Sighing, Babs hung up the phone on the clerk's desk, shooting him a strained smile. "Bad news?" he drawled, uncaring.
She turned to him, looking him deep in the eyes. "People think bad news is the worst thing you can hear. They're wrong. No news is much worse. Even in worst-case scenarios, at least you know. No news means no finality, no leads, no nothing." Babs leaned against the counter. "It's a bootleg sunrise. The day can't really begin without knowing where he is or how he's doing. So the sunrise must be stolen. It must be a bootleg sunrise that I see every morning."
Not one for philosophical thoughts, the clerk simply shrugged and turned back to the rag mag he was reading, giving her no more indications of interest. She paced the interior of the small, dilapidated lobby, half-formed thoughts in her head and no words coming to her lips. What seemed an eternity later, the heavy wooden door separating the lobby from the cell block flew open to reveal Yakko standing in the doorway, looking considerably wan, his shirt slightly askew and a hardened look harboring emotion on his face. "You know you've got a minor in there?" he said in a steely voice to the clerk.
"What, the kid?" the clerk said behind the desk. Babs' ears perked.
"He's only thirteen." Yakko threw a meaningful gaze at Babs, as if confirming that which she dared not hope for. He jabbed back at the cell hallway. "You can't hold him."
A lump formed in Babs' throat, knowing instinctively that her son was near, but she maintained her lawyer cool. This was too important to screw up.
Yakko straightened his shirt slightly and brought himself up to his full height. He knew very well that the jail could hold a thirteen year old, but hoped the clerk was ignorant enough to believe anyone who looked like he knew what he was talking about. The clerk, for his part, started to look a little anxious.
"I can," he warbled, in a hideous attempt at seeming competent. "I can, and will." The icy stares from the two toon lawyers standing in front of him made a shiver run down his spine. "M-My boss won't be in until tomorrow. There's really nothing I can do – "
"Tomorrow?" Babs interjected with a mirthless laugh. "If you don't let the minor free, by tomorrow your 'boss' will have a court summons on his desk." She smiled smugly, eager to give a little of the clerk's smarminess right back to him. "I'll call my office right back and they can FedEx me the appropriate forms. They'll be here by tomorrow morning, and I know I certainly wouldn't mind bringing you and your boss to the witness stand to explain why you're trying to hold a thirteen year old kid."
"Unless Boomtown authorities want to give sued by the two best lawyers in Toontown," Yakko started with a disaffected brushing of his sleeve, finally back in his element, "…and I don't think the judge would be too keen on explanations why the only local lawyers were too drunk to even read the rights to those imprisoned. Toons or not, they're still American citizens. This ain't your ballgame, mac. It's ours."
The clerk's expression betrayed both fear and confusion. He threw up his hands. "But there's nothing I can do, all right?" he said in a meek voice.
Yakko, cool as Dylan, sidled to the clerk's side and jangled a set of keys hooked to his belt. "I think you can do plenty," he said in a dangerous voice, his eyes not leaving the terrified clerk's. Yakko smiled darkly. "You made a mistake in letting an honest lawyer back into those cells, buddy. Ignorance can't close the eyes of those who know the truth, so open sesame. Got it?"
"H-He'd still have to be brought in for questioning," the clerk whispered up to Yakko, who immediately backed away in a false show of the clerk's authority.
"There won't be a plane leaving this island for a week. You said it yourself. The only thing that'll be coming and going out of this island are the mailboats. He's all yours for questioning, but sticking him in a holding cell until the lawyers sober up is quite a different demand," Yakko told him, resisting the urge to point condescendingly at the small man.
"Just do it, sir," Babs said in a tired voice. This was a tactic she'd often have to use in situations back in Toontown; make the opponent feel that you knew the score and were tired of the game. Calling him 'sir' was just an extra slap in the face. "Or we won't hesitate to take action. Hell, we gotta do something on our vacation, right babe?" she said, smiling a knowing smile at Yakko.
"And we aren't such big drinkers, so we've got a lot of free time on our hands," Yakko said. "And man, oh man, we like working vacations!"
