Chapter 2: Outings and Secrets
After my little chat with Dudley, he had returned to his disrespectful, complaining self. On the sixth day, we decided to show him the American way. The national past time, a baseball game. Now if you ask me, a football game would have been more fun, but it wasn't the right season. So we packed up and heading to the field. Our town's team isn't exactly great, actually the are not even close to great. But just our luck, they happened to be playing last years (cue dramatic echo) WORLD world CHAMPS champs, so we could at least see some talent. When I told Dudley this, he didn't care...
"Why should I care about any American sport team? It's not like I will ever see them again."
"Well we have a nice stadium. They built it only two years ago," I said, trying to find something that might interest him.
"So?"
"Soooooo, it has.... new snack stands."
"Well, maybe it won't be that bad." No surprise there. "Though I would prefer a wrestling match."
"Oh, yes, the WWF is sooooo wonderful," I said sarcastically.
"Let's just go get this over with."
So we packed in the car and rode to the stadium. And Dudley complained. The ride was too long. The parking lot was too far from the entrance. The line was long. He couldn't see from out seats.
But our seats were actually very good. Not necessarily close, but right in home-run range. We even had our glove ready in case any balls were sent our way. The game began and the difference in talent soon became brutally obvious. Our team struck out almost every time. And the other team kept hitting. There were even a few home runs, but not in our direction. At the seventh inning stretch, Dudley had had enough.
"I'm getting food, maybe the game will be over by the time I get back. That way I don't have to sit through this crap anymore." And off he went. I had to admit that even I was getting bored. And our team was up to bat, so there wasn't much to watch. As I was scanning the crowd, I heard the commentator.
"Oh my god, he hit it! He actually hit it! It's heading towards right field!" I looked up as he said "right field." The ball was heading in my general direction, but it looked like it was going to land a few rows in front of me.
"Oh well," I thought, dropping my glove onto Dudley's empty seat, as it landed. But no one caught it so the ball had bounced. And it landed....
"Right in that young lady's glove" screamed the announcer as I picked up the glove and ball. I saw myself on the big screen. I waved and held up the ball. I was never lucky. But who am I to argue?
The game went back to the usual pattern and Dudley returned the next inning with a pile of food.
"What's that?" he said looking at the ball
"We hit a home run and I got the ball." I said, smiling
"WHAT??" He screamed. I held up the ball. "You knew we'd score! And you made me leave!"
"Dudley, that's crazy."
"I deserve that ball, give it to me!"
"NO, I caught it, not you."
"Liar! You're just greedy! Give me the ball!" I noticed the other people staring at us, so I gave in.
"Fine, take the stupid ball."
"I will, thank you very much."
I hated him. Why was I putting up with this? I racked my brain for way to get him back. Then it hit me... we were going to the zoo the next day. Oh the possibilities.
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"Watch it, bud."
"Who you calling bud, pal?"
"Who you calling pal, friend?"
"Who you calling friend, jackass?!"
"Don't call me a jackass."
"I just did call you a jackass."
Our television had been fixed, after the little incident days before. Watching a movie was the perfect way to distract myself from Dudley. Or so I thought.
"What dumb American show are you watching now?" he said plopping down in a chair
"It's called 'Ocean's Eleven', its about some guys who steal from a casino, you might like it seeing as you like to steal stuff as well" he scowled.
"How many more days do I have left of you?"
"Five. Trust me, I'm counting down. Oh but then there is your house."
"At least at home I can occupy myself with shows that aren't terrible and my computer"
"And not hang around me? I never thought that you'd be that nice."
"Bite me" he said, storming off.
"Go change, we leave for the zoo in half an hour." I yelled after his retreating figure.
I stopped the movie, figuring that I could watch it later and went to eat something. As I approached the kitchen, I heard voices.
"It's almost as if she knows." I heard my mom say
"Just because she likes it in England, doesn't mean she suspects anything," replied my dad.
"Well we have to tell her eventually."
