CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Due to the exertions of their first full day in the UK, the teens were rather loath to get up the following morning. Edd however – being a morning person – had no difficulty in getting up, but after he quickly finished his ablutions, he did encounter some problems in getting Ed to wake up. He had to resort to bribery in order to make him stir…
"Ed, the breakfast repast down in the dining room won't last forever, and they are having their version of breakfast sausages that they term 'bangers' with gravy…", he had whispered into his ear.
At the mention of the word 'Gravy', Ed had gotten up out of bed so fast, Edd thought that even a high-speed camera would not be able to click a blur-free image of Ed whilst on the move to the bathroom.
"Gravy, yum-yum-yum", Ed kept repeating as he got into the shower.
"That particular magic word never fails with Ed", Edd said to himself with a chuckle as he began to get dressed.
After Ed had quickly finished his ablutions, Ed quickly got dressed in his trademark clothes. He then went over to where Edd was trying to rouse Eddy from his slumber. Eddy was hard asleep, and Edd was not having any success in waking him.
"Aw, Eddy is deep in dreamland", Ed replied dopily, "but I don't want to miss out on my breakfast. What should we do?" he asked Edd.
"I think, Ed, that in order for us not to miss out on our morning victuals and thus make Mr. Statorowski and the others mad at us, we had best utilize 'Emergency Plan Alpha', so if you would assist me with Eddy, please?" Ed answered.
"Okie dokie, Double-Dee", Ed replied enthusiastically. He didn't want to miss out on the promised breakfast bangers and gravy. He picked up the still-sound-asleep Eddy, threw him over his right shoulder, and proceeded to follow Edd into the bathroom, where Ed had turned on the cold tap in the shower. Edd shivered some from the cold water.
"Forgive me for this, Eddy", Edd said, "but we can't be running late today".
With that, Edd nodded to Ed, who tossed Eddy into the shower...
Next door in the suite that housed the other male teens, Kevin – who had finished his ablutions around the same time as Ed – was finishing up getting dressed when he heard a loud high-pitched shriek resonate through the wall.
"Looks like Dorky overslept again and the other Ed's are using their 'Alpha Plan' to wake him up", he remarked to Rolf and Johnny with a smirk on his face while gesturing with his thumb at the wall. Both of them knew exactly what Kevin meant.
"What was that?" Jimmy exclaimed as he poked his head out of the shower stall. Eddy's shriek was loud enough to penetrate the sound of the shower water.
"A cold shower next door, and Eddy's abrupt introduction to it, evidently", Johnny replied with a smirk of his own.
Back in the Ed's suite, a dripping wet Eddy was not in a jovial mood as he grabbed a towel off a nearby holder.
"That wasn't funny you two! If Standards would let me, you'd be hearing a lot more from me on this!" Eddy exclaimed to Ed and Eddy as he toweled himself dry, "you could have just shaken me awake! Why the cold shower?!"
"We tried to wake you, Eddy", Ed replied, "but you were out like a light and I wanna go and get my breakfast".
"You are a heavy sleeper, Eddy", Edd said with an apologetic expression, "and I am sorry that we did this to you, but we do have a schedule to keep and…"
"Okay, okay, Sockhead!", Eddy broke in, "I get it! Let me get dressed and we'll get our breakfast out of the way. Sheesh, all of this just to see a circle of stacked boulders!"
With that, Eddy went over to his suitcase and quickly picked out some clothes to wear for the trip.
A few minutes later, the three Ed's left their hotel suite, then headed downstairs to the hotel dining room. The delightful smell of the food emanating from the adjoining kitchen helped to lessen the frown on Eddy's face. For his part, Ed was starting to drool. The others had gotten down to the dining room and were seated and waiting for breakfast to be served.
"Hiya, Ed", May said, waving at him, "Come sit beside me. They're serving up the food now!"
"Okie Dokie, May!" Ed exclaimed, "Yum-yum-yum!".
As Ed headed for the seat that May had offered him, Edd headed over to where Marie was seated. With a cheerful "Good morning, Marie", Edd sat down beside her and poured himself a cup of coffee from a coffee pot in front of him.
