hmm. . .I don't know how funny this
chapter is. I really don't. I'm so bad at judging myself. hehehe. I do know it's kinda
long though, so pee before you start reading. but I
did manage to keep it reasonably clean. yay
for me! read and review for me, kids, please.
by the way, everyone, thanks for reviewing the
previous chapters! Cimmy, I'm glad you liked it.
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Chapter 7: The Ghost of
Detentions Past
The barking Ducks spun around, and to their great surprise, under the park lights, they saw-
"Peter!" Connie exclaimed. She jumped up, ran over and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. Peter was much taller now, but still wore his jeans, his boots, and his white t-shirt in the summer. He probably still wore a leather jacket in the winter.
"Easy, Connie, easy," he grinned, hugging her back.
"What are you doing here!?" Charlie asked, coming to join them.
"I live around here. Come on, Spazway, you should know that," Peter said, grinning.
"No, I mean, what are you doing here, at the pond, right now?" Charlie rephrased his question as the others came to join him, Connie, and Peter.
"I was walking home and I heard people barking. I thought it was a bunch of kids and I was gonna tell them to shut their mouths, but I looked closer and I saw-" he pointed to Goldberg, who now had Averman standing on his shoulders. "The pair of them are kind of hard to miss."
"Yeah, I kinda see what you mean," said Charlie in an understanding voice.
"What are you saying about us?" Goldberg tried to step forward up the hill of the bank at the same exact moment Averman tried to get down, and both of them toppled backward, rolling head over heals and coming to a rest right at the edge of the water.
"OUCH!" Goldberg was yelling. "AVERMAN! GET OFF MY FACE!"
"GET YOUR ELBOW OUT OF MY ASS AND I WILL!"
"What the hell were you trying to do!? That's three times you've knocked us down today!" Goldberg yelled to Averman.
"Me? ME!? Why the hell are you trying to walk up a hill with me on your shoulders without telling me!?
The bickering continued until they got to Peter, Charlie, and Connie at the top of the hill.
"What's up Peter?" Averman and Peter shook hands.
"Nothing, what were you guys doing down there?"
"We're the amazing barking freaks," said Goldberg, also shaking Peter's hand.
"Who are these people?" Peter nodded toward Julie, Russ, Portman, Luis, Dwayne, and Kenny.
"They joined us when we played in the Junior Goodwill Games. These are the kids who replaced you, Karp, the Duncan kids, and Terry," said Guy. "It's good to see you, Peter," he added, grinning and also reaching out to shake Peter's hand.
"Yeah Germaine, I know they joined you, but which one's which? The Goodwill Games were a long time ago. Actually, I can guess which one's Julie Gaffney," Peter said, smiling in her direction.
"See," Julie said to Kenny, "I'm not manly. If I was, he wouldn't be able to tell me from you."
"You're manly, Sonny-Jim," Kenny said, "Trust me."
"You twerp-"
"The one that's about to get the shit kicked out of him is Kenny Wu, the former Olympic Figure Skater," Adam said. "The big one is one of the two Bash Brothers, Dean Portman. You already know Fulton, the other Bash Brother. The Hispanic speedster is Luis Mendoza, the one with the cowboy hat is from Texas. He's the great puck handler, Dwayne Robertson. That guy's got a weapon called a knuckle-puck, and he's from South Central Los Angeles. He took my spot for a few weeks during the Goodwill Games when I couldn't play. His name is Russ Tyler."
"Everyone, this is Peter Marks. He was an original Duck," Charlie said.
"Yeah, way back when," Peter said, grinning as he shook the hands of the Ducks he'd never met before.
After the introductions and the small talk had been made, Peter finally asked, "Why were you all barking before?"
"Oh, Kenny started that," said Dwayne.
"Why?"
"Because," said Kenny, "It was a love filled, emotional moment. It went on for some time. Well, I couldn't let THAT continue. So I did something random and obnoxious."
"Oh, sounds just like something I would have done," Peter said, grinning.
"What, and you're so mature now?" Guy grinned devilishly.
"Well no, but I figured I could have fooled you...you've been away long enough," Peter's voice was bitter during the last part.
"Oh come on, Peter, you know we've been busy at school and stuff," Charlie protested.
"So busy you don't even call your old buddies? Thanks a bunch," Peter snapped.
"Come off it," said Adam, "You know that's not how it is."
"Yeah, fine, whatever. Let's just drop it. What are you all doing here?" Peter asked, wanting to change the subject. It hurt him that his old buddies made new friends and the good times they had shared back in District 5 were so long gone.
"Trying to eat dinner," said Portman.
"Huh?"
"Dinner. We've gone through a series of attempts at food, but we just don't seem destined to eat tonight," said Russ. "We're all going to die."
"What do you mean when you say a series of attempts?"