"That's what we've been saying for 15 years."
"But now I think she's old enough to handle it."
"Fine, before she leaves, we'll tell her everything."
At that point, I realized that it was time for me to intervene.
"What haven't you told me?" I said, bursting into the kitchen. My parents looked up from the kitchen table stunned.
"Lindsey honey, how much did you hear?" asked my dad
"Enough to know that you are hiding something from me."
They exchanged a glance and my mom began, "Well... you might want to sit down. It all began when you father and I went to England. We were there on business and instantly fell in love with the country. We decided that we wanted an English daughter. So we went to an orphanage and were talking to the woman in charge when a young lady walked in. She was holding a little girl in a pile of blankets."
My dad continued, "The woman rushed over, oblivious to us, and explained to the woman that she had to give up her daughter. We looked over at the little girl. You Lindsey, and fell in love. It was your eyes. They sparkled, even then. We asked the lady if we could have you and it was taken care of on the spot. The mother's sad face lit up when she learned that we were Americans. She seemed to think that her daughter would be best in another country. So we brought you home.
"We never found the time to tell you. You were always too young, or too busy, or too happy with life with us."
"Listen, we never, ever meant to hurt you, we love you too much. You know that, right?"
"So I'm adopted? And I'm English?"
"Yes and yes, that's why we were worried about your obsession with England."
"It scared us, thinking that you might find out. Do you hate us?" I took a deep breath.
"No, but... I need time to think." I ran up into my room
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I sat on my bed stunned. Adopted? I began to change for the zoo. Doing my hair I looked in the mirror. Black straight hair. Green eyes. Tall. My mom had green eyes, my dad black hair. But his was curly... and neither of them was tall at all. As I continued comparing, I noticed more differences, different nose, and different eye shape. The differences soon outnumbered the similarities. I sat down defeated. Why hadn't I realized it before? Tears started running down my face.
I heard someone coming upstairs. Then there was a pounding on my door.
"Get out of your room!" It was Dudley. I pulled myself together and opened the door.
"Are we leaving?" I asked, without my usual sarcasm.
"Yes, but if you want to stay here, I'd be more than happy to go without you."
I didn't even bother insulting him back.
The ride to the zoo was very quiet. My adopted parents... for lack of a better term, apparently thought that it would be best to leave me alone and rarely spoke to Dudley anyway. We got to the zoo and they let us out.
"We have things to sort out at home. We'll be back in three hours" They explained, and rushed off.
"They always leave me alone with you! It's not fair." He went on due to my silence. "What? No rude comeback? I guess I am just too witty for you."
"Witty isn't the term I would use." I muttered, buying our tickets. We went in and followed the map. Past the elephants and kangaroos and monkeys and lions. When we got to the birds, I stopped.
One of my earliest memories came back to me. I was young, three or so, and I was staring at the owls. My dad scooped me up and put me right up to the cage. I had a map rolled up and was sticking it in and out of the bars. Then an owl swooped over and snatched the paper. I watched the owl as it flew around the cage a few times. It then came right back to me and stuck the map through the bars. I grabbed it and said "Lookie! He give me present."
The memory made me sad. I had been so happy with them. But it was all a lie. Still, I couldn't hate them. They had always been there for me. Nevertheless, the thought of having another set of parents out there was intriguing.
"Could we move on from the owls?" said Dudley lazily. "I get enough of them at home." I looked at him in surprise. "I mean, um, never mind, no owls at my house... nothing out of the ordinary."
"Riiiight." I said, "What's next? Oh yeah, reptile house."
"Reptile house?" Dudley said.
"Yeah, and it's just been expanded. We used to just have a small building with alligators and a boa in a pit far below, but now they have turtles and snakes and frogs and everything."
"Snakes?" Dudley said nervously. "I hate snakes."
"You're afraid of snakes?" This was great. Of course I was petrified of snakes as well and had never gone near one all my life, but I could suck it up for a day in order to scare Dudley. "That's too bad. We have a whole bunch of snakes. Really big ones too." The look on his face as we entered was priceless.
