**Disclaimer** O! I own Captain SuperGuy and all his adventures. Hehe... I
own something cool. Yay!
A/N: When we last left our newsies, they were about to return Mr. Knickerbotter his wallet. Let's continue... (shout outs at the end)
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Jack asked me doubtfully.
I looked at the address in the wallet again. "429 Mulberry Street," I confirmed.
"So, this is the nuthouse," Spot said thoughtfully, looking up the hill at the pleasant looking but oddly quiet two-story building. He grinned slyly. "You know, I always thought we'd end up here."
It was the next day. I had just suffered through three of my worst classes, and on a beautiful day like this staying inside all that time was practically a crime. Then again, I think all forms of school are a crime, so I might be a little biast.
"I don't think the patients here like to be called nuts," Skittery said condescendingly.
"Of course not," Blink replied. "They'd have to be nuts to want to be called nuts." Spot gave him a discreet high-five behind his back.
Everyone laughed, even Davey, who was trying (with the usual lack of success) to get us to be serious.
We were standing outside the Martin J. Marreck State Mental Facility. It was a two-story brick building, with lots of shady trees and flowers. There were walkways going through gardens, and a fountain just outside the front door. It could have been an old folk's home or something. Except for the six-foot high chain-link fence. And the barbed wire atop that fence. And the security cameras everywhere you looked. And the wire mesh and iron bars on all the windows. But aside from all that, it looked perfectly nice.
"Who else has the willies?" Bumlets asked, raising his hand.
"What are the willies?" Les asked, tugging on the leg of the older boy's pants.
"Willies, noun. A creepy or unsettling feeling." He explained. "The vague, disturbing sense that something, somewhere, is horribly wrong."
"The feeling I get when I see school every morning," I muttered.
"School, nuthouse, what's the difference when you get down to it?" Blink asked philosophically. "Dumb rules and bad food in both places."
"Come on guys, let's just give the guy his wallet back and go home. I have a project to re-do." Skittery whined.
"What, the science project?" Specs asked.
"Yea."
"Why do you have to re-do it?"
"Because if I take a 56 home, my mom will kill me."
"A 56!?!"
"Yes, Specs, a 56. What, did you think I'm trying to go from a 99 to a 100?"
"PEOPLE! A LITTLE FOCUSING PLEASE!" I yelled. We all got in a huddle. "Here's the plan."
"We have a plan?"
"Yes, Mush we have a plan. What we're gonna do is-"
"When did we come up with a plan?"
"MUSH!"
"Yes?"
"Go over there and recite the code of personal space."
"But-"
"Do you want to get struck by a lightning bolt?"
Sigh. "No." Mush walked over to a tree and began to recite.
"Okay," I said finally. "We're just gonna go in, give the guy his wallet, leave Les in there, and go home."
"HUH?!?" Les cried.
"Hey guys," Dave said responsibly. "I think we're gonna have to limit the number of nut jokes from here on out." He looked around. "Whenever we lose focus, something always goes wrong, and we'd have to be nuts to get careless." No one laughed. "I said, we'd have to be NUTS.... Fine, don't laugh. I don't care. Let's just get this done with."
So we trooped into the building, leaving Mush screaming "WAIT FOR ME!!" and sprinting after us.
We trooped through the gate. We trooped up the front lawn. We trooped up the walkway. We trooped up the stairs. We trooped through the front door. We were trooping past the front desk when we realized that we weren't moving anymore. I mean, we were moving our feet and stuff, but we weren't GOING anywhere. We were just marching in place. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked, looking around the lobby. When I finally looked back in front of me, I jumped back.
"What IS it?!?" Spot screamed.
There in front of us stood a creature so huge it blocked out the lame fluorescent lights. It was well over seven feet tall, with thick arms and legs that were covered in curly dark black hair. It was so thick, that if you tried to give it a hug, (not that you would ever want to) your arms wouldn't even fit halfway around it. It was wearing a white cloth around its whole body, and a tiny white hat that was swallowed up by the mound of hair piled on top of its head. We all shrunk back in fear.
"I think... it's the receptionist." Jack said slowly.
"OU PENSEZ-VOUS QUE VOUS ALLEZ??" A booming voice demanded. It took me a second to realize that it was coming from this... this woman... in front of us.
"What did she say?" Bumlets asked in a hushed voice.
"She said, 'Where do you think you're going?'" Blink replied calmly. We all turned to look at him.
"I didn't know you knew French, Blink." Dave said.
"Of course I do. I'm in your French class."
"Oh yeah. Hey, did you get the homework?"
"It was page 57, 1-20."
"Oh, ok. Thanks."
"No problem."
