"The Agents Meet the Hendersons"

(A.N. For this chapter, I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm going to cross over this chapter into a chapter of my cartoon crossover story, "Crossed Over". Characters and events from Chapter 9 of the "Crossed Over" story will appear in this chapter and vice versa. Try switching back and forth between these two chapters to compare them. So, let's see how this all plays out.)

The sun was starting its climb up into the sky. Eustace, Muriel, Courage, and the Hendersons had all finished their breakfasts and were now planning for the day ahead. The Hendersons were going to go into town to do some shopping. Courage wanted to go with them but Muriel needed help around the house. The door of the chicken coop had broken off again, and the house was a mess. She wanted Eustace and Courage to stay and help clean up the place. Both of them reluctantly agreed. All three of them waved good-bye as the Henderson's car headed toward Nowhere for the day.

Before they arrived, Kevin got out of his seat and sat with Sandy in the rear of the station wagon. They talked about what happened last night between Sandy and Courage. They argued a bit, but Kevin soon admitted that he knew something was going to develop between her and Courage the moment they first saw each other. Sandy gave Kevin a hug and said that she was proud of Kevin for acting so mature about the whole thing.

"Aww, quit it," whispered Kevin bashfully. "You sound like my Mom."

Speaking of which, Diane spoke up next, interrupting the moment. "Kevin, would you please get back in your seat, dear? They probably have very strict laws concerning seat belts around here."

Sighing loudly, Kevin returned to his seat next to Katie.

Diane leaned over to Carl, who was driving. "I'm beginning to worry about him, Carl."

"I know," said Carl. "He talks to that dog as if he expects it to answer him or something."

Diane sighed. "It's probably just a phase."

Kevin, who overheard the entire conversation, was stunned. If it was anyone they should be worrying about, it was Katie! Fortunately, his parents were oblivious to anything that their kids were doing, and it was going to stay that way. After all, Sandy could talk back to Kevin, but Mr. Furry certainly couldn't talk back to Katie.

Could he?

The Henderson's car soon arrived in Nowhere. The car stopped in a parking lot and the Hendersons quickly got out. They didn't know that a familiar RV was parked in a different parking lot not too far away. Apparently, the four secret agents had left the motel in order to investigate the town. Katz had given them all the evil eye, but all the agents, except Agent R, thought that Katz simply hated government officials. Agent R, meanwhile, couldn't help wondering if Katz had something more sinister in mind...

The plan was to split up and interview as many people as possible. Each agent walked down a separate road.

Agent R spotted someone almost at once. It was a teenage boy, about 18, who was taking a drink of water at a water fountain. He had brown hair and looked as though he had been traveling for a long time. Agent R quickly took out his notebook and a pencil and walked up to the thirsty teen.

"Excuse me, sir. Can I ask you a few questions?" asked Agent R.

"Uh, sure," said the teen, uncomfortably. He glanced down and saw Agent R's ID tag, which was stitched onto his suit. "Ask away, Mr. R."

"That's Agent R," corrected the agent.

The teen seemed surprised to discover that he was a secret agent. Civilians always acted that way for some reason.

Agent R put his pencil to his notebook. "Name?"

"Jonathan," mumbled the teen.

The agent quirked an eyebrow at him. They both had the same name! What a coincidence, thought Agent R to himself.

"Do you live here, Jonathan?" asked Agent R.

"Oh, no," Jonathan said. "I'm just passing through."

Phooey, thought Agent R. This person wasn't a resident of Nowhere at all. "Have you ever been here before?" he asked.

"No," said Jonathan.

Agent R sighed. He put the notepad and pencil in his pocket, looked at Jonathan, and said, "Sorry I took up your time." With that, Agent R walked down the sidewalk and ducked into a side alley. He had just wasted five perfectly good minutes on a tourist! "Well, back to square one," mumbled Agent R. He emerged from the alley and began questioning a little girl with a jump rope.

Nearby, Agent Darkest Moon walked into a pet store. She wanted to ask the store owner some questions, but the TV inside the building was distracting her. An "X-Files" rerun was showing, and D.M. decided to watch it. When the commercials came on, she decided to begin her interrogation of the pet shop owner. However, some yipping sounds caused her to look towards the front of the store. A huge pen containing six yellow puppies was placed behind the front window. Without thinking, D.M. walked up to the store owner and said, "Excuse me. Could I, um, play with the puppies?"

