hey all. chapter 10. lots of uploading today. lots of free time. read and review, ok?

Cheers,
            Kristine and Cimmy

disclaimer: same as the previous chapters. see chapter 8 for official, long, typed out disclaimer.

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Chapter 10: The Problems With Puppets
By NYgoldfish54

Dwayne's POV

We're standing on line for Splash Mountain. Julie is talking to Jeff and Sammie. Cecilia is talking with Portman, Fulton, and Anthony mainly about Fred, but I can't hear what she's saying. Charlie and Adam are having their usual arguments, this time about chicken soup, and if it's better with or without carrots. Charlie and Adam are dumber than I am sometimes. Luis is talking to Anna and Matt, two of the kids Lex and Jeff hang out with. Averman, Goldberg, and Kenny are talking about ways to sedate Connie, who's bouncing up and down talking to Guy. I'm standing here with Russ, who's talking about the Ducks to Chris, another of Lex and Jeff's friends.

We're explaining the Junior Goodwill Games and about the team from Iceland we had to play.

"They were really big, weren't they, cowboy?" Russ says.

"Huge," I agree.

"Did they play dirty?" Chris asks.

"Very dirty," Russ said.

"Dirtier than a pig rolling around in a mud hole," I emphasize. Chris gives me a funny look, and I flash my smile. People think I'm stupid, but I'm not. I know what goes on better than people think. Okay, I don't always understand all the big vocabulary words, but I get along. Russ is a good translator too. He'll explain to me what's going on if I don't understand.

"We were playing without Banks for a good part of the tournament, they hurt him pretty bad, but he made it back for the last game. I had taken his spot on the roster, but Captain Conway gave up his spot so both Banks and I could play," Russ explains to Chris.

"No shit? That's nice of him. Why didn't he just let you ride the bench instead?" Chris asks.

"I've thought about that many times," says Russ. "I think it had something to do with my knuckle puck. What do you think, Cowboy?"

"I think Charlie's just a nice guy, Russ. He's captain of this team for a reason. Remember last year?" I say.

Charlie went through a rough spot last year, but we all did. We had a tough new coach who took away our Duck jerseys, and the Ducks were nearly tossed out of school. Preppies at Eden Hall wanted us out, and Charlie left, and the team started to crumble. But Coach Bombay got Charlie to come to his senses, and Charlie came back, and we got to know our new coach. Coach Orion drilled us really hard, but we did beat the Varsity in the JV/Varsity showdown. Portman hadn't been there and showed up during the second intermission. He brought us new life. We were pretty damn impressive. Goldberg scored the winning goal with no time left and the Ducks won, 1-0. It was all dramatic and cliché an incredibly sappy, sort of like one of those feel good Disney movies. But we won, it was a happy ending, and that's really all that matters.

"I'll never forget that day, or that game," Russ says to me. I know which game he's talking about. Obviously the JV/Varsity game. But I know he means a different day than the day the game took place. He's talking about the day two days before the game, when Coach Orion gave us back our Duck jerseys.

"Me neither, partner, me neither," I nod. Chris seems to realize that he shouldn't ask questions, and Russ has a far away look in his eyes, like he's remembering.

"Is this line ever going to move?" Portman groans loudly, jerking me out of my memories. "We've been in the same spot for about half an hour now. Somebody, do something!"

"And what do you suggest we do, Portman?" Charlie asks him.

Portman gave a sheepish grin then says, "I don't know. You're the brains of the operation, Charlie."

"Well, I can't do anything," Charlie says to him.

Adam coughed something into his hand that sounded strangely like 'typical', but I won't swear to it. Charlie and Adam fight a lot, but they like each other. They're friends. They're just…idiots, I guess, would be the most accurate word.

Just then, Portman's prayers were answered, and the line started to move. When it was finally our turn, we fit in two raft things. The attendants closed the gates, and we began to float away into the darkness.

***

Russ's POV

Ok, I don't like this ride. I really, really don't like it. We're floating in these raft things, a little upward but mostly level, along this river cavern thing. It smells kind of funky in here, plus, they're playing the song Zippity-Doo-Dah over and over again, and there's all the scary puppet things. There's something entirely too weird and friendly and colorful about them. They're kind of sinister, in a way, with their not-quite-real smiles. This evil fox and his minions are trying to eat this rabbit, from what I can tell. They keep setting up traps for him, but he keeps escaping…Oh no…now they've caught him, and there's a turn up ahead…oh wait, the rabbit is escaping…but now I can't see where the tunnel is heading next. We keep drifting forward, and drop a little. All the characters seem to be waving at us…the car ahead of ours disappears, and I hear Cecilia scream.

Dwayne and I look at each other, and we're both thinking the same thing.

"What the he-" Luis starts from behind us, but he doesn't have time to finish his question. Just then, day light and fresh non-funky-smelling air hits us, and for a brief moment, I can see all over the park- we're high up, over looking most of the park and there's a huge drop in front of us- and then we're flying down on this thing and when we hit the bottom…SPLASH.

The boat made a big noise, but I didn't really get all wet. I guess that's ok, I have no desire to be soggy all day. I'm a skater, not a swimmer. We float to the end of the ride, and get out. The others are waiting for us. Everyone is pretty much smiling, except Cecilia. She's rather pale and upset looking.

Connie, of course, is bouncing all around excited and happy, oblivious to the look of horror on Cee's face. "Let's do it again! Let's do it again!" she chants.

"Connie, calm down," Guy puts a hand on her shoulder, and she at least stops bouncing.

"I am not going on that again," Cee says.

"Neither am I," I say.

"Why, Russ, are you scared of heights?" Averman prods.

"No," I say.

"What's the matter then?"

"It was those stupid puppets with their weird grins. Gave me the creeps," I say. The height didn't scare me at all. I wish there was more height and less puppets.

"You're afraid of the puppets?" asked Goldberg in disbelief.

"Not afraid, exactly, just-" I think of them and I shudder "-they're not for me."

"Well, let's do something else for now," Adam says. "We can torment Russ on the bus ride back to the hotel about how he's afraid of big, plastic puppets." That bastard!

"Craptacular," I mumble, slightly annoyed, knowing I should have made up some lie instead of admitting the puppets were emotionally scarring to me.

"What do you want to do next? What's next?" Charlie says quickly, sensing an argument. He's pretty good at stopping other people at fighting. Too bad he can't control himself when he gets into arguments with Banksie.

"Well," says Jeff looking around, "Thunder Mountain Roller Coaster is right over there. We could do that."

"Yeah, coasters are fun," says Fulton.

Forty minutes later, Fulton was saying "That's the worst coaster ever."

"I somehow think it was more for 8 year olds than 15 year olds, but hey, none of us has ever been here before so we had to do it," said Kenny. Then he began to sing again. "The wheels on the train go round and round…"

Something about Kenny singing that song makes me wish I had gone with Lex and Fred. He's kind of scary when he sits and sings and looks evil…it's almost as if he's trapped inside his own head. It's kind of evil, sinister. A lot like the puppets.

"What's next?" Matt asks. Anna takes out a map.

"Hey, let's go check out some of the old classics," she says. "We can see the Haunted Mansion, the 'It's a Small World' ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hall of Presidents, and the Country Bear Jamboree."

"Sounds like a plan to me," says Sammie.

And so we're off. As long as The Hall of Presidents doesn't have any overly friendly, colorful, plastic, I-could-be-alive-and-hack-you-to-death puppets, I should be fine.