AUTHORS NOTE: Hey, my mom hogged the computer last night, and my dad was locked out of the bathroom this morning, and I slept in my bathing suit and we had a kind of joking row about it, so...yeah, I haven't had much time to work, and we're going to the museum...oh well. Trying to soften the mood by adding bits of light humour here and there. This chapter is going to be all cute and mushy. Not in a romantic sort of way, kind of brothers and sister fluff. I wonder how many people are going to get the wrong idea sweatdrop

"Um, Chunk, I don't think the cows would mind too much if you used their car," Mikey pointed out.

I was glad the mood was eased. One thing you have to love about kids is they can't stand a serious situation for too long. I remember getting really bored at my mother's funeral. I guess I didn't understand that I'd never see her again, I don't know. I just didn't have the mind set. I was simply tired of the minister talking. I couldn't understand half of the stuff he was saying anyway, I was too little. I just remember him saying how great a person she was, etc. I think they say stuff like that at everyone's funeral. I don't think ours was anything special. It was just another person dying to him, just another day at work. It made me kind of angry to think about it.

Anyway, it's hard for most kids to stay in a serious mind set for too long.

Except for Data, who was still huddled by the window. I crept over to him. "Data."

Mouth sighed. "What'd I tell you? She's a girl, so she just gets in the way."

"She's a hiserdance," Mikey agreed.

"I think you mean 'hindrance,' Mikey," I corrected.

"That's what I said."

I grinned and turned back to the little Asian boy, who continued to deliberately look out the window (and not at me). "Data?"

No reply.

"Data, talk to me, dammit!"

He shook his head and buried his face in a fold of his trenchcoat.

"Lord, everything's ok now, calm down, it wasn't your fault, you didn't do—oh, don't go CRYING on me!" He had started shaking, his frail body racked with silent sobs.

I felt kind of awkward, I never knew what to do or say during these kinds of situations. I'm not a good...comfort-er. And I didn't how to make him understand that it really wasn't his fault.

God, Mikey had said I had screamed something. I'd probably scared everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if everybody on this train thought I really u was /u loony.

I hoped the train was loud and my screams weren't heard by the conductor. Because unless he firmly believed in talking cows, he'd be stopping and checking things out. I could just see him sitting up there right now, shaking, saying "Damn cows are plotting against me."

Haha, cow humour.

"Data, please, just...you didn't do anything!"

His small whimpers were slightly audible now. "I..." he choked. "I didn't mean for anything to happen, Data think. Thought. Data thought...you were going to die..."

Oh my god, he thought he had killed me. That had to be stressful, especially for a kid.

"I'm fine, it wasn't your fault that happened, you know that."

I didn't know what to do at this point, I was out of things to say. So I just hugged him. I could feel lots of gadgets underneath the giant trench. This kid was brilliant. He was a creative genius.

He just went limp and let me hold him, just sobbing and sobbing, getting my clothes wet with tears, I didn't care.

I would make a terrible therapist. I am just a shoulder someone can cry on. I felt like telling him to go get Andy, she'd be better at this kind of thing, she was more passionate, more adequate.

But I also realized I didn't want him to let go. I needed him to be there. I felt like someone was comforting me, it was reassuring to have someone among the living so close, like this little boy would protect me from dying.

Kind of like my mom used to do.

I don't remember any actual situations in which she held me like this, but I can remember the feeling that came with it. Like everything would be ok, nothing could ever hurt me. Maybe they were real memories, maybe they weren't. I didn't care, it made me feel loved. It made me feel like I mattered to someone.

Like I mattered to someone.

I mattered.

Right now I mattered to Data, and he mattered to me.

Suddenly I could feel another body up against me and Data. I stared into Mikey's eyes, and didn't say anything. But I was silently thanking him, thanking him for taking the pressure off of me, thanking him for the extra presence.

Mouth came over too.

Then Data whispered, "I'm crying...because I lost my can opener."

I laughed quietly. "You're terrible!" As I have stated time and time again, I love kids.

The back door of the boxcar opened and closed, and Chunk came in. I turned to look at him, and he looked back at me, with a shocked look on his face.

"What the hell is going on here?" he muttered. "Ah, forget it, I'm going to Andy and Brand's boxcar. Nobody's crying in there."

A muffled voice came out of the pile of little boys. It was nearly inaudible, but sounded suspiciously like, "Shut up, Chunk." I couldn't tell who it came from.