"Why sure!" said the pet store owner. The old man walked over to the puppies' playpen and helped D.M. inside. "Now you stay put while I go find something in the back room, y'hear?" The kindly old man then walked through a door in the back of the building.

"This is OK," said D.M. as the puppies crowded around her. "I'm just making sure these puppies aren't.....aliens! Yeah, or something weird like that." However, D.M. knew she was only kidding herself. Besides Sailor Moon, puppies were D.M.'s most favorite things in the whole world. They reminded her of when she used to bury herself under stuffed toy dogs when she was little. D.M. rolled onto her back as the puppies began licking her face and wrestling with her. D.M. laughed with joy as she reminded herself that she was just taking a ten-minute break.

Elsewhere, Agent Gammon arrived at a strange stone house. All the previous people he had interviewed provided him with no unusual information at all! Now, as Gammon knocked on the door, he began wondering if this town had any peculiar townspeople at all. Then the door opened and Gammon's thought quickly vanished.

Staring up at him was a freaky little man in a white lab coat. He had black, matted hair and pale skin. He was also surprisingly polite. "Hello there, sir," he said as a did a little bow. "My name is Dr. Zalost. Please, come inside."

Thirty seconds later, Agent Gammon was sitting on a couch in Dr. Zalost's living room. He was jotting down notes in his notebook. This Zalost character had some odd things in his house. Like that little baby rat wearing a diaper who was playing on a small jungle gym in the corner of the room. Or a plate full of plums that was sitting on a coffee table in front of Gammon.

"Would you like some happy plums?" asked Zalost, who offered the plate to Gammon.

"Um, thanks, but I'm not really hungry right now," he grinned.

"Wonderful food," said Zalost as he put the plate back on the table. "I got the recipe from a sweet old lady who lives on the outskirts of this town."

After Gammon wrote down that bit if information, a thought occurred to him. "You wouldn't mind if I take a few for later do you?"

"Oh, go right on ahead!" said Zalost joyfully. Agent Gammon took out a plastic bag and put some plums in it. He was actually going to take them back to the RV for further study.

"So, um, Dr. Zalost, I'd like to ask you a couple questions if you don't mind," said Agent Gammon.

"Why certainly!" answered Zalost. His baby rat came over to him and jumped up onto his lap. "Awww, I think Rat is feeling tired." Rat yawned to prove his point and collapsed into a deep sleep.

"Yes, well, first off, has anything unusual happened in this town recently?" inquired Gammon.

Dr. Zalost scratched his head in thought. "Not recently, no. At least, not after I was cured."

"Could you elaborate?" asked Gammon with interest.

"Well, for a long time I felt an enormous sense of depression. I felt that if I couldn't be happy, then nobody could be happy. I began spreading my misery to other people in Nowhere. I tried everything to become happy. Medication, money, music, but nothing worked. But then, I discovered these plums! And all my sadness disappeared. After that, I bought this new house and have lived in it ever since." (A.N. Zalost is ashamed of his past, so he decided to leave out the parts about his giant stone tower and the mood-changing cannonballs. And, because he's talking to a secret agent, it's a good thing he did!)

"So, your case of chronic depression has ended, correct?" asked Gammon.

"Yes, and I owe it all to that old lady and her little pink dog. She also-..."

"Uh, sorry for interrupting, but did you just say a 'little pink dog?'"

"Oh yes! A delightful little dog too. I'm afraid to say I didn't like him at first. I even tied him up once to play a not-so-friendly game of Hangman. But after I was cured of my sadness, I realized how friendly and amusing that dog really was. He's lucky to have a master like that old lady."

Gammon began thinking. Dr. Zalost's description of the mysterious pink dog was the exact opposite of what the motel tenants had called him. Was the dog good or bad? Obviously, someone wasn't telling the truth.

"One more thing," continued Gammon. "Do you know where they live?"

Dr. Zalost sighed. "I was so excited from my newfound happiness that I couldn't remember their names or where they live. All I know for sure is that they live somewhere on the outskirts of this very town."

Gammon wrote some more notes. "Well, I think that's enough information for now. Thank you for your time, Dr. Zalost," said Gammon as he walked out the door.