Itey stared at her, his eyes wide. "This is just like in Adventures of SuperGuy, number 64, Attack of the Foreign Government Agents, when Captain SuperGuy goes to the ware house that was fronting as a nuthouse so the foreign spies could keep the American secret agents that were being held hostage a secret and then he rescued them and once again saved the day," he whispered in one breath.
I stepped forward. "Nobody make any sudden movements," I told them quietly. Then, I put my hands out in a gesture of peace. In a loud, clear voice, I said, "WE... COME... IN... PEACE... AND... MEAN... NO... HARM... TO... YOUR... PLANET. WE... WANT... TO... RETURN... THIS... WALLET... TO... ONE... OF... THE... AGEN- UH, I MEAN PATIENTS... HERE." I held my breath and waited for the reply.
"VISITER LES HEURES SONT PAR-DESSUS. REVIENT DEMAIN." It was so loud my ears rung. I couldn't believe a voice so low could come out of a female of ANY species, even one that looked like that.
"Visiting hours are over. Come back tomorrow." Blink translated.
"BUT... WE... JUST... WANT... TO... GIVE... HIM... HIS... WALLET!"
"OBTENIR HORS! OBTENIR HORS! VANDALES!!" ("Get out! Get out Vandals!" Blink cried.)
I don't know who ran first. Maybe it was me. Maybe we just had all the fear and horror we could stand. It was like an electric shock went through all of us. We were up and running before we even knew what we were doing.
"JE'LL VOUS OBTIENT LES GOSSES! CELA'LE S IL! COURIR TOUT VOUS COMME! JE'LL VOUS OBTIENT JUSTE PAREIL!" (I'll get you kids! That's it! Run all you like! I'll get you just the same!)
We tore out the door like a thousand nightmares were at our heels.
SHOUT OUTS!!!!
Nani: Who isn't a candyholioc??? (or a newsieholioc, for that matter!) O, theyre weird, but we love them newayz!
Bobcat:slashgoil: OMG I LUV ITEY TOO!!!! He is obviously the comic relief newsie!!! Glad u luv da fic, hope u liked the chapter!
Sgtpeppersgirl: Yea, I kinda figured about the Spanish... hope you got the French in this chapter nlol. Don't worry, Itey is DEFINATLY the weird one!!!! Thx for reviewing glad u liked it!
Spritzah conlon: o, I luv the code of personal space!!! Hope you liked the chapter, and keep reviewing!
A/N: When we last left our newsies, they were about to return Mr. Knickerbotter his wallet. Let's continue... (shout outs at the end)
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Jack asked me doubtfully.
I looked at the address in the wallet again. "429 Mulberry Street," I confirmed.
"So, this is the nuthouse," Spot said thoughtfully, looking up the hill at the pleasant looking but oddly quiet two-story building. He grinned slyly. "You know, I always thought we'd end up here."
It was the next day. I had just suffered through three of my worst classes, and on a beautiful day like this staying inside all that time was practically a crime. Then again, I think all forms of school are a crime, so I might be a little biast.
"I don't think the patients here like to be called nuts," Skittery said condescendingly.
"Of course not," Blink replied. "They'd have to be nuts to want to be called nuts." Spot gave him a discreet high-five behind his back.
Everyone laughed, even Davey, who was trying (with the usual lack of success) to get us to be serious.
We were standing outside the Martin J. Marreck State Mental Facility. It was a two-story brick building, with lots of shady trees and flowers. There were walkways going through gardens, and a fountain just outside the front door. It could have been an old folk's home or something. Except for the six-foot high chain-link fence. And the barbed wire atop that fence. And the security cameras everywhere you looked. And the wire mesh and iron bars on all the windows. But aside from all that, it looked perfectly nice.
"Who else has the willies?" Bumlets asked, raising his hand.
"What are the willies?" Les asked, tugging on the leg of the older boy's pants.
"Willies, noun. A creepy or unsettling feeling." He explained. "The vague, disturbing sense that something, somewhere, is horribly wrong."
"The feeling I get when I see school every morning," I muttered.
"School, nuthouse, what's the difference when you get down to it?" Blink asked philosophically. "Dumb rules and bad food in both places."
"Come on guys, let's just give the guy his wallet back and go home. I have a project to re-do." Skittery whined.
"What, the science project?" Specs asked.
"Yea."
"Why do you have to re-do it?"
"Because if I take a 56 home, my mom will kill me."
"A 56!?!"
"Yes, Specs, a 56. What, did you think I'm trying to go from a 99 to a 100?"
"PEOPLE! A LITTLE FOCUSING PLEASE!" I yelled. We all got in a huddle. "Here's the plan."
"We have a plan?"
