"Kevin's Talk with Katie"
After breakfast, the agents used the restroom and returned to their RV. Once inside, Agent R told D.M. and Gammon to head into the town of Nowhere and get the photos developed. As D.M. went to retrieve the film, Gammon whined, "But what if we meet up with those creepy motel guys again?"
Agent R laughed. "I doubt they'd be in town at all, but if you do, make sure you act like a tourist and deny everything, okay?"
Gammon didn't think that was a very bright idea, but he agreed anyway. D.M. came back carrying two rolls of film. Barsby looked at Agent R and said, "What are you and I gonna do in the meantime?"
Agent R looked Barsby in the eye and said seriously, "You and I are gonna see if we can contact our Boss and give him an update."
"Hey, Jonathan?" asked D.M. to Agent R.
Before Agent R could respond, Gammon blurted out to D.M., "Do you think it's wise to use his first name like that?"
"It's okay, she has my permission. Whether you and Barsby refer to me as 'Jonathan' or not is up to you. Now, what was your question, D.M.?"
"How are Gammon and I gonna get to town?"
Agent R knew the RV had to stay here on the property. That left the Henderson's station wagon and Eustace's truck. Agent R told D.M. and Gammon to ask the old couple inside if they could drive them to town. Then, they could let Eustace and Muriel decide which vehicle to use.
Muriel wanted Eustace to drive the two agents to town in the truck. Eustace put up a fit, but ten minutes later, the truck was driving through town carrying D.M. and Gammon, with Eustace at the wheel.
So, as the truck sped toward Nowhere, and Barsby tried to contact the Boss with Agent R, the Hendersons were getting ready for the day inside the house.
While the kids and the dogs were upstairs brushing their teeth and cleaning themselves up, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson were cleaning up the kitchen with Muriel.
"Where did your husband go, Muriel?" asked Diane Henderson as she cleaned a pot.
"He went to take two of our visitors into town…probably to show them the sights," answered Muriel, clearing the table.
"Or maybe they went to gather more information," muttered Carl.
"Now dear," began Diane.
"You never can be too sure with these 'government people'," said Carl. "I mean, they could be doing who-knows-what behind our backs." Then an idea hit him. "You don't suppose they're trying to find out about what happened last time we were here, do you?"
"Carl, if that were true, they would've asked about it the moment they met us," replied Diane.
"Besides," said Muriel. "They would've sent someone over much sooner by now." She put her hand on Carl's shoulder. "Trust me; so many things have happened here over the years that it's no surprise that someone from the government is finally taking interest in us."
Carl sighed and headed out of the room. "Well, those government visitors make me nervous nonetheless."
Muriel decided to change the subject. "Y'know, Diane, I don't know if I've asked you this before or not, but where do you live exactly?"
"Oh, our family lives near Columbus, Ohio. It's quite a distance away, and the neighborhood we live in is not very friendly. But, our landlord, Mr. Baker, is very kind and responsible." Diane continued by describing her house and her history in the area and eventually Muriel began talking about herself as well.
Upstairs, Kevin, Courage, and Sandy were in the attic. They were looking out the window and observing the agents' RV.
"What do you think they're doing?" asked Kevin. Neither Courage nor Sandy could come up with a good answer.
"We'd better keep an eye out for these guys as well as Katie."
Courage sighed. They'd kept so many eyes out for people already that he began to worry that it would be impossible to keep tabs on everyone at the same time.
In town, Eustace parked the car at a "One-hour photo" booth. D.M. gave the film rolls to the man behind the counter. As Eustace went into a video store, D.M. and Gammon waited outside for the pictures to be developed.
"Do we HAVE to sit out here and wait for the film to get processed?" moaned D.M.
"You want to go somewhere else?" asked Gammon.
D.M. looked around. There weren't many places to visit at all. "No," she finally said.
The two agents sat on the park bench in front of the photo booth for five more minutes before Gammon spoke up again.
"Look, um, D.M. I'm sorry about…y'know."
"What?" D.M. looked confused.
