CONTINUING TRANSMISSION...
KIDS NEXT DOOR MISSION
OPERATION:
F.A.R.R.A.H.
Family
Acquaintance
Returns
Reporting
Alarming
History
TRANSMISSION THREE:
THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL
WRITING OPERATIVE:
Sgamer82
Twelve years ago, at an elementary school, it all began. A young teachers' aide's bright idea had dire, unforeseeable consequences.
The aide, known to the students simply as Miss Farrah, had one day overheard a student complaining. That student had complained that he'd been grounded because his parents had felt he hadn't behaved well enough at a fancy restaurant. That was the catalyst. Miss Farrah devised a little club, where kids could go to learn these behaviors that would keep them out of trouble when their parents made them go to nice places.
To the surprise of many of the teachers, the idea actually took off. Granted, most of the kids joined up primarily to get out of math class, when the club met once a week, but they were there nonetheless. Farrah taught the children basic etiquette; which fork was which, where you put the napkin, proper discussion topics. She was able to make it interesting for them, so the kids actually enjoyed learning such normally dull things.
This continued for couple years. Even after Farrah earned her teaching degree and got herself a teaching job at her elementary. Even after Farrah had met a handsome man at her first teacher's conference. Even after Farrah had married that man, a headmaster at a private school. Miss Farrah kept her Etiquette Club going until she had become pregnant, and her condition forced her to resign. That's when things began to go downhill.
Her husband, at Farrah's request, took over the club, taking some time out of his headmaster duties to do so. He didn't mind doing it at all, so Farrah was happy to let him take it. Unknown to Farrah though, her husband had transformed the class into something horrible.
For starters, he was able to persuade the elementary school's principal to make the club mandatory. He followed that by recruiting people to help teach it. Those people were strict disciplinarians who would rule their etiquette classes with an iron fist. They were practically drill sergeants. And woe to those unfortunate children who failed to do what was expected. They were dealt with harshly. Often forced into humiliating, proper-looking outfits, to be laughed at by their peers as punishment for their failure. Rumors were that there even threats made against the children if they attempted to tell anyone of the new regime's activities.
Miss Farrah remained ignorant of all of it. Her pregnancy has blessed her with not one, but five children. Quintuplets. The insistent demands of her children occupied much of her time. She no longer kept up with her old club's activities.
Eventually, one of the children under the elementary's new dictatorship, attempted to seek Miss Farrah's help. Farrah was shocked to learn the truth of her husband's deeds and confronted him. Unfortunately, he retaliated. Hard.
While Farrah had been bus with their children, he had built up quite the network of influence. Gaining access to the ears of very high-ranking officials, including divorce court judges. He was able to get a divorce from Farrah, and custody of the children. He was unable to get full custody, but was able to restrict Farrah's access to the children. They grew up without their mother, though she fought every way she could to get to them.
Meanwhile, the childrens' father had begun using his built up influence to allow adults to get away with near anything with regards to their children. In his mind, children were little more than wild animals to be tamed. And anything that did that, force, intimidation, what have you, was good in his mind. He gave adults in certain positions new orders and technology. Everyone, from the Parent Teacher's Association to ice cream truck drivers, were made to act against children in any way they could. Even Miss Farrah's former Etiquette Club wasn't immune. The drill-sergeant-type instructors were given a new directive. To force proper manners and attire on any and all children they could. They would one day become known as the Proper Patrol.
"Oh, sad story." moaned Numbuh Three, after One and Five had finished their briefing on Farrah and her history. Numbuh Four stood up from his seat.
"Not that this ain't been interestin', cause it hasn't, but will ya jus' get to the cruddin' point."
"Yeah, what's the Proper Patrol's origin story got to do with us?" Numbuh Two asked.
"This is the connection." said Numbuh One as he slid a photograph into the holographic projector.
The projector displayed the image to the other Kids Next Door. Numbuh Three immediately recognized one of the people in the photo.
"Awww," said Three, "That's Numbuh Five! You're so cute!"