He peeked into the adjacent boxcar, the quickly shut the door, yelling, "I'll leave you two alone!" He wiped his brow, then said dramatically, "I'm going back to the cows." He left the boxcar again, and I left the world of consciousness. This time, though, I didn't leave screaming in panic. I left in a kind of euphoric peace of mind.

"Hey, Loony, wake up!"

I didn't want to wake up.

"Loony!"

Ha, I'd make him work for it.

"Loony!" Something hit me in the face, and I smelled the trademark aroma of locker room after Phys Ed.

I tossed the garment off of my face and fell off of my hay bale, tossing Mikey and Data with me. They lay sprawled on the floor, looking confused at one another.

"MOUTH! What WAS that!"

Mouth laughed. "That was Chunk's jacket. I had to get you to wake up somehow."

"That smells terrible," I said, wincing. "Tell Chunk to wash his jacket every now and again."

Mouth grinned and bounced over to the door of the boxcar that led to Andy and Brand. "Hey guuuuuys, it's time to WAKE UP!"

I took this opportunity in which he had his back to me to run over to him and kick him in the shin. I turned around, his face contorted into a grimace of pain. "What...was that...for?"

"For waking me up," I said simply.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Mikey, laughing.

"AUGH!" came a scream from the cow boxcar on the other side of ours.

"Oh goodness, it's Chunk," said Data, looking annoyed and picking himself up from the floor. "Go see what it is, Luna, please."

I stretched and threw open the door to the other boxcar. Chunk was hopping around, grabbing at the seat of his pants, which were seemingly being attacked by a pair of plastic chompers.

Brand and Andy chose that moment to emerge. "Oh my GOD, Chunk, why are the Pinchers of Peril attacking your ass!" Brand shouted. Andy was doubled over with laughter.

"It's not funny, guys, get 'em off me!" Chunk yelled. "I can't reach!" Apparently his posterior was too big and he couldn't reach the place where the Pinchers of Peril had gotten their grip.

"Great job, Double-O-Negative! Get 'em off me!" Chunk yelled again.

"I'm James Bond 007!" said Data angrily.

"Data, please..." Andy gasped, tears streaming down her face. "Take them off."

Data grumbled, but grabbed Chunk and opened the jaws.

Everyone collapsed on the floor in helpless, breathless laughter, except for Chunk, whose face was red and possessed a very indignant expression.

After about a minute, Mouth gasped, "What...were you doing with the Pinchers of Peril, anyway, Chunk?"

"Well, see, I was bored, all you guys were sleeping, so I decided it would be fun to torture the cows in the other car," he explained. "So I stole Data's Pinchers and used it to attack their tails."

"You still didn't answer my question," Brand said. "How did you manage to get the Pinchers of Peril stuck on your ass?"

"Um, guys," Mouth interrupted. "I woke you all up for a REASON."

We all looked at him inquiringly.

He looked back at us.

After about ten seconds of looking at one another, Mikey said, "So tell us the reason!"

"I saw a Jajowe sign."

"And?"

"50 miles to Jajowe territory."

Everyone groaned. "You woke me up for THAT?" Mikey asked.

"You threw a sweaty gym garment at me for THAT?"

"You interrupted our...never mind," Brand stopped himself, turning red.

"They took so long because they had to get their clothes back on," Mouth decided.

"Why you little..." Brand flew at Mouth, and wrestled in the hay.

After about a minute, Brand stood up. "I got you back."

Mouth looked confused. "But...you didn't even TRY to hurt me."

Brand laughed. "Think again. Look at your hair."

Mouth gasped and felt his hair. It was full of hay. "Now look what you did!"

The train slowed.

"We're stopping!" shouted Andy.

"But the sign said it was another 50 miles!" argued Data.

"It's getting dark," Brand pointed out.

The engine gave out, and we screeched to a halt. "Oh no," I said. "Do you think maybe...the conductor will come back here?"

"Why would he do that?" Mouth asked, picking bits of hay out of his hair.

"To feed the cows," I reminded him. "If the conductor is leaving the train for the night, he'll have to feed the cows, you know."

Brand's face fell. "Aw, shit! Where are we gonna go?"

I thought fast. "He'll probably get one hay bale per boxcar so he won't clean out this car. This car is closer to him than Brand and Andy's car. Everyone get into Brand and Andy's boxcar and hide behind the biggest stack of hay bales you can find. Don't leave anything in here. Chunk, pick up your candy wrappers, please."

"Are we gonna get caught, Luna?" Mikey asked.

"I hope not," I said truthfully. But what if he didn't take the hay from our boxcar? What if he did end up coming back here? We would hide, that's what. We won't get caught.

I hoped nobody would sneeze.