Authors Note: Wow! That was fast! Only a couple of days and Chapter two is out. I apologize for such a long authors note at the beginning of Chapter one, but note: this is my first fan fiction, so I'm still getting used to how the stories are formatted. After the such mushy beginning at Chapter One, I decided to make Chapter Two a little more funny and comical. Originally I was going to title this one "The Inn" and you'd see how the Benbow was doing after about a year, but B.E.N.'s intro was so long I had to put it all in as one chapter. Please comment/review on this, if you don't I'LL EAT YOUR BRAINS! Just kidding Anyway enjoy!
Chapter 2: B.E.N.'s Black Surprise
Jim made his way down the stairs tip-toeing as he went along. He didn't want to wake his mother, more importantly anyone else. When Jim finally reached the bottom of the stairs he became slightly nervous. Ever since Jim brought B.E.N. back from Treasure Planet, B.E.N. had always (though he doesn't mean too) scare Jim at the most inappropriate times. Even though B.E.N. is programed with human intelligence, he is still a robot, which means he doesn't really need to sleep, unless he chooses too. So the thought of B.E.N., staying up all night sort of frighted Jim, even though he knew B.E.N. wouldn't do him or his family any harm, it still kinda creped him out.
"Morph, is he around?" Jim whispered, looking around nervously, as if expecting B.E.N. to pop out of nowhere. Morph turned to his left then to his right, and then burbled to Jim, "Coast-clear."
No sooner had Jim took his first step into the dinning hall (the stairway leads into the dinning hall, I think) Then B.E.N. dashed out in front of Jim and gave his good morning squeeze. "RISE AND SHINE JIMMY! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU FOR SINCE... EVER! SO HOW'S MY BEST BUDDY DO-Mpppht!"Jim had finally managed to get one hand free of B.E.N.'s hug-death-trap and put it over B.E.N.'s mouth to keep him from causing such a racket.
"B.E.N.," Jim began slowly and quietly, as if hoping to calm B.E.N. down a bit. "If you didn't notice, it's summer, and some of the guests are still sleeping! We wouldn't want to wake them up now, would we?" Jim asked in a suggestive tone. B.E.N., with his mouth snapped shut could only do nothing but shake his head vigorously. "Mmm-mm, Mmm-mm!" He muffled, still shaking his head. Jim sighed with a bit of relief and annoyance, and let go of his mouth. People were B.E.N.'s weak spot and Jim knew it.
B.E.N. loved the guests at the Inn, and the guests loved him. B.E.N. was the people-person of the Inn, he greeted the guests, he entertained the guests, he served the guests, he dismissed the guests. Basically anything B.E.N. did at the Inn had to do with people since his navigational purposes are of really no use to the Benbow that much. When they first brought B.E.N. to the Inn he was absolutely terrified at all the people that came there. But after at least a year of getting accustomed to civilization again, B.E.N. has quite enjoyed all the people at the Inn and he almost knows the name of everyone on Montressor.
"Sorry Jimmy, sorry.." B.E.N. whispered sheepishly, taking Jim out of his "circle of hug-death." Then he suddenly looked taken aback and started, "Wait..wait..wait! I didn't wake you up did I?"
Jim chuckled, "No, you didn't wake me up. I woke myself up, and.." Jim paused when he smelled smoke. "What's that smell?" Jim didn't wait for an explanation. "B.E.N...have you been cooking again?"
"Yep! Always the best food for my best buddy!" B.E.N. said as he dashed off to the kitchen. Jim rolled his eyes, but he followed him. B.E.N. was a horrible cook. Jim and Sarah didn't mind this really, it was just the fact that B.E.N. kept cooking even though he stunk, and he always expected either Jim, Sarah, Doppler, or Amelia to try it (if they where around.)
"Oh, uh..B.E.N., don't worry about me I'm not hungry yet." Jim said nervously, not really eggar to try B.E.N.'s strange concoction this early in the morning.
"Oh Nonsense Jimmy! I just made toast!" B.E.N. came back from the kitchen holding a plate of what seemed to be a large pile of black dust. Morph took one look at the plate and screamed, turning into morph-blobbed pieces, hiding behind Jim's shoulder. Jim cringed at the black substance that he saw before him, trying to smile at B.E.N. "Um..that's very thoughtful of you B.E.N. it's just that...um..." Jim darted his eyes across the room, trying to think up a good excuse for not eating "breakfast." "I...umm.."
B.E.N. grinned at Jim hopefully. Jim sighed. He knew he wasn't going to out of this one, since nobody else but him was around to try the black goo. Jim picked up a very small handful of the black dust and started heading it towards his mouth very slowly, Morph quivering behind his shoulder. The black substance almost touched his lips when a bell rang in the corner. B.E.N. suddenly dropped what he was doing (literary he dropped the plate of black junk) and responded joyfully, "MRS. DUNWOODIE ROOM 113 IS UP!" B.E.N. shouted, jumping up and down. He then ran towards Mrs. Dunwoodie's room on his wheels.
When he was gone Jim put the handful of black stuff on the broken plate and sighed with relief, clasping himself into a dinning room chair, hardly believing his luck. Jim looked at Morph exhausted, "Whew, that was close huh Morph?" Morph nodded, exhausted as Jim was and sighed, falling as a small blob onto the table.