Author's Notes and Disclaimer: Hey, you made it! Welcome to Chapter 4!
Here's the disclaimer: I do not own the movie "The Secret of NIMH" (owned by MGM/UA Entertainment Co., Aurora Productions, and Don Bluth Productions), the characters of "Loonatics Unleashed" (owned by Warner Bros), or the "Tiny Toon Adventures" character Calamity Coyote (owned by Warner Bros and Amblin). I also don't own the song "Flying Dreams (Lullaby)" sung by Sally Stevens; that belongs to its creator.
Recap: The Loonatics and Calamity arrived in the world of "The Secret of NIMH" and meet widowed field mouse Mrs. Brisby, whose son Timothy has pneumonia. The seven anthros escort Mrs. Brisby home, trying to get used to their new environment (and size), when they encounter Jeremy…and Dragon, whom they just barely manage to escape from. Once everyone's out of danger, the adventure group finds out that Toon physics don't apply in this world and Ace, Lexi, Duck, Slam, Mrs. Brisby, and Jeremy learn about Tech's younger brother. Duck also starts acting a bit unusual (for him), which is really the start of his development throughout this story.
Now Rev, Duck, Tech, and Calamity have gone on ahead to look after the Brisby kids until their babysitter shows up…and if you know the movie, then you know that those four are in for a bit of trouble. But why not read on and find out?
Chapter 4: The Brisby Home
Finding the stone was easy; Calamity telekinetically lifted himself above the grass to help Rev navigate. Once that was accomplished, finding the cement block was a cinch; there was a light on in the window, as it was getting dark.
"Last-stop,-Brisby-household-and-aw!-What-a-quaint-little-place-it-is! Passengers disembark, please!" Rev announced.
"Finally!" Duck sighed. "Everything wasth going by stho fast I almostht lostht my lunch!" he groaned, holding his stomach.
'Aw, c'mon, Duck! That was fun! What a rush!' Calamity beamed. 'I always love riding Rev!'
Rev chuckled modestly.
"Well, let's hope that excitement doesn't ruin your sleep patterns," Tech told the young, grey coyote. "You still need to go to bed."
'Yes, big bro,' Calamity said, smiling.
"I heard that," Tech grinned playfully. "C'mere!" he said, taking Calamity in his arms and tickling him which made Calamity laugh telepathically.
"Hello?" called a young, female voice from inside the cement block, having heard the laughing.
"Oh, must be one of the kids," Rev noticed as the coyote tickle-fest died down.
"I hope they don't mind us coming in like this," Tech said, taking Calamity's hand and walking towards the front door. "Huh, no door," Tech noticed when they came to the front porch. He decided to knock on the wall instead. "Hello?" he called.
"Who's there?" called a young, male voice this time.
"Friends of your mother's," Tech said.
"Our mother?" came another female voice, this one much younger.
"Is she alright?" called the young female voice that spoke earlier.
"Yes, she's fine," Tech replied. "She's on her way here with more friends of ours with your brother's medicine."
"We met her at Mr. Ages'," Rev called in. "May we come in, please? Your mom gave us permission to stay here."
"I don't know…" the young male trailed.
"They don't sound bad, Martin," the older female voice said. There was a patter of footsteps as someone came up the stairs.
A young, brown-furred, girl mouse came into view, wearing a purple dress and a pink bow behind her head. When she saw who and what was at the front door, she yelped, not knowing what they were.
Rev jumped into action.
"Whoa-whoa-whoa, hey-hey-hey he-e-ey. Shh, calm down. It's all right, we won't hurt ya," Rev soothed the scared female mouseling. "Friends of your mom's, remember?" he asked with a friendly smile.
"You…You really…know Mother?" the female mouseling asked timidly. "You really met her at Mr. Ages'?"
"Believe me, sthisthter, we've got the jangled nervesth to prove it!" Duck spoke up.
"Duck! Be nice!" Rev reprimanded him. "Sorry 'bout him," he apologized for Duck. "He's had a long day. Oh, that's my friend, Duck," he added, introducing his teammate. "And that's Tech, Calamity, and I'm Rev," he said, introducing himself and the coyotes.
"I'm Teresa," the young mouseling said. "He talks funny," she added, pointing at Duck.
"It's a quirk of his, don't mind it," Tech told her.
"Hi," Teresa said to Calamity.
Calamity shyly waved hello.
"Come on in," Teresa beckoned the unusual quartet in. "Auntie Shrew will be here soon."
"She your babysitter?" Tech asked.
"M-hm," Teresa nodded in response as she led them down the stairs to the main room.
"Teresa! Cynthia!" the young male mouse, Martin, cried out in alarm, putting his baby sister, Cynthia, a yellow-furred mouse with a green bow tied around her waist, behind him to protect her.
"Martin, it's OK!" Teresa told her brother. "They're Mother's friends." She then introduced them.
"That's us," Rev piped up, making Cynthia giggle.
"So, I'm guessing you're the man in charge," Tech said, bending down to get eye-level with Martin.
"You got that right," Martin nodded proudly.
"Well, young sir, I hope you accept these humble strangers into your home," Rev said with a bow.
The Brisby sisters and Calamity giggled at the display, while Tech just quietly chuckled.
"Well, any friend of Mom's is a friend of mine," Martin said. He then looked out towards the front door, still waiting for his mother to show up. "Maybe I should go look for Mom," he then said.
"I don't think so, Martin," Teresa advised.
"Don't worry about it, she'll be here soon with the medicine for Timmy," Rev told the mouse children.
"Brisby! Briiiisby!" a woman's voice called out.
"Who'sth that?" Duck asked, leaning against the wall near the stairs.
"Oh, Auntie Shrew!" Teresa gasped.
"Oh, Auntie!" Cynthia added.
"Oh, no…" Martin groaned, face-palming himself.
"Aw, c'mon, she can't be that bad," Rev said to Martin.
