Chapter Four
Adventures in Babysitting
During the bus ride home, Megan and Alex talked about what they wanted to do during Megan's visit. They also talked about the adventures they had had when they were younger, leaving out the bad things of course.
When they arrived back in the city of London, Jennifer, Megan and Alex exited the bus and began the walk back to the O'Connell manor. "Do you think my mum or dad are home?" Alex asked Jennifer as they walked.
"I don't know, maybe. Did I tell you, Alex, that I'm going to baby-sit you and Megan tonight?" Jennifer asked, making sure that the news wasn't sudden.
"My mum told me, is that all right Megan?" Alex said, peering over at his friend.
"Sure." Megan said, already deciding that Jennifer was cool. She wouldn't mind spending a night with just Jennifer and Alex, it would be fun. Alex had the coolest relatives, in Megan's eyes.
When they arrived home, the house was silent; no one was home. Jennifer sighed and placed Megan's bag by the door while she rung out her soaking hair. Alex and Megan ran toward the stairs but Jennifer stopped them. "First take off those wet raincoats, and hang them up. Second, are you two hungry? Alex, you said you were." Jennifer said.
Megan and Alex looked at each other and then nodded, returning to stand in front of Jennifer. "Okay, let's make lunch then." Jennifer said. While Megan and Alex were hanging up their raincoats, Jennifer walked into the kitchen. Lying on the counter was a note, written in the neat handwriting of her sister.
"Dear Jenni,
Had to work later then I thought so I won't be home today and neither will Rick. I hope you had no trouble getting Megan and I hope she and Alex are behaving. Rick and I will head straight to the party after I can get off work, so we won't be home until later tonight. Sorry for the late notice, thanks again.
Love, Evelyn"
Jennifer read the note over, smiling slightly at Evelyn calling her "Jenni" instead of Jennifer. Her sister was the only person she had ever known that spelled "Jenny" with an I instead of with a "Y" or an "IE". Jennifer threw the note away, not minding that she would have to watch Alex and Megan all day and all night.
Alex and Megan ran into the kitchen; they listened while Jennifer told them about Evelyn and Rick not being home all day. Neither of them seemed to mind much and immediately began telling Jennifer the things they wanted for breakfast.
Jennifer listened to the list of things they shouted out to her; ice cream, cake and candy were a few of the things they mentioned. Jennifer frowned and shook her head. "I don't think so, your parents would not appreciate it if you got sick on cake and such that I let you eat. How about sandwiches?" Jennifer suggested.
Megan and Alex seemed satisfied with Jennifer's suggestion of lunch. They sat at the table, talking about what they wanted to do after lunch.
"We could play with my trucks." Alex suggested.
Megan frowned. "Boring, we should do something really special." Megan said.
However, neither of them knew exactly what that "something special" might be. When Jennifer finished making their sandwiches and served them, they asked her if she knew anything interesting to do.
Jennifer shrugged. "I don't know, you guys could play in the tree house or walking in the woods." Jennifer suggested, as she began to eat her own sandwich.
"Let's walk in the woods. It's almost stopped raining." Megan said, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"Okay!" Alex yelled, happy to already doing the things that he would have done with Megan, if she hadn't moved.
The two quickly finished their lunches and rushed outside, leaving Jennifer alone in the big O'Connell manor. Jennifer had never been really alone in the manor before, and now that she was she wasn't sure she liked it very much. The manor was absolutely quiet; Jennifer could only hear her own breathing and the breathing of Horus, who was perched on her shoulder.
Jennifer bit her lip as she gathered the plates and carried them over to the sink; the clanging of glass upon glass seemed like gunshots through the manor. Jennifer slowly turned on the water and began washing the dishes, deciding to hum to herself to get rid of some of the quiet.
Outside, Megan and Alex had disappeared into the woods; they had begun playing a game of Peter Pan. Megan wanted to be Peter. "I saw this play, in Paris, and Peter was played by a girl. I wanna be Peter." Megan said, picking up a stick to use as a sword.
Alex shrugged and agreed, he liked being Captain Hook better any way. He found his own stick to use as a sword and he and Megan began to "sword-fight", moving deeper into the woods.
Megan knocked Alex's stick out of his hands and ran toward a large oak tree. She began to climb the tree, pretending that she was Peter Pan, flying above Captain Hook. Alex watched his friend climb the tree, he no longer liked climbing tress -as much as he used to- since he was five or six.
"Megan, come back down." Alex pleaded, watching his friend disappear among the leafy branches.
"Come on Alex, don't be a sissy." Megan said and peered down at Alex.
Alex frowned and began climbing the tree; no one called Alex O'Connell a sissy, especially a girl. Alex and Megan began to climb higher in the tree. When they were about half way up, Megan perched herself on one of the large branches.