"Y'know, that stuff I said about you and Barsby?"
"Oh yeah," D.M. said. Then, frowning slightly, she added, "That was a little out of line."
"I know," said Gammon. "My mouth sometimes gets ahead of my brain."
"Yes, well, you certainly do have an interesting mind."
Agent Gammon quirked an eyebrow. He couldn't remember the last time he received a compliment like that before.
Gammon sighed. "I've known people who've thought my mind was, y'know, 'weird' or 'twisted' or things like that. Well, I'm not. I'm really just a normal person with an alter ego, that's all."
"Really?" asked D.M.
"Yeah. When we get back to the RV, I could show you some sketches of my 'alter ego', if you want."
"That'd be cool!" said D.M. excitedly. After a moment, she turned to the photo booth with a worried expression on her face. "It's 10:15 already. When are those pictures gonna be ready?" she mumbled to herself.
Throughout the entire morning, Agents R and Barsby tried to contact their Boss. They weren't having much success. Some "overseas issue of national security" was going on and the phone lines were jammed. Even the top secret government lines! It wasn't until noon that Barsby finally got a connection with the Boss.
"Boss, are you there?" asked Agent R, grabbing the phone.
"Agent R, what is your status?" said a slightly annoyed Boss.
"We are at the possible focal point of the town's bizarre activities. It is currently under investigation as we speak."
"Excellent," declared the Boss. "Where are your fellow agents?"
"They are getting the photos developed," said Barsby before Agent R could respond.
"At a public facility?" asked Boss. He seemed shocked by the information.
Agent R quickly cleared his throat. "Gammon and Darkest Moon are with the developer and making sure that the PRIVATE operation is taking place." Agent R glared at Barsby as he said "private".
"Very well," said Boss. "Good luck. And I apologize for the long wait. You no doubt know about the incident occurring…"
"Yes, sir. Don't worry. 'Operation Nowhere' is still underway. Over and out."
Agent R hung up the phone and looked at Barsby. "This is supposed to be a top secret operation, Barsby. Saying that the photos are being developed by an unknown person is too risky."
Barsby sighed with agreement. "Well, at least Gammon and D.M. are taking care of the situation."
"I hope," said Agent R. "I sure hope so." He got to his feet. "C'mon. Let's get some lunch inside the farmhouse."
At that moment, D.M. began banging on the counter of the one-hour photo booth. "It's been over two hours!" she bellowed. "Where's our photos?!"
"D.M., calm down…" said Gammon.
"Calm down?!! How can I calm down when MY photos are being held by some stranger? We should've gone in the developing room with that developer guy." She paused and caught her breath. "First my bat, now the pictures." D.M. looked like she was about to cry.
"Don't worry," said Gammon. Without a word, he leaped over the counter and disappeared behind a door. After a couple minutes, Gammon came back with a white envelope and a sore hand.
"The photos!" shouted D.M. as Gammon gave her the envelope.
"Yeah, that developer sure was a busy guy. Turned out, he finished our film an hour ago and forgot about us. Fortunately…" Gammon held up his sore hand and slowly made a fist. "…I got the point across that we needed the photos 'now'. One black eye later, he handed them over."
"Wow, that's amazing!" said D.M. She gave Gammon a quick hug and started opening the envelope. "C'mon! Let's look at them!"
"Hold it!" shouted Gammon. "We need to wait until all four of us analyze it at the same time. We have to follow standard procedures."
"Awww," whined D.M. "But what if these pictures aren't ours?"
Gammon quickly opened the envelope, took out the photos, and flipped through them quickly in front of D.M.'s nose.
"Recognize any of them?"
"Yeah! In fact…"
"Good," said Gammon. He quickly put the photos back in the envelope, closed it, and gave it to D.M. "Now, let's go find Eustace so he can drive us back to the RV!"
"Alright! Race you!" D.M. bolted out of the building.
As Gammon ran after her, he thought to himself, "If this is the same girl I called 'inexperienced' and 'too young' for the job, why do I find myself actually starting to LIKE her?"