The clerk jumped up from his chair. "All right, all right!" he sighed in defeat. He jostled the keys from his belt loop and began to lead the couple down the cell block corridor. "God, I am so gonna get fired for this…" he muttered to himself as he picked out the right key.
"Harpo?" whispered Babs to Yakko. It was all she needed to say. She knew he'd understand her cryptic mutter. Yakko gave her a funny lopsided smile and slung an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her to him gently.
"Harpo," he whispered back. Babs swallowed a sob.
Upon seeing Yakko had returned with a clerk bearing keys, Harpo jumped up from his seat and hurried over to the bars. Yakko stood behind the clerk, making a shushing motion with his hand. Harpo nodded slightly and threw a look behind him to make sure the other toons (and Red) had understood also. They seemed to, for although they recognized Yakko as their salvation, they only sat demurely looking at the floor. "You can go," the clerk grumbled as he swung open the door. Harpo darted out with the others hot on his heels, but the clerk slammed the door back into the faces of Red, Dot, Scooby, Red, Wakko and Buster, who all looked as shocked as Harpo did at this action. The clerk sneered slightly at those still behind bars. "I meant the kid," he said. "You all are staying put."
Both Yakko and Babs longed to throw their arms around Harpo after seeing him again in months, but the charade had to be upheld and they abstained. Harpo seemed to have momentarily forgotten that his aunt and uncle were now on the same side of the bars as he was; all he could focus on was his second family still locked behind the steel door. "Wait a minute!" he cried to no one in particular and everyone at the same time. "Wait a minute, you've got to let them out, too!"
The clerk jerked his head in the direction of Yakko and Babs. "They tell me you're a minor. We can't hold a minor. Not until we've got everything we need on you, that is." He grinned malevolently. "And that should only take a few days at most. Don't worry. This isn't a permanent separation."
Harpo swiveled to meet the gaze of his aunt and uncle, a pleading look on his face, one that was ready to erupt into anger at the slightest provocation. "I want to stay with them," he practically shouted. "Make him let me back in!"
"You're not going anywhere but with us, kid," Yakko said, doing his best to keep any and all emotion out of his voice. Lawyer training had come in handy. "He said it. You're a minor, and you're not supposed to be in there."
"Yes I am!" Harpo cried, clutching the bars in his hands, looking at his compatriots on the other side. "That's exactly where I'm supposed to be! Put me back!"
"Come on," the clerk said gruffly as he grabbed Harpo by the shoulders and began to steer him towards the lobby. "Get the hell out, and don't be surprised when a couple of cops show up looking for you in a few days, got it? Don't try to run because there's no where to go."
"I can't leave them!" Harpo protested indignantly. "Put me back! Put me back!"
"No noble thoughts, kiddo," came Wakko's voice from down the hall. "It's not often life deals you a 'get out of jail free' card. Take it when you can get it!"
"Dad! But – wait – "
Alas, it was too late. The heavy wooden door slammed shut behind them once the foursome were in the sanctity of the empty lobby. Harpo struggled free of the clerk and backed into a corner, not sure if he was angrier at the clerk for pushing him away from the others or at Yakko and Babs, who had initiated it. "Who do you think you are!" he shouted. He couldn't think of anything else to say, his head clouded with the rage born of perceived injustice, and he shouted again, "What do you think you are!"
"They're your legal guardians until you can be brought to questioning, that's what," the clerk explained as he signed a few exit papers before throwing his pen back on the desk and heaving himself back into his normal spot. "Now get out of here. I'll probably already get canned for all of this, so you could at least do me the courtesy of getting out of my sight."
Fuming, Harpo threw open the front doors and marched out into the street, taking refuge under a street lamp and trying to lose himself in the music and dancing before him. He couldn't tell if the sporadic light in the sky was coming from some off-shore lightning storm or if it was simply the bright lights of carnival that were illuminating the sky. Yakko and Babs emerged a moment later, and silently took their place next to him. Yakko lit a cigarette and dragged heavily, and was more than a little surprised when Harpo grabbed it from him a second later and took a few deep drags of his own. Sensing reprimands wouldn't be logical or even helpful in this situation, Yakko simply sighed.