"Brisby!" Auntie Shrew yelled again.
"If her voic-th-e isth any indication, she'sth probably worsthe," Duck muttered, covering his ears.
"She'll wake up Timothy!" Teresa yelped, heading for the bottom of the stairs.
Tech walked over with her.
"Brisby!" Auntie Shrew called a fourth time.
"She's not in!" Tech called.
Auntie Shrew called again anyway. "Brisby!"
"Maybe she didn't hear ya, Tech," Rev shrugged.
'No, she heard all right,' Calamity told him. 'But her mind is on a single track right now, and that's to find Mrs. Brisby and tell her about Moving Day.'
"And hopefully us, as well," Tech said, going with Teresa up the stairs to the front door.
"Why is she always coming around here, poking her nose in where she's not wanted?" Martin complained, storming off to his bedroom, swiping the cloth curtain away angrily.
"Martin!" Teresa scolded her brother quietly from the top of the stairs.
"Doesn't like her much, huh?" Tech asked rhetorically.
"Nope," Teresa answered.
A figure about Tech's height and bundled in a navy-blue shawl, Auntie Shrew, came marching in. As Teresa helped her out of her scarf, Auntie Shrew was revealed to be, indeed, an adult female shrew.
'Uh-oh,' Calamity intoned to himself, knowing that shrews weren't exactly the most personable creatures. He, Tech, and the others were in for trouble.
And it started once Auntie Shrew got an arm free…and a look at Tech. She gasped in alarm and hit Tech on his muzzle, thinking he was a trespasser.
"Ow!" Tech yelped. "Lady, wait a minute!"
Rev quickly stood up.
"Auntie Shrew, wait!" Teresa cried out before her babysitter could inflict more harm on the older coyote. "He and his friends are friends of Mother's," she said. "And there are more friends of theirs who are bringing her home with medicine for Timothy."
Auntie Shrew huffed, but she made no further attempt to hit the anthro desert canid. Tech, meanwhile, decided to get out of the way and came down the stairs, holding his sore muzzle.
"Thank you, child. I must speak with your mother," Auntie Shrew told Teresa, practically dumping her shawl on the girl mouseling and burying her underneath it.
"Your Auntie is exhausted," Auntie Shrew said as she came down the stairs. "Why me?" she said rather dramatically, almost rivaling Daffy Duck in that area. "That I alone should be responsible for the welfare of the entire field is monstrous! Brisby!" she called again, making the newcomers cover their ears.
"Oh, brother, does she wanna make usth deaf?" Duck grumbled under his breath.
"Mother isn't here," Teresa told Auntie Shrew as she carried her shawl down the stairs.
"Auntie Shrew, Timmy's sick," said little Cynthia, tugging on Auntie Shrew's scarf.
"Cynthia, dearest, don't paw me," the shrew told the youngest mouse child, gently pulling her scarf out of the little one's hands before sitting down. "She's not here?" she asked.
"We sthaid that about three timesth already," Duck mumbled.
"She left you children alone then?" Auntie Shrew asked.
"I'm old enough," Martin huffed from his bedroom.
"Aw, she didn't leave them alone per se, Auntie Shrew," Rev said to her. "Mrs. Brisby sent me and my friends ahead to look out for them until you arrived. But don't worry, she'll be here in a few minutes with our other friends and you can talk to her then, unless of course they get held up, and-"
Rev was cut off when Auntie Shrew roughly grabbed and pulled him down to her eye-level by his beak, making him yelp in pain.
Calamity jumped.
"Whoa, there!" Duck yelped in surprise.
"Auntie!" Teresa gasped.
"Hey, t-take it easy!" Tech warned the shrew.
"Listen here, you," she growled to the currently frightened and in-pain roadrunner, "I don't know who or what you are or where you've come from, but under this roof, you will say what you need to say and no more. In other words, say your piece then shut your beak or I will shut it for you," she threatened Rev. "Are we clear?"
Although it was difficult at the moment, Rev managed to nod.
"Good," the shrew nodded with finality before releasing Rev.
"OOH-OOH! OWIE-E-E-E!" Rev cried out, clutching his beak.
"Yikesth," Duck muttered.
'Rev!' Calamity gasped.
"O-o-o-o-oh, it hurts! It really hurts!" Rev whimpered, sitting down on the table's edge. "Not even you grab that hard!" he said to Tech.
"Let me look at it," Tech told his friend. "Whoa…" he uttered once he got a look.
"Isth it that bad?" Duck asked, wide-eyed.
"She's lucky she didn't twist it off with all that force she applied!" Tech growled a bit, not happy at all with what Auntie Shrew did.
Auntie Shrew just humphed again and got back on the train of thought she was on before dealing with Rev. "Rats in the field up to Heaven-knows-what kind of mischief, and of course these interlopers," she glared at the visitors.
"I hope Mrs. Brisby has something for a sore beak around here," Tech muttered to himself, looking around and ignoring Auntie Shrew while Duck just aimlessly looked around and Calamity tried to comfort Rev.
"Cynthia dear, don't fidget!" she told the little one as she played with the shrew's scarf again. "You're so like your mother," she sighed.
I guess this shrew has known the Brisbys for a long time, Tech guessed, giving up his search.
"I ain't scared of nuthin'!" Martin huffed.
"She went to see Mr. Ages, where she met Mr. Tech and his friends," Teresa told her babysitter.
"To Ages? That old flim-flam!" Auntie Shrew huffed. "Whatever for?"
"Auntie Shrew, Timmy's sick!" Cynthia said again, pulling the scarf again.
"Patience, my pet," Auntie Shrew cooed to Cynthia before turning to Teresa and asking, "Why to Ages?"
"Man, is she deaf asth well?!" Duck grumbled, his tone just near hearing levels. "We already sthaid there'sth a sthick kid here about a dozen timesth already!"
