Hello everyone! I'm back with a new chapter of Clarence! Sorry for the long wait!
"Alright Chad, I'll be running errands for a few hours. Are you sure you got everything handled?"
"Yep, I got everything under control."
"Remember to fix the pipes…"
"Yes, Mary."
"…And to get the groceries."
"Uh-huh."
"…As well as doing the dishes."
"Of course."
"Oh! Don't forget to pick up a box of printing paper at Horizon Depot."
"I got it, Mary!"
"Good! I'll see you two boys later!"
"Bye Mary!"
"Bye, mom!"
Mary waved at Chad and Clarence before she shut the front door and was on her way. It was a clear, sunny day, with the sun shining brightly and no cloud in sight and since it was Saturday, Clarence was busy playing with his toys in his green dinosaur-colored onesie in the living room, while Chad was busy relaxing on the couch, watching a live monster truck show.
"Hey, buddy, I'm going to make some food. Want anything?" Chad asked.
Oh! How about chili?" Clarence happily suggested
"You got it, champ!" Chad got on his feet and walk to the kitchen, opening the food cabinet and grabbed a can of chili and a lavender-colored pot, before turning on the stove and preparing a quick meal for Clarence; while the food was cooking, Chad opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of cherry vanilla flavor cola and headed back to the living room.
Clarence was busy playing with his action figures, emulating the dialogue and sound effects with them, consisting of a large gray-furred ape, a policewoman, and a young male adult, along with several buildings made of blocks and toy cars.
Much time had passed, as Chad fell asleep on the couch. Luckily for him, though, Clarence went to the kitchen for a cup of water, before he saw the pot, as he grabbed the nearest chair and climbed up to see the chili, now starting to bubble, with its scent catching the young boy's attention; his eyes widen and he drooled a bit. He then opened the top and did a quick taste; the chili was fine, but it felt like it was missing something.
"I got it!" Clarence climbed down and open the food cabinet where he found what he was looking for: sea salt, pepper, and hot sauce. He happily grabbed them and climb back to the stove, dumping each large quantity one after another, before stirring the contents with a large wooden spoon. After a few minutes of stirring, Clarence took a small portion with his spoon and took a quick sip. Suddenly, Clarence's face turned completely red, as he could feel all the spiciness overwhelming his taste buds and climbed down and hastily opened the fridge, spotting a gallon of water and without hesitation, grabbed it, open the lid, and chugged it down in seconds, allowing an exhausted Clarence to fell on his back and lay there, followed by a few coughs.
"Oh man, I think I overdid it!" After much recovery, Clarence got back on his feet and put a few ice cubes on the chili to cool it down, along with a cup of water, just in case.
"I'm home!" Mary shouted, opening the front door and walking in carrying a few grocery bags, as she spotted Chad sleeping peacefully on the couch, much to her amusement, as she chuckled at the sight and made her way to the kitchen, setting down the bags on the counter and checking up on her son in his bedroom. She peeked inside and saw Clarence playing with dominos.
"Hey, Clarence." Mary happily greeted her son.
"Hey, mom!" Clarence stopped what he was doing and ran up to hug his mother.
"Hey, my little munchkin." Mary happily returns the hug. "How are you?"
"I'm wonderful!" Clarence replied before asking, "Mom, what's for dinner?"
"Steak, asparagus, baked potato with butter, sour cream and pepper, and Brussels sprouts," Mary answered matter-of-factly.
"Yes! Yes! YES!" Clarence happily repeated with excitement.
"Hold on there, tiger," said Mary calming her son down. "I need to make it first, but I did buy your favorite chips."
She then revealed a small bag of Hay's sour cream and onion chips, much to her son's delight.
"Thanks, mom," Clarence grabbed the bag, opened it, and began munching his favorite chips, allowing his mother to slip out of the room and began making dinner, but with the assistance of a certain person.
"Chad, time to wake!" But Chad didn't budge and continued his slumber, prompting Mary to shake him. However, Chad began smooching Mary's face as he make eye contact, much to her annoyance. Then, she has something else to get his attention.
"You didn't do the chores I asked you to, didn't you?" Mary calmly asked. Almost immediately, Chad's eyes opened up and let go of Mary's face, before getting up to face her.
"Sorry, Mary! I fell asleep," he apologized, rubbing his head and looking down at the floor.
"It's okay, Chad," Mary couldn't bring herself to be angry at him, despite his faults. "I had to get to the store anyway because I needed a few things so I decided to knock the groceries out of the way for you."
"Thanks, I appreciate that."
Your welcome," Mary smiled back but grew serious right away. "But promise me that you will get the rest of the chores done tomorrow. Understood?"
"I promise," Chad assured her.
"Now…how do steaks sound to you?"
"I'm down for that," Chad replied happily
One hour in a half later, Mary and Chad had set up tonight's dinner at the table, as Clarence joined up with his mom and boyfriend and took a seat with them, watching the former cutting up a piece for her son to enjoy.
"Clarence, when you are done eating I want you to take out the trash," Mary informed her son.
You got it!" Clarence nodded his head, as he swallow another steak piece. "Mom, you are the best cook in the world!"
"Thanks, sweetie," Mary simply smiled at her son's compliment. "I always do my best for you, little man." She then playfully pinched her son's rosy cheeks, causing Clarence to laugh.
"What about me, Mary?" asked Chad.
"And you as well Chad." Mary gave Chad a huge smooch on the lips. Chad blushes brightly while Mary herself softly giggled at the former's reaction.
"Now who wants dessert?" asked Mary. "I bought cookies and cream ice cream cake from the store bakery."
"ME! ME! ME! ME! ME!" Clarence and Chad shouted in unison.
Mary could only break out in laughter, as the family enjoyed the rest of the night.
The next day arrived and like yesterday, the weather was a perfect blend of warm-cool, certainly a suitable time for a swim, something that Mary and Clarence had in mind.
