Chapter Seven
By the time Joanne arrived, the kids were absolutely bouncing off the walls. The twins were running around insanely, screeching and jumping on the furniture. Greta was still wailing, and Mark was still convinced it was because he was holding her. Roger had had to give up on Thomas to help Angel and Collins chase the twins, so Thomas was now jumping all around on the furniture, pretending to be a rock star with an air guitar. Lucy was toddling away from Maureen as fast as she could, laughing and giggling every time she slipped out of Maureen's grasp. Joanne walked into the loft, watching the chaos.
"What on earth is going on!"she demanded.
"The kids are a little hyper-active today!"Mark called over all the noise.
"I can seethat!"Joanne called back. "What did you do to them?"
"Well, they got a good night's sleep, they rested all morning...oh yeah, and we gave them sugar cookies for breakfast,"Mark admitted.
"You WHAT!"Joanne cried. "Are you crazy!"
"It was Collins and Angel!"Mark insisted, quickly running away. Joanne sighed, shaking her head.
"Now I'm starting to see why God did not bless these people with children..."
"Angel, get Sam!"
"Who?"
"SAM!"
"Which one is that!"
"The BOY!"
"Oh!"
"AHHHH! PUT ME DOWN!"
"WRONG BOY, ANGEL!"
"Well you weren't specific!"
"Oh no! Oh my God! Oh God!"
"What's wrong Mark?"
"I can't find Greta!"
"The baby!"
"YOU LOST THE BABY!"
"I just put her down, and now she's gone!"
"You LOST the BABY?"
"YES, I LOST THE BABY!"
"I have her."
"What! Thomas!...why do you have the baby!"
"She was gonna roll off the counter!"
"Oh!...well then, thank you."
"ANGEL! GET SAM!"
"I have her!"
"That's KRISTY! Sam is the boy, remember!"
"Oh right!"
"Lucy! Oh Lucy! Come out for Auntie Maureen! I'll give you candy!"
It was utter pandemonium all over the loft. The gang was running around hysterically after the crazed kids, who were yelling and stomping all around. About a half hour after Joanne's arrival, Mimi showed up, wandering into the middle of the hysteria unexpectedly.
"Hey guys, I-"Lucy accidentally went running right into Mimi.
"MIMI, GRAB HER!"Maureen hollered. Mimi grabbed the little girl quickly, picking her up.
"Ahem."They all turned to see none other than Benny, standing at the door, looking furious.
"Oh...hi Benny,"Mark greeted awkwardly. He was holding Greta up in the air as she screamed. Collins was holding Sam upside down by the ankles. Angel was leaning over the back of the couch, her behind up in the air. Roger was holding Kristy in his arms as she kicked and fought with him, and Maureen and Mimi were both holding a struggling Lucy. Thomas was yet again crouched in the corner, a frightened look on his face. "What can we do for you?"
"Could you please try to keep it down up here! I'm in the middle of a meeting with my-"
"Father-in-law?"Roger finished. Benny sighed.
"Yes. And some very important business execs. So try and keep the kids calm for a little bit, or I will start charging you for this!"he threatened. And he turned, walking out the door. Mark made a face as Benny walked away, and Greta stopped crying, giggling a little.
"Is the bad guy gone?"Thomas asked, crawling out of the corner.
"Yeah, he's gone..."Mark said.
"What a jerk! I'd like to see him come up here and try to take care of a kid!"Maureen yelled after Benny.
"Grrr,"Lucy added.
"I hope his meeting blows,"Collins said, lowering Sam back onto his feet. Angel lifted herself back up.
"Somehow I doubt that will happen. Things always seem to go just the way Benny Coffin plans them,"she pointed out.
"Yeah. Just once I'd like to see some of HIS plans get messed up,"Roger agreed, also putting Kristy down.
"Well right now, I could care less about Benny and his stupid meeting. All I wish is that these guys didn't have so much energy!"Mark moaned, looking down at Greta, who was now hiccuping. Suddenly Maureen's face lit up.
"That's it!"she cried. The others all looked at her curiously.
"Uh oh. You have that look. It's never good when you have that look..."Joanne said. Maureen grinned.
"Come on! I have a plan..."
Fifteen minutes later, the bohemians and the kids were all ready to go...Maureen had given them all pots, pans and utensils, told them all to put on their shoes, had come up with a dance that involved the pots and pans, and had instructed them all to 'moo' as loud as they could.
"Okay...on the count of three, we all start the dance, all banging our pots and pans. Then, when I give the signal, we start moo-ing too! Okay?"Maureen asked. The kids(and Angel)all nodded excitedly.
"Great! Are you ready, Roger?"Roger stood in the corner with his guitar all hooked up to the amplifier. He gave a thumbs up sign.
"Okay, here it goes! Three...two...one...GO!"Roger began playing horribly on his guitar, and it was as loud as possible. The others all ran around the loft, making sure to stomp their feet down as hard as they could as they ran, banging their pots and pans. Maureen lead them all, singing as she jumped up and down on Mark's bed. Collins, Angel, Joanne and Mimi all ran around with the kids, screeching and banging their pots happily. Mark stomped around, bouncing Greta, who was screaming along(though not crying)and Roger continued to play as bad as he possibly could.
Not two minutes later, Benny was back in the doorway.
"What are you...?"he trailed off as he looked around the room at them all. They all turned, glaring at him as he walked in.
"START MOO-ING!"Maureen commanded. And they all turned to Benny, moo-ing as loud as they could. Benny scowled, opening and closing his mouth several times, trying to decide whether or not to yell back...finally he gave up, shooting them one last dangerous look and slamming the door behind him before storming down the stairs. Roger immediately stopped, as Maureen began to cheer.
"Yay! We did it!"she cried. All the kids began cheering too, as well as the bohemians.
"That was SO much fun!"Sam cried. "We never get to do THAT at home!"
"I wanna be like Maureen when I grow up!"Kristy exclaimed.
"I liked when Roger played the guitar!"Thomas added.
"MOO!"Lucy continued to yell. Greta let out a happy squeal. The gang all grinned as the kids chatted excitedly about the mini-protest.
An hour later, all the kids were collapsed on their sleeping bags, exhausted from all the excitement, and the sugar.
"Maureen Johnson, you are a genius!"Collins cried, hugging Maureen.
"Not only did we successfully ruin Benny's day...but we absolutely wore out the little devils!"Angel said happily.
"A protester's work is never done. Why not incorporate kids? Actually, that's not a bad idea, I should start getting poor kids to be in my protests-"Maureen began.
"We'll talk about that later..."Joanne, also Maureen's production manager, interrupted.
"Wow...if only Cindy knew what we were doing. I don't think she'd ever let the kids come back here again!"Mark laughed.
"You say that like it's a bad thing..."Roger snorted.
"Well, I'm kind of having fun,"Mimi admitted.
"Yeah, they're not SO bad once you get used to them,"Collins agreed.
"Makes you wonder what we would be like as parents, huh?"Mimi said. The group all stopped, thinking about that idea...and they all just burst out laughing.