"Um, Duck? Unless you want your beak to suffer the same fate…Shut. Up," Tech ordered evenly.
And Duck did. He had already gone through some unfortunate happenings to his beak and he didn't want to add another to the list.
"Timmy's sick," Cynthia piped up, still holding Auntie Shrew's scarf.
"Timothy is very ill," Teresa said, putting her hands behind her back.
"Timmy ill?" Auntie Shrew asked, looking concerned. "Oh, how dreadful!"
"Easy there, Rev," Tech told the roadrunner, who had a glaring look on his face as if to say, "Well, it didn't seem like you cared before".
'Uh-oh,' Calamity spoke up, looking toward Martin's bedroom.
"I'm not afraid of the dark!" Martin glared, emerging from his bedroom and swinging a stick.
"Martin!" Auntie Shrew gasped.
"I'm not afraid of the farmer!" he continued.
"Whoa there," Tech warned.
"I can't hear," Auntie Shrew said.
"The kid'sth got mox-th-ie," Duck commented to himself.
"I'm not even scared of Dragon!" Martin declared, throwing his stick away behind him.
"Oh-kay, maybe a little too much mox-th-ie," Duck decided, remembering his own encounter with the feline.
"Bragging about what you claim you're not afraid of won't get you very far," Tech warned Martin.
"I'm not even afraid of…of…of the Great Owl!" Martin continued anyway.
"Will you hush up?" Auntie Shrew scolded him.
"Aw, you hush up!" Martin retorted.
"Whoa~," Duck quavered, backing himself against the wall as if preparing for an explosion.
Rev and Calamity's eyes widened.
"Martin!" Teresa and Tech scolded, the latter more so in a warning tone.
"Precocious monster!" Auntie Shrew said to Martin.
"Bossy bullfrog!" Martin said back.
"Now, see here…" Tech warned, his big brother instincts rising.
He couldn't help it; despite Auntie Shrew being the oldest in the room by numerical age, he was the oldest of the four visitors present, and his instincts were telling him order needed to be restored before things went too far.
"Spoiled brat!" Auntie Shrew said, still in her insult match with Martin.
"Loudmouth!" Martin retorted.
Too late. Auntie Shrew gasped, highly offended. Duck "oohed". Rev and Calamity winced. Tech growled and face-palmed himself in frustration.
"Well! That will be quite enough of that, thank you!" Auntie Shrew said, spreading her arms, signaling Teresa for her shawl, and putting it on before starting to leave.
Unnoticed by everyone except Calamity, Auntie Shrew's shawl got caught on a projection and he went to go fix it as Auntie Shrew paused halfway up the stairs to say some final words to the children and the visitors.
"'Cast not pearls before swine', I always say," she quoted. "And that includes impudent piglets and strange interlopers who have no business in our affairs! Good day!" she then said, starting to head up the stairs again.
Calamity had just gotten a finger on the caught part of the shawl when the shrew had started moving again.
'LOOK OUT!' Calamity exclaimed loudly through his telepathy, surprising everyone.
Unfortunately, like the order Tech tried to restore seconds earlier, Calamity's warning came too late as Auntie Shrew was stopped short by the caught shawl and fell down the stairs, coming to a stop in front of a now-scared Calamity Coyote.
The Brisby children couldn't help but laugh at what had happened to their babysitter. Duck even started to chuckle a bit.
"I know I shouldn't be laughing, but…" he said, continuing to do so.
When Auntie Shrew recovered from her tumble, the first person her eyes set on was poor Calamity.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, believing it was the grey coyote who was responsible for her misfortune.
Seeing this, Duck immediately recovered. "I wasth right; I shouldn't be laughing!" he realized, starting to step forward.
"You-you impertinent little-" Auntie Shrew began to rail on Calamity, who immediately shrank back and covered his head in a gesture of protecting himself.
Tech rushed in and covered Calamity protectively with his arms.
"Now, look here…" Tech began to growl, his ears laid back against his head.
"Martin!" came Mrs. Brisby's voice from the front door. "Auntie Shrew! Tech! What's going on?!" she asked as she entered with Ace, Lexi and Slam.
Rev sighed audibly in relief at the arrival of Mrs. Brisby and the others.
"Eh, what party did we miss?" Ace asked, surveying the room from the top of the stairs.
"In-deed!" Auntie Shrew huffed, recovering herself and her shawl, which had come lose from the projection when she fell.
"Where were you guysth about 5 minutesth ago?!" Duck demanded. "We were getting sthlaughtered here!"
"Are you exaggerating again, Duck?" Lexi asked the anthro black duck.
"Does thisth look like I'm ex-th-aggerating?!" Duck asked, gesturing to the coyotes and Rev, who was still holding his beak.
"OK, what happened here?" Ace asked, noticing Rev.
'I was only trying to get her shawl unstuck from the stairs,' Calamity explained, still a little scared by Auntie Shrew.
"Or your claws, more likely," Auntie Shrew retorted.
"Hey, ma'am, I know Calamity and he ain't no liar," Ace told the shrew.
"And that is no way to speak under this roof," Auntie Shrew scolded Ace. "You keep it up and that terrible habit will pass to the children!"
"What did I do?" Ace asked.
Auntie Shrew didn't answer, but prepared to walk out the door when Mrs. Brisby said, "Please, come back inside."
Rev shook his head vehemently at that, not wanting Auntie Shrew to remain and hurt anybody else.
"Not for a king's ransom!" Auntie Shrew refused. "I have just one thing to say; that child is a brat!" she said, referring to Martin's behavior. "And your visitors could stand to learn some manners!" she added.
"Yes, I will speak to him," Mrs. Brisby said, referring to Martin.