"Clarence, are you ready?" asked Mary.
"In a minute, mom!" Mary waited in the living room, sitting on the couch next to Chad, who the latter currently enjoying a bowl of oatmeal.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay by yourself?" asked Mary.
"Yeah, I'll be just fine." Chad casually replied.
"Alright then, but call me when you need anything," Mary instructed him, just as Clarence walked out to the living room, wearing his blue and green swimming trunks and a large pearl white towel wrapped around his neck, wearing it like a cape, with his face covered with a good amount of sunblock screen.
"I'm ready to go, mom!" Clarence happily announced.
"Don't forget to get your sandals," Mary pointed this out to her son.
"Got it, mom," Clarence nodded his head and went back to his room before Mary glanced back at Chad.
"I made some food for you. It's wrapped in foil on the top shelf of the fridge."
"Thank you." Chad expressed his gratitude, causing Mary to smile.
"Okay, now I'm ready!" Clarence returned now wearing a pair of black sandals.
"Alright Chad, we'll be back before it gets dark," Mary instructed her boyfriend, as she and her son walk to the front door.
"Okay, you two have fun!" Chad bid them his farewell before they headed out.
Now alone and having the house to himself, he embraced the solitary peace and for the next several hours, enjoyed watching TV, sleeping and sitting on the couch without a care in the world. But then, he heard the phone ringing in the kitchen, snapping Chard back to reality, as he got up and grabbed the phone.
"Hello? This is Chad speaking."
"Hey, Chad! Want to check up on you."
"Hey, Mary and I are doing well here. Are you and Clarence having fun?"
"Absolutely," Mary replied. "Clarence is having the time of his life."
"CHAD! I'm about to do the largest cannonball the world has ever seen!" Both parents heard Clarence in the background.
"Clarence! Be careful not to hurt yourself!" Mary worriedly shouted, before turning her attention back to Chad. "Anyway Chad, don't forget the list of chores."
"…O-Of course I did, Mary!" Chad replied, all the while nervously chuckling.
"Great! We'll be back around five," Mary happily said. "We'll bring you some dinner."
"Sounds great!" Chad expresses gratitude.
"Alight champ, I gotta go! Love you!"
"Love you too!"
With that, they both hung up, but with precious time on his side, Chad immediately looked at the list left on the kitchen counter and grabbed it, before gazing at the tasks he was supposed to take care of earlier today:
Clean up the garage
Vacuum the whole house
Mow the lawn
Get more printing ink cartridges
Wash the car
Walk the dog
Fix the backyard fence
Call a repairman so he can fix both the kitchen and the bathroom sink
Mop the kitchen floor
Chad scratched his forehead, contemplating which chore to work on. After all, he did promise Mary he would take care of everything around the house and he didn't want to disappoint her when she and Clarence returned from their trip.
"Alright, time to start vacuuming the house," Chad made his way to the hallway closet where the vacuum was located, grabbed the device, and dusted it off, before plugging it into the living room and flipping the power button on. "Let's do this."
For the next couple of hours, Chad worked on the list and one by one, he was able to complete a good portion of the chores. It wasn't much, but Mary would at least appreciate the effort. Still, he couldn't rest just yet, as he was down to just two tasks left; getting up from the couch, Chad looked at the list and scrolled down on what was left to do:
Clean up the garage (Done)
Vacuum the whole house (Done)
Mow the lawn (Done)
Get more printing ink cartridges
Wash the car (Done)
Walk Dennis out for a bit (Done)
Fix the backyard fence
Call a repairman so he can fix both the kitchen and the bathroom sink
Mop the kitchen floor (Done)
After a moment of thinking, Chad made up his mind.
"Gonna do the fence next."
Grabbing the tool kit from the garage, Chad made his way to the backyard and find it quite messy: the grass have overgrown all over the place, several chewing toys for Dennis were spread out and finally, some areas that covered the whole field were loose, with a few even starting to fall apart in decay. Wasting no time, Chad went up to the fence and start working on it, carefully working his way up, making sure that each tile was given proper care; however, it took longer than he expected, managing to fix up half the fence. After much work under the afternoon sun, Chad decided to take a breather inside.
Grabbing a bottle of cola out of the fridge, Chad sat down in the living room and resume watching the TV, though football had since ended its run and now showing an episode from a long-running sitcom that Chad doesn't recall. But just as he started to change the channel, the cable box began flickering, before blowing out altogether.
"What in the world?" Wasting no time, Chad went outside and grabbed the red ladder that was resting on the wall near the black barbecue pit and quickly climbed up the roof. As soon as he got up, he reached the satellite dish, where it stood firm in its place, much to Chad's confusion.
"A little fiddling wouldn't hurt," Chad then began to tilt the dish to get the desired results. After adjusting the dish for a short time, Chad can hear voices from the TV from down below.
"Alright!" Chad raised his arms in victory, just as a car horn echoed throughout the neighborhood. Startled, Chad glanced back and saw Mary's car driving up the street, but as he waved back to the car, though, he started to lose balance and tumbled down onto the ground.
"Crud," was all Chad could mutter, as he landed down so hard, he let out a bloodcurdling that scream echoed through the whole neighborhood.
"There you go, Chad!" Clarence happily said as he began playing his figures on Chad's cast
"Thanks, little buddy," Chad couldn't help but chuckle, despite the pain, he was in.
"No, Clarence," Mary quickly pulled her son away from her boyfriend. "His leg needs to heal, so you can't play on his cast, sweetheart."
"Oh, it's fine, Mary," Chad casually waved it off. "He's not harming me in any way."
