Chapter 11

Around twenty minutes had passed since Chuck had declared the steaks, burgers and hotdogs ready for consumption. Each party guest had secured a plate containing their choice of meat, as well a choice of side from Lee and Lindsay's salad buffet. The guests had taken their seats at a large wooden picnic table, constructed adjacent to the pool, fraternizing amongst themselves as they enjoyed the warm summer weather.

After finishing up their platters (in Ed, May and Rolf's case, multiple platters), the group began the process of cleaning up. Each teenager cleared their own plate from the table, as Chuck began work on scraping the grille. At the same time, Lindsay, Lee and Tabby worked together to prepare the remaining food for later consumption.

As the three women worked, Ed, Edd, Eddy, Marie and May made their way towards the patio to place their used paper plates into the garbage. As the group passed, they decided to provide compliments to the chefs for their work.

"Bang up job on the food as always girls!" said Eddy.

"Thanks Hun," said Lee, "I hope the spice wasn't too much!"

"You kiddin?" asked Eddy, "You should know more then anyone that this mouth can really take the heat."

"Really Eddy?" asked Double Dee, "May I remind you of the incident with my mother's chocolates last holiday season?"

Double Dee giggled as Lee shuddered, gritting her teeth in the process.

"Ew," said Lee in a disgusted manner, "Don't remind me."

"What happened?" asked Lindsay.

"You don't wanna know..." said Lee.

May giggled.

"Eddy ate some really spicy chocolates that Double Dee's mom made last Christmas and it made his mouth burn real bad," said May, "He was desperate for a drink, so he grabbed a bottle I got from Double Dee for my science project. I thought it was filled with plants, but I read the label wrong and it turns out that it was filled with giant cockroaches. He accidentally threw them across the table and they all landed on Lee as she was eating."

"And thanks for reminding me..." said Lee in a sarcastic manner.

"O.M.G" said Lindsay as she placed her hand over her mouth, "I would have totally died if that happened to me! I can't stand any kind of bug! Why are you using those disgusting things to torture your poor girlfriend Eddy?"

Lindsay giggled as she placed her arm around her friend, causing the remainder of the kids with the exception of Eddy to share a laugh.

"Hey," said Eddy, "It ain't my fault Mop Top didn't give May the right stuff. Next time you should have let me deal with the situation instead of loosing it like you did. I ain't afraid of no bugs."

"Get real Eddy," exclaimed Double Dee, "I seem to recall a different story as to how my specimens found themselves airborne. I believe it was due to your tossing of the container upon laying eyes on the large, and somewhat intimidating insect."

Eddy groaned slightly as Double Dee giggled. As the group shared a final bought of laughter, the sound of the high pitched, yet soft spoken voice of Julia Van Bartonschmeer filled the air.

"Excuse me everyone!" yelled Julia in an exuberant manner as she used her spoon to hit a small glass repeatedly, "Zeke and I have a really important announcement to make regarding our upcoming trip, so I'd like Nancy and all of her little friends to gather around the picnic table."

"Well now," said Double Dee, "It appears Julia is finally ready to reveal the itinerary for our trip!"

"Finally," said Marie as she took hold of Double Dees hand and began leading him towards the table, "I can't wait to find out where we're going to be spending the next few weeks, Oven Mitt."

"C'mon Ed, let's go see!" said May as she and Ed dashed towards the table, giggling dopily as they did so.

The group of teenagers quickly vacated the patio, leaving Tabby to tend to the wrapping of the last batch of leftovers. With one final click, the redhead sealed the final plastic container, and turned towards the direction of the table; igniting a cigarette as she awaited the good news from afar with a smile.

As the remainder of the kids approached the table, Julia clicked her tongue and began to speak .

"Well, this is it, the moment of truth!" said Julia, "I'm just bursting with excitement. Are you guys ready to hear our exciting, awesome, super special, totally out of this world itinerary?"

"Um, yeah," said Nazz in a relatively deadpan manner, "It's why you, like, called us over here right Jules?"

"Okay here goes!" said Julia, "As we said, we will be visiting nine places in total, staying in each for around three nights. Our first stop will be the large, and lovely New York City. We'll see a Broadway show on the first night, and then spend the next two days touring the Big Orange at our own leisure!

"Whoah there Jules," said Zeke, "I think you got your fruits confused again, I think they call New York City the Big Apple!"

"Oh yeah," said Jules, "I always get those things confused...but on the plus side, you can never have too much vitamin C!"

Zeke and Julia shared a laugh, causing Nazz to roll her eyes at their ditziness. The remainder of the teenagers appeared to react to their first destination in a positive manner, sharing smiles as they conversed about all of the fun things they were going to do in the big city. The adult guests, excited regarding the prospect of their children's opportunity to see the country, all displayed radiant expressions as they gazed upon the exuberant faces of their loved ones.

However, not all of the party guests provided an immediate positive response to the announcement of the first trip destination. The mention of New York City appeared to bring Tabby into a trance-like state; she stared forward, her thoughts seeming to race at lightning speed as she continuously puffed on a cigarette.

