Chapter 11: Party Time
The next Monday...
Caitlin had her head in her paws. Natsu, Megan, and Kayla were wondering, too, where Boss had gone now.
Caitlin glanced up at her three friends. "What do I DO?"
"I'd go over there and ask Mike what's up." Megan nodded. "He's got some role in this, that's for sure..."
Caitlin nodded. "Yeah, but... What if he won't tell me?"
"Threaten to quit the Bad Hams," Kayla suggested.
"I'm not sure if that would be such a good idea," Natsu remarked. "Mike could get onto you about it..."
Caitlin nodded. "It may be about me. Oh, God... I'm scared, guys."
The three girls glanced at Caitlin blankly.
With Boss...
Boss found himself like he did the first evening he was stuck: sitting at a wooden table in a wooden chair with an empty bowl and metal spoon in front of him.
"I just gotta think through this for a few minutes...," he muttered to himself. "Alright, I have two possible exits: the door and the window. Now..." Boss paused. "...I need to figure out what I have. I have one wooden table, two wooden chairs, a bowl, and a spoon. Now what's next?" He sighed. "I can only remember one step at a time...
"Alright, I have two possible exits and I know my supplies. I guess now I must... ...er... ...Find how I can use them to get out. I can always try to break down the door with a chair... I'll try that."
Boss stood up and picked up the wooden chair. He held it so the four legs of the chair pointed away from him. Boss stepped a few paces toward the door and ran toward it with the chair. When he hit, the chair was not powerful enough to penetrate the door, so it ricocheted off of the door. Boss landed back onto the floor but jumped back up.
"Alright, the chair's not powerful enough..." Boss glared at it. "So I guess I can use my own body weight..."
Boss poised himself and rammed the door. He bounced off of it back into the floor. He jumped back up and continued ramming the door. Finally, Boss rammed it one last time, and it bounced him off. He landed back onto the ground.
Boss lied there trying to find the energy to get back up and try some more. Pains and aches settled in with the cold, frigid air.
"Okay, I give up." Boss propped himself up on one elbow and continued glaring at the door. "This is useless... I'm never going to get home until after Christmas, that's for sure..."
Later...
"Alright, the party's all set up!" Maxwell turned away from the chalk board. "Now we just have to wait until it comes up and get all of the supplies together. Any suggestions?"
The Ham-Hams shrugged.
"Alright!" Maxwell recovered the chalk board and pushed it back into its corner.
Caitlin glanced toward Natsu, Megan, and Kayla. "Hey, guys, don't we need to go somewhere?"
They glanced back toward her and nodded. "Alright, Ham-Hams, we're out for a while." The four girls got up from the table and walked out. They walked to the Bad Hams Place, inside of it, down the stairs, through the front room, down the corridor, and into the living room where the other Bad Hams were.
Mike looked up at them. "Hashaa, double agents. You're just in time for our Christmas party plans."
"We just finished the clubhouse's over there." The double agents sat down on the rug in front of the warm fire.
Mike nodded as he stood up from his leather chair. "Alright, Bad Hams, let's get started on our plans for the Christmas party. Any ideas right off the bat?"
Caitlin raised her paw in the air. "Ooh! Ooh! Pick me, Mike!"
Mike nodded toward her.
Caitlin stood up. "How about we play Dirty Santa with ornaments!"
"Ooh, good idea..."
"What is Dirty Santa?" Kayla asked.
Caitlin glanced around. "It's where presents, or in our case, we'll use ornaments, are all wrapped up and put in the center. Names are all put into a container, and a name is drawn out. The person picks a package and opens it. This goes on, but if one person who goes next wants one of the ornaments someone else has got, the person with the ornament has got to give it to them. One ornament can only be stolen twice, and whoever has it, that's their ornament officially and no one can take it."
"Oh, I've played that before," Megan remarked.
"It's really fun." Caitlin sat back down.
"Anymore ideas?" Mike inquired.
Natsu stood up. "We could have a present exchange where everyone brings a wrapped present and everyone's names are put into a container. Someone draws the name of someone, and they get the present that the person who they drew from the container brought."
Mike nodded as Natsu sat back down. "Good ideas... Now everyone be here this year for this Christmas dinner... You gallies will just have to leave those guys hanging. Natalie, if you want, you can bring your husband if he knows where he's coming..."
Natsu shrugged. "I'll ask him if he wants to."
"CC, you, too."
Caitlin looked up at Mike with a desperate look in her eyes.
"...Uh... He's still not back?" Mike shot his glance toward the fire.
"No...," CC whispered. "I don't know where he went..."
Stella shot a sharp glare over toward Mike. Mike remarked, "Well, there must be something up, I suppose. I don't know."
Stella sighed and shook her head. Mike took note of this and decided to change the subject quickly. "You know the Christmas parade is in two days... Why don't we do something this year in it?"
"Yeah!" Becky shouted. "Throw paintballs at the little kids! YAY!"
"Ooh, that does sound like fun...," Number 2 mumbled.
"There's also that Hometown Christmas thing," Mike said. "We could go there and have our own fun..."
"Isn't that this evening?" Caitlin glanced around.
"Yeah... Let's all go."