"Wow Dudley! Listen to this." I read the sign aloud. "Boa constrictor. This boa escaped from a zoo in London four years ago and was sent here upon retrieval. Biggest snake in exhibit." Dudley turned white. "Wow, does he look familiar Dudley?"
"No, never seen him." He said quickly and ran to the next room. I looked at the snake, shuddered and ran after Dudley. The next room had a giant stage, on which a zoologist stood with a snake in hand. There were a few people in the room who mingled about. Dudley was frozen against the back wall.
"So who want's to hold 'er? Crikey, she's a beauty." Now was my chance.
"I will!" I yelled, making my way to the stage.
"Excellent, now be careful. If you upset 'er she'll bite."
"Oh god" I though. I took the snake and whispered quietly as it wound its way up my arm. "Don't bite, don't bite, please don't bite." I took advantage of the situation and walked towards Dudley. The snake had reached my shoulder. Dudley kept walking away but I was gaining on him. Then, as I finally reached Dudley, the snake rose to my ear
"If you insissssssst," I heard.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" I screamed and threw the snake.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" It had landed on Dudley, who flailed like a maniac trying to get if off. The room turned to panic as people ran out screaming and the zookeeper chased after Dudley. If I hadn't been so startled, I would have laughed. The zookeeper finally caught Dudley and removed the snake. Dudley then ran outside as fast as his chubby body would go. I apologized to the man, who was now quickly putting the snake back in its cage, and ran out after Dudley.
"You threw it at me!" He cried as soon as he saw me
"I was scared"
"But I thought you weren't scared of snakes!"
"Well I lied."
"ARGH! Where are you parents?"
"Over there." We got in the car and drove. When we pulled into the driveway, I couldn't resist any longer...
"You know Dudley, you scream like a girl."
"And you're a..."
"Look we're home"
(a/n) r&r!!!!! I love reviews!!!
After my little chat with Dudley, he had returned to his disrespectful, complaining self. On the sixth day, we decided to show him the American way. The national past time, a baseball game. Now if you ask me, a football game would have been more fun, but it wasn't the right season. So we packed up and heading to the field. Our town's team isn't exactly great, actually the are not even close to great. But just our luck, they happened to be playing last years (cue dramatic echo) WORLD world CHAMPS champs, so we could at least see some talent. When I told Dudley this, he didn't care...
"Why should I care about any American sport team? It's not like I will ever see them again."
"Well we have a nice stadium. They built it only two years ago," I said, trying to find something that might interest him.
"So?"
"Soooooo, it has.... new snack stands."
"Well, maybe it won't be that bad." No surprise there. "Though I would prefer a wrestling match."
"Oh, yes, the WWF is sooooo wonderful," I said sarcastically.
"Let's just go get this over with."
So we packed in the car and rode to the stadium. And Dudley complained. The ride was too long. The parking lot was too far from the entrance. The line was long. He couldn't see from out seats.
But our seats were actually very good. Not necessarily close, but right in home-run range. We even had our glove ready in case any balls were sent our way. The game began and the difference in talent soon became brutally obvious. Our team struck out almost every time. And the other team kept hitting. There were even a few home runs, but not in our direction. At the seventh inning stretch, Dudley had had enough.
"I'm getting food, maybe the game will be over by the time I get back. That way I don't have to sit through this crap anymore." And off he went. I had to admit that even I was getting bored. And our team was up to bat, so there wasn't much to watch. As I was scanning the crowd, I heard the commentator.
"Oh my god, he hit it! He actually hit it! It's heading towards right field!" I looked up as he said "right field." The ball was heading in my general direction, but it looked like it was going to land a few rows in front of me.
"Oh well," I thought, dropping my glove onto Dudley's empty seat, as it landed. But no one caught it so the ball had bounced. And it landed....
