Chapter Four – 'Welcome to my mansion'
"Come on Dad. We are going to be late." Lisa impatiently yelled across the room at Homer, who seemed to be taking his time.
"I'm almost ready. Just one more shoe." Homer answered as he hurriedly tried to put on the other shoe. Lisa was eager to get to the game, as it started in an hour.
"Well Lisa, today is the day to beat these people. This should be a piece of cake for you." Bart encouraged.
"Mmm... cake, and make sure you beat Flanders. Wonder if we have any cake?" Homer's thoughts changed from getting his other shoe on, to what type of cake mix was hidden in the kitchen.
"Dad, focus!" Lisa yelled again. "And I love games, so this should be easy. Hey, where is Mom?" Marge wasn't in the room with the rest of them getting ready. No one had seen Marge all morning. This was not like her to stay upstairs during the day, especially on an eventful day like this.
"I don't know. She was upstairs getting ready. I haven't seen her since I woke up." Homer started thinking how long Marge had been upstairs. "Maybe I should go get her."
"It's alright Dad. She hasn't liked the idea of this game since it started." Lisa sighed deeply before continuing. "Well, I hope she comes with us. If for any reason, to cheer for me."
Bart's ears perked up as he heard a few noises coming from the second floor. "I think I hear something upstairs, sounds like footsteps."
Lisa ran over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up to the top. Marge had appeared out of the bedroom and started down the stairs.
"I'm only coming to support my little girl, I still don't..." Marge started before Homer interrupted her.
"You still don't trust Mr. Burns, and who would after everything he has done." Homer finished his thought and waited for Marge to come up with another answer.
"This seems like the latest in his schemes. Something doesn't seem right. Why would he just give his power plant to someone." Marge continued, but then stopped because it was the same conversation that had happened many times already.
"I'll show him that we won't fall for his tricks anymore." Lisa said with a certain arrogance, that she was going to be the winner of whatever it was she was going to participate in.
The family finished getting ready, jumped in the car, and drove to Burns Manor. "It seems like everyone in Springfield is here." Marge pointed out. "I didn't know Burns had a parking lot."
"He doesn't. Everyone is just parking is his side yard so the walk is short to the front gate. Park there too." Bart encouraged just because it was one small way to get under Burns skin.
Homer parked the car. Everyone got out and walked up to the front gate where a crowd of people waited and fit into the crowd the best they could.
"Hey Homer." Came a voice to his left. It was Lenny, who worked and drank with Homer.
"What are you two doing here?" Homer asked Lenny, but Carl answered for him. Carl also worked and drank with Homer. They were like a second family to him.
"We are just here to catch a glimpse of Burns Manor. This is the closest we have ever been. Stupid dogs and Smithers always chase us away." Carl explained the many times they wanted to get one over on Burns.
"Yeah, I could never outrun his dogs. I think I'm the slowest person in our drinking group. So any more ideas of messing with Burns on his property, I will wait outside the gate." Lenny mentioned to the others.
"Like the time we tried to steal his precious stuffed animal bear. We almost got away with it, except for the stupid dogs. Ah, memories." Homer reminisced. "You guys remember that?"
"Not really Homer, I wasn't there." Carl said. "How about you Lenny?"
"Sorry Homer, I think you did that on your own. We stayed home when you asked us to break into Burns' mansion. I didn't want to get fired because of a teddy bear." Lenny laughed at the idea, that Burns would look for any reason to fire his employees. "Why did you try to steal it back? They had so many more at the store, and besides Maggie wouldn't know the difference."
"It was the principle of the thing." Homer could not think of anything to say. "I had to get it back. It was a Simpsons bear."
"We did go buy another one, and Maggie still carries it around with her. She doesn't know the difference." Marge added. "We went out right after you got back that night. You never told me you went to Burns Manor. I thought you said Moe's Tavern." Marge got a little upset, but it passed since this event was done and nothing could be changed.
"Hey Marge. Glad to see you here." Carl sounded surprised that Marge was standing behind Homer.
"Hey Marge. We know how much you hate Burns." Lenny sounded more surprised than Carl.
"Well..." Marge stuttered as she thought of a better reason. "I'm not here to see Burns, I'm here to cheer on Lisa."
"Aww, thanks Mom." Lisa thanked her for just being there against everything that she stood for. Marge didn't want to be there any more than Homer wanted to go to church the previous day.
"I just want to make sure this is legit. Too many times Burns has..." Marge started her same speech but everyone had already heard it.