Mary could only sigh before letting go of her son to do his own thing. It had been a week since Chad broke his leg from that fall and as a result, left him temporarily out of commission from Hip Clips. He may not be a permeant employee at the job, but Mary nonetheless appreciates her boyfriend's help now and then, but for the moment, Mary and her son have been caring for Chad around the clock, but fortunately for them, he can somewhat take care of himself, but with some difficulty.
Fortunately for Mary, it was the weekend, as she was getting ready for work, with Clarence not too far behind.
"Ready mom!" Clarence followed his mother before Mary stopped her son in his tracks.
"Hold on there kiddo. I need you to stay home with Chad."
"Aw! But I wanted to go with you!" Clarence protested, prompting Mary to kneel down and patted her son's head.
"I know, sweetheart, but Chad needs you. Tell you what? If you can complete a certain amount of chores today, I'll treat you to some ice cream. The more points you have, the more ice cream you'll allow to get in the end."
"Don't worry mom! I'll take care of Chad!" Clarence's frown suddenly was replaced with his usual bright smile.
"Thank you, my little man." Mary smiled, as she dug in her purse, pulls out a folded piece of paper, and hands it to her son. "Here you go, Clarence. I'll be going now."
Clarence grabbed the piece of paper and he along with Chad watched Mary leave.
"I'll see you, boys, later." Mary waved at the two and walked out the front door heading to work.
As soon as Mary drove off to her job, both Chad and Clarence were left by themselves at the house, but not before the former heard the latter's stomach growling.
"Your hungry, Chad? Don't worry, I'll make you something to eat."
"You don't have to do that, C-" was all Chad could say, as Clarence dashed to the kitchen and looked in the fridge, before taking out a frozen beef-flavored chimichanga from the freezer. The boy grabbed a small paper plate, ripped out the wrapper, set the chimichanga, and put it in the microwave, putting in the necessary time to warm it up.
"Okay, Chad, one chimichanga coming up." Clarence sat next to Chad, before playing around with the cast once again.
"I appreciate the company…" Chad began, before wincing. "…But not too hard, though. I can actually feel that one.
"Oh, sorry," Clarence sheepishly apologized, just as the microwave ping, as he hurriedly get into the kitchen and showed the now warmed-up meal. "Here you go Chad, one hot and ready chimichanga."
"Thank you, little man!" Chad took a bite of his food. The mixture of shredded beef and melted cheese resulted in Chad delightfully chewing away his chimichanga before gulping.
Clarence couldn't help but smiled at the sight, before playing with his action figures for the next hour in his room, while Chad simply doze off to sleep. Just then, he heard a knock on his bedroom window; stopping what he was doing, Clarence went up to his window and moved the curtains to the sides and saw that it was his friend Sumo, covered in sweat and carrying a metal detector on his shoulder.
"Sumo!" Clarence greeted the rebellious boy and opened the window for him.
"Hey, Clarence.." Sumo greeted his friend, as he climbed through. "I bought my metal detector so we can go to the beach today and look for treasure."
"Sorry Sumo, I have to watch Chad today," Clarence sadly declined.
"Again?" Sumo frowned. "How long do you think that Chad's broken leg would get better?"
"I dunno," Clarence merely shrugged.
Just then, the two heard a knock on the front door, prompting the two to head over there. Clarence approached the door and opened it, revealing Jeff in front of him, who was also drenched in sweats, just like Sumo.
"Jeff!" Clarence gasped, while Sumo snickered at the sight.
"You just had to leave me behind like that!" Jeff angrily pointed his finger at Sumo.
"Oh suck it up, Jeff," Sumo merely only rolled his eyes. "Although I wondered why they were so focused on you, even if you can be boring sometimes."
"It was the food that you brought with us that started this whole mess!" Jeff sternly reminded his friend. "We could have just taken the bus to get here but no, you just HAD to take the shortcut route that was surrounded by dogs!"
"Where's the food anyway?" Sumo casually waved off Jeff's accusation.
"I had to throw it at the dogs to get them to stop chasing me," Jeff simply confessed.
"WHAT?!" Sumo exclaimed. "UGH! That's the last time I trust you with food."
"I wasn't planning to do that anyway," Jeff stated matter of factly, before finally focusing his attention on Clarence "How's everything going around here?"
"I'm good Jeff," Clarence replied. "Just taking care of Chad."
"Oh, right," Jeff nodded before glancing at Chad, who is laying on the couch and snoring loudly. "At least he's holding up alright after that fall."
"And just to fix up something too," Sumo added, prompting Clarence to gasp with sudden realization.
"I almost forgot! Mom wanted me to complete the list of chores she gave me!"
Almost immediately, Clarence rushed to the kitchen, and fortunately for him, the note was still on the counter, just where he left it.
"Found it!" Clarence sprinted back to his friends, before opening up the note to see what was need to be taken care of:
Wash the car
Do the Laundry
Clean the bathroom
Vacuum the house
Make the bed
Rake the leaves
Take care of Chad and his needs
"Oh, it's the usual standard chores," Jeff commented. "It's nothing we can't handle."
"Lame!" Sumo disagreed. "Come on Clarence, let's head to the beach for treasure hunting!"
"No way!" Jeff objected. "We need to get the chores out of the way first."
"Screw that! We can do that later!" Sumo opposed.
"Chores!"
"Treasure hunt!"
"Chores!"
"Treasure hunt!"
"Let's do both instead!" Clarence suddenly interjected
"Huh?" Both Jeff and Sumo asked in unison.
"We can play and do the chores at the same time!" Clarence happily explained.
"Clarence, I don't think that's a good idea," Sumo remarked.
"I'm afraid I have to agree with Sumo on this one," Jeff admitted. "Besides, what about Chad?
"We can use walkie-talkies to keep in contact with him," Clarence made his way to the closet and pulled out three walkie-talkies for all of them to use.
"Well…I suppose we can do that," Sumo eventually agreed.
"I still believe that we should take care of Chad, but I suppose there's no harm in it," Jeff, for the moment, decided to play along with his friend.