"Right in that young lady's glove" screamed the announcer as I picked up the glove and ball. I saw myself on the big screen. I waved and held up the ball. I was never lucky. But who am I to argue?
The game went back to the usual pattern and Dudley returned the next inning with a pile of food.
"What's that?" he said looking at the ball
"We hit a home run and I got the ball." I said, smiling
"WHAT??" He screamed. I held up the ball. "You knew we'd score! And you made me leave!"
"Dudley, that's crazy."
"I deserve that ball, give it to me!"
"NO, I caught it, not you."
"Liar! You're just greedy! Give me the ball!" I noticed the other people staring at us, so I gave in.
"Fine, take the stupid ball."
"I will, thank you very much."
I hated him. Why was I putting up with this? I racked my brain for way to get him back. Then it hit me... we were going to the zoo the next day. Oh the possibilities.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Watch it, bud."
"Who you calling bud, pal?"
"Who you calling pal, friend?"
"Who you calling friend, jackass?!"
"Don't call me a jackass."
"I just did call you a jackass."
Our television had been fixed, after the little incident days before. Watching a movie was the perfect way to distract myself from Dudley. Or so I thought.
"What dumb American show are you watching now?" he said plopping down in a chair
"It's called 'Ocean's Eleven', its about some guys who steal from a casino, you might like it seeing as you like to steal stuff as well" he scowled.
"How many more days do I have left of you?"
"Five. Trust me, I'm counting down. Oh but then there is your house."
"At least at home I can occupy myself with shows that aren't terrible and my computer"
"And not hang around me? I never thought that you'd be that nice."
"Bite me" he said, storming off.
"Go change, we leave for the zoo in half an hour." I yelled after his retreating figure.
I stopped the movie, figuring that I could watch it later and went to eat something. As I approached the kitchen, I heard voices.
"It's almost as if she knows." I heard my mom say
"Just because she likes it in England, doesn't mean she suspects anything," replied my dad.
"Well we have to tell her eventually."
"That's what we've been saying for 15 years."
"But now I think she's old enough to handle it."
"Fine, before she leaves, we'll tell her everything."
At that point, I realized that it was time for me to intervene.
"What haven't you told me?" I said, bursting into the kitchen. My parents looked up from the kitchen table stunned.
"Lindsey honey, how much did you hear?" asked my dad
"Enough to know that you are hiding something from me."
They exchanged a glance and my mom began, "Well... you might want to sit down. It all began when you father and I went to England. We were there on business and instantly fell in love with the country. We decided that we wanted an English daughter. So we went to an orphanage and were talking to the woman in charge when a young lady walked in. She was holding a little girl in a pile of blankets."
My dad continued, "The woman rushed over, oblivious to us, and explained to the woman that she had to give up her daughter. We looked over at the little girl. You Lindsey, and fell in love. It was your eyes. They sparkled, even then. We asked the lady if we could have you and it was taken care of on the spot. The mother's sad face lit up when she learned that we were Americans. She seemed to think that her daughter would be best in another country. So we brought you home.
"We never found the time to tell you. You were always too young, or too busy, or too happy with life with us."
"Listen, we never, ever meant to hurt you, we love you too much. You know that, right?"
"So I'm adopted? And I'm English?"
"Yes and yes, that's why we were worried about your obsession with England."
"It scared us, thinking that you might find out. Do you hate us?" I took a deep breath.
"No, but... I need time to think." I ran up into my room
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sat on my bed stunned. Adopted? I began to change for the zoo. Doing my hair I looked in the mirror. Black straight hair. Green eyes. Tall. My mom had green eyes, my dad black hair. But his was curly... and neither of them was tall at all. As I continued comparing, I noticed more differences, different nose, and different eye shape. The differences soon outnumbered the similarities. I sat down defeated. Why hadn't I realized it before? Tears started running down my face.
I heard someone coming upstairs. Then there was a pounding on my door.
"Get out of your room!" It was Dudley. I pulled myself together and opened the door.