"I came here to inform you that the frost is off the ground, and Moving Day is at hand," the shrew told the widowed mouse. "Prepare to move your very, very odd family. Good day-" she had just turned around to leave when she found herself slightly looking up at Slam, who seemed to tower over her. The shrew and the devil seemed to have a staring competition for a few seconds before the former recollected herself and with another huffed "Good day!", she left, muttering, "You never know what might be lurking about out there, what with rats…"
Slam looked at the departing shrew, then looked questioningly at Ace, wondering what he did.
"It's OK, big guy, you didn't do anythin'," Ace assured him.
"Well, children, now you've done it," Mrs. Brisby told her young ones once Auntie Shrew was gone.
"What did I do?!" Duck exclaimed.
"Not you, Duck," Ace groaned, following Mrs. Brisby down the stairs.
"It was Martin," Teresa clarified.
"So, Tech, what'd we miss?" Ace asked the genius canid. Ace then noticed something when Tech held his head a certain way and asked, avoiding talking about the bruise he was seeing, "Um, is it me or does your schnoz look a little crooked at dat angle?"
Tech groaned, putting a hand to the spot where Auntie Shrew had hit him. Taking it that Tech was slightly offended, Ace tried to take the question back.
"No, no, it's OK," Tech assured his leader.
"What happened?" Ace asked again.
"Auntie Shrew hit Mr. Tech on the nose," Teresa answered.
"Oh, dear!" Mrs. Brisby gasped.
"I'm OK," he assured his hostess. "It was a misunderstanding. Besides, it's not me I'm worried about."
"What happened to you?" Lexi asked Rev. "C'mon, let me look."
Rev moved his hand from his beak to reveal a bruise ring around his beak shaped like Auntie Shrew's gripping hand, along with what looked like slight indents.
"Are those actual indents?!" Lexi gasped.
"From the shrew'sth own gentle hand, no lessth," Duck said sarcastically.
"Auntie Shrew pull him hard!" Cynthia said, trying to climb into Rev's lap.
"Oh, you poor dear," Mrs. Brisby cooed.
"Yeah, we were hopin' you had somethin' for a sore beak around here, ma'am," Tech said.
"I'm afraid not," she admitted. "All I have are some rags. Maybe we could put it in some hot water, it might help."
"It'll do," Tech agreed as Lexi and Mrs. Brisby went about it.
"And what about Cal and Duck here?" Ace asked.
"I sthurvived, miraculousthly," Duck answered. "I've been over here the whole time."
'Auntie Shrew's shawl got caught on the stairs,' Calamity explained. 'I tried to remove it, but she fell before I could, and…'
"Calamity's situation was one of those 'went with good intentions but ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time' types of happenings," Tech explained.
'I was only trying to help…' Calamity began.
"And I believe ya, Cal," Ace soothed the young, psychic desert canid. "Don't worry about it anymore, 'K?"
Ace frowned. He did not like what he heard about Auntie Shrew hurting two of his friends and scaring another just because he was trying to help. He sighed; he didn't want to complain, but he had to bring this up with somebody.
"Um, Mrs. B?" Ace began, going over to the widowed mouse as Lexi left to give Rev the warm, mouse-sized rag. "Look, I realize you've known dis Auntie Shrew for a long time, but…"
"The shrew means well," Mrs. Brisby told him as she went to get a pot of broth out of the fireplace.
"Maybe, but I don't like it when my friends, my family, get assaulted by anybody," Ace told her. "Even if somebody claims dat dey meant well."
"I don't like what she's done either, Ace, but she's only trying to help. After all, she looks out for the field community, especially when Moving Day arrives. If only Timmy hadn't gotten sick now…" Mrs. Brisby trailed off as she poured the broth into a bowl and poured in the medicine for Timmy.
"What is 'Moving Day'?" Rev asked, speaking for the first time since his incident with the shrew.
"It's when Farmer Fitzgibbons plows the field," Mrs. Brisby explained. "Everyone has to leave or they'll be killed."
"But Timmy can't leave histh bed!" Duck protested, actually looking concerned.
There was a heavy silence in the room, as if to say, "That's what's making this so hard right now". Mrs. Brisby picked the bowl, preparing to take it to her sick son, before remembering something.
"Children, these three that arrived with me are friends of the others; Ace, Lexi, and Slam," she said, introducing them. "All seven of them will be our guests for a few days, so be nice to them."
"Is there anything we can do?" Lexi asked gently, knowing where Mrs. Brisby was going.
"Well…" she thought for a bit. "A cold rag…and some pillows might help," she said.
"I'll get the rag," Lexi volunteered.
"I got the pillows," Tech told Rev, who had started standing up, making his warm compress slide off his beak.
"Whoops," Rev said sheepishly. He was about to pick it up when Cynthia did it for him. "Aw, thanks," he cooed, unable to stop smiling at how cute Cynthia looked.
"You can use my pillow!" she told him, smiling widely.
"Aw, Cynthia, that's so sweet of you," Lexi cooed, walking by with the cold, mouse-sized rag.
Tech then came into the room with a slight armful of pillows that he had found around the house before dropping them down to get some air back into his lungs. Calamity and Rev both walked over and each took one to lighten Tech's load; the coyote smiled in thanks. He then picked the remaining ones back up but dropped a small one in the process. Duck was the only one who saw and went to pick it up.
"Gosh, I'm sorry, Mom," Martin apologized as the coyotes and the roadrunner went inside Timmy's room with the pillows, Ace and Slam behind them.
Duck, pillow still in hand, hesitated outside. This was like those days back at the orphanage before…No, he didn't want to remember, but the memory persisted. He was there again, only three-to-five years old, standing outside the door to a particular kid's room. It was nighttime; he often woke up at night to see what was happening, and he had often asked himself what was wrong with her, why she looked so terrible, why her breathing sounded so scary, and when she was going to get out of bed and come out and play with him and Pinkster.
She eventually did get out of bed…and her room had been empty ever since.
Duck felt his eyes begin to sting with tears. He didn't want to see this again; not if Timmy was going to die too.
