A knock on the door sounded once, twice. Sportacus' hands stilled. Stephanie stretched up and planted a kiss on the tip of his chin, then slid off his lap. She gave Sportacus a brave smile and turned her back to him. She walked down the hall to her room. When she quietly closed the door, he heard the finality of the click.
Sportacus let his guard down. He had never felt so close to tears. For many seconds he bowed his head and scrunched his eyes closed, tight. He took a ragged breath and raised his head. He stared at the hallway Stephanie had walked down. There was another knock on the door, this time louder.
Sportacus mumbled, "Save your memories, Stephanie. Yes, this, is it." Sportacus took several deep breaths then bounded from the sofa to the door.
When he opened the door, Stingy was standing there with a cautious expression on his face.
Sportacus took his superhero stance, feet apart, hands on hips. But, he smiled at Stingy and gave him a, "Good morning, Stingy."
"Good morning, Sportacus." Stingy smiled warily.
"Have you come for your car?"
"Yes, Sportacus."
"Do you understand how serious the situation last night was?"
"Yes, Sportacus."
"Do you know where Ziggy is?"
"Yes, Sporta...I mean, no, Sportacus."
"Can you at least explain what happened yesterday? You boys just didn't seem like yourselves."
"Are you sure you want to know? It's not pretty."
"You throwing up your guts, Stingy, is not pretty. Stephanie smashed flat would not be pretty. Help me understand how you and Ziggy got in the situation you did, last night."
Stingy sat down on the sidewalk and Sportacus joined him. Stingy was concise and told his story without emotion. He began with meeting Ziggy and Stephanie for basketball. He told about meeting Stefan, and all the pop he and Ziggy drank. When he got to the part where Stefan insulted them and Ziggy stole his car, Stingy sniffled a little and blinked away some stray tears.
About halfway through Stingy's recitation, Stephanie came outside. She had gotten dressed and looked ready for the day. She set down a tray of toast accompanied by several different fruit spreads, glasses, and a jug of orange juice. When Stingy began sniffling, Stephanie put her arm around Stingy's shoulders in comfort.
"I'm sorry, Stephanie, for walking away from our basketball game yesterday. And for losing my temper last night. If I hadn't been so angry with Stefan, I may have known what was going on with Stingy, and been able to stop him. Please, Stephanie, will you forgive me?" Stingy begged. He didn't sound like he expected to be forgiven, but at least he asked.
"Of course I forgive you, Stingy." Stephanie gave his shoulders a squeeze. "Maybe I shouldn't have left you with Stefan. Maybe I could have done something. But, it's all maybe. I could have easily ended up in bad shape like you, or even worse!" Stephanie gave Stingy her brightest smile. Then her face clouded over. "I sure would like to get my hands on that Stefan, though. I know I've seen those eyes somewhere before." Stephanie grabbed up a piece of toast and bit into it viciously. Sportacus and Stingy joined her for breakfast.
When they were done, Stingy drove carefully off in his car. He was back to his old self. He waved back as he drove. He had decided to just stay at home for the rest of the day. He had a book on how to be a financial wizard he had been wanting to read.
"See you tomorrow, Stephanie, Sportacus! Bye!"
"By, Stingy!" Stephanie and Sportacus yelled as he drove away.
Stephanie picked up the tray with the remains of breakfast and Sportacus held the door open for her. They both put the kitchen to rights, neither saying much. When the kitchen was finished they moved onto the rest of the house. Finally, they could find nothing more to do. The house was ready for Uncle Milford and Bessie, whenever they got home.
"Sportacus," Stephanie said trying to get his attention.
"Hmm?"
"I'm worried about Ziggy. Will you come with me to see him?" Stephanie asked.
"I'm worried about Ziggy, too. Yes, Stephanie, let's go find him."
They left the house, seemingly almost back to normal. Sportacus leaping, bounding, jumping, and flipping, and Stephanie running to keep up. Every couple of feet, she would do a cartwheel, and she jumped over anything she could. When they arrived at Ziggy's house, Stephanie was only slightly more winded than Sportacus. They both paused to catch a breath. Then they went in.
They opened the door to his bedroom and peeked in.