"Are we leaving?" I asked, without my usual sarcasm.
"Yes, but if you want to stay here, I'd be more than happy to go without you."
I didn't even bother insulting him back.
The ride to the zoo was very quiet. My adopted parents... for lack of a better term, apparently thought that it would be best to leave me alone and rarely spoke to Dudley anyway. We got to the zoo and they let us out.
"We have things to sort out at home. We'll be back in three hours" They explained, and rushed off.
"They always leave me alone with you! It's not fair." He went on due to my silence. "What? No rude comeback? I guess I am just too witty for you."
"Witty isn't the term I would use." I muttered, buying our tickets. We went in and followed the map. Past the elephants and kangaroos and monkeys and lions. When we got to the birds, I stopped.
One of my earliest memories came back to me. I was young, three or so, and I was staring at the owls. My dad scooped me up and put me right up to the cage. I had a map rolled up and was sticking it in and out of the bars. Then an owl swooped over and snatched the paper. I watched the owl as it flew around the cage a few times. It then came right back to me and stuck the map through the bars. I grabbed it and said "Lookie! He give me present."
The memory made me sad. I had been so happy with them. But it was all a lie. Still, I couldn't hate them. They had always been there for me. Nevertheless, the thought of having another set of parents out there was intriguing.
"Could we move on from the owls?" said Dudley lazily. "I get enough of them at home." I looked at him in surprise. "I mean, um, never mind, no owls at my house... nothing out of the ordinary."
"Riiiight." I said, "What's next? Oh yeah, reptile house."
"Reptile house?" Dudley said.
"Yeah, and it's just been expanded. We used to just have a small building with alligators and a boa in a pit far below, but now they have turtles and snakes and frogs and everything."
"Snakes?" Dudley said nervously. "I hate snakes."
"You're afraid of snakes?" This was great. Of course I was petrified of snakes as well and had never gone near one all my life, but I could suck it up for a day in order to scare Dudley. "That's too bad. We have a whole bunch of snakes. Really big ones too." The look on his face as we entered was priceless.
"Wow Dudley! Listen to this." I read the sign aloud. "Boa constrictor. This boa escaped from a zoo in London four years ago and was sent here upon retrieval. Biggest snake in exhibit." Dudley turned white. "Wow, does he look familiar Dudley?"
"No, never seen him." He said quickly and ran to the next room. I looked at the snake, shuddered and ran after Dudley. The next room had a giant stage, on which a zoologist stood with a snake in hand. There were a few people in the room who mingled about. Dudley was frozen against the back wall.
"So who want's to hold 'er? Crikey, she's a beauty." Now was my chance.
"I will!" I yelled, making my way to the stage.
"Excellent, now be careful. If you upset 'er she'll bite."
"Oh god" I though. I took the snake and whispered quietly as it wound its way up my arm. "Don't bite, don't bite, please don't bite." I took advantage of the situation and walked towards Dudley. The snake had reached my shoulder. Dudley kept walking away but I was gaining on him. Then, as I finally reached Dudley, the snake rose to my ear
"If you insissssssst," I heard.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" I screamed and threw the snake.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" It had landed on Dudley, who flailed like a maniac trying to get if off. The room turned to panic as people ran out screaming and the zookeeper chased after Dudley. If I hadn't been so startled, I would have laughed. The zookeeper finally caught Dudley and removed the snake. Dudley then ran outside as fast as his chubby body would go. I apologized to the man, who was now quickly putting the snake back in its cage, and ran out after Dudley.
"You threw it at me!" He cried as soon as he saw me
"I was scared"
"But I thought you weren't scared of snakes!"
"Well I lied."
"ARGH! Where are you parents?"
"Over there." We got in the car and drove. When we pulled into the driveway, I couldn't resist any longer...
"You know Dudley, you scream like a girl."
"And you're a..."
"Look we're home"
(a/n) r&r!!!!! I love reviews!!!