." She turned to Radio. "Do… do radios still have to pay taxes?"

"Not that I know of," he replied. "I sure hope not. If we do, I'd be in prison by now."

As Radio held up a tree branch to help her pass through, Didi's mind wandered to an earlier event. "I hate to admit it, but the fear of being locked up in a small cell was the only thing that kept me from stealing whenever Dad took us to the candy store."

He turned to her. "My, that sounds like there's a story behind it."

She chuckled. "There is. I was eight, and Arlo was five or six… we had been good little girls picking carrots all day without complaining, so Dad decided it was time for a special treat."

"Mom was all up in arms about the extra sugar, but all of us were tired of carrot cake after carrot cake, and were so excited for a change. Eventually, Dad convinced her, and she even came along! Besides, the candy shop had all of her cheesy old penny candy favorites. We drove off to Timothy's Candy Shoppe in a thrill of excitement. It had my favorite too. Ice Cubes! I don't even know how to describe it… I think it was from when my parents were kids, but somehow, the owner still got his hands on them, and they were so, so good! But so small, and so expensive."

"When we arrived, the only person there was the cashier, and he seemed to be off in his own little MP3 world. I think that was just before iPods became popular. Man, I sound old! Anyway, I decided that nobody would notice or care if I took a couple. While Mom and Dad were helping Arlo reach for a ridiculously huge lollipop - that thing was taller than the both of us - I decided with how much the other candies cost, it wouldn't hurt to take a couple and slipped a few into my pocket."

"By a few, I mean the whole bowl." His questioning glare shot through her. "I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed as a child, okay? Still, I had eaten at least five before anyone even noticed."

"I should have known my 'little crime' wouldn't go unnoticed. Arlo didn't even have a chance to snitch on me before Mom turned around and started berating me immediately. Dad made me put it back and personally apologize to the store owner. I didn't see why at the time. He had plenty of candy, and why should I respect someone so pretentious as to make candy cost so much and spell 'shop' wrong just to sound fancy?"

"The owner laughed the whole issue off, but my parents were still furious. The whole car ride was filled with Mom yelling about how 'I'd be headed straight to prison' if I kept up that kind of behavior. A dark prison with thick bars and not even enough room to lay down. They knew exactly what would get to me, and Arlo teasing my claustrophobia didn't help either."

"Being a little kid, I didn't care or take her seriously, until I started having nightmares about being trapped behind bars. The darkness, the cramped space, it all felt so real! Dad comforted me, though I never told Mom. She isn't above an 'I told you so,' even for her own children."

Radio paused. "Your mother sounds like a real…"

"...Stick in the mud?"

"Precisely."

She smiled, looking up to a taller tree with the birds circling its canopy. "She wasn't all that bad. Mom was just a bit of a 'tough love' sort of person. And she's definitely a better parent than Mr. Gardner could ever be. Even then, I cared for Mom and Dad. I miss them so much."

"Puts it all in perspective, doesn't it."

Her antenna dropped. "I wonder what's going to happen to Theo. What are people going to think if they ever give him up, and he goes around saying he was raised by fairies and appliances? I hope he gets a better home, but would he even be able to adjust?"

Radio was quiet for a moment. "Let's not worry about that right now."

"Good point," she sighed. "They're off on vacation, and we're almost to the mansion. I'm so excited to introduce you to Muse! He really is the coolest TV you've ever met."

"I don't know about that. We used to have a TV back at the cabin. Ol' Rabbit Ears was a hoot!"

"...Rabbit ears?"

He laughed, once again needing to catch up. "That was my nickname for him. TVs and Radios aren't supposed to be friends, but we were always great comrades."

She paused. "Why not?"

"Why not what?"

"Why aren't they - I mean we - aren't supposed to be friends?"

"I guess it's not an official rule," he said as his pace slowed in thought, "but many radios hold disdain towards TVs for stealing our thunder. Before either of us were bui- born, humans gathered around the first generation to hear their stories for hours."

"I've heard we were a luxury! Still, that all came crashing down when TV was invented." He kicked a twig away, sending it splitting against a tree. He himself let out a small static squeak. "I can't blame the humans, really. Televisions can do anything a radio can and more!"

For once, Didi was at a loss for words. Searching for the right thing to say to make sure her new friend did not leave feeling alone, she muttered "Well… if it makes you feel better, as a kid, I used my radio every single day. Even when it got a little stormy, the static was never too bad."

"Good to see some people these days can still appreciate the classics."