"Perfect!"
The trio made their way out of the bedroom and arrived at the front door, but not before Clarence walked up to Chad, who was still sleeping peacefully, laying the walkie-talkie on top of Chad's stomach and leaning towards him.
"Chad, I'm going to play with my friends outside. Call me if you need help."
"Alright, little buddy…" Chad muttered, still in his sleep.
Giggling with excitement, Clarence joined up with his friend, as Jeff turned around and glanced at Chad.
"Why am I getting the feeling that something terrible would happen?"
"Hurry your slow butt, Jeff!" Sumo shouted.
"Right…" was all Jeff simply said, before opening up the door for his friends to get out and closing the door behind him.
"Any luck, Jeff?"
"Hold on, I getting a couple of beeps right now."
"Well then, let's start digging!"
"Sumo, wait!" Jeff shouted.
But Sumo was already starting digging in a short amount of time and right away, his shovel managed to hit something hard.
"Found it!" Sumo showed his friends a red toolbox, quite rested and a bit bang-up, clearly having seen better days. He attempted to open it, but the lid was sealed shut, much to the boy's dismay.
"Dang it!" Sumo cursed before looking around the beach, which was quite crowded with a lot of people.
"Hey, guys!" Clarence shouted, waving at his classmate, who was walking with his friends John-George and Darlie.
Kennan was a ten-year-old boy with fair skin, thin limbs, and a large, round upper body and head, as well as blond bangs, with his blue hoodie covering most of his head and blue pants.
Then, there was John-George, another boy who was short for his age with light-brown skin, a small, pointy nose, dark brown hair and wearing a yellow shirt, blue shorts and light blue shoes.
Finally, Darlie herself wore her usual long blue hoodie, as well as her light blue shorts and dark blue boots.
"Hey Clarence," Kennan greeted the optimistic boy. "What are you doing?"
"Can you help us open this?" Clarence asked, pointing at Sumo holding the red toolbox.
Kennan merely nodded and went towards Sumo, grabbed the toolbox, and used all his strength to open it, but the toolbox remained tight as ever.
"Maybe I can help," John spoke up. "I'll be right back."
The boy ran to the parking lot where his family vehicle was, after rummaging through the back, he pulled out a crowbar from it.
"Found it!" John rushed back to the group and was ready to join in.
Just then, the walkie-talkie came on and Chad's voice could be heard on the other side.
"Clarence, are you there?" In an instant, Clarence's turned the walkie-talkie to talk to him.
"I'm here, Chad. Is there something you need?"
"Do you think you can get me a pack of cola from the store?" Chad asked.
"Say no more. I'm on it," Clarence replied.
"Thank you, little buddy." Clarence turned off his walkie-talkie, before facing his friends
"GUYS, WE NEED TO HEAD TO THE STORE ASAP!"
"Seriously?!" Sumo merely groaned in response.
"I know but we need to get to Chad's side!" Clarence insisted.
"Hold on I'll be right there!" said Jeff before facing the group. "Sorry, we have to go. We'll be right back."
"No problem," John accepted, as he continued to try and opened up the toolbox. "Come you stupid box, open already!"
Just then, Jeff managed to catch up with his friends, as he tried to catch his breath.
"Geez, guys you could have waited for me!"
"No time to explain, Jeff!" Clarence shouted back, as he and Sumo passed by him. All Jeff could do was to sigh, before joining up with them to their destination.
The trio sprinted through the whole neighborhood for what seemed like a long time, having to pass through many dogs, and cars and almost bumped into a couple without looking, but eventually, they finally reached Food Nephews, the town store.
"Alright…we made it," Clarence spoke, still huffing and sweating from his running.
"What kind of soda does Brad?" asked Sumo, who was also huffing and sweating.
"…I dunno," Clarence sheepishly admitted.
"Of course," Jeff turned on the walkie-talkie, ready to talk to Chad himself. "Chad, do you know what kind of soda you have in mind?"
"…Cola Purr," Chad simply replied, as the boys entered into the supermarket.
"Got it," Jeff nodded. "Clarence, want's some Col-"
But as soon he turned to face his friend, he was not among them, as he got a glimpse of the cheery boy dashing off to his right.
"Clarence, wait!" Jeff shouted, to no avail, before facing Sumo. "Make sure he doesn't do anything impulsive."
"You got it," Sumo then took to Clarence, leaving Jeff by himself, as he walked down one aisle to the next, passing by several shoppers each passing second.
"So many people here today…" Jeff muttered, squeezing through a couple of crowds and spotting a nearby sign above the aisle:
Aisle 15
Soda
Water
Juice Cereal
Fruit Snacks
Coffee
"Alright, this is it," Jeff smiled and began scouting for the drink. "Let's see…Seieria Sprite, Ginger Ale, Dew Flirty, Root Beer, Fortana…"
After much time and passing through each brand, he finally found the particular soda among them.
"There it is, Cola Purr!" Jeff felt much relief from finding the soda. "Looks like I managed to luck out."
Jeff reached his hand out to grab the six-pack soda, but not before colliding with another. Surprised, as he turned around and saw a young, heavyset male teenager with light brown skin, thick eyebrows, and braces, with bushy dark brown hair and sideburns and wore a light blue-green t-shirt, blue shorts, white socks, grey shoes and finally, his appearance looked similar to Chelsea. It was then that it clicked onto Jeff's head.
"You're Chelsea's older brother…Glary!" Jeff yelped.
"Who wants to know?" Glary simply asked, all the while frowning before he took a closer look at Jeff. "Hey, your that square head kid and that hangs out with my sister.."
"I wouldn't say we're exactly friends," Jeff corrected the teen, only for Glary to roll his eyes.
"Whatever, I'll be taking that last six-pack." Glary began moving his arm to take the cola, but Jeff held firm.
