The Mysterious 'Ship
Chapter 3: You're Really Into This, Aren't You?
Luan asked Lincoln on Tuesday after school if Ronnie-Anne had mentioned their unfortunate meeting. Her brother gave her an odd look but said no before asking what it was about. Luan demurred and left it at that, but feared she might have alerted him after.
Still, it didn't hurt to know where you stood, she figured. And judging from his non-reaction to the girl's name, Luan wondered if that meant something important.
Yet despite her hard work, she was no closer to knowing the answer to this mystery than when she started.
It was Wednesday when she reconsidered her original theory; perhaps the girl wasn't Ronnie-Anne, after all. But maybe the mystery crush was close by? She'd told herself she'd have to watch, look about the neighborhood for any girls around Lincoln's age with perky ears and cute noses.
But try as she might, Luan couldn't find a single girl who fit the description.
And so, because that Thursday and Friday they had no school due to faculty training days, she decided she would follow her brother when he went out and see what she could learn.
"Okay," she finished zipping up the small backpack, its contents practically bulging out of the fabric. "Got all that, so I should be okay. Water, sunscreen, binoculars, notebook, snacks."
"Bye Lincoln!" when the twins' voices reached her ears upstairs, Luan's eyes widened as she hurriedly slung her backpack over her shoulders and dashed down the stairs, running by her sister Leni and disappearing out the back door.
When she made it to the front yard she hoped Lincoln would be far enough away that he wouldn't see her, but still be close enough to spot.
She was in luck. He'd just vanished around the corner down the street.
Luan hurried, a small part of her worried her sisters might get suspicious while the larger part of her focused only on Lincoln and where he might be going.
She needn't have worried, she thought a moment later. She recognized the path he was taking. Of course he'd be going toward Clyde's house.
This proved a new and, honestly, unexpected tangle. If all he did was play games at Clyde's house this venture would prove useless.
Well, almost useless. If she ever found herself in need of breaking and entering the McBride's house, she'd probably have good info to go on if she sat there and watched it all today.
Also a record. Neighborhood watches could be a twitchy bunch.
After a few minutes, however, her patience, augmented by indecisiveness, was rewarded as both boys hurried along out the door with Luan following them at a safe distance.
Thirty minutes later, they were downtown and, from what she saw, Lincoln must have gotten suspicious. A short question to Clyde later, Lincoln swung his head back and looked behind him.
But Luan was many steps ahead of him.
"Heh, sorry Linc," she giggled to herself as she peeked out from her hastily donned disguise. "I'm way ahead of ya!"
When Lincoln turned back around, she waited for a moment before scooting the cardboard box she'd ducked under along, a little hole allowing her to see where she was going.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the area slowly turned back to what they were doing, just a tad concerned for the girl's mental state yet not so ready to intervene.
Eventually, she realized they were headed toward the comic book shop and felt it safe to ditch the box in a dumpster.
"Phew!" Luan leaned over, checked through the comic shop's window just enough to make sure Lincoln and Clyde didn't leave without her knowing it. "At least now I can rest a bit."
Her rest wasn't long as Lincoln and Clyde must have found what they were looking for. "Oh dang it!" Luan cursed when she realized she was out in the open as they started toward the door.
"Hey, Lincoln?" Clyde just had to ask when he saw his best friend's head swivel back and forth as they left the shop. "Mind if I ask why you're so paranoid today?"
Lincoln didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked over first at a white pastry van with a cake sitting on a trolley at its bumper, then at a nearby trashcan, the lid gently swinging. "I dunno, Clyde, it's just-" he slammed the lid open, made his friend jump as Lincoln poked his head inside and recoiled at the smell. When he didn't see anything, he let the flap go, looked at Clyde. "You ever get the feeling you're being followed?"
Clyde shrugged. "Dr. Lopez has me on a mantra in case stuff like that happens. Wanna hear it?"
"Shouldn't they, like, be prescribing medications for that?" Lincoln asked worriedly.
"Eh, she says it's connected to my anxiety and that it's manageable without given how rarely it happens to me."
As the boys walked and talked about Clyde's many neurosis', they failed to notice Luan in her perfect hiding spot.
So too, nearly, did the two pastry chefs.
"My word!" the older one nearly shrieked as Luan popped up out of the cake.
Luan shook the icing covering parts of her head and neck. "Sorry, I had an emerge-ncy! Haha!" she giggled and hopped out of the van. "Get it?" she called out behind her as she followed her brother and his friend.
Both pastry chefs looked at one another and cringed.
Unfortunately, they did.
Ignoring them, Luan rushed along while shaking her shoes free of cake and strawberries, hoping the day wouldn't be wasted.
When they stopped once again, Luan sighed gratefully.
The park.
"Come on, you two," Luan muttered. She'd been grateful at first that they chose to come there to read their new comic books, but when they sat down in the open Luan realized she wouldn't be able to get close enough to listen in. "Get your butts moving already!"