He sighed heavily, giving in to this strange feeling inside him that was telling him to go in. "OK, OK, I'm coming," he muttered, pushing back the curtain and stepping inside.
Duck forgot how to move. He almost willed himself not to breathe. He just stood there, clutching the pillow tightly in his hands, feeling a squeezing sensation in his chest, like his heart was breaking, tears beginning to stream down his face. In that moment, his friends disappeared, and Mrs. Brisby and her sick son in the bed were replaced by the orphanage administrator, the nurse,…and that poor, sick little girl he knew.
Dream by night, wish by day
Love begins this way
Night's a friend
With love to send
Each new day
Tech silently instructed Rev to carefully lift Timmy's head so that the pillows already there could be readjusted and new ones put in. As they did so, Mrs. Brisby began to spoon-feed her son the broth with the medicine. Ace and Slam sadly looked on, feeling bad for the kid.
Bless you heart
Bless you soul
Let your dreams come true
Future songs and flying dreams,
Wait for you
The other Brisby children walked in behind Duck, with Cynthia brushing past Duck and going towards her mother, the other visitors, and her sick brother, waking the black-feathered mallard. Teresa ended up following her baby sister while trying to stop her.
Noticing Tech's effort with the pillows and finally registering that he was holding one, Duck walked towards them as if in a trance, handing the pillow to Tech before quickly backing off as the tears started again.
Love it seems
Made flying dreams,
So hearts could soar
Heaven-sent,
These wings were meant
To prove once more
That love is the key
"Thanks, Cal," Tech said softly, accepting the pillow that he thought Calamity had handed him.
Calamity looked confused; he didn't hand Tech that particular pillow. Then he felt a particularly strong sadness in the room, and turned to find its source: Duck, leaning on the wall near the door as if he wanted to be as far away from this as possible.
He did, Calamity realized, not noticing that he was starting to probe Duck's mind.
"OK, that'll do, now," Tech then said, breaking Calamity's concentration momentarily. "Gently now," he quietly instructed Rev.
Rev very gingerly lowered Timmy's head back down to the pillows before putting a hand of sympathy on Timmy's head and gently rubbing his hot forehead with his thumb. Rev whimpered, feeling like he was about to cry; this was like those days when Rip would sometimes come down with a fever when he was little. Rev didn't know much about fevers at the time, at least not until his mother had told him about the times when he got summer fevers as an infant.
Tech beckoned the emotional roadrunner to come to the other side of the bed for a hug. Rev came over, almost tripping over Cynthia in the process as she and her older siblings started gathering around.
Slam sniffled a bit. Ace comfortingly patted the gentle giant on the back.
Once the broth was finished, Lexi took that as her cue to put the cold rag on Timmy's forehead. The young mouse yawned tiredly, his breath sounding raspy. He looked so wan and thin.
"Is Timmy gonna die?" Cynthia queried, breaking the silence.
"Oh, no, sweetie, no," Lexi told her.
"He's just very sick," Mrs. Brisby added.
"What's the matter with him, Mother?" Teresa asked.
"Mr. Ages and Tech called it…pneumonia," Mrs. Brisby answered.
"Pneumonia," Teresa repeated in slight horror.
"When will he get better?" Cynthia asked.
Rev took a calming breath, knelt down, and told her, "Soon." He then smiled a little and picked her up in his arms. "Just give your bro three weeks and he'll be back out in the sunshine rompin' about with the rest of you," he then said in an attempt to give everyone a positive outlook.
"Really?" Cynthia asked him.
"Really really," Rev answered.
Cynthia giggled and wrapped her arms around Rev's neck in a hug.
"Will he really get better?" Teresa asked her mother.
"Yes," Mrs. Brisby answered. "I hope," she added quietly.
Don't you know better than to give thosthe kidsth falsthe hopesth? came a rather harsh-sounding thought directed at Rev into Calamity's mind.
Calamity turned back around and looked at Duck, his eyes narrowing. He was going to have to ask him about this.
As you wish
As you will
Dream a flying start
Love and care
The power's there
Trust your heart
Trust your heart
Lexi yawned after a moment. Soon, Cynthia yawned, with Rev and Calamity following after. The occurrence was enough to make smiles spread throughout the room, except to a certain duck.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lexi smiled bashfully to Mrs. Brisby. "I guess I started a chain reaction."
"That's perfectly all right," Mrs. Brisby giggled. "It is getting rather late. You'd all better get off to bed."
"Eh, I realize our asking to stay wit' you was rather sudden, but you got any spare rooms for us?" Ace asked.
"Well, there's one: it…it was Jonathan's study," she answered. "There's only one bed in there, but I do have extra blankets that I use in the winter months."
The visitors expressed their thanks to their hostess.
Rev tried to put Cynthia down so that she could go to bed, but she wouldn't let go. Tech noticed this and smiled.
"Looks like somebody's become attached to you," he said.
Rev smiled bashfully, still gently trying to remove Cynthia from his person.
"Rev, why don't you put Cynthia to bed?" Mrs. Brisby suggested.
"Yes! Yes!" Cynthia chanted, jumping in Rev's arms, eliciting chuckles from those present.
"OK, then," Rev said, moving Cynthia to his shoulders. "Hey, easy with that, that's part of my head there," he gently warned the youngest Brisby girl about his head plumage as she began batting it about. "OK, keep your head low and hold on," he then told her, bending down so that they would be able to get out the door without injury. "Here we go! Whee-ee-ee!" he called out, jogging out of the room, a giggling Cynthia with him.
The others couldn't help but laugh.
"Rev is good with children," Mrs. Brisby noticed once she recovered from laughing.
"Well, it's like we told ya," Ace said, "Rev had a little brother. And he actually considers Calamity here another little brother as well."
"Like we said, we're all one, big, happy family," Lexi added.
At that moment, Duck left the room. Calamity followed a second after.