"Sorry, but I'm gonna need this," Jeff spoke up, tightening his grip.
"No way! I need this more than you do!" Glary tightens his grip, trying to yank the soda pack out of Jeff's hand. "Let go, shrimp!"
"My name is Jeff!" He snapped back and with all of his might, Jeff gave Glary a solid punch to the face, forcing the older teen to let go of his grasp. As Glary remained disoriented from the punch, Jeff sprinted away to the checkout, with the teenager giving chase.
"COME BACK HERE!" Glary shouted, knocking several people in the process, prompting Jeff to pick up speed in response, eventually disappearing into the crowd, hoping that he can buy himself enough time to stall Glary, meet up with his friends and pay for the drinks.
On the other side of the store, Sumo continued to search for his friend, which was easier said than done; he did spot him a few times, but he always manage to disappear into the crowd every time Sumo caught up with him. All he wanted to do was to find out what was in the toolbox, but as much as he wanted to know what the content was, he had a friend to look for. After all, Jeff would berate him if he came back empty-handed.
"Alright, time to find Clarence and get back with Jeff," after looking around for what seemed like a long time, he finally spotted his friend standing in front of something, but at least he wasn't moving this time around.
"Clarence!" Sumo shouted, rushing up to his friend. "Finally, I caught up with you! Come on, let's meet up with Jeff and get out of here."
"Sumo, look," Clarence pointed in front of the container, prompting the bald-headed kid to look up and what he saw left him awestruck: It was a fancy remote controller airplane jet, modeled after one from the modern era, with a sleek black and shiny coat, the cockpit hood open and its missiles resting in place. There was no doubt that this nice-looking toy was certainly quite expensive.
'Wow…that's one snazzy plane right there," Sumo thought, continuing to look at the toy, before shaking his head. "Come on Clarence, we can worry about that later."
"In a minute, Sumo…" Clarence muttered, still awestruck at the sight.
"Clarence, Chad call us and he needs our help right now."
Almost immediately, Clarence snapped back into reality and frantically looked at his friend.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?! LET'S GO!" Clarence sprinted out of sight, with Sumo following behind him, getting out his walkie-talkie and activating it.
"Jeff! I found Clarence! Did you find it?" He didn't get a response right away until a few moments later.
"Hey Sumo and yes, I was able to get the soda Chad wanted and I just paid for it, but Chelsea's older brother is chasing me right about now."
"What?!" Sumo shouted in shock. "Where are you now?"
"Outside and hiding in the parking lot," Jeff answered with a soft and frantic tone. "Hurry, you two!"
"We'll be there," Sumo turned off the walkie-talkie and faced Clarence. "Follow my lead, Clarence. We're getting out of here!"
"Oh boy!" Clarence shouted with joy and eagerly followed his friend's lead.
After about a few minutes, the two made it out of the store and out into the parking lot, with both boys panting heavily from their running.
"Jeff, where are you?!" Clarence began shouting for his other friend, only for Sumo to shush him in response.
"Clarence, let's not shout, okay?"
"Why not?" Clarence asked with confusion, prompting Sumo to point to Glary, pacing back and forth in the parking lot and looking around. The optimistic boy's eyes lit up, having recalled seeing Chelsea's older brother on last year's Halloween.
"Hi, Glary!" Clarence waved at the older teen.
"CLARENCE, NO!" Sumo scolded his friend, but it was too late, as Glary turned around and took notice of the two boys.
"Hey, I know you two. You're the chubby and bald kid that hangs out with that shrimp." Sumo glared at the teenager, while Clarence gasped at him for disrespecting his best friend, before glaring back at him.
"That's Jeff! Don't talk badly about my best friend!" Glary only rolled his eyes in response.
"Whatever. I've got better things to do," Glary began walking away from the two boys, just as Jeff's voice came from Sumo's walkie-talkie.
"Are you guys outside? If you are watch out for Glary."
"Don't worry about him, We just told him off," Sumo replied. "He won't be bothering us."
"Thank goodness," Jeff said with relief. "I don't know if that was a wise thing to do or not, but meet me at the right corner a few blocks away across the street."
"Will do, Jeff!" Clarence happily said as both of the boys walked further away from the store. Fortunately for them, the trio was reunited right away.
"Jeff!" Clarence hugged his friend, before seeing the cola in hand. "Nice going!"
"Thanks, Clarence," Jeff smiled. "It was the last one, so I lucked out. Now let's just get back to Chad."
"Agreed," Sumo nodded hastily. "Been here long enough."
But just as they were about to head back, the trio heard a familiar voice.
"Found you! shrimp!"
Startled, they turned around and saw Glary standing behind them, with the biggest smirk on his face. "Now, unless you three want to get hurt, I suggest you hand over that six-pack and make it quick, 'cause I don't have all day."
"I thought you guys took care of him!" Jeff shouted
"We did!" Sumo argued.
"Then how do you explain him finding us?" Jeff pointed his finger at the older teen.
"Hey, don't you ignore me!" Glary shouted with annoyance, as he steadily began approaching the three boys.
"Uh, guys…" Clarence frantically tries to get his friends' attention.
"Not now, Clarence," Jeff spoke up, but as soon as he turned around, he noticed Glary approaching him and his friends. "RUN!"
Clarence, Jeff, and Sumo ran for their lives, with Glary chasing after them, as they tried to distance themselves from the enraged teen as much as possible.
"Great, now we're in this mess!" Jeff complained.
"There was no way we could have seen this happen," Sumo quipped. "Let's just scram and get away from him!"
"Guys, look!" Clarence pointed to a bus near the bus stop. "We can hop onboard escape!"
"Oh no, you don't!" Glary shouted and ran even faster, just as the boys got into the bus and the doors closed in front of him, before taking off right away.