As she sat there, waiting, she took in her surroundings along the street. Huh, that's new, she walked carefully over to the two mailboxes that sat on the opposite side of the park entrance. She only risked it given the bushes that shielded her from view. "Why'd they put two post office boxes here?"
Luan got a closer look. She knew the one had been there before, but the second was what threw her off. When she found no sign or anything, she shrugged. "Must be a replacement?" she was about to say something more when a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Guess we should get going now, huh?" Luan's eyes went wide as Clyde's voice grew closer.
"Dang it!" she hissed.
When Lincoln and Clyde popped out onto the street once more, Lincoln looked over at the mailboxes and raised an eyebrow.
"Huh," he left Clyde's side, went over to the boxes. "Why are there two mailboxes here?"
"Oh," Clyde snapped his fingers as he joined Lincoln. "I heard my dads say that the city's replacing them."
"Hey kids!" Lincoln and Clyde turned at the sound of the man's voice. "Sorry to interrupt, but could you two move?" it was a worker with the city. He and two other crew members had pulled up in a city truck with a trailer hitched to it without the boys noticing. "We gotta pick up that ol' mailbox right there," he indicated the one closest to them.
"Oh, sorry!" both boys apologized and backed away.
They watched as the men quickly unbolted the older blue box from the ground and, with all three's strength hefted the thing on over to the truck trailer where they plopped it down and tied it firmly to the bed with several others of its kind.
"Thank you both!" the man called out as he and his crew hopped into the truck and took off while the boys just stared after them.
The truck rode along, its destination a nearby junkyard where the boxes were all hefted off the trailer, a few checked for any remaining mail before they were thrown onto a conveyor belt where they would be led to their utter destruction at the hands of a giant crusher that champed at the bit!
Or, at least that was what Luan theorized would happen as she popped out of the bushes.
Wiping off bits of leaves, twigs, some remaining cake and a bit of dirt, Luan grumbled at the state she was in. "Aw, phooey," then she sighed. "Well, better follow, just in case."
She wasn't really in a joking mood by that point.
Nothing more was said, and Lincoln and Clyde parted ways soon after. Luan followed Lincoln home, but held off for a moment to keep him from knowing she'd trailed him all that day. When she was sure she was in the clear, Luan walked up to the front door and quietly slid in.
"Whoa!" Luna gaped at her sister, noting just how awful she looked with twigs sticking up out of her hair. "Where'd you get off to today? A nature hike?"
Luan was about to make a joke, but passed. Instead, she just sighed and trudged upstairs, found her way to the shower and got into her pajamas.
And it wasn't even five, she lamented.
"Okay, okay!" Lori called for order as all her siblings gabbed among themselves in hers' and Leni's bedroom later that night. "This meeting's now in session."
Things got underway quickly, and despite a few small interruptions the kids managed to get through the meeting without any major damage. But as soon as the end was in sight someone just had to throw it off the rails.
And then, without planning for it, Luan was thrown a bone.
"Oh?" Lynn had made a veiled remark about the preferences of her brother. What he'd said in return piqued everyone's curiosity, much to his apparent remorse. "Then tell me Stinkoln, what do you like? Wait, no, lemme guess; you like breasts?" she grinned.
None of the other sisters said anything, but Lori and Luna couldn't help but bite their lips and wonder what their brother would say.
And then, something happened.
He went calm, cool, collected, and without even a hitch in his voice he said, "Nah, legs." When everyone's eyes widened, he continued with a short, sharp nod. "Long legs."
It took a moment, but eventually Luan recovered enough, filed that info away and then elbowed her brother in the ribs. "Got anyone in mind with that sort of talk, Linc?" she wiggled her brow conspiratorially.
If everyone had gone silent before, the entire room became a vacuum as he said, "Well, yeah, actually."
The entire room froze. Jaws collectively dropped.
"Is this meeting done, by any chance?" Lincoln asked politely. "I've got some business I need to take care of."
It was Lori who spoke first, nodding dumbly as she said, "Y-yeah, go… right on ahead," and just stared at her brother as he left the room.
"Our brother's-" Lynn sat there, gaped. She hadn't expected her ribbing to produce something like this. "A leg man?"
Luna blinked, gaped, then looked at her siblings. "And he actually has somebody in freaking mind!"
But Luan just sat there, amazed. Sure, it wasn't exactly what she expected, but that was still something.
"Don't worry!" Luan piped up just as everyone started getting worked up. "I'll look into this. Besides, it's probably just Ronnie-Anne and he's playing with us."
"If he is," Lynn growled, but grinned all the same, "I'll make him pay. On the field. Guaranteed."
Lori shook herself out of her stupor and nodded her agreement. "Let us know what you find out, Luan."
Luan smiled, nodded sharply. "Oh, you got it."
A/N: You know, one thing I should note is that this story was originally meant to possess a jokey, hokey ending. But when I reached a certain point in it I realized that the story itself was NOT going in that direction. And it swung massively between genres. It always remained a mystery, but... well... I'll leave it at this; it's gonna get a bit wild later on. You have been warned.