Indeed, the photo had a small, dark-skinned little girl, no more than three years old, playing with another girl of the same age in a sandbox at a park. The little girl had brown hair and blue eyes. Her hair was braided into pigtails that stuck up a bit. There were other children in the photo as well. One of them was a boy with the same blue eyes as the girl, but with blonde hair. He was driving a toy dump truck along the grass with a boy whose brown hair was so long in front it nearly covered his eyes. Another girl sat by a bench playing with a pair of dolls. Finally, one other boy was in the picture. But his face wasn't visible, he was trying to hide behind the dress of an adult woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who was watching all the children playing with a happy, content look on her face.
Kids Next Door Numbuhs Two, Three, and Four looked at these children intently. It was Numbuh Two who realized who they were.
"Those kids! Playing with Numbuh Five! They're the Delightful Children From Down the Lane!"
Four and Three didn't believe what they'd just heard. But sure enough they realized that that's exactly who it was in the photo.
"Yeah!" yelled Four, "That's 'Pigtails' with Numbuh Five! Shorty 'n' Slim with the trucks!"
"Pinky's got the dolls!" Numbuh Three exclaimed.
"And that's gotta be Dome behind that lady." said Numbuh Two.
The Kids Next Door didn't know the Delightful Childrens' individual names, so they referred to them by nicknames. Shorty, also called the "Anti-Wallabee" whenever Numbuh Four wasn't around, was the boy with blonde hair and the same mushroom-style haircut as Numbuh Four. Dome was the boy who always wore a football helmet, which obscured his face. Slim was a tall, skinny, brown haired boy whose bangs were over his eyes. Pinky was the sandy-blonde girl with a pink bow in her hair, and Pigtails, the girl who played with Five in the picture, wore her brown hair in braided pigtails.
"You're right." Numbuh One explained, "Those are the Delightful Children From Down the Lane. Numbuh Five apparently knew them in her younger days. And the woman in the photo is Farrah. Their mother."
Two, Three, and Four just looked at the hologram display, their mouths hanging open. They couldn't believe what they were hearing.
"The reason we tellin' you all 'dis," Numbuh Five began, "is because that Farrah lady came to my house yesterday. She tol' Numbuh Five that she wanted t'save her kids."
"Save the Delightful Dorks?" Numbuh Four said with a huff.
"That's right Numbuh Four." Numbuh One said, "She wants to get them away from their Father. "
The Kids Next Door shared a group shudder as they remembered what Father had done to them in their one encounter. Father was seemingly a man made of fire. It had taken a deluge of frozen ice cream to stop his flames. The Kids Next Door had never given much thought to what it must have been like to live with someone like that. But suddenly they all felt a pang of regret for the Delightful Children who lived in that mansion.
"According to Numbuh Five's information, Father has finally found a way to get full custody of the Delightful Children. What this means is that they'll be his, and his alone. Their mother will have no way to help them after that happens."
"Why not just tell the court people that their Father's a bad man?" Numbuh Three asked.
"Numbuh Five's watched enough cop shows t'know, that you can't tell a courtroom judge nothin' like that if ya can't prove it." Numbuh Five explained.
"And if Farrah attempted to simply take the children, she'd get herself into trouble and lose the Delightful Children to Father forever."
The severity of the situation was sinking in the Kids Next Doors' heads.
"What're we gonna do?" Numbuh Two asked.
"We're going to try and aid Farrah in any way we can. This will mean helping the Delightful Children from Down the Lane."
Two, Three, and Four looked at each other. Help the Delightful Children? Sure, they were in trouble... but they were the enemy. Weren't they?
"Numbuh Five and myself have already committed ourselves to this mission." Numbuh One told his comrades. "However, due to our history with the Delightfuls, I am making this mission strictly voluntary. I will hold nothing against anybody who decides not to join us."
The three undecided kids thought about their options. They each felt mixed emotions about this. Numbuh One thought heard Four mutter to himself "I don' wanna go help them Delightful Brats!" Two seemed pensive, he wasn't sure what to do. It was Numbuh Three who decided first. She stood up from the couch she'd been sitting on and looked at Numbuh Five.
"I'll help you, Numbuh Five!" she said, "We're the Kids Next Door! It's our job to help kids in trouble! And the Delightful Children are in real bad trouble!"
That decided it. Numbuh Three was right. Four and Two signed up as well. This would be a team mission all the way.
END OF TRANSMISSION THREE