Luna hesitated for a moment then before continuing, "Until Lori and Leni bought the same dress by accident."
"And we had a huge argument about it. I told Leni she should return hers then she got angry and demanded I should take mine back. After we argued for a while Lisa approached us with the protocol and said it was going into effect immediately," Lori explained.
"Was Lincoln notified of the protocol because your mom didn't mention his name," Albert continued.
The girls gave each other nervous glances then Lisa decided to explain.
"Well grandfather since the protocol involves just us as sisters we agreed it wasn't necessary to tell him."
"We didn't want him butting in and solving our problems since he does it every time we have arguments," Lori added.
"That doesn't matter Lincoln had the right to know about the protocol," Albert said.
"Your parents also mentioned the conditions listed in the protocol. How can you stop other people from using the bathroom? Is there any other thing about the protocol your folks didn't tell me?"
Lynn Jr. pondered for a moment, unsure whether or not to tell her grandfather.
Albert raised his right eyebrow before saying impatiently, "Well."
"Whenever a sister was cooling off no one was allowed to make noise even the TV was off limits," Lynn Jr. clarified.
"Lincoln wanted to watch some monster truck rally on TV but…"Lucy began rethinking her decision to speak.
Albert realized she was hesitant to speak further but wanted her to continue.
"Did you do something to your brother?" Albert questioned Lucy.
"Lynn, Lola and I were sitting on the sofa and he approached us so we beat him up so he couldn't watch TV," Lucy admitted nervously.
Albert shook his head in disbelief then became angry upon hearing Lincoln was attacked because he wanted to watch the monster truck rally.
"How dare you attack him for wanting to watch TV? What else did you do to inconvenience him?" he asked angrily.
"Well Lori and Leni were about to cross paths so Luna and I grabbed Lori and barged into his room. I told Lincoln to scram and I shoved him out the door because he didn't move fast enough," Luan admitted timidly.
"I can't believe you girls. Why not cool off on the back porch or the attic or basement instead?" Albert said almost shouting, his face redder than before.
"Do you hate Lincoln? What has he done besides helping you with your problems and attending your events out of the goodness of his heart?" Albert asked.
"Pop-Pop, we don't hate him but Lincoln has manipulated all of us in certain situations to achieve something he either doesn't want us to have any," Luna said.
"We're not talking about anything negative he's done we're talking about the bullying him," Albert spoke.
"But we haven't been doing it for years," Lori said.
"You're the oldest you shouldn't bully him period and you should have stepped in whenever you see your other sisters doing it," Albert scolded her.
"You don't understand there is jealously shown whenever anyone of us get special attention for example the supermarket incident. We were jealous of Lincoln getting the treat because we thought mom was favoring him over us," Lori added.
"Your behavior in general is unacceptable, stop bullying Lincoln okay," Albert said sternly to the girls.
"Yes Pop-Pop," they answered in unison.
"I'm going to relax before bedtime," Albert concluded before going upstairs to change into his pajamas before doing more reading downstairs.
The girls began clearing their plates and glasses with Luna stacking Lincoln's plate on hers. Suddenly Lynn Sr. arrived home. He had already eaten supper at the restaurant and before leaving he instructed Kentauro to close up. Lincoln was reading a comic when Albert entered his room
"Just going to change kiddo," Albert said then grabbed his pajamas and changed in the bathroom.
Later after drinking a glass of warm milk and enjoying the cake Luan bought home, Albert went straight to his daughter's bedroom and knocked. The girls were all trying to sleep.
"Are you both busy right now?" he called out.
"Come in dad," Rita replied.
Albert noticed her sitting at the dressing table working on her novel. She had cleared a space to use as a desk while Lynn Sr. lazed on the bed reading a novel.
"Well the girls revealed some things you didn't tell me," Albert began as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"When Lori and Leni had that ridiculous dispute over the dresses, did you know about Lola, Lucy and Junior beating up Lincoln because he wanted to watch TV while Lori cooled off?"
The parents displayed stunned looks on their faces then Rita squeaked, "What!"
"And about Luan and Luna barging into his room with Lori and kicking him out because they didn't want her to cross paths with Leni?" Albert continued.