"Dang it!" Glary pounded the ground in frustration before he looked at the bus and it suddenly stopped, followed by the trio forcefully exiting the vehicle, before taking off once again.
"Stupid bus driver," Sumo muttered before he took notice of Glarly grinning at them. "We should get going now."
With that, the trio took off once more, with Glary continuing to chase after them, intending to get some much-needed payback. Where they were heading to was another question, but as long as they can get rid of Glary, then they were in the clear.
Just then, they passed through Rough Riders Chicken restaurant, as the trio recognized where they are and it didn't take them too long to realize where they were at.
"Guys look! We can lose him here!" Sumo shouted.
"Quick thinking Sumo!" Sumo praised his friend, before facing Jeff. "Come on, let's follow his lead."
"Uh, yeah, about that…" Jeff began to protest, only for Sumo to grab his hand.
"Too late!" Sumo said as dragged him to the alleyway, with Clarence following behind, with Glary still hot on their trail; the area consisted of tall bushes and grass that has seen better days, concrete walls on the left and the woods on the right, dirt that expands alongside the unhealthy grass and numerous trash and junk lying on the ground.
The boys sprinted through the alleyway with Sumo leading the chase. The constant bushes and grass made getting through it a pain not helped by the constant barking from the numerous dogs behind the concrete walls and wooden fences, with some of the latter looking worn out and can break down at any moment. As such, its tough terrain was starting to slow their pursuer down, even if it was starting to affect them as well, but regardless, the distance between Glary and the trio was significant
After passing through the jungle of grass and bushes, they were halfway through the alleyway and into a nicer part of the alleyway, but one where it each neighbor has a dog from a different breed. Clarence couldn't help but stopped in his tracks and rushed towards them.
"Hiya doggies!" Clarence greeted them, as they happily barked in front of him.
"Oh no.." Jeff muttered. "Not this again…"
"Calm down, Jeff…" Sumo began. "They are behind the gates so they can't reach us."
Unbeknownst to the trio, though, some of the wooden fences had a few gaps, some being way too short, allowing more than a handful of dogs to escape. Before long, the number of dogs began to increase to roughly half to two dozen, and soon their attention was to Glary, who stopped in his tracks and took notice of their presence
"Oh crap!" Glary shouted and for a moment, consider his action, before shaking his head. "Like that's going to stop me!"
Once more, the chase resumed, as the trio continued to run away from Glary, which didn't go unnoticed by several handfuls of people to come out and see what was going on; some were weirded out by the sight, and others couldn't help but be amused by the sight.
The trio managed to pass by a grey-colored house,e where Clarence quickly recognized it and waved at the resident inside sitting near the front window.
"Hi, Gale! Bye Gale!"
The resident in question could only stare at the boy in bewilderment, before remembering the boy who watched her dog not long ago. Gale was an elderly woman in her sixties with light pale skin, black eyes, and light puffy hair, as well as wearing a pair of glasses, a long pink shirt along with a red apron. Sitting on her lap was her pet dog Cookies, who had long white fur that covered his eyes and a small black nose.
"Look, there's your babysitter!" Gale happily spoke to her dog. "Remember him?"
Unfortunately, Cookie remember the boy too well and promptly barked in his direction, much to her concern.
"You must be hungry," Gale got on her feet and carried her pet. "Alright, I have just the thing for you."
Down on the streets, Lucine was busy loading trash in the back of the garbage disposal truck. Even though it was the weekend, it was just another day on the job.
She was quite the heavyset woman with fair skin, a wide mouth, short brown hair, and a patch over her right eye, wore a blue backward cap, a turquoise t-shirt underneath an orange vest, yellow gloves, dark teal shorts, grey-blue socks, and dark blue shoes.
"Ugh!" Lucine loaded the last trash bin, before setting it back on the curbside. "That's the last one! Finally, I can call it a day."
Wasting little time the woman climbed in the driver's seat and began driving off, unaware of three certain boys passing by.
"Look, we can hop inside there!" Sumo suggested.
"Great idea, Sumo!" Clarence faced Jeff. "Come on, let's go!"
"No way!" Jeff protested. "I don't want to get covered in filth!"
"Would you rather be beaten up by Glary?" Sumo deadpanned.
"…Okay, but just this one time" Jeff relented. "Let's just get out of here."
Sumo and Clarence were left satisfied with this response and the trio sprinted towards the truck, managing to get inside the back of the truck with that, the boys managed to escape from Glary, leaving the teenager to deal with the dogs all to himself, hearing nothing but indescribable rants coming from him, as the truck continued to drive off.
"Thank goodness," Clarence wiped off the sweat on his forehead.
"About time," Sumo agreed, as he laid down on the trash like it was nothing.
Jeff, on the other hand, shuddered to be around nothing but filth, cradling himself back and forth in a fetal position and muttering to himself.
"It'll be all over soon…It'll be all over soon…It'll be all over soon…"
The sun was starting to set, but at long last, the trio arrived back at Clarence's house, as they hopped off the garbage truck and went inside, and closed the front door behind them, just in time to be greeted by Chad, still laying down on the couch.
"Hey, you're back!" Chad then sniff the scent that was lingering from the trio and gagged. "Why do you smell like garbage?"
"Long story," Jeff muttered, as he, Jeff, and Clarence entered the kitchen, grabbed a bar of soap and rag, and began cleaning up the six-pack sodas, before handing it over to Chad. "Here you go. Now, if you don't mind, I'm heading back home, taking a shower and rest."
"You're leaving already?" Asked a surprised Clarence
"Yeah, I am, but I'll see you guys later," just as Jeff was about to leave, he was greeted by the sight of Mary opening the front door.
"Your home early, mom," Clarence noted.
"Hey boys, I'm just here for a quick minute before I head back out again," Mary explained, before passing the trio and heading into her bedroom.
"Come on Jeff, I still need your help." Clarence pleaded with his friend. "We can get ice cream remember?"