"Bye!" shouted Zalost, happily.

"So you didn't like the old man, did you?"

Agent Barsby was talking to Shirley the Medium. He had wandered to the edge of town and came across Shirley's wagon/home. Barsby had learned a lot by this point. Shirley was a chihuahua-like fortune teller who could cast spells and play the saxophone. Shirley had also seen the pink dog on several occasions and said that the dog lived with a grumpy old man.

"The stupid one is very dim-witted. And greedy too. Not a very good combination if you ask me."

Barsby nodded. "Do you happen to know where they live?"

"Somewhere on the outskirts of Nowhere. I can't seem to remember their names either. Now will you please leave before I alert the authorities?"

For a moment, Barsby wondered why she had asked that. Then he remembered that he was pretending to be someone who was taking a census of the state's population. The government would probably be interested in Shirley's unusual practices and that was why she was acting rather nervous. Taking her hint, Barsby left the building.

Barsby walked through town with a thought running through his head. Those tenants at the motel said that the pink dog was mischievous and evil. But Shirley said that the pink dog was "fairly decent and kind." Barsby wondered which was the correct description.

Barsby walked past the pet store and did a double take. Right there, in the front window, was Agent D.M. rolling around with a group of puppies. Barsby dashed into the store.

"D.M.!" whispered Barsby loudly. "Get over here."

D.M. climbed out of the playpen. She had wood chips all over her hair and suit.

"What were you doing?" asked Barsby as he picked the wood chips out of D.M.'s hair. "Do you realize what Agent R or Gammon would do if they saw you in there?"

"You won't tell them, will you?" asked D.M. fearfully.

Barsby paused. "No, but only because I like puppies too." Barsby smiled. "Did you take any pictures yet?"

"Of what?" answered D.M.

"I know. This town isn't as exciting as I thought it would be."

"Hey, there you are!" shouted a voice from the door. It was Agent Gammon. "Quit clowning around and come with me. Agent R radioed in and said he found the perfect spot to investigate! Let's go!"

As the three agents ran down the street to meet up with Agent R, they almost knocked over a dark-skinned man with black spiky hair, an earring, and sunglasses. "Watch where you're going, ya fools!" shouted the man to the running agents.

The four agents soon stood in front of the museum. They had surveyed the spot from a restaurant across the street (and had lunch at the same time.) Now they began entering the building.

"Why didn't I think of it before?" thought Gammon. "What better way to find out about a town's history than at a museum?"

"Sssshh," said Agent R.

The agents observed the museum. Other than the man in the gift shop, the only people in the museum was a family of four. A man, woman, and two kids. They were staring up at two large portraits up on the wall. Each portrait showed an old man in 19th century prospector clothing. As the agents got closer, they were stopped by the expressions on the family's faces. They looked as though they were looking at recently deceased relatives or something! Agent R coughed to get their attention.

"Excuse me," began Agent R. "Do you people live here?"

"No," said Carl. "We're just staying here for a few days on the outskirts of town."

"Oh," said Agent R. "What are your names?"

"I'm Carl Henderson. This is my wife, Diane, and our children, Kevin and Katie." Each family member introduced themselves to the agents. "Who are you?" asked Diane.

"I'm Jonathan," said Agent R. "These are my partners D.M., Gammon, and Barsby. We work for the government."

"Really?" asked Carl.

"Yes," continued Agent R. "We're conducting a private investigation here in town. It only pertains to people who actually live here, of course."

Agent R said that last sentence to calm their suspicions, but Kevin was beginning to feel more uncomfortable by the second. Why didn't these people say which branch of the government they worked for? The female official (D.M.) was taking snapshots of practically every object in the room. And one of the agents (Gammon) had a small electronic device that was pointed right at Katie. Was he monitoring her?

Barsby looked up at the portraits. "Who are they?"

The Hendersons stared up at the portraits of Reginald Baggs and Joseph Williams, the two men who had participated posthumously in the Henderson's last adventure. "They are the town founders," said Diane sadly. "That one is a relative of ours." She pointed to the portrait of Joseph.

Kevin grimaced. Why did his mother have to say that? Now these people were becoming interested. D.M. began taking photos of the two men as well as Kevin's family. Kevin decided that his family needed to get away from these people.

