Chapter 9
The previous night had come and gone with a flash, and with the arrival of the Suns rays over the distant mountains came the first full day of summer vacation. With this day came the event that the teenagers of the Rethink Avenue cul-de-sac had been anticipating for the last two weeks; Lindsay's kick-off-to-summer pool party.
In anticipation of the party, set to start at 1:00 p.m., the three Ed boys had decided to meet at Eddy's house to don their swim attire, and to prepare the cooler of drinks they had agreed to bring as an offering.
Ed and Double Dee had taken up post in Eddy's room, awaiting their diminutive friends return from the restroom, where he was in the process of changing into his swim wear. Double Dee and Ed had already done so; Ed had donned a pair of dark green swim shorts, that appeared to be a few sizes too large for him, so much so that he had to pull them up to his waist and retie the strings every few seconds. On his upper body, he wore the same yellow Hawaiian shirt as he wore the previous day, unbuttoned such that it exposed his abdomen. In addition, Ed had once again placed the sunglasses worn by Rolf over his ears, lifting the lenses to his forehead for the time being.
Double Dee had dressed himself in a much more conservative manner. He retained the yellow swim shorts he commonly wore during trips to the swimming hole; however, erring on the side of caution, he had decided to add a blue swim shirt to avoid another severe sun exposure. He had also removed his wig, replacing it with a gray swimmers cap. Finally, he cradled a pair of swimming goggles as well as a nose clip in his right hand, items meant to combat the "detrimental effects of chlorinated water."
As Ed laid on Eddy's circular bed in a casual manner, reading through some comic books he had brought with him, Double Dee stood in front of Eddy's mirror, examining his face. As he took hold of his trusty tube of powerful sunscreen, he decided to initiate a conversation.
"Ah the joys of summer," said Double Dee in an exuberant manner, "Barbecues, fun with ones dear friends, and of course the bright sunny weather. While a fair amount of sun exposure is great for the production of vitamin D, one can never be too careful when it comes to the danger of higher energy wavelengths. I know I've learned my lesson after the incident at the swimming hole a few summers ago."
Double Dee completed his duties at the mirror and turned towards his oafish best friend, his face now coated in white sunscreen. He proceeded to place his bottle of sunscreen into his bag for safe keeping.
"I'll certainly be sure to bring this along with me on our cross country trip," said Double Dee, "While I absolutely loath procrastinating with regard to our community service project, I must admit that I am quite looking forward to our vacation! Many wait their whole lives to have an experience of this caliber, but we have been fortunate to be blessed with such a great opportunity in our teenage years, thanks to Julia and Zeke's generosity of course!"
"Boy oh boy," said Ed, "I'm so excited to be spending three straight weeks with my Little May! I've always wanted to visit the Conwell UFO crash sight. I asked my Dad all the time if we could detour when he used to take me trucking with him, but he'd always say 'no junior we have a job to do, maybe next time.'...May's been talking about going too, and you know I can't say no to my little May!"
"Well maybe you can Ed!" said Double Dee, "Julia has stated that she will be announcing the itinerary at today's celebration, and perhaps our route will take us close enough to the site for a quick visit. Regardless, I'm sure if you asked, Julia would be happy to facilitate!"
At the conclusion of his statement, the door to Eddy room opened, allowing the newly showered and pool prepared adolescent to enter.
"Relax Monobrow," said Eddy as he entered the room, "We got plenty of time to goof off, that's why it's called vacation! I'm sure Jules ain't gonna be one of those stickler "we gotta see everything" buzz kills, and Zeke seems cool too. Nothing but good times with friends ahead, and three straight weeks with our beautiful ladies!"
Double Dee took note of Eddy's manner of dress as the boy casually made his way towards the mirror. He was wearing a pair of blue, loose fitting board shorts, hanging to the area of his knees, complimenting a pair of black flip-flops. He had placed a grey, form fitting tank top, commonly known as a "muscle shirt" on his upper body, showing off his well built arms as well as the remainder of his physique (brought about by Lee's ballet training). He draped a rolled up blue towel around his shoulders, and had placed a pair of black sunglasses over his eyes. Lastly, he had slicked his hair backward using gel, as he typically did when attending social functions.
"I really hope you are not referring to me when you referenced Julia's inability to be a quote, buzzkill, Eddy," said Double Dee, "And I hope you realize that all of that work you are currently putting into your hair right now will merely go to waste as soon as you submerse yourself in that highly chlorinated water."
"Case-in-point," said Eddy, "I was going to use your whole 'concern about our service project thing', or your constant correction of my grammar as an example of your annoying tendencies, but you did a good job at doing it yourself."
Double Dee adopted an expression of annoyance as Eddy finished styling his hair and made his way towards him.
"Ah loosen up Moptop," said Eddy as he punched Double Dee in the upper arm in a playful manner, causing the boy to slightly stumble backward, "I'm just playing with ya! You gotta learn to chillax dude."
Eddy removed his towel from his shoulder, and began to twist into a tight whip like shape by twirling his hand.
