To Bolivia

It was noisy, hot, and stuffy in the plane's baggage compartment. The children were bounced around like ping-pong balls in a lotto machine. At some point in the trip, the bees surrounding them came fully awake. The drone of their buzzing was driving Butch insane.

"I can't take this much longer!" he yelled over the plane's jet engines.

"You have to now," Blossom yelled back. "Busting out of here right now will only let the bees out, too. Would you rather have that?"

Butch pointed to the release handle on the inside of the box. "Just use that!"

Brick let out a growl. He grabbed his brother by the scruff of the neck. "Just relax, will ya?" he yelled. "We're almost there. If you can keep it together for a little bit longer, we'll be outta here."

The plane's landing was rougher than its take-off. As it came down and the pilot hit the brakes, it bounced off the gravel runway, sending the box and the children tumbling forward in the baggage compartment. They landed upside down, the top of the box now beneath them.

Brick dug his way out from underneath of Blossom and Butch. "Ouch," he complained. He sat near the wall of the box facing the back of the plane and peered through the shelves. The bees were buzzing in a frenzy, but he managed to see passed them to the floor of the plane.

"OK, follow my lead." Brick instructed. He began pushing on the wall, trying to tip the box back over. Blossom joined him and Butch and Buttercup leaned into them to get the box moving. They gave a shove, and the box fell onto the side Brick and Blossom were leaning on. Butch and Buttercup landed on top of them with a thud. They re-organized, repeated the motion, and the box flipped one more time, righting upwards.

Brick sat down with a plop and wiped his sweaty forehead with his jersey. He looked around, but now that the pilot had turned off the plane's running lights, he found it too dark to see much. He turned to Butch.

"Use your night vision, see where we are." he instructed.

Butch nodded. His eyes began glowing neon green as he peered through the shelves. "There's not much in here." he reported. "Bunch of boxes over there, some luggage and stuff over that way. We're not far from the door, though. Maybe if we can get the box turned closer to the door, we'll get off this bucket of bolts first."

Blossom and Buttercup stared in amazement. "You have night vision, too?" they asked.

Butch turned to them, the glow in his eyes fading. "Yeah, so?"

Blossom pointed to Buttercup. "She does, too."

Butch grinned at Buttercup. "Cool, isn't it?"

Buttercup grinned back. "Yeah, really cool!"

"OK, I like Butch's idea," Blossom stated. "Let's turn the box. We'll get it right in front of the door, that way, they'll have to move us first."

They took to their work, flipping the box one side at a time, directing it with their leans and shoves until it stood upright, directly in the doorway to the outside. They sat back down once their job was done, hot, sweaty, and puffing.

Just then, the door rolled open. The sunlight pouring into the box was blinding. Two men grabbed the box and pulled it through the door. There was a rail of cargo rollers attached to the outside of the plane and the box slid down at a rapid speed. It crashed into a waiting cargo cart, throwing all four children against a wall. They knocked heads as it stopped.

"Ouch!" Blossom whispered, rubbing the side of her head.

"Trust me, it wasn't good for me, either." Butch replied, rubbing over his left eye.

The cart began to move, and the breeze created by their motion was refreshing. Brick leaned against the wall the breeze was coming through and let it cool his face. They heard a squeal of brakes as the cart stopped, then two more men mumbling as they approached the cart. The men picked up the box and threw it onto a platform. From there, the box was dragged into the back of a delivery truck, then the door was closed. It was stifling hot inside the truck, and the children began fanning themselves with the papers Professor had put in the box.

The trip to the university seemed to take forever in the oppressing heat of the truck, but they at last arrived. The door to the truck opened, and the box was dragged out into the sunshine again. The truck door closed, and, in a blast of diesel fumes, the truck left. A pair of legs turned towards the box as Buttercup stared through the walls, trying to see where they were. A man's face came into view, startling her.

"Hello, there!" he said in a kind voice, thick with a Hispanic accent. "Let's get you inside where it's a bit cooler, eh?"

The cool air inside the lab was a relief. The man put the box in the centre of the room and unlatched the lock. Butch started to open the box, but the man slammed the lid back down.

"No, no!" he exclaimed. "Not yet!"

He put on a respirator mask with an air tank, then fed several tubes from a hidden canister into the box. The bees buzzed around the tubes, trying to sting whatever had disturbed them.

"OK, kids, now cover your noses and close your mouths. You no want to get a face full of this stuff. It'll knock you out just as well as it does the bees!" the man instructed them.

They closed their mouths and pinched their noses as the sound of hissing gas began. Looking around, they noticed that the bees began slowing down. Their frantic buzzing was now reduced to lethargic wandering. Finally, the gas stopped. The man removed all the tubes, removed his respirator mask, and opened the box. He carefully removed the top tray, giving the children their first look at the man. He was roughly five feet tall, dark-skinned, had black hair and dark brown eyes. When he smiled, they could see wrinkles around his eyes. He wore a white lab coat, just like Professor Utonium's, and silver-framed glasses.

"Well, hi there!" the man said. He noticed they were still holding their breath. He chuckled. "OK, you can let go now."

They let out their breath in a huff. One by one, they climbed out of the box to stand in front of the man.

"Who are you?" Blossom asked.

"I am Professor Utonium's colleague, Professor Gershwin. He and I have known each other for many years! We went to university together."
Blossom smiled at Professor Gershwin. "Well, I'm Blossom!"

"...and I'm Buttercup." Buttercup said.

"Brick." Brick stated.

"I'm Butch." Butch said.

"I am very happy to meet you, little ones." Professor Gershwin said. "Here, something to drink! Long hot ride, I know." He wandered over to a huge refrigerator and pulled out four bottles of water. He handed one to each of them.

Brick tore his open and gulped it as fast as he could. Butch did the same as the Girls stood glaring at them.

"Pigs." Buttercup muttered.

Professor Gershwin grinned.