CHAPTER 7

A male voice filled the attic within a few seconds.
"Gooood afternoon…this is the one and only, handsome, fabulous Pronto...WHACK…Ow, geez, woman! And you're listening to Radio Free Roscoe…"

A brief guitar chord sequence played, and a female voice chimed, "88.1 on your radio dial!"

"Thank you Pronto and Shady Lane for the intro," said a second male voice. "I'm Question Mark…"

Scott's eyes widened. The label on the box…

"I'm Question Mark, and I'm wondering, does it seem that Principal Waller has almost reached his goal of destroying every iota of independence in HRHS? I mean, today, he banned putting up pictures and posters in lockers! What's the point? The lockers are shut most of the day anyway!"

"Yeah, you're telling me, I had a really good pic of Anna Kournikova in mine…WHACK…I'm telling ya Shady, stop doing that…"

"Well," said the female voice, "Let's make up for the loss of our 2-D celebrity mementos with a good song. Smog?"

A third, deep male voice spoke. "Here's the Pettit Project with their latest, 3 Cheers 4 Me."

CHAPTER 8

As the song played, Scott looked at Jack. Everything was falling into place. "Our parents…they had their own radio station!"

"Illegally, too, I bet."

"My dad…he was Question Mark. Your dad was Pronto…"
"Yeah, I guessed that when he mentioned Anna Kournikova…"

Scott continued. "…Your mom was Shady Lane, and Mr. Strong, he was Smog. Those pictures were taken in the station…that explains all the equipment. And the headphones in the box."

Jack stared at the headphones as if they had magical powers. Scott, however, was wondering about something.

"Strange…I wonder why they never told us about it. They told us about other stuff from when they were our age…"

"Oh, I don't know, Scott. Maybe it's because you always ask a zillion questions every time you don't know every single bit of information! You could be Question Mark, for crying out loud…"

Scott pretended not to hear Jack.

"We should tell Riley and Robin about this. I'm going to call them now."

Jack snorted. "Aw, they won't care. They'd rather play with their dollies and talk about sunshine and marshmallows…I bet that's what they're doing right now…"

CHAPTER 9

Riley and Robin were in the Brennan's basement, playing their moms' old guitar and bass. They were practicing a song they wrote, but it wasn't exactly perfect…

If opposites attract

Then I'm rubber and you're glue

But we still go together

Like the ingredients in a stewwww!

Yeah!

Riley groaned.

"That sucked out loud. I mean, it didn't even make sense."

"Obviously we didn't inherit our mom's musical talent," said Robin as she unplugged the bass from the amp.

Riley paced on the carpet nervously.
"Robs, we have to think of something, eventually. The talent show's in…what, two weeks? We've got to let everyone know that we're not pathetic, loner freshmen, that we're…we're…"

"Semi-pathetic, loner, freshmen?" suggested Robin.

"Yeah, that's it."

RING, RING, rang the telephone. Riley saw by the caller ID that it was Scott.

"Hey."

"Yeah, hey, can you-and Robin, if she's there-come over to my place?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Well, we've found out something interesting. About our parents."

"What about them?" asked Riley. Scott was never included details.

"Just come over."

"But…"

"Ok, bye."

Riley hung up the phone and faced Robin.

"We're going to Scott's house."
"Ok…um, will Jack be there?"

"Probably. Why?"

"No reason. None at all."

CHAPTER 10

Robin's golden brown hair flew in her face as she and Riley pedaled down Roscoe Ave. on their bikes. She could taste the hairspray as a multitude of strands stuck to her lips. It took something really important to get her to go out in weather like this, because she liked riding in the wind about as much as she liked the song they wrote.

They rode around the corner to Fourth Street where the McGraths lived. As they pulled into the familiar driveway, Jack stuck his head out the attic window and threw what appeared to be a chewed wad of gum at them.

"Hey, how's it going, Chia Pet?" snapped Robin as she pulled the pink glob out of her already tangled hair.

Jack touched his sideburns, offended, and retreated back into the attic.

Riley rolled her eyes as they parked their bikes. "Sorry, Robs. Sometimes that guy is just so…irritating! He'll never grow up."

"Yeah…never," said Robin with a weak smile.

Instead of throwing the gum away, she placed it in her pocket.

CHAPTER 11

The girls walked into the McGrath's home only to encounter a very bad smell and the beeping of the smoke alarm. They saw Robbie in the kitchen fanning the alarm with oven mitt in hand. On the counter was a pan of green mush with a fine layer of black crust.

"Mr. McGrath," they said in unison, "What happened?"

Robbie coughed and replied, "Well, it's me and Eve's anniversary tomorrow…I was trying to cook asparagus-tuna casserole-it's her favorite, not mine- and I got Celsius and Fahrenheit mixed up when I baked it. Er…you won't tell her, will you?"

"Of course not," said Riley, "But I see a fast-food place in your near future."

Holding their noses, they headed up the narrow staircase that led to the attic.