"Well, I mean vampires eating Chinese, Averman nearly burning Charlie's kitchen down, and a disaster at Applebees," said Russ.
"What kind of disaster?"
"Well, Connie, Guy, and Goldberg nearly killed a man. That got us a warning from the Management. Then, Portman tripped a waiter. We all ducked under the table, and when we came up to survey the damage, some how the entire restaurant was in shambles. That's when the Management's collective foot kicked our collective ass out the door," Fulton explained, grinning.
It took Peter a long time to stop laughing.
"What is this? A Cake-Eaters convention?" said a new voice.
"Jesse!" Charlie said excitedly. He didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"I'm a Cake-Eater now?" Peter turned to look at Jesse.
"Well, it's a bunch of Cake-Eaters, plus Peter," smiled
Jesse as he greeted them on the bank. "Visiting the pond, huh?"
There was a rumble of "yeah" and "yes".
"I can't believe you're all here," said Jesse. "It's been almost a year since I've seen you all...minus Peter."
"Happy to see us?" Adam grinned.
"Yeah, Cake-Eater, I'm happy to see you. Hell, I've even missed you."
"What are you doing here?" Julie asked.
"I don't know. I got here kind of without meaning to. I was just walking and I ended up here."
"Sort of like all of us," said Charlie.
"Well, not exactly like us," Luis said. "We're looking for something to eat."
"Well, you're looking in the wrong place, unless you want to eat chemically altered fish," said Peter.
"I'll take you all some place good to eat," said Jesse.
"Really? Where?" asked Goldberg.
"This little place that just opened up. It's called Patty's Pizza," said Jesse.
"Pizza?" said Portman smiling happily.
"Ugh," said Kenny.
"It's better than nothing," said Dwayne. "If we don't eat something soon, we're going to die."
"I agree," said Russ. "I've had enough of this wandering around stupidly and burning up dinner rolls and waiters that we nearly kill."
"I'm up for pizza," said Connie.
"What? Not afraid to get fat anymore?" sniggered Averman.
"Bite me," Connie said, smiling her sweetest smile at Averman.
Averman bit Connie.
"Averman, you ass!" said Guy angrily. "Are you turning into one of those vampires you're so afraid of? She's gonna need a rabies shot now! What did you do that for?"
"I'm not a vampire! And she told me to!" Averman exclaimed.
Guy looked exasperated. "It's an expression! If someone told you to jump off a bridge, would you!?"
"I wish he would," Connie said angrily.
"This pizza place, is it open at this hour? It must be around 10:30 now," Fulton said.
"It should be. It's supposed to be a 24 hour thing."
"Let's go then," said Julie.
As Jesse led the way to the all night pizza parlor in downtown Minneapolis, Dwayne looked around and said, "Y'all I'm so happy we're going to get food. I could sing."
And that's exactly what Dwayne did.
"Well, shake it up baby now
Twist and shout
Come on, come on, come on, come on baby now
Come on and work it on out
Well work it on out, honey
You know you look so good
You know you got me goin' now
Just like I know you would..."
Everyone joined in on the next verse. It was just a group of crazy teenagers, singing an old dance song, walking down the street.
"Well, shake it up baby now
Twist and shout
Come on, come on, come, come on baby now
Come on and work it on out
You know you twist, little girl
You know you twist so fine
Come on and twist a little closer now
And let me know that you're mine, woo..."
They were getting ready to sing the last verse, but they never got to.
"YOU DAMN KIDS! IT'S 10:30 IN THE EVENING! NOW SHUT THE HELL UP, OU ANNOYING LITTLE BRATS, OR I'LL CALL THE POLICE!" hollered a strangely deep feminine voice.
"I don't bloody believe it," said Charlie.
"Neither do I," said Guy. "It's like seeing the ghost of detentions past."
"I didn't know she lived in this area," said Goldberg.
"What made you think she didn't? She worked at our school," said Connie in a 'you're an idiot, that was obvious' voice.
It was their old elementary school principal, Ms. Watson, who had put them in detention for quacking nearly 6 years before.
"Ugh, bad memories. My hand was cramped for weeks," said Peter, making a face of disgust and flexing his hand.
"What the hell are you all talking about?" asked Portman, Luis, and Kenny at the same time. Nobody answered them.
"Maybe we should be quiet," Fulton suggested.
"Hmm…" Averman said, looking at Jesse. "Should we be quiet or do something else first?"
"We will be quiet, but we have something to say first," Jesse grinned.
Not wanting to be arrested before they could get their hands on some food, the Ducks shut-up...but their old principal did eventually know which annoying little brats were walking by her window singing. You see, the old Ducks told the new Ducks the story of their day in detention and who that woman was. With that day in mind, the Ducks DID eventually shut-up…but not before they had quacked at her.
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I should mention that the lyrics Dwayne and the Ducks sang
were from "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles.