Alex sat beside her, looking down at their feet dangling over the edge of the branch. Megan and Alex sat silently on the branch, staring out into the woods, thinking -which rarely happened for two rowdy kids like themselves.
"Maybe, we can go back home and Jennifer will take us to the park because it stopped raining." Alex said, breaking the serene silence.
"I don't wanna go to the boring ol' park. I wanna do something fun." Megan said, swinging her feet.
"The park isn't boring. Hey, I bet if we ask Jennifer, she'll play Peter Pan with us and she'll be Tiger Lilly or Windy." Alex said, feeling uneasy in the tree.
"Maybe." Megan muttered, still staring ahead of her.
Back at the O'Connell manor, Jennifer finished washing the dishes and was now playing a game of chess against herself; Jennifer was also trying to teach Horus how to play.
Jennifer moved one of Horus pieces to take one of hers. "Okay Horus, take my piece and put it there." Jennifer said and pointed to the side of the table. Horus screeched and grabbed Jennifer's piece in his talon; instead of placing the piece where Jennifer told him too, he flew off with it. "Horus!" Jennifer cried, standing up and starting to chase after the bird.
Horus disappeared into the parlor and Jennifer sighed, letting the bird go with the chess piece. As Jennifer headed back into the sitting room, she realized that she couldn't hear Megan and Alex. She hadn't been able to hear them since they left, she realized; this thought made her very uneasy.
Jennifer headed to the back door and opened it, stepping on to the patio and listening as heard as she could for sounds of playing children. She couldn't hear the familiar voice of her nephew or the tough voice of Megan. Jennifer started walking toward the woods, where she was sure Megan and Alex were.
Alex was getting bored sitting on the tree branch and wanted to do something else. He wanted to play Peter Pan with Jennifer; she always was a good playmate. Megan didn't want to do any of the things they used to do, before she moved; Megan wasn't any fun any more. "I'm going back down now." Alex informed his friend and shifted his weight.
As soon as Alex moved, the tree branch began to creak. "What's that noise?" Megan asked, uneasily and the groaning and creaking noises continued.
However, Megan's question was useless because they both already knew what that sound was. The tree branch was going to break under their weight; the branch was fine when they weren't moving but now that they were, the branch couldn't hold their weight.
"The branch is going to break." Alex said, staring at Megan.
"Hurry and get off! Hurry!" Megan commanded, giving Alex a shove.
Alex nearly fell off the branch with Megan's shove; he clutched the branch with both his hands, not wanting to fall.
"Move Alex!" Megan shouted. Alex began to yell back at her; both of them were too confused and scared to do much else then yell.
As Jennifer walked deeper into the woods, the sounds of Alex and Megan's yelling reached her ears. Their shout seemed somewhat panicked and confused; Jennifer felt a chill run down her spine. She ran toward their yelling, afraid because she didn't know what was wrong with them.
When Jennifer reached them, she saw they were in a tree. Alex looked down at her; he was hanging on tightly to the tree branch. "Jennifer!" He cried, "The branch is going to break."
Jennifer looked up at the branch and already saw it begin to splinter, the branch dipping lower then it had two seconds ago. Jennifer immediately felt a rush of paralyzing fear; Evelyn and Rick would know what do, but she didn't and that was the problem.
Jennifer bit her lip and didn't know what to do, what to say to Megan and Alex. Before she had much of a chance to say anything, the branch broke with a snap. Jennifer did the only thing she knew to do and moved under them, as if to catch them; she knew too well, however, that she could not catch both of them. However, Alex and Megan fell right on top of Jennifer, bringing all three of them crashing to the ground.
Jennifer had the wind knocked out of her as Alex and Megan landed right on top of her. For about a minute, Jennifer lay, dazed and winded.
Alex looked down at his aunt and smiled at her. "Nice catch Aunt Jennifer." He said.
Alex and Megan crawled off Jennifer, letting her get up and catch her breath. Jennifer looked down at them and frowned. "What were you guys doing climbing that tree anyway?" Jennifer asked, taking a deep breath and letting it fill her lungs.
"Playing Peter Pan." Megan asked, looking down at her feet. Megan was worried Jennifer would get mad at her and she would have to go home and stay with her stepmother and have no fun.
Jennifer looked from Megan to Alex and then sighed. "Well next time you play Peter Pan, give me a warning okay?" Jennifer said, smiling at them.
Megan and Alex were surprised that Jennifer wasn't mad at them, at all. Alex smiled and hugged his aunt.
"All right, let's go back to the house now, before we knock the whole forest down." Jennifer joked.
All three of them headed back to the O'Connell manor, already planning what to do next.