"Yes, Mush we have a plan. What we're gonna do is-"
"When did we come up with a plan?"
"MUSH!"
"Yes?"
"Go over there and recite the code of personal space."
"But-"
"Do you want to get struck by a lightning bolt?"
Sigh. "No." Mush walked over to a tree and began to recite.
"Okay," I said finally. "We're just gonna go in, give the guy his wallet, leave Les in there, and go home."
"HUH?!?" Les cried.
"Hey guys," Dave said responsibly. "I think we're gonna have to limit the number of nut jokes from here on out." He looked around. "Whenever we lose focus, something always goes wrong, and we'd have to be nuts to get careless." No one laughed. "I said, we'd have to be NUTS.... Fine, don't laugh. I don't care. Let's just get this done with."
So we trooped into the building, leaving Mush screaming "WAIT FOR ME!!" and sprinting after us.
We trooped through the gate. We trooped up the front lawn. We trooped up the walkway. We trooped up the stairs. We trooped through the front door. We were trooping past the front desk when we realized that we weren't moving anymore. I mean, we were moving our feet and stuff, but we weren't GOING anywhere. We were just marching in place. "Hey, what's going on?" I asked, looking around the lobby. When I finally looked back in front of me, I jumped back.
"What IS it?!?" Spot screamed.
There in front of us stood a creature so huge it blocked out the lame fluorescent lights. It was well over seven feet tall, with thick arms and legs that were covered in curly dark black hair. It was so thick, that if you tried to give it a hug, (not that you would ever want to) your arms wouldn't even fit halfway around it. It was wearing a white cloth around its whole body, and a tiny white hat that was swallowed up by the mound of hair piled on top of its head. We all shrunk back in fear.
"I think... it's the receptionist." Jack said slowly.
"OU PENSEZ-VOUS QUE VOUS ALLEZ??" A booming voice demanded. It took me a second to realize that it was coming from this... this woman... in front of us.
"What did she say?" Bumlets asked in a hushed voice.
"She said, 'Where do you think you're going?'" Blink replied calmly. We all turned to look at him.
"I didn't know you knew French, Blink." Dave said.
"Of course I do. I'm in your French class."
"Oh yeah. Hey, did you get the homework?"
"It was page 57, 1-20."
"Oh, ok. Thanks."
"No problem."
Itey stared at her, his eyes wide. "This is just like in Adventures of SuperGuy, number 64, Attack of the Foreign Government Agents, when Captain SuperGuy goes to the ware house that was fronting as a nuthouse so the foreign spies could keep the American secret agents that were being held hostage a secret and then he rescued them and once again saved the day," he whispered in one breath.
I stepped forward. "Nobody make any sudden movements," I told them quietly. Then, I put my hands out in a gesture of peace. In a loud, clear voice, I said, "WE... COME... IN... PEACE... AND... MEAN... NO... HARM... TO... YOUR... PLANET. WE... WANT... TO... RETURN... THIS... WALLET... TO... ONE... OF... THE... AGEN- UH, I MEAN PATIENTS... HERE." I held my breath and waited for the reply.
"VISITER LES HEURES SONT PAR-DESSUS. REVIENT DEMAIN." It was so loud my ears rung. I couldn't believe a voice so low could come out of a female of ANY species, even one that looked like that.
"Visiting hours are over. Come back tomorrow." Blink translated.
"BUT... WE... JUST... WANT... TO... GIVE... HIM... HIS... WALLET!"
"OBTENIR HORS! OBTENIR HORS! VANDALES!!" ("Get out! Get out Vandals!" Blink cried.)
I don't know who ran first. Maybe it was me. Maybe we just had all the fear and horror we could stand. It was like an electric shock went through all of us. We were up and running before we even knew what we were doing.
"JE'LL VOUS OBTIENT LES GOSSES! CELA'LE S IL! COURIR TOUT VOUS COMME! JE'LL VOUS OBTIENT JUSTE PAREIL!" (I'll get you kids! That's it! Run all you like! I'll get you just the same!)
We tore out the door like a thousand nightmares were at our heels.
SHOUT OUTS!!!!
Nani: Who isn't a candyholioc??? (or a newsieholioc, for that matter!) O, theyre weird, but we love them newayz!
Bobcat:slashgoil: OMG I LUV ITEY TOO!!!! He is obviously the comic relief newsie!!! Glad u luv da fic, hope u liked the chapter!
Sgtpeppersgirl: Yea, I kinda figured about the Spanish... hope you got the French in this chapter nlol. Don't worry, Itey is DEFINATLY the weird one!!!! Thx for reviewing glad u liked it!
Spritzah conlon: o, I luv the code of personal space!!! Hope you liked the chapter, and keep reviewing!