Fairly Oddparents copyright Viacom
Chapter 29: Waiting
Written: 8 Feb 2006-17 Feb 2006
Posted: 17 Feb 2006
Big Daddy found himself headed for the Mountains of Madness. And he still didn't know how that had happened. One moment was happily taking a shower, and the next he was thrown into this maelstrom of confusion and uncertainty.
But most of all he wanted to know where his baby girl was. Nobody had seen her in days.
And the land rover breaking down on them didn't help matters any.
He pounded the roof of the car. "What do you mean it's going to take an hour longer?" he demanded.
The fairy mechanic didn't seem to note the menace behind Big Daddy's words. "There seems to be holdup on that delivery of the new sparkplugs, Big Daddy," he said casually, wiping his hands clean with an oily rag.
"Do you want your life to be a miserable wreck? I can make that happen." Big Daddy made a habit of dumping trash on the houses of those who displease him.
"I can't imagine how," the mechanic said in his slow drawl. "I live in the dump."
"Oh." Big Daddy felt a little dejected after that statement. But surely there to had to hurry this slacker up. Big Daddy wanted to hurry.
And Big Daddy always gets what he wants.
"Best you don't take your time when that part gets here."
"I will put the sparkplug in as quickly as I can." His easy, laid-back manner didn't exactly encourage confidence.
This was that Cosma woman's fault!
If he ever got his hands on her, she's a dead woman.
-OOO-
Momma Cosma hated to be abandoned. Although it had taken her a good hour to realize the fact, she had been quite miffed when she found out that red-head had absconded with the kids. Mr. Turner was saying something, but she didn't respond. She didn't bother even to hear.
"Mark my words, Vicky Spain," she announced to the winds. "You will get yours."
"Uh, Momma Cosma, we could go looking for them. They have been missing for quite awhile now."
She looked away from the grain-filled field that she had been staring across and at him. "And where do you suppose we start looking, hmm?"
"At the place we lost them. At that greasy spoon place at the foot of this here mountain."
She smiled ruefully to herself. It might just very well work. So why hadn't she thought of it? It seemed such an obvious thought…
Maybe it wouldn't work.
Wordlessly, and without nodding, she turned toward the diner and started the long trek back there. Mr. Turner hesitated. But he followed her. It was, after all, his idea.
-OOO-
Timmy stared at the impossible sight before him. Another woman who liked his mother was before him. And that woman looked as confused as he was. What was worse was that Vicky was with her. Timmy groaned. Just what was she doing here?
And for some reason, A.J. and a girl were with them. He worried that they would see the fairies, but they were gone into their tents, and his mother was disguised as a human. Although Timmy kept thinking of her as being a human. She had been one for all his life. He wasn't about to change his thinking about her just because her species had changed.
"You look familiar," the woman told Timmy. "Perhaps we have met. My name is Wanda, by the way. What's yours?" She held out her hand.
Timmy tentatively stepped forward and shook the offered hand. "It's Timmy Turner," she said, watching this "Wanda" carefully. Was she his Wanda? She didn't look like the pink-haired fairy, but with magic, who knew what sorts of transformations were possible.
"Don't take it the wrong way, but do know anyone named Cosmo?"
"Hmm… Sounds the name of an idiot, but I don't think I do. But I couldn't tell you, to tell you the truth. For some reason, my memories were erased and I was put in her body." She pointed her finger toward Mrs. Turner.
"Why would anyone want to do that?" she asked.
Wanda sighed. "I don't know. I have amnesia, remember? But my guess would be that Momma Cosma person. She gives me the creeps."
"So you know Momma Cosma?" The Oracle asked. It sounded like such a simple question, but Timmy sensed there was more to it. Much more.
"Yes," A.J. said. "She's the one who led us to that diner at the foot of the mountain. She also said these mountains were deadly."
"Don't be silly. Of course they're deadly. There are mountains after all. What with rockslides, steep slopes and whatnot. Mountain climbing isn't something to take lightly."
"Blah, blah, blah…" Vicky bobbed her head side to side. "Timmy here upset the whole balance of the world."
"What? How did I do that?"
Vicky opened her mouth to say something. Though it seemed that she didn't know what that something was, as no words came out.
"Jeez," Wanda said. "What's the deal with her?"
Despite Wanda's amnesia, Timmy took heart in that she remembered something about Cosmo. If in fact the duplicate Mrs. Turner was Wanda.
"She's an evil babysitter," the real Mrs. Turner informed her.
Wanda blinked in surprise, as if she had been expecting her to say something else. "Oh yes. Of course." From the way that Wanda said that, Timmy began to think that she was beginning to remember.
Vicky looked at Mrs. Turner. "Who the hell are you? The last thing I need is somebody going around impersonating Mrs. Turner here."
"How do you know that she isn't the imposter?" Mrs. Turner asked, indicating Wanda.
"She's right, Vicky," Wanda said. "I am the imposter."
Vicky switched her gaze from Mrs. Turner to Mrs. Turner. "Which one have I been working for all these years?"
"That would be me," Mrs. Turner said. The real one.
"Then who the heck is this other one?"
"Wanda," the fairy-turned human said. "I couldn't tell you any more. I'm sorry, but that's simply all that I can remember."
"Figures," Vicky murmured, though it was perfectly audible to Timmy.
"So what's the plan now?" A.J. asked. "And where is this Wanda fairy that Momma Cosma had warned us about?"
Timmy's eyes darted toward Wanda for a brief glance. Hopefully Vicky hadn't noticed. "I, uh, wouldn't know," he immediately lied. And just as immediately regretted it. Lying was getting far too easy as of late. He really didn't want to make it a habit. Things could get hairy with his friends. But what choice did he have?
Vicky gave Wanda a funny look, but surely that was because the woman admitted to be a fraud. Right?
At any rate, the funny look didn't last long. She directed a question toward The Oracle. "Just what are doing this god-forsaken mountain?"
"We're waiting for a man." The Oracle was staring toward the west as she spoke.
"What man?"
Fanny poked her hand out of her tent. "Howard Phillips." Uh no, Timmy thought.
But Vicky asked, "Who the heck is that?"
-OOO-
Big Daddy found his quarry at the Happy Hiker. She was having some sort of heated of discussion with some human or other. Big Daddy was far too away to hear (as he was still five hundred yards away), but it didn't really matter. Momma Cosma was going to be a dead woman in short order, no matter what they could have been possibly discussing.
He climbed back into the Land Rover and nodded for her daughter to continue. It was Blonda's last-minute arrival with the part he needed that allowed him to continue with his quest.
The vehicle started forward.