Rita inhaled softly then uttered, "Oh my God, I didn't know," while her husband stayed silent.
"These are acts of spitefulness towards Lincoln and it's unacceptable, he has to be affected in some way by all this bullying," Albert said raising his voice, "These girls need serious discipline."
"Dad we're working on some changes but it's going to take time," Rita explained.
"Rest assured Albert things are going to be more orderly in this house," Lynn Sr. added empathically.
"I hope so, I'm sleeping on the couch, goodnight Rita and Lynn," Albert concluded.
What they didn't know was that Lincoln entered the bathroom and heard the last six sentences Albert said through the vent.
The next morning, Albert awoke the same time as everybody and had breakfast with the family. Lori had called Whitney and told her she's coming in a little later. Leni decided to go in earlier. Rita cooked enough oatmeal for everyone at the table.
"Kids when you've finished eating meet Pop-Pop downstairs after you get ready," Rita told the kids while they ate.
The children finished their oatmeal soon then brushed their teeth and grabbed their bags, Lincoln always carried comics to read on his breaks. They gathered in the living room to bid Albert goodbye.
"Well kids I won't be here when you come home, so stay on your best behavior," the grandfather asked.
"We will," the girls chorused.
"Rita, make sure you and Lynn Senior keep things in order," Albert said.
"We will," Rita told her father.
Suddenly his grandkids surrounded him and gave him a group hug.
"We love you Pop-Pop," they chanted. After they released Albert, Rita looked at her watch and remarked, "We have to get going."
He accompanied the family outside and waved goodbye when the children turned around and shouted, "Bye Pop-Pop."
Back inside Albert packed his few items into his overnight bag before watching some news reports on his laptop for an hour.
After logging off he thought, "It's time to call a cab." Within ten minutes the cab arrived and Albert used the spare key Rita gave him and locked the door.
Today was Rita's day to keep Vanzilla so after picking up the girls who attended the day camp she bought some burgers and fries at the drive thru lane at Burping Burgers for dinner. The next few days went smoothly. The girls were actually enjoying being at the community center.
On Friday morning Lincoln finally awoke at 9:45 am and took a quick shower then got dressed. After eating Zombie bran for breakfast Lincoln washed his bowl and spoon then fed Lana's pets. After washing his hands, Lincoln placed an extra ten dollars in his wallet and waited on the couch for his grandfather to arrive.
Finally the shuttle made its arrival at the two story house at exactly 11:00 am. Lincoln rushed towards the door upon hearing Albert ring the doorbell.
Albert shared a brief hug with his grandson before asking, "Good morning kiddo."
"Morning Pop-Pop," Lincoln said happily, then Albert's tone turned serious.
"Before we leave I'd like to have a talk about the conversation your folks and I had," he spoke.
Once they sat on the couch Albert began, "Your father mentioned Lola screamed at you to sit down when you told her she and Lana didn't have to do their presentation when your father decided to buy a new van and you shrinking in fear."
"Oh that," Lincoln replied nonchalantly, "You don't understand, Lola has like a demon look in her eyes when she loses her temper. Even dad is afraid of Lola."
"Your mom mentioned the incident at the supermarket. She told me about seeing the camera footage of what happened and described all the antics your sisters did. Then she told me about what Luna did after you finally got the cereal. I also know how they treated you when Lisa used the sister fight protocol when Lori and Leni argued over the same dress. How do you handle all this bullying?"
Lincoln sighed "Well it only happens like twice a month. Sometimes a month goes by and they don't bully me. I can handle it even when they get physical. It's actually embarrassing that my younger sisters are stronger than me. At least they physically hurt each other a lot so I'm not the only one getting hurt."
"For instance Leni is absolutely afraid of spiders but Luan chases Leni with a rubber spider sometimes and poor Leni screams and runs away. Lana and Lola used to fight over almost everything and most of their arguments were physical, but they're fighting less now," he continued.
"Kiddo your sisters are not treating you fairly and I'm going to help your parents take control of things around here now let's get to the go-cart track," Albert replied.
They headed to the bus stop after locking the front door.