'What was that about?' Calamity sternly asked Duck, bringing him to a stop.
There was a pause before Duck answered, "I don't know what you're talking about."
'What you said to Rev,' Calamity explained, his arms crossed. 'About not giving the kids false hopes?'
"I didn't sthay nuthin'," Duck retorted.
'But you thought it,' Calamity pointed out.
"That…wasth none of your beesthwax-th, kid," Duck said slowly, starting to get angry.
'What's wrong with you?' Calamity continued. 'We were doing something nice for Mrs. Brisby and her kids, and you wouldn't even take part! Well, actually, you did; you handed Tech that last pillow,' he remembered.
"That'sth my busthinessth, and my busthinessth alone, so if you want ansthwersth, you're out of-"
Calamity's eyes widened along with Duck's. It was too late; whatever part of Duck's mind that held his long-locked away conscience had decided to give Calamity the truth, and the young canid psychic grasped it. Images flashed by, along with bits of conversation from Duck's past.
A young, male, black duck, Duck himself, a young piglet, Pinkster, and a young, rather pretty, female white swan were playing together…
Young Duck standing strong to defend the young swan from a larger bully, holding his shivering pig cohort's hand to keep him there. The young, black duck lisped, "C'mon, Pinksthtuh, Angel'sth countin' on usth to protect her; don't chicken out!"…
The same trio playing outside when they heard the swan, Angel, coughing. They stopped and asked if she was fine…
"No doubt about it, you have a fever, Miss Angel," the orphanage nurse told the sick little swan. Young Duck and young Pinkster were watching from outside the room…
Young Duck creeping down the hallway at night to Angel's room, watching the administrator and the nurse take care of her…
The other orphanage kids speculating what was happening to Angel. One of them said that she might die. Young Duck denied it…
The nurse shaking her head slowly and gravely. "I'm sorry…" she sighed. Young Duck grew confused…
It was early morning. All the kids had been woken up early and they wondered what was going on. "Young ones, I have a sad announcement to make," the administrator started. "Our dear Angel…passed away last night." One of the kids asked what that meant, leading to a discussion about death, and how when one dies, they never came back…
Never came back…She would never get adopted…Duck would never see her again…
Calamity cut the connection, his head aching and feeling tears in his eyes. No wonder Duck was acting like this; he had lost a friend to a disease similar to what Timmy was going through. Before he could even convey sympathy, Calamity heard Duck breathing hard. He looked up to see Duck covering his eyes with one hand, and his free hand clenching into a fist. Then he felt hostility, the feeling of being invaded…Horror flew throughout Calamity's body; he had done what he had promised not to do: latch on to a strong emotion in someone's mind and read the memory behind it.
He felt weak in the knees. He gasped aloud as he started to cry, ashamed of what he had just done.
"Hey, Cal, what's the ma-" Rev began, coming out of Cynthia's bedroom at that moment, having felt Calamity's distress. "Duck? What's going on?" he asked slowly, seeing the two of them.
Duck didn't answer, but slowly turned to go, just looking back at Calamity long enough to say in an emotional, bitter tone, his lisp barely coming through in a rare moment: "Maybe…you should commit the phrase…"Nobody…likes…a mind-reader"…to memory", before stalking off to Martin's currently unoccupied bedroom, not even bothering to lift the curtain back.
Rev just looked on, still wondering what happened. Calamity continued to gasp as he voicelessly cried. Tech came out of Timmy's room, his "big-brother radar" having gone off a moment ago.
"Cal?" he asked, confused. "Rev, what…?" he started to ask.
"Dad's study is that room off to your right," Martin was telling the others when they emerged when Calamity ran off in that direction. "Well, looks like he found it," he added, getting curious.
Ace looked to Tech for an explanation, who, in turn, looked to Rev for one.
"What's happening?" Mrs. Brisby queried, concerned about Calamity. "Why did Calamity run off like that?"
"I don't know," Tech responded.
"Me neither…" Rev began, then continued, his facial expression growing uncharacteristically stern, "But it had something to do with Duck."
"Where is Duck?" Ace asked.
Lexi pointed to Martin's bedroom.
"What's he doing in there? That's my room!" Martin shouted, going over to get the anthro mallard out of there.
"Martin, don't!" Mrs. Brisby scolded her son.
"When I came out, Duck looked really tense and Calamity was crying," Rev was explaining to Tech. "I didn't hear any yelling between them, but it got kinda quiet for a few minutes and the next thing I know my alarm-bell for Calamity is going off in my brain," he finished, referring to the psychic link that Calamity had established between Rev, himself, and Tech as a symbol of their brotherly connection.
Tech sighed, pinching the part of his nose that separated his eyes. He knew exactly what had happened: Calamity had, unintentionally or not, probed Duck's mind for something, and apparently got it. And was feeling the consequences.
"Will you come out of my room?" Martin was demanding the intruder inside.
"Go…away," came Duck's embittered voice.
Martin went in anyway.
"C'mon, Duck, dat's not yer room," Ace said.
"Tech…you don't think he…" Rev whispered anxiously to his friend/brother figure. Rev gasped when Tech nodded.
"This is my room! Your room is in the study where your little grey friend went," came Martin's voice.
"I don't care!" Duck snapped, his voice thick with emotion. "I don't wanna be anywhere near that…that…that…mind-reading freak!"
That brought on gasps of outrage from Duck's teammates. Tech and Rev winced as their psychic connection with Calamity signaled them that the young coyote was in more distress; he had heard that.
"Duck! You come out right now, or Slam will drag you out!" Ace ordered threateningly. "Or Martin'll kick you out, whichever comes foist!"
"You heard him!" Martin's voice yelled again, taking the opportunity to act on what Ace had "suggested". And he did, pushing Duck out harshly with one last: "Get OUT!"