"How do you know that person is a relative of yours?" asked Agent R.

Carl and Diane looked at each other. How were they going to answer? These people wouldn't believe them if they told them the truth. Kevin was equally worried. A lack of an answer could raise the suspicions of these government officials.

So Kevin said, "We've visited this town on a previous occasion to visit an old relative of ours." His parents looked at him with amazement.

As Agent R finished writing down notes in his notebook, Gammon tugged on his shoulder and motioned to him that they should leave. "Well, thank you for your time, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson. I hope you have a nice stay here." The four agents quickly exited the museum and walked back to their RV.

Kevin's parents turned to him. "Son," said Carl. "Remember that 'family discussion' we had in San Fran about keeping our previous adventure a secret?"

Kevin was about to argue that he didn't reveal their secret, but quickly decided to just agree with them. It would end the conversation quicker. "Yeah, Dad."

"Well, make sure you keep that promise, okay dear?" asked Diane.

"Yes, Mom. Can we go now?"

"Sure, let's go. C'mon, Katie," said Carl.

Katie, who had her thoughts focused on Mr. Furry the entire time, followed her parents to the door.

"Oh, Kevin," said Carl. "Could you tell Sandy it's time to go?"

Kevin walked over to the door of the women's restroom. He knocked on it a few times, and Sandy came out. Just before the agents came in, Sandy had gone to the restroom due to a lack of trees outside. The oversized toilet and sink were what caused Sandy to take so long. (A.N. Since Sandy has pink fur, and the agents were looking for a pink dog, it's a good thing she took so long in there!)

As they walked out of the museum, Kevin whispered to Sandy, "Something weird just happened. I'll explain later."

The sun was beginning to set. At the RV, the agents reviewed their notes. They told each other about the contrasted reports about the pink dog in town, as well as the kind old woman and the grumpy old man.

"We also know that they all live on the outskirts of town," said Agent Barsby.

"So do the Hendersons," said Agent R.

The other agents looked at him. "What?!" asked Gammon.

"Carl Henderson specifically said that his family was staying 'on the outskirts of town', just like the dog and the old couple."

"What are you saying?" asked D.M. "That they're living together?"

"It's very possible," answered Agent R. He then sighed with frustration. "I should've asked them about the dog."

"Well, I think you should've asked more questions in general," replied Gammon. His voice was beginning to shake a little.

"How so?" asked Agent R curiously.

Gammon reached in his pocket and pulled out his electronic device. "This is an electromagnetic wave detector. They use this to track down ghosts in haunted locations. I had it pointed at the little girl and-..."

"Katie Henderson didn't look like a ghost to me," said Agent R. D.M. giggled.

"I never said she was," said Gammon. "But this is the strange part. When I focused it on the stuffed bear she was holding, the thing went off the scale!"

Agent Barsby and D.M. were trying their best not to laugh. A stuffed animal possessed by a ghost was almost as unbelievable as the entire mission.

Agent R just sighed to himself. "If only we knew where all these people lived, it would solve all our problems."

"Yeah, well if Gammon hadn't been spending all his time with that little ghost detector, I'm sure he would've asked the Hendersons where they lived," said Barsby.

Gammon tossed the device off to the side. "What are you saying? That I'm not doing my job?"

Agent R gulped. The tension between these two was about to break.

"All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be wasting your time with these little devices when you should be gathering information," said Barsby.

"I was!!!" shouted Gammon. "What do you think I was doing with the detector? Playing Pac-Man on it?!"

"I just don't think it would look good on our report to find out that you were wasting your time with an electromagnetic detector thing."

"Wasting time??!! Look who's talking, Mr. 'I'd rather waste my time in a pet store with D.M.!'"

Agent R was rather surprised by that comment, since no one had informed him of D.M. and Barsby's whereabouts. Barsby, however, was enraged by the comment and ran up to Gammon, there faces just inches apart.

"You leave D.M. out of this," whispered Barsby through clenched teeth.

"Nonsense," said Gammon with a smile on his face. "I think the two of you needed some time alone, surrounded by dogfood and fish tanks."

D.M., who had huddled on a chair since the argument began, thought about decking Gammon across the face, when Barsby took a deep breath and shouted, "Well at least I don't waste MY time taking up space in my notebook sketching STUPID DRAWINGS!!!"