One thing's for sure: if there's one thing D.M. knows how to make, it's friends in record time.
"I've had it," announced Kevin. He turned away from the attic window and began heading toward the exit.
"What?" asked Sandy. She and Courage followed Kevin.
"It's one o'clock in the afternoon, and I'm fed up with this. I'm going to find out what is the matter with that bear from the one person who knows it most."
"Katie?" asked Courage. The three of them entered the hallway.
"Exactly," said Kevin.
"But what if she doesn't want to talk?" questioned Sandy.
"Then I'll make her talk," answered Kevin.
Sandy and Courage grew nervous as they followed Kevin down the stairs and into the living room. Katie sat on the floor in front of the sofa holding Mr. Furry. She was shaking it upside-down, like she was trying to get something out of it.
Kevin shocked the dogs when he suddenly reached behind Katie and yanked Mr. Furry out of her grasp.
"Hey!" yelled Katie.
"Sit down, Katie. I need to talk to you," ordered Kevin.
"Give me back Mr. Furry!" Katie got to her feet and tried to retrieve her bear, but Kevin held Mr. Furry above her head.
"Not until you tell me what's going on!" demanded Kevin.
"Mommy!" yelled Katie. But her mother and father were in the barn with Muriel, who was showing them the new light bulb that was installed in the barn's ceiling.
"This doesn't concern them, now listen Katie! I know that Mr. Furry can talk to you. What does he say?!! Answer me!!!"
Sandy held Courage's paw. She had never seen Kevin like this before, and, truthfully, it scared her. Courage was equally worried. Why didn't Mr. Furry come alive and attack everyone?
To everyone's surprise, Katie started crying. Kevin was especially surprised. He had never in his life yelled at his little sister before. Katie's sobs felt like knife stabs to Kevin's heart. Without a word, Kevin returned Mr. Furry to Katie, who scooped him up in her arms.
"I'm sorry, Katie," said Kevin. He wanted to hug Katie, but her arms were clutching the possessed teddy bear. "All I want to know is what the bear…I mean, Mr. Furry, told you."
Katie turned her tear-filled eyes toward Kevin. "Mr. Furry says he's my friend. He talks to me when no one will listen. He laughs and tells me funny stories and jokes…things you used to do to me, Kevin." Katie immediately frowned at Sandy.
At that moment, both Kevin and Sandy realized the significance of that last comment. Before Kevin found Sandy, Katie had almost no friends in preschool and kindergarten. Even through first grade, the only person Katie would ever talk to was her big brother Kevin. They played together, they talked together. They treated themselves like best friends rather than siblings. But then, after Sandy was adopted, Kevin turned all his attention to her. And later, when Kevin realized Sandy could talk to him, Kevin spent nearly all of his free time with her instead of Katie. You can imagine how Katie must've felt about all that. Jealous and always feeling left out, Katie stopped acting like a friend and acted more like a sibling toward Kevin. She also stopped calling Sandy by her real name.
And Kevin never knew any of that, but now, as he looked into his little sister's eyes, he could feel the pain and distress that had plagued Katie for years. Without warning, emotion swept over Kevin, and he flung his arms around Katie, apologizing over and over again. Sandy wanted to join, but she held back, knowing that this was between Kevin and Katie.
Kevin sat back on his heels, his eyes brimmed with tears. "I'm…I'm gonna have to make it up to you, Katie," he said.
Katie looked down at her feet. She had never seen her brother act like that before. Sure, she had seen Kevin act bravely when he stood up to that ghost in the underground tunnel last time they were here, but this was something else altogether.
"So," said Kevin with a sniff. "You…know Mr. Furry could talk after we left the cemetery, right?"
"Right!" said Katie. Then her expression changed. "Why?"
Kevin sighed. This wouldn't be easy. Still, it was better than telling her he could talk to Sandy.
"Well, Mr. Furry…can't talk. At least, it's not him doing the talking."
Katie looked confused. "Well, who then?"