Duck stumbled out and turned around. Teresa hid behind her mother, who gasped. He looked terrible; it was like he had aged forward, his figure looking haggard. His eyes were red from crying and crusted from undried tears. He was breathing raggedly through his mouth, occasionally coughing.
"If ya don't mind, Mrs. B, we'll just take him outside so we don't distoib Timmy," Ace said to the widowed field mouse slowly.
Mrs. Brisby didn't say a word, but nodded.
"Uh, Chief?" Tech spoke up. "Before you deal with him, ya might wanna know…" He then whispered what had happened to make this occur.
Ace's eyes widened a bit and he nodded in understanding, promising to take that into consideration. He then signaled Slam to take Duck outside. Duck didn't even struggle, just seemed to hang limply in Slam's grip, dragging his feet as they walked along.
"We're really sorry about this, ma'am," Ace then told Mrs. Brisby. "I promise, this will all be straightened out by morning."
Mrs. Brisby looked between the departing, broken-looking Duck, and the entrance to her late husband's study, and asked, "Will they be all right?"
Ace heavily sighed. "Dey'll have to be disciplined," he said.
"Oh, nothing harsh, I hope!" Mrs. Brisby gasped.
"No, nothin' like that," Ace shook his head. "Duck'll coitainly need a lecture, but dat's all. Calamity…well, looks like he's already sorry about it-"
"But he will get a talking-to," Tech interjected, adjusting his shirt a bit, not really comfortable with the job he gave himself.
Ace nodded. "You don't worry about it, OK?" he reassured Mrs. Brisby. "Family thing."
"Of course," Mrs. Brisby nodded, gently ushering Teresa to her room. "But please…" she trailed, hoping that the discipline wouldn't go too far.
"See you in the morning, Mrs. Brisby," Lexi gently cut the widow off before Ace could say anything, then taking his arm to follow Slam and Duck.
Rev took a hold of Tech's arm for a minute, as if to convey the same message, before releasing him. The roadrunner and Mrs. Brisby looked at each other nervously for a minute before she went to her own bedroom.
I know you don't want to do this, but you have to, Tech tried to convince himself as he stood inside the study, looking at the weeping Calamity on the bed. He cleared his throat. An ear twitched, but other than that, Calamity barely moved.
"Calamity, we need to talk," Tech said, trying to sound stern.
Nothing, vocally or telepathically, but there was a nod.
"Look at me, please."
Calamity slowly rolled over, shaking with breathy sobs and fear. Unnoticed by either coyote, some objects on a nearby desk began to tremble slightly.
Tech sighed, closing his eyes a moment. He hated seeing Calamity like that; almost reminded him of himself when he got in trouble. But he couldn't waver.
Reopening his eyes and crossing his arms, he asked steadily, "Now, why don't you tell me what happened?"
There was some silence as the younger coyote collected himself. A flame on a mouse-sized candle on the desk started growing a bit.
'I did it,' finally came the answer, in a self-loathing tone. 'I promised not to, but…I DID IT!'
Tech jumped in surprise as the candle flame roared up before dying down, as if responding to Calamity.
'I did it, I knowingly did it, and he hates me for it! And so do I!'
The flame roared up again, and the desk began to shake. Tech held his head; Calamity's anger towards the situation was registering as pain for him.
"Cal…he's upset. You're both upset over this," Tech said, trying to push through the throbbing pain in his head and defuse the situation. "You didn't mean to, right?"
'All I wanted to know was why Duck was acting so strange,' Calamity answered. 'Well, I got it,' he continued, a growl in his tone. 'I got it, all right. Ducks. It's always ducks! They are the one animal with apparently strong enough emotions to throw me off! Why can't they keep their thoughts out…of…my…HEAD?!'
The items and furniture in the room began to shake, responding to Calamity's anger. Tech quickly grabbed hold of the desk, trying to bring it down before the candle could fall off.
"Calamity! Snap out of it!" Tech yelled.
He then grabbed a cork-chair at the desk, trying to bring it down, but ended up going up with it.
"Calamity! STOP!" Tech shouted through the pain.
Sensing Tech's distress, Calamity stopped, releasing the room's objects, which luckily came back down with little-to-no damage. Tech and the chair fell with a crash. Seeing what he did, Calamity started crying again, this time sobbing into the pillow.
Rev came in at that moment, clutching his own head, and saw Tech sprawled on the floor.
"Tech!" Rev gasped.
"I tripped," Tech lied, getting up and straightening the chair.
'It's not their fault,' came Calamity's voice again, sounding like he had been crying this time. 'It's mine. It's my fault that I can't block their thoughts yet. It's not Duck's fault that I wanted to know why he was so sad, it's mine," he continued. 'It's all my fault. Duck was right; I'm nothing but a mind-reader. And nobody likes mind-readers.'
Tech and Rev looked at each other, looking lost for words. Well, they had one clue, so it was best to tug on that thread and see where it went.
Tech sat down on the side on the bed and gently asked, "Why was Duck sad?"
Some gasping sobs before the reply, 'When we were helping Mrs. Brisby with Timmy, when he handed you that last pillow, I sensed that he was really sad. Then, when Rev told Cynthia that her brother would get better, he said: "Don't you know better than to give the kids false hopes?" Not aloud, but in his mind,' he clarified, starting to turn to face his big brother figures. 'That sounded so mean, I asked him why he said that. He didn't want to, but a part of him did, and I-'
"Took the invitation," Tech finished.
Calamity nodded in contrite admission.
"Why'd he say that?" Rev asked, looking a little hurt himself.
Calamity shook his head; he didn't want to say.
'Duck will hate me more!' he told them.
"No, he won't," Tech assured him, putting a gentle hand on Calamity's shoulder. "Ace and the others are talking to him right now; he won't hate you once he hears that you're really sorry about what you did. Granted, it'll take a bit for him to believe it," he growled, then brought his voice back to normal, "but he won't hate you anymore. We'll just keep it between the four of us-uh, the five of us, I mean," he corrected himself, referring to Zooky.