"Alright boys," said Eddy, "It's time to par-tay!"
At that point, Eddy began using the towel as a proverbial whip in an effort to playfully prod his friends, causing both boys to begin dashing towards the door. In an instant, all three had taken their leave from Eddy's room, and began their journey around the block towards Haventhought
Way.
In a mere two minutes, the boys had made their way around the corner, past the playground and down the feeder street to the Statorowski house. The Ed's passed the concrete driveway, currently occupied by two vehicles, parked side-by-side with their rear ends facing the street: a large, silver diesel-powered Chevy Silverado Pickup truck, covered in mud in the vicinity of the wheel wells, as well as several bumper stickers with phrases such as "Proud Member of
Lumber Workers Industrial Union 120", and "Shall not be Infringed"; a vehicle belonging to Lindsay's maternal grandfather. To it's left was Lindsay's deep red, fully restored 1976 Chevrolet Nova Rally, a culmination of a six month long project shared between Lindsay and her father. The car was habitually used by Lindsay, who had obtained her learners permit and was quite excited about taking her road test in the near future. She had grown to adore the vehicle and while she would never admit it, much of her fathers "motor head" tendencies had rub off on her. The project had allowed her to gain a substantial amount of knowledge regarding automotive repair as well.The boys approached the front door, at which point Eddy reached upward to activate the doorbell. Within seconds, the front door swung to the fully open position, revealing the tall, thin frame of Lindsay.
"Hey guys," said Lindsay as she ran her fingers through her hair, "We've been waiting, c'mon in everyone else is here already!"
"We apologize for our tardiness," said Double Dee as the boys passed through the threshold into the cool, air conditioned interior of the Statorowski home, "There were some technical difficulties regarding out preparatory efforts!"
"Let me guess," yelled Lee from the area of the kitchen. Prior to delivering the remainder of her statement, the bespectacled red head peered around the wall into the foyer, brandishing a spatula in the direction of Eddy, "Eddy took a fifteen minute shower, checked out his body in the mirror for 7 minutes and 50 seconds, and then spent six minutes styling his hair into that pompadour that's just going to get ruined by the water anyway!"
At the conclusion of her sentence, Lee delivered a slight wink in the direction of Eds before disappearing back into the kitchen. Lee's playful statement caused Eddy to adopt an expression of annoyance as he groaned under his breath, while also spurring on giggles from Lindsay, Ed, and Double Dee, who had himself stated that fact minutes earlier. A few seconds passed, at which point Lee joined them in the foyer, laughing exuberantly as she approached Eddy's position.
"You should know by now that I know you like the back of my hand, love," said Lee as she kneeled down to eye level with Eddy, "Your little quirks are just too cute."
Lee tickled Eddy's chin while delivering him a long, drawn out peck on the lips, causing Eddy to smile as she pulled away.
"Well boys," said Lindsay, "You can go out back to the pool whenever you want. Make yourselves at home."
"Much appreciated Lindsay," said Double Dee as he began making his way towards the vicinity of the backyard. However, as he took his first step, he was suddenly trampled by the large frame of Ed.
"CANNONBALL!" yelled Ed as he blazed through the foyer towards the back door, knocking Double Dee down and ripping his shirt off in the process.
"Ed, please, mind your manners!" yelled Double Dee has he rose to his feet, retrieving Ed's discarded shirt from the floor in the process. He proceeded to follow Ed's lead, jogging out of the room with his fists lifted to his chest, and his elbows flared out to the side as typical of his running stance.
Lee and Lindsay shared a laugh, at which point they turned back towards Eddy.
"Alright handsome," said Lee, "We're going to go finish our buffet and get Chuckie Stat to start the burgers. Then we're gonna get changed into our new bathing suits and meet ya's out at the pool...unless you need the bathroom to check yourself out in the mirror."
Lee and Lindsay giggled in a girlish manner as they dashed out into the kitchen, leaving Eddy in a slightly disgruntled mood. As they did, Eddy turned his attention to the left towards the living room, where a tall, intricate cat tree had been built. One of the tiers was occupied by a large, tabby coated, Maine Coone cat, laying with his paws hanging towards the floor in a relaxed manner.
Eddy smiled as he made his way towards the cat, deciding to reply to Lee's joke as he did so.
"Well one things for sure," said Eddy as he reached for the cat, "I know I can always count on Chubbs to appreciate me!"
As Eddy attempted to pet Chubbs ear, the animal suddenly reared forward, screaming as he ferociously swiped Eddy's face with his claws in a cartoonish fashion. Chubbs quickly returned to his relaxed position, albeit adopting a rather lethargic and grumpy demeanor, leaving Eddy quite shocked and surprised.
"Oh Eddy, I forgot to tell you don't tease Chubbs!" yelled Lindsay from the kitchen, "He's got an ear infection, and is a little cranky from taking his ear drops!"
At the conclusion of Lindsay's statement, Eddy stuck out his long green tongue in the direction of the cat, then proceeded to make his way towards the backyard to join the party.