"It is Burns. I work for him, but I still don't trust him." Lenny thought out loud. "One day soon we won't have to work for him. He is giving up the power plant. Hey Lisa, can you win this game?"
"Either you or Moe." Carl added. "Out of the six people, I would rather have you win. Probably not Moe, then he won't have time to run the bar, and we all need our second home after work."
"That is true. If Moe wins, maybe one of us could take over the tavern. We watch Moe run it everyday, it can't be that hard." Homer said to his bar buddies.
"I hope Moe wins just so you spend less time at the bar, but I hope my girl wins." Marge finished as Lisa started to get more excited as it was nearing noon.
"I'll be fine, I'm smart for my age. That's why I have all advanced classes at school and usually get bored, except for band practice when I play my saxophone." Lisa knew she was smart, and so did everyone else.
"Hey, I think I see something. It looks like a shriveled old man, and he is walking as slow as he can. I think he wanted us here at noon, so he would be at the gate by sunset." Bart joked with the family and everyone laughed, including Marge as her smile quickly faded as not to set a bad example for the kids.
Burns slowed walked to the front gate. The closer he got, the more anxious everyone became, and the slower it seemed he walked. He was one of Springfield's oldest citizens and it showed.
"I'm going to go get a donut until Burns makes it to the gate." Homer impaitently said. "Who wants to join me?"
"Dad! He is almost here, just be patient." Lisa waited as it was important to her, and to an extent, lesser important to everyone else. "I'm so excited. I wonder what we will be playing. I had a dream last night that I won."
"We know you will Lisa. You seem to win everything." Bart agreed sarcastically.
Burns had finally made it to the front gate and greeted his audience. "Good morning everyone. I'm glad to see everyone here as we welcome those lucky six people inside the gate. Now, if everyone will make a path for those people. We can get started." Burns looked through the crowd to see where the movements were.
"I'll see you all later!" Lisa yelled from a distance as she turned around and took a last look at her family. She made it to the front gate the same time as several others.
"Welcome all. If you all will follow..." Burns stopped and counted the number of people behind him. "One, two, three, four, five. I only count five. I thought I drew six names." Burns looked over at Smithers, who started walking up to help.
"Actually you drew seven names, the first one was a practice ball." Smithers laughed nervously. "I have the list of the six that were picked." He handed the list the Burns for a roll call.
"As I call your name, step forward. Ned Flanders." Burns announced as Ned walked forward. "Jeff Albertson." The Comic Book Guy stepped up to face Burns, and the crowd murmured, as they had just figured out who it was. "Lurleen Lumpkin." Burns read next and there was no movement. The crowd got silent as no one answered to that name. Burns read the name again with an ultimatum this time. "Last call for Lurleen Lumpkin."
A yell came from the crowd. "She left town again." Everyone turned to see where the voice came from, but it was gone. It made sense since no one answered to Burns' roll call.
"It appears that Lurleen Lumpkin can not play, so I have no other option but to draw another name." Burns sounded disappointed as this meant a slight delay. "Smithers fetch the lottery machine."
"Right away sir." Smithers turned around and walked into Burns Manor and emerged with the cage full of white lottery balls that were the center of attention yesterday.
"Let me make sure the others are actually here too." Burns sounded like this game was more hassle than what it was worth. "Moe Szyslak." As Moe approached the gate, a cheer came from the crowd.
"Go Moe!" Carl cheered.
"Can I have your tavern if you win?" Lenny asked in a loud voice to be heard at the front gate.
Homer was about to cheer but got a look from Marge that told him who he should be cheering for.
"Jasper Beardly and Lisa Simpson." Burns verified they were both there and a small smile crossed his face as something had gone right for once.
"Go Lisa!" The family shouted to show their support. Even Marge couldn't resist. It was her little girl.
"Only one name to draw. It seems this lottery drawing will never end." Burns approached the machine and reached in, and pulled out the next name. "And now another person has a chance to play in place of the town runaway, but this person better be here. I'm slowly growing impatient." One more quick look at the name and Burns announced: "Luann van Houten."
A small cheer came from the crowd as Luann made her way to the front gate. "I'm so excited. I almost thought I would have to cheer for one of you guys." Luann said slightly arrogantly. "And thank you Mr. Burns. I'm ready to play."
"Don't thank me, I just needed a sixth player. Now wave goodbye and let's go inside." Burns said in a voice only the six of them could hear.
They all waved to the crowd and then followed him toward the mansion. Smithers closed the gate and wheeled the lottery machine back inside. The doors closed and the crowd started to disperse
"How will we find out what is going on?" Marge wondered as she lead the family back to the car.