"I still need to take a shower, Clarence," Jeff pointed this out to his friend.
"You can take a shower here." Sumo countered. "I'm pretty sure Mary wouldn't mind."
"I don't know…" Jeff remained hesitant.
"Plus, I have some extra clothes you can wear," Clarence added, before giving his friend puppy dog eyes. "It's just my way of saying sorry, Jeff"
"…Alright, apology accepted and thanks for the offer," Jeff sighed, but did appreciate Clarence for his generosity.
"Alright, I'll be back in an hour.," was all Mary said, before exiting the house and heading back to her work.
"Okay, where should we start?" Asked Jeff, as the three boys walked to the kitchen, with Sumo turned his attention to the fridge and Clarence grabbed the to-do list note on the counter and scroll down.
"Okay, we need to do plumbing the sink, mow the lawn and clean the bathroom."
"That's it?" Sumo asked while chugging down some water.
"We can't finish all of that in an hour!" Jeff freaked out upon hearing this.
"Not with that attitude," Sumo quipped, though Jeff ignored his remark at the moment.
"Let us start with the lawn first," Clarence suggested, but before he could head out, Sumo put his hand on his shoulder.
"Wait, what about we do each of the chores?"
"That's..actually a great idea," Jeff admitted.
"I never thought about that until now," Clarence added.
"Guys, we shouldn't be in a rush," Jeff worriedly explained. "We'll make mistakes and-"
"Okay, I'll do the lawn, You can clean the bathroom, Sumo and you can unclog the sink, Jeff," Clarence instructed his friends, with Sumo nodded his head, while Jeff shook his head.
"Oh well," Jeff simply said, as he and Jeff went to the bathroom to clean it up, while Clarence headed out to mow the lawn.
Forty-five minutes later…
"That…took longer than it should," a tired and exhausted Jeff blurted out, as he lay down on the couch.
"You said it," Sumo agreed, as he lay down right beside his friend.
"Well, that was fun!" Jeff & Sumo looked up to see Clarence happily enter the house like it was no big deal. "How did it go?"
"It was much harder than it looked, but we'll be good
"Good, good," Clarence nodded, before facing Jeff. "And the sink?"
"I tried everything, but the sink is still clogged up," Jeff admitted.
"That must have been one tough sink," Sumo remarked.
"I think it's best if we just tell your mom to call in a professional," Jeff advised his friend.
"Or we could just smash it instead," Sumo nonchalantly suggested.
"No, that's going to make it worst!" Jeff objected.
"I think I have an idea how to fix the pipes," Clarence interjected.
"Clarence, watching Chad fix it doesn't automatically mean you can," Jeff said, arching an eyebrow.
"Hold on a sec…" Clarence began, before facing Chad. "Where did you put the screwdriver?"
"In the bathroom," he replied, still relaxing on the couch and watching TV.
"Thanks, Chad!" Clarence expressed his gratitude. "I'll be right back."
Sumo and Jeff watched their friend getting the tools and came out carrying a red-colored toolbox.
"Alright, let's get down to business!"
The boys opened the toolbox, staring down at the bolts, screws, screwdrivers, a power drill, and a few wrenches; Sumo grabbed the screwdriver and Clarence grabbed the power drill, while Jeff stood there and watched.
"You guys do what you have to do, I'll just be here in the living room," with that, Clarence and Sumo went to the kitchen to fix the sink, and Jeff sat right beside Chad.
"So Chad, how are you today," he asked.
"Oh, I'm doing good Jeff," Chad replied, his eyes glued onto the TV.
"What is this show about?" Jeff turns his attention to the TV.
"The host shows these gigantic houses located in different states," Chad answered.
"Not to be rude, but how are these houses supposed to be-WHOA, what is that?!" In front of Jeff on the screen was an impressive two-storied house located in Hawaii and soon, took an interest in the show.
Clarence and Sumo continued to work on the sink, managing to undo a few pipes, as water and gunk spilled onto the wooden shelf and onto the kitchen floor.
"I think we did everything we can," Clarence said, scratching his head.
"I believe so too," Sumo agreed, as he watched the water and gunk spread.
Just then the home phone went off ringing. Clarence rushed to the phone and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Clarence?"
"Hi, mom!" Clarence happily greeted.
"Hey there my little pumpkin, how are things at home?" Mary asked. Clarence looked at his surroundings before answering,
"Everything's great mom!" He replied as he could hear his mom's laughter from the other side.
"That's lovely to hear. Listen, I forgot to tell you that the repairman is coming today to fix the sink. Just in case he beat me to the house, let him in. I'm on my way home now." Mary explained.
"No need for the repairman. We've fixed the sink ourselves!" Clarence happily assured his mom.
"Wait, what?!" A surprised Mary shouted.. "Clarence, you didn't do anything to the sink right?!"
"Huh? But it was written on the list you left me," Clarence spoke with confusion.
"Oh no, Clarence that list was for me!" Mary cried, face-palming hard at the mistake she make. "Listen, Clarence, don't worry about the sink. Just focus on taking care of Chad, okay?"
"…You got it, mom," Clarence simply answered back with a weary tone.
"Thanks, sweetie. I'll be home in twenty minutes. Love you!" Mary said.
"Love you too, mom!" With that, they both hung up, before Clarence frantically ran to the living room, as Jeff and Chad continue to watch TV.
"Jeff, I know you don't like being bothered, but this is very important!" Clarence quickly spoke, before grabbing Clarence off the couch.
"What the heck, Clarence?! I was busy watch-OH MY GOODNESS! WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO?!" Jeff saw the huge mess as he quickly realized he was in the kitchen.
"We were just fixing the sink, Jeff!" Sumo protested as he walked over. "Besides, you didn't help us."
"Because I happen to be looking after Chad," Jeff countered. "Someone has to."