"I don't see him, Sportacus." Stephanie's head was about a foot below Sportacus'. Sportacus opened the door wider and stepped into the room. They were trying to be quiet, but every step they took, candy wrappers crunched under their feet. They were just about to leave when Stephanie saw the edge of Ziggy's cape sticking out from under the closet door.
Stephanie grabbed Sportacus' hand as he was turning to leave. He looked at their clasped hands, then at Stephanie, then at the closet door she was looking at.. She motioned to it. Sportacus saw the cape, too. They walked over to the closet door. Stephanie bit her lower lip, not sure what to do. Sportacus decided to address the situation head on. He opened the door wide, letting it swing back and hit the wall with a, thump.
Ziggy lay curled up on the floor, eyes puffy from crying, and trails left from tears running down his dirty face. Sportacus gently shook him awake.
"Ziggy. Ziggy, wake up." Ziggy batted at Sportacus' hand and mumbled incoherently.
"Come on, Ziggy. We need your help, Stephanie and I." Ziggy's eyes rolled behind his closed lids, then he bolted upright yelling, "STEPHANIE!" He stared ahead of him in fear.
Sportacus grabbed Ziggy by the shoulders and spoke to him gently.
"It's alright, Ziggy, Stephanie is here. See? She's okay. Take a few deep breaths and calm down." Ziggy looked at Stephanie, at Sportacus, then back to Stephanie. He reached out and touched her shoulder. She smiled at him reassuringly.
"I'm fine, Ziggy. It was all an accident, right? A few bumps and bruises, we can all handle that, can't we? Ziggy?" Stephanie was concerned about how awful Ziggy looked.
He suddenly covered his face with his hands and burst into tears. Sportacus put a hand on one shoulder and Stephanie put a hand on the other. He looked at her and she at him. They were both very concerned about their friend.
"Ziggy, I want to apologize to you," Sportacus said.
"Me! You want to apologize to me? For what?" Ziggy slowly turned off his tears. He looked at Sportacus in disbelief. "After everything I did, YOU want to apologize?" Ziggy shook his head sadly.
"Yes, Ziggy. I let my temper get the better of me. You started to explain and I wouldn't listen. That was wrong."
"But, I almost hurt Stephanie!"
"You didn't hurt Stephanie, though." Sportacus patted his shoulder.
Stephanie spoke up. "Even if I did get hurt, it wouldn't have been all your fault, Ziggy."
"How do you figure that?"
"Well, what kind of idiot am I for stopping and standing in the middle of a street with car barrelling towards me? I had time to move and I didn't." She rolled her eyes and shook her head at her own stupidity.
"So, Ziggy, what do you say, do you want to play some ball this afternoon?" Stephanie asked.
"Sportacus, Stephanie, I'm sorry. I know that's not enough to make up for everything. But, I hope it's a start."
Sportacus patted Ziggy on the back. "Of course it is!"
Stephanie hugged Ziggy. "Are we still friends, Ziggy?"
Ziggy looked at both of them uncertainly, then smiled. "Yeah!"
They all stood up and walked over to the door. Sportacus started to leave the room then stopped and turned to Ziggy.
"Ziggy, I want to know about what you did yesterday. Will you tell me?"
So, Ziggy told Sportacus and Stephanie an almost identical version of Stingy's tale. All three of them frowned when Ziggy got to the part about Stefan.
"What we need to do is find this Stefan. I want to talk to him." Sportacus was flexing his hands into fists again.
"I'll help you look, " Ziggy offered.
"Thank you, Ziggy. Should we meet after lunch and start our search?"
"That sounds good. I am getting hungry," Ziggy replied enthusiastically.
Sportacus shook his head with a lopsided grin. "This has sure been one wild weekend."
Stephanie looked at him, eyes twinkling with mischief, and replied in a husky voice, "Maybe not wild enough." Ziggy looked in amazement at Stephanie. How could she say that? Then he looked at Sportacus. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Ziggy looked back at Stephanie, but she was already heading out the door. He and Sportacus followed her. They could hear snatches of the song she was singing as she skipped down the hall.
"... good stuff ...good stuff ... the best things in life are free..."
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Okay guys, winding down. MeowMix2 - hope you had a great vacation, don't worry I will put The End when I get there, don't panic. Next chapter could take awhile. I've reached the 15 chapter limit here, but don't know how to convert the chapters to stories to put in more chapters. (Does that make sense?) If I can't figure it out, look for Trust Me 2