Something snapped inside Gammon, and before anyone knew what was happening, Gammon and Barsby were slammed up against the wall of the RV grabbing at each other's shirts and swinging their fists. Each of them got to hit the other one on the side of the head before Agent R came between them to break up the fight. No black eyes or loose teeth resulted, thanks to Agent R's quick reaction time.

Agent R was angered by Gammon and Barsby's behavior. "Will you cut it out?!" he shouted as he pulled his partners apart.

"He called my sketches stupid!" yelled Gammon. "Let me just hit him one more time!"

"The next person who hits somebody is gonna be taken off this case!" shouted Agent R.

Gammon and Barsby stopped struggling, but Agent R still held them. "I have never in my life seen a more pathetic display than what I just saw! Two grown men fighting over what?! A ghost detector and some drawings?!" Gammon and Barsby squirmed with embarrassment. Agent R continued. "You two had better be lucky that I'm not going to include this little quarrel in our report. Because I don't think the Boss deserves to see this immature behavior! You two have been like this since day one, and it ends here! Do I make myself clear?!!" Gammon and Barsby made little sounds of agreement.

"I finished my roll," said a small voice to the side.

The three men turned to see little D.M. hold up her camera with water-filled eyes. "I finished my roll of film," she said weakly.

"Good work, D.M." said Agent R. He then let go of Gammon and Barsby. "Now, I don't want to see something like this happen again for the remainder of this case, alright?"

"Yeah," was his answer.

"Gammon, get us back to the motel."

Without a word, Gammon started the engine and drove back to the motel. This time, Barsby didn't make any comments about Gammon's driving.

The Hendersons arrived back home at around the same time the agents arrived at the motel. The sun had already set, and the stars were beginning to come out. Courage, Muriel, and Eustace helped the Hendersons unload the car. The Hendersons had already eaten dinner in town, so they retired to the basement. Courage told Sandy about what had happened when they were gone. Sandy listened with growing interest, but Kevin was only half listening. He caught some parts of the story (something about a zombie dog and a traveling stranger), but Kevin was more focused on Katie again. He noticed Mr. Furry was sitting on a chair as Katie sat on a rug talking to him. Kevin turned his head away for a split second and then looked back to discover that Mr. Furry was now sitting on the sofa! Was Kevin losing his mind? Katie saw Kevin looking at her, so she snatched up Mr. Furry and walked off.

Kevin snorted. He had put it off long enough. He stormed out of the room, determined to talk to Katie if it was the last thing he did. Suddenly, to his shock, Katie ran up to him with a big smile on her face.

"Hey, Kevin. Do you feel tired? I know I am!"

Kevin was amazed. This was the longest sentence Katie had uttered in days! And she wasn't carrying Mr. Furry with her! Maybe she was finally back to her old self.

"Yeah, I'm tired too," said Kevin with a smile.

Katie yawned. "See you tomorrow," she said. Then she skipped on down to the basement.

Kevin stood alone in the room. He still had that feeling of uneasiness, even when Sandy came up and hugged his leg. Katie had acted all happy and carefree rather quickly. Suspiciously quickly. Whatever was wrong with Katie was still active. Sandy knew it too. The question was, when would her condition be solved?

An hour later, as the Hendersons slept, Courage, Muriel, and Eustace enjoyed a late dinner. Courage was still a little shaken up over what had happened earlier today, and wasn't eating. In fact, Eustace and Muriel weren't eating either.

"Nnnrgh," groaned Eustace. "I can't believe they cancelled my favorite TV show!"

Muriel ignored him. "I'm beginning to worry about that darling girl, Katie. Her parents think she's going through a phase, but I think she has a more serious condition."

Courage agreed with her. But Courage felt that Katie's condition wasn't medical. There was a sort of.......supernatural feeling surrounding her. It seemed the most intense whenever she was carrying that stuffed animal. Courage whined. Whatever had happened in that San Francisco cemetery, it wasn't good. Courage had a bad feeling that something scary was going to happen. And soon.

(Sorry this chapter took so long to post up. This month has been really busy for me.)

(And Courage won't be disappointed. Part 1 of "A Dark and Scary Night" is up next.)