"Also, Mom called and she said she'll be here in twenty minutes!" As soon as Clarence brought this up, it was Jeff's turn to panic.
"We can't put this back together in that time!"
"You never know until we tried," Sumo remarked. "Now come on, let's put the sink back in place."
Jeff wanted to protest, but this wasn't the right time nor place to argue, as he and his friends headed back into the kitchen, which had remained a complete mess from the duo's attempt to "fix" the sink.
"Let's get this out of the way." Jeff sat down and grabbed the remaining loose pipes. "Okay, so where goes what?
"Oh, I'll show you," Sumo answered, ready to guide his friends on putting everything back together…or as much as possible.
Twenty minutes later…
"…And done," Sumo remarked, as he, Clarence, and Jeff took a good look at the kitchen.
The kitchen was exactly as it looked before, with all of the water and gunk all mopped off, courtesy of Jeff, leaving the kitchen floor very pristine and the sink looked like it was left untouched, at least on the surface. As for the pipes…they were another story in itself.
"I can't believe we pulled it off," said Jeff. "Still, I hope it'll be good enough."
"It'll work out, Jeff. I just know it," Sumo declared, be he heard the sound of a car outside, prompting him to look outside; it was none other than Mary herself, carrying two bags and ready to open the front door.
"I got this," Clarence said, as he headed over to the front door and opened it for her. "Hi, mom!"
"Hey, sweetie." Mary greeted her son, before walking inside. "Hope the task wasn't too much for you."
"There wasn't any chore that gave us a hard time," Clarence assured his mom, before winking at his friends.
"If you say so, sweetie," Mary sat her bags in the kitchen and noticed the kitchen floor was unusually clean. "Oh wow, you guys did the floor?"
"We sure did," Jeff replied.
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't on the list," Mary pointed this out.
"It wasn't…" Sumo began. "We made food for Chad earlier as we cared for him and…let's just say that a lot of cleaning was in order."
"Hope you don't mind, mom." Clarence bashfully rubbed his head.
"It's nothing to worry about," Mary proceeds to check around the house as thoroughly as possible, making sure everything was in good order. After about a few minutes, Mary came back and patted her child's head.
"I'm very grateful you boys looked after Chad and cleaned up the house at the same time. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I appreciate the help," Mary took out her purse, as she reached over to pull out a ten-dollar bill, and handed it over to Clarence. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble."
"Not at all," Sumo merely grinned.
"I'm sure everything worked out well in the end," Mary happily said.
"Oh yeah, it sure did," Clarence nervously chuckled, with Sumo keeping a straight face and Jeff shaking his head.
"Anyway, thanks again for helping out. You kids can go treat yourself to ice cream."
Just then, another knock on the door and Mary turned around and smile.
"That must be the plumbing and draining people. Can you get the door, sweetie?"
"You got it, mom," Clarence made his way to the front door and opened it, revealing a grown man with blue eyes, light skin, and short-cropped blonde hair, along with a few scars appear on his face and wore what looked like a green uniform of sorts.
"Hello! Are you the plumber?" Clarence greeted.
"Yes, I am," The young man replied, much to Mary's delight.
"Perfect! Come right this way." Mary escorted the plumber to the kitchen, leaving the boys to themselves. Seeing the opportunity, Sumo spoke up.
"Let's go guys." Both Clarence and Jeff followed him out of the house, but not before the latter spoke up.
"You did set the pipes back in their place, right?"
"Well...you see…" before Sumo can finish his sentence, he stopped in his tracks and stared at the front door, prompting Jeff, Clarence, and Chad to do the same and noticed Mary was in front of them, looking very livid.
"Oh, boys…" Mary spoke sternly, pointing to the ruined pipes that were sticking out from the sink.
"Uh…" was all the trio could muster out.
"RUN BOYS, RUN!" Chad told the trio. Sumo grabbed the money from Clarence's hand and dashed off, with Clarence and Jeff following him afterward.
"I knew that this was too good to be true!" Jeff lamented.
"We're in so much trouble now!" Clarence added.
"Who cares! Let's get our ice cream!" Sumo waved his friends' concerns before a sudden realization came to him. "Hmm, can't help but think something's missing…"
"Was it anything important?" The moment Clarence brought this up, it came to Sumo.
"Aw man, I almost forgot what was inside that red toolbox at the beach!" Sumo shouted, facepalming that he just remember this detail just now, before simply shrugging. "Oh well, it's probably junk anyway."
With that, Sumo, Clarence, and Jeff disappeared in the sunset sky, laying low to avoid Mary's wrath.
"Any luck, Darlie?" A frustrated and drained John-George asked.
Darlie shook her head and showed John that the red toolbox had remained shut tight. Now completely fed up, he grabbed the toolbox and violently threw it out to the sea and nearly land on the water.
"Stupid box!" John let out a sigh as he calmed down. "Let's get out of here. It's starting to get late."
Darlie and Kennan nodded and followed John to the red truck, where the latter's parents were packing up, as they went inside with them and drove back to town. Unbeknownst to everyone and by some miracle, the red toolbox finally opened, revealing nothing but jewels, gold coins, and other valuables that could set anyone in life.
Sadly, though, it was never meant to be, as a few large waves swept the toolbox back into the open sea, claiming a once-in-a-lifetime discovery for itself.
And here we are at the end. Hope you enjoy it. I'm really sorry that this took so long to complete. This was because of a combination of personal issues, unmotivated, laziness, and forcing myself to finish this chapter, causing me to sit on this chapter for who knows how long and suffer burnout. Even so, there is really little excuse for this chapter to take months to complete so ill do my best to make future chapters simple. (My beta reader REALLY wants me to tone it down on the number of words I type but I can't help it sometimes.)
And I will try to get one more chapter this year. With that said, I'll see you next chapter! Ciao!