"It's a ghost. Not like the ghosts from before. This one's a bad ghost."
"Really?" asked a now frightened Katie.
"Honest," whispered Kevin.
Katie looked at Mr. Furry with wide eyes and then stared back at Kevin. "But the doctor is…is…"
"Whoa, wait. What do you mean, 'doctor'?" said Kevin with a look of surprise.
"Sometimes Mr. Furry calls himself a doctor. I don't know why."
Kevin looked at Sandy and Courage. They were all thinking the same thing: was Mr. Furry possessed by the spirit of a dead physician?
"Anyway, go on, Katie," said Kevin.
"He's not here," whispered Katie.
"What?" asked Kevin.
"The doctor, or ghost, isn't here." She pointed at Mr. Furry. "He said he was going to be right back. Said he had to go somewhere for a while, but he said he'd be back soon."
Kevin paused to take that information in. The spirit wasn't here. That was a relief.
"Did it say when he'd be back?" asked Kevin.
"Before morning," replied his sister.
"Okay," smiled Kevin. That was one less thing to worry about tonight. "C'mon, Katie, let's get ready for dinner."
Taking Katie by the hand, the siblings walked up the stairs to the restroom.
Courage and Sandy stared at each other in the living room for a moment. "We're gonna have to figure out who this ghost doctor is soon," said Courage.
Sandy nodded her head and ran up the stairs after Kevin with Courage right behind her.
Around the corner, in the kitchen, Agent R and Barsby stared at each other in disbelief. They had just finished eating lunch when they heard Kevin and Katie fighting. They decided to listen in on the entire conversation.
"I think we've just hit the jackpot," whispered Barsby.
Agent R nodded. "Do you know what this means?" he said with an astonished tone of voice. "That means Gammon was right! That electromagnetic instrument he had actually DID pick up ghostly readings from that bear!"
"Oh man, I think we owe him an apology," said Barsby.
"Especially you," muttered Agent R. "Anyway, I don't really know what course of action to take next until Gammon and D.M. get back with those photos."
Barsby looked at Agent R. "Did you hear what that pink dog said to the other dog?"
Agent R glared at Barsby. "Their names are Courage and Sandy, if I remember correctly. And yeah, he said 'Aroo-ra-roo-ro-blah-bleh-blu' or something like that. I don't have to understand Dog to know that those pooches probably know as much as those kids do."
Barsby sighed. "It's too bad we don't know somebody who can understand what dogs say. Then we could interrogate them."
"Yeah," said Agent R, rolling his eyes. "And where are we gonna find a person like THAT?"
Suddenly, a THUMP made the two agents jump. Behind them, Muriel and Mr. and Mrs. Henderson were coming back from the barn.
"When's dinner!!" yelled Agent R before anyone could say anything.
"We were just about to get it ready," said Muriel. "Would you like to help?"
"Err, uh, no, we were just on our way back to the RV," muttered Agent R, inching out of the room.
"Yeah," agreed Barsby. The two abruptly exited the house.
"Government agents. You just can't trust them," mumbled Carl.
"Now, Carl," began Diane.
"Oh, don't be wasting time you two," said Muriel. "Let's get this dinner started."
Gammon, D.M., and Eustace came back just before dinner was served. "Mission accomplished" whispered D.M. in Agent R's ear. As Carl wondered what those two were whispering about, Diane was surprised to see her children talking and laughing with each other. It had been so long since the two of them did something like that at the dinner table…or anywhere for that matter. Diane smiled as the food was passed around the table and everyone got a portion of food.
Courage and Sandy spent dinner feeding each other food. Everyone (except Eustace and especially D.M.) thought it was adorable.
Afterwards, the agents walked back to the RV. Other than that, the rest of the evening was pretty uneventful.
(…but not for long. A single question still remains…if the ghost is not in Mr. Furry's body, where is it? Like all spirits, it's able to assume a free-floating form and can go wherever it wants to. And right now, that mischievous poltergeist is heading towards a certain motel on the outskirts of Nowhere…)