Leaving the rest there to rot, I suppose. Wants me all to himself. That was probably the cause of that one-sided spat we had back in Toontown, Harpo thought to himself, taking another drag on the cigarette and noticing it was a much better brand than the cheap stuff the crew usually smoked. Having lived in a kind of anarchy for the past four months, when no one said or did anything to stop someone from doing exactly what they wanted, Harpo knew he had changed, and even he couldn't count the changes as all positive. It was a fair trade anyway, he mused as Babs stepped nearer to him.
Someone in a nearby bar was doing an old John Lee Hooker song on an equally old electric guitar, and Harpo tried to get lost in the music, not wanting to hear any words except those of a man impersonating a legend. However, his aunt's voice was perhaps the only voice on Earth that could cut through to him, and despite not wanting to, he heard her say, "We'll get them out, Harpo. We promise."
The only promises worth making are the ones you know you can keep, Harpo said to himself in his head, not looking up at Babs. Don't lie, Babs. For God's sake, don't lie.
"Looting a wreck. So it was another one of Dot's schemes. I should have known. I should have known," Yakko muttered to himself. Harpo heard him and threw him a sharp look, silently daring his uncle to say one more word against Dot. Yakko gave Harpo a somewhat cold stare of his own. "I know you didn't have a lot of options, kid. But what would you have done if Babs and I didn't just happen to be on this island tonight?"
"Not now, Yakko," Babs said in an irritated voice. "We found Harpo, and we know where the rest are. We're a helluva lot farther ahead than we were a few hours ago. Now all we can do is find a way to get them all out of there," she pointed back to the dingy jail. Looking back down at Harpo, Babs' emotional fortress broke and she suddenly wrapped her arms around the small figure leaning against the lamp post, holding him tightly to her. The tears she thought she'd been holding back did not come, almost as if the incredible array of relief was too much to express at a moment so close to their discovery.
Harpo didn't hug back though some part of him wanted to very badly. Instead, he took a last long drag of the cigarette and threw it to the ground, breaking the hug. Yakko, too, wanted to hug his nephew, but knew that if Babs' hug was not returned, his most certainly wouldn't be either. "Come on, kid. You know us better than this," he said softly.
No I don't, Harpo thought fiercely to himself. I thought I did, but I don't.
Some of this thought must have been expressed on the thirteen year old's face, for Yakko sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry about that, Harpo," he said, meaning their fight back in Toontown. "Truly I am."
Harpo threw him a questioning glance but said nothing, remaining stoically silent.
"I…I don't know why I did it," Yakko said. He looked thoughtful for a moment before answering his own question in a shaky voice, "No. I know why. Because I'm a complete and utter asshole, that's why." Harpo looked up at his uncle, more than a little surprised. "At the risk of sounding like a bad movie, you're the most important person in my life. And in Babs' life too. I couldn't leave you thinking that I didn't care about you, that I didn't think about you every second of the day. If you live the rest of your life thinking that I'm a jerk, that's all right with me – but I at least wanted you to know how much you meant to me. And that if you'd let me, I'd spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."
Not long enough, Harpo immediately thought. He grimaced, ashamed and confused by his own thoughts. He kicked aimlessly at the ground.
"Look, let's get something to eat, all right?" Babs said finally, not able to take the silence. "I'm famished, and Harpo probably is too. Come on."
Yakko and Babs strayed into a nearby café, watching Harpo as they went and silently praying he would follow them. Harpo's gaze didn't leave the asphalt but he could feel them go. Sighing and looking up at the stars, he observed the perfect order of the cosmos above him and thought, The stars mock my own shambled life. They fucking mock me. He gritted his teeth slightly but noticed a rumbling in his stomach. He'd have to go with Yakko and Babs eventually since there was no way to get off the island, and decided a free meal didn't sound bad. Turning, he ambled into the café, his thoughts both billions of miles away and right there on Earth, where it seemed nothing good came of anything anymore…