He would tell Zooky about whatever Calamity told them about Duck; the saurian seemed to take as much an interest in Duck's welfare as his and Rev's, sort of making them their own group of brothers.
Calamity took a breath and told Tech and Rev about what he had seen: Duck at the orphanage, Angel, how she got really sick and died, and how bad Duck felt.
Rev sat down on the floor after hearing that. There was silence as the trio tried to get their thoughts together. Tech and Rev now felt bad for their comrade, Tech probably more so because now he knew that they both suffered a traumatic loss in their youth. It was a little scary; him and Duck having something so sad in common.
'I'm very sorry I did it, Tech,' Calamity spoke up quietly. 'I'll go and apologize to Duck when he comes back.'
"That's a good idea," Tech started to agree, then added when Calamity tried to sit up and winced in pain, "but maybe he'd better come to you; you must've drained yourself when you had that slight tantrum."
Calamity sighed, feeling dizzy. 'Sorry,' he said quietly.
"Like I said, you were upset," Tech told him, untying and taking off Calamity's shoes in the process. "Just…next time that happens, try to leave the furniture out of it," he smirked, trying to cheer Calamity up, only to have to ease him back on the bed when he tried to get up again to go apologize to Mrs. Brisby for possibly messing up her late husband's study. "Sorry, wrong thing to say," he apologized sheepishly. "Don't worry, nothing broke."
'I'm a mess, aren't I?' Calamity asked softly.
"Mm, a little," Tech admitted. "But the one thing you are not is a "mind-reading freak". Duck went too far when he said that. You are an amazing young coyote with a genius, powerful mind and a good heart," he continued sincerely, Rev nodding in agreement. "You just got a lot to learn about keeping that powerful mind in check."
'Gina warned me that the mind is a powerful thing; that it can be a gift and a curse to those with psychic abilities,' Calamity said. 'She was right about that. When I see Shirley again, I'm gonna ask for another lesson. Then I'm gonna make my meditating focus on finding calm in the storm of a duck's thoughts.'
"Good plan," Tech smiled, taking off his own shoes.
"Maybe Duck could help, once he cools down," Rev suggested. "Speaking of which…" he added, hearing footsteps.
The curtain was pulled back by Slam, who entered with Ace and a rather tired and humbled Duck. Rev got up and went to Ace as Duck stepped towards the coyotes.
"How did…?" Rev asked.
"Well, surprisingly, Duck was actually quiet for a change," Ace said. "We said our thing, then Duck just says, "OK"; kinda worries me, really."
Rev couldn't blame him; that was definitely unlike Duck. He would've thrown a tantrum to protest his innocence, not just simply say "OK" and be done with it-that was after he lost the argument.
Meanwhile, Tech was making a similar observation. Duck was acting different, but it wasn't just because Timmy getting sick reminded him of a bad memory, there was something else. And it all seemed to start when Mrs. Brisby hugged Duck in gratitude for saving her son's medicine earlier.
"Calamity…" Duck started in a rather subdued voice, "I'm sthorry for getting mad at you and calling you a mind-reading freak. I went too far with that."
'But I pried into something that was extremely personal, something I promised not to do in the first place,' Calamity spoke. 'And I'm very sorry for that. But now I also understand what you're going through, so…now I can say I'm sorry about what happened. And not to worry, Timmy will get better; especially with us around,' he added with a smile.
Duck seemed to smile too, showing that the apology was accepted.
"Justht don't get usthed to thisth, I'll probably be back to my old sthelf in the morning," Duck warned, still subdued, as he stretched and started to prepare to go to sleep.
"Lex'll join us in a moment, Slam's got the blankets; take yer pick," Ace said, slipping out of his sneakers.
"I think Cal better take the bed; he's had a rough night," Tech said, starting to tuck his little brother figure in.
Soon, the blankets were distributed and the boys officially bunked down for the night. Lexi came in a little later after doing some washing up to see Calamity sneaking out of the bed to Tech, snuggling close to him. Feeling Calamity's presence, Tech smiled in his sleep and put an arm around him. Calamity snuggled deeper into Tech's chest. Lexi smiled at this and laid down in the bed.
Mrs. Brisby woke up only once that night, first to check on Timothy, then to check on her seven guests. Everything was fine, but there was still the matter of the candle on Jonathan's desk looking a little shorter than it should.
And done. OK, had a little bit of drama here and we can see just how difficult it is for Calamity to control his psychic abilities (he's still trying to get used to them and apparently thoughts from ducks easily disrupt his concentration; you can't expect him to have them mastered within months. I have a feeling it's more like years, and since Cal was a late bloomer it's especially difficult for him).
When the Loonatics first met Calamity, he bonded with Tech and Rev the most (despite his rivalry with Little Beeper, amazingly), hence the psychic link between them.
And we get to see a few more details into a certain bad memory for Duck that had been mentioned in the second chapter. Poor Duck.
I hope you enjoyed Rev's interactions with the kids; at this point in time I've realized that I've written that aspect of him nicely because the person who voices him loves kids too.
However, it seems that most of Mrs. Brisby's guests have unknowingly gotten on Auntie Shrew's bad side, with Tech and Rev actually enduring some physical pain while Ace and Calamity got scolded. Well, she's not called "Auntie Shrew" for nothing, so…
I do hope that I did the brotherly interaction between Tech, Calamity, and Rev right; I was going for that initially.
Oh, by the way, I'm sure most of you have realized that I left out a sequence from the original movie where the rats are stealing an electric cable while the Fitzgibbons are talking about NIMH and their inquiries about the rats on the farm. I was honestly more focused on the main characters as I wrote this out, so that's why that sequence is left out.
Next time, if you know the movie…well, you know what's coming. And Mrs. Brisby's questions about the Loonatics and Calamity will finally get answered.
Until then, please read and review. Thank you.