"Alright Jules, enough messing around!" yelled Nazz, "Are you gonna tell us about the rest of the trip or what!?"

"Oooooh, someone's excited" said Julia as she reached down to pinch Nazz's cheek, much to her annoyance, "Don't worry, you will find out soon! We decided to make this fun and keep the next destination a secret until the night we leave the previous one, that should tots keep things exciting!"

"Wingo", yelled Jonny, "I like surprises!"

"Rolf is quite excited, for he has never visited the bowels of the big city," said Rolf, after which he turned towards Lindsay, gazing up into her eyes as he spoke in a love struck manner "And the thought sharing the small throws of Boy Zeke's Jalope with Rolf's sweet Babushka gives Rolf the tender feelings."

Rolf sighed dreamily as he took hold of Lindsay's hand. He slowly lifted it up toward his face, attempting to touch his lips to the top of her hand. However, just prior to making contact, Lindsay escaped Rolfs display of affection by slowly pulling her hand away; awkwardly smiling and blushing as she did so, much to Lee's amusement.

"Hmmm," said Zeke, reacting to Rolf's statement, "The tall, funny talking little dudes got a point there. I got the biggest RV we could get, but it's still gonna be pretty tight with fifteen people. By my count, we're gonna be short three sleeping spaces. I'm willing to give up mine, but we're gonna have to figure out some kind of rotation schedule for the rest of you dudes and dudettes."

The kids pondered Zeke's words momentarily, at which point Double Dee subtly cleared his throat. He began to step forward, attempting to proclaim his willingness to give up his bunk ( preferring a sanitary sleeping bag of his own choosing); however, he was quickly interrupted by a female voice from behind.

"I have something that can help," said Tabby in an authoritative manner, drawing the attention of the entire group to her position.

"What's that Ms. L?" asked Zeke.

Tabby extinguished her cigarette and made her way towards Zeke's position. As she came within speaking distance, she decided to continue with her proposition.

"Does the RV have a tow hitch?" asked Tabby.

"Sure does," said Zeke.

"Perfect," said Tabby, "I just so happen to have a quite spacious trailer that can easily house three or more people. It served my family well for years as both a home and a camper, and I'm willing to let you borrow it for the course of the trip on one condition."

"Wow, that's really nice of ya Ms. L" said Zeke, "What's the condition?"

"Let me come with you," said Tabby.

At the conclusion of Tabby's statement, all three Kanker girls shared an expression of confusion. During a dinner conversation the previous evening, Tabby had declined the girls offer to come along on the trip, citing a lack of desire to travel, as well as the desire to see her girls branch out on her own. Accordingly, Lee decided to speak up.

"But Mom," said Lee, "You always said you hate traveling, and you've never been outside the Tri-county area before. This is a big trip are you sure you want to go?"

"Very sure," said Tabby as she turned towards Lee, "Let's just say I was suddenly struck with some inspiration to try new things. It couldn't hurt, right?"

Tabby delivered Lee a subtle wink, at which point she turned back towards Zeke.

"So what do ya say?" asked Tabby, "Are ya willing to let this old hag tag along on your adventure?"

"Are you kiddin'?" asked Zeke, "The more the merrier! And it's totally rad that you're willing to try new things, not too many people get this opportunity!"

Zeke placed his arm on Tabby's shoulder.

"Don't you worry about a things Ms. L", said Zeke "We'll make sure you have fun."

"Alright, it's a deal," said Tabby as she playfully shook Zeke's hand "You're a good kid Zeke, I can tell."

Tabby paused, maintaining her grip on Zeke's hand as she continued to stare into Zeke's eyes. After around three seconds, Tabby decided to speak her mind.

"It's so strange," said Tabby, "You remind me of someone, but I can't figure out exactly who. Anyway, thanks for letting me come along. I'll get my husband to get the trailer ready to go tonight, and then we'll hit the road first thing tomorrow morning."

"Sounds like a plan Ms. L" said Zeke.

"Call me Tabby," said Tabby, "I ain't one of those formal types."

"You got it Tabby!" said Zeke.

As the two adults completed their conversation, Julia decided to conclude her "announcement" with some words of her own.

"Alright everyone, I hope all of you are packed and ready to go!" said Julia, "Zeke's going to be here with the RV tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. Let's all meet outside my house, and we'll get our nice little home away from home loaded up and be on the road to New York by lunchtime!"

At that point Julia removed her white t-shirt, revealing a red bikini top underneath.

"More importantly..." said Julia, "LAST ONE BACK IN THE POOL IS A ROTTEN EGG!"

At the conclusion of her child-like statement, Julia proceeded to dash towards the pool and jump into the water. Her eccentric boyfriend Zeke followed suit, removing his shirt and kicking off his flip flops as he performed a cannonball into the deep end.

One by one, all of the kids proceeded to resume their aquatic activities that had been placed on hiatus for the sake of food consumption; each and every one of them quite excited regarding their upcoming trip.