"I don't know how you can be so cheerful this morning, Oven Mitt", Marie commented, "Especially after the things we did yesterday. I'm still not fully awake, even with this!", she finished, gesturing to a half-empty cup of coffee in front of her. Some of the others murmured their agreement with Marie's comment.
"Well, the prospect of my seeing with my own eyes such a renowned ancient monument as Stonehenge makes me feel so excited in an anticipatory way, it helped me awaken in such a manner as to completely defeat any lingering tiredness that I would otherwise have", he responded.
"You and that sexy vocabulary", Marie commented with a smile.
"I heard that you had to be woken up in a rather more drastic manner, Eddy", Lee remarked with a smile and a giggle, "and I mean that literally".
"I think that would go for a lot of the hotel too", Lindsay added with a giggle of her own, "that scream of yours was loud!"
With that, the others started laughing. Eddy wasn't so amused.
"See how you would sound being thrown into an ice-cold shower", Eddy snarled as he poured himself a cup of coffee, "That water cut me to the bone!"
"If that shriek was any louder, Dorky", Kevin opined, "You'd probably have a few shattered windows to pay for!".
"Zip it, Shovel-chin", Eddy replied, "it wasn't funny!"
"Yeah, zip it, Kevin", Lee echoed, "humor aside, let's not rub it in anymore".
Kevin looked at Lee's earnest expression and nodded. While Lee did see the funny side of things, there was such a thing as rubbing it in too hard. The other teens got the message. Eddy looked at Lee and nodded. Lee smile and winked back at him.
"If it's any consolation, Eddy", Chuck Statorowski said from his position at the head of the table, "I was a heavy sleeper as well at your age. So, I certainly can relate to not wanting to get up. My parents had to resort to drastic measures with me at times in order to get me out of bed. It took me a while to be a morning person"
"Once I get this coffee and some food into me, I'll be okay, Mr. S", Eddy replied, calming down some more, "but you'd think that on a vacation, we can at least not have to get up so frigging early. It's not like we're at school".
"Remember Standard's, Eddy", Lee lightly admonished, "'Frigging' is pushing it some…"
Okay, people", Mr. Statorowski said next, "In any case, I'm glad you're all awake and down here. Once we're all fed, then we'll get back to our suites and get ready to get going to Stonehenge. Don't take long. Make sure you have your cameras and your overnight bags ready with toiletries and a change of clothes. I've got some spending cash that you'll all get once we're out and on the way".
"How long will the drive from here to there take, Mr. Statorowski?" Sarah asked.
"It's one hundred and twenty kilometers – Seventy miles – from Richmond to Stonehenge on the M3", Mr. Statorowski replied. I wanted the early start because of traffic concerns, plus I want to make the most of the daylight hours. I'll be driving as I've asked Tiffany to do something for me on the way".
Lindsay nodded. Her father wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything in those contracts she'd be looking over that may cause problems for the company. Like her ability to do taxes, she had a knack for seeing things in legal documents that were not immediately obvious to other people. Lindsay has mentioned this to Lee, so she would be sitting beside Eddy in the mini-bus this morning.
"This son of a shepherd wants to know what's going to be happening after Stonehenge if we are leaving early and the distance is only one hundred and twenty kilometers?" Rolf asked.
"After seeing Stonehenge and lunching at Amesbury, we'll be driving down to Portsmouth in order to take the ferry over to the Isle of Wight. We'll be sleeping at a bed and breakfast in Ventor. We will return back here tomorrow night", Mr. Statorowski answered.
"Ooh, are we seeing a concert?" Kevin asked. He had heard of the Isle of Wight festival and this was the time of year for it.
"You got it, Kevin!", Mr. Statorowski replied, "It's the time of year and it's one thing you shouldn't miss!"
The teens all smiled at that. Even Edd, who wasn't overly concert-minded. He knew that Marie would love to attend, and he certainly wasn't going to put a damper on her enthusiasm.
"So, who's playing there?" Lindsay asked her father. She sounded the most enthused of the teens.
"Sorry, Sport", he replied, "but I want to keep it a surprise, and please don't use your phone to find out and tell the others", he admonished with a smile, but in a tone that made it clear that he expected her to comply.
With a mock-pout, she nodded her understanding. On that note, the party began their breakfast…