Sarah gives a slight grin and tries to add some humor to her embarrassing situation. "Hello, Uncle Jesse, Aunt Thelma, Velma."
"Aww," Daphne smiles to Velma, "she calls you 'Velma".
"Yes," Velma replies with a highly sarcastic tone, "how terribly informal we are."
"Thelma, your brother said nothing about Sarah coming" Jesse asks his puzzled wife.
"Nobody knows that I'm here." Sarah quickly says.
"You mean you just snuck off half-way across the world?" scolds Velma.
"Yeah!" smiles the girl, "Funny, isn't it?"
"Not very funny once your father finds out" threatens Jesse.
Daphne glances at Jack and Jill staring into space with pale faces. "Why is it that I have this feeling you two were involved?" she asks them.
The attention is then directed into the position of the bother and sister.
"Well, we may know something." Jack breaks the silence.
"Uh huh," Jesse takes an authoritative voice, "let's all settle this back home, it's starting to get late."
Sarah jumps on behind her uncle as the group heads back to the farm.
Once inside, Jill manages to whisper to her cousin, "No matter what, just name, rank and serial number. No more, if you can get less the better."
"Then they are going to have to settle with less." The other girl replies, "I only know my name as to rank and serial number, I don't think I have one."
"Well, you get my drift."
The other nods as they and Jack are confronted in the living room by the family elders, mainly Jesse, Thelma and Velma.
"Now maybe it is time you guys give a few explanations." Thelma opens up the floor.
Jack and Sarah both look to Jill as their spokesperson. Feeling their incentive, Jill quickly starts. "It's like this," she begins, "Jack and I have felt that it had been sometime since Sarah had visited us and vice versa. Keeping that in mind, and knowing that Uncle Steve and Aunt Carol would be working in the Caribbean for the next month or two we figured that she could come down and visit; at least for a week."
"Uh huh" The adults say in disbelief.
Before someone can say anything more, the phone rings. Jesse walks over and answers it. "Hello?" he says politely. After having a brief "how are you doing?" with the caller, he hands the phone to Thelma saying, "It's your mother".
Hearing the news, the three children swallow hard.
Thelma picks up the receiver. "Hi, mom" she says. After a few words are heard from the earpiece, she replies, "Yes, she's here. Gave us all a bit of a surprise." More words are said then Thelma gives the phone to Sarah. "Grandma wants to speak with you" she cautions, "be careful what you say, she sounds mad."
Sarah's hands turn sweaty and shaky as he puts the receiver to her ear. "Hi, Grandma" she says in a choked voice.
"Hello, Deary" an elderly voice comes form the other end, "did you enjoy your flight down and scaring a poor old lady out of her wits?"
"Grandma sounds really mad—" Jack whispers to his sister, "insane mad!"
"Yes to the first part and no to the second part" is Sarah's reply.
"I am happy to hear that you feel that way" her grandmother continues, "I must say it was nice of you to leave that note telling me where you were going. Otherwise, I would have possibly caused such a ruckus over here."
"After hearing that," the girl smiles, "I'm glad I left that note too!"
"And according to that note," continues Grandma, "I understand that you won't be back until sometime next week."
"That's true."
"Well knowing that you are with Jesse and Thelma and the fact of the cost of airplane tickets for there and back, I'll let you stay."
Sarah lets out a sigh of relief.
"However," her grandmother continues, "after this little vacation of yours is over, you must come right home and be prepared for any punishment for your little stunt."
"Yes, Grandma." replies the child. She gives the phone to Thelma who talks for a while before hanging up.
"Apparently," she says, breaking a short silence, "you will be our guest for sometime, Sarah. Yet, I should inform you that during your time here you will be under constant probation. So, during your time here, you will be placed under the supervision of Velma."
Velma is shocked by the news. "Me?" she asks, "Why me?"
"Don't ask me," replies Thelma, "ask my mom. It was she who suggested it."
"Okay" Velma says, reluctantly.
Thelma directs her attention to her children. "Don't you two think that you will go unpunished" she says, "For the next month, you will be given a time limit on the Internet and TV, no more late nights you must be in bed by eight and no experiment conducting without our consent."
The twins groan at the news. As they leave the room, Jack whispers to Jill, "What are we going to do?"
"Pay no attention to what mom just said," is the reply, "everything is still on and will proceed according to plan. We'll just not tell mom and dad about what we're doing."
"What?" Jack asks drawn back, "Have you even thought what could happen if we didn't?"
"Have you thought about what would happen if we did?" the other pronounces logic.
Soon after, Jill helps her cousin settle down in her room. "Jack told me we are going to continue despite your parent's restrictions" Sarah says.
"That's right" confirmed the other.
"Are you insane?" Sarah exclaims to her younger cousin.
"Possibly"
For the rest of the afternoon, the three cousins play together in the playroom. After dinner, they are sent straight to bed while the others gather in the living room for coffee and other things.
"I don't understand what they may be trying to hide from us" Jesse says as he stirs his coffee.
"It could be a number of things" ponders Thelma. Her face instantly grows white as she grabs her husband's hand and asks, "You don't think they're experimenting with substances, do you?"
"Oh, honey," Jess consoles his wife, "I don't believe it has gone that far."
"I'm still wondering what was with that strange creature we saw" Daphne ponders.
"Yeah, I was looking through a few animal books earlier," continues Fred, "I couldn't find anything that looked liked it."
"I could have told you that it was no such animal," replies Jesse.
Their concentration was broken by a telephone call. Jesse walks over and answers. "It's for you" he says handing it to anyone of the gang. Fred steps up and takes it.
"Hello?" he says to the caller.
"You want some information about what you saw in the forest?" a strange, unfamiliar voice comes from the end of the line.
"Well, sure" replies Fred. He instantly signals to his companions to pick up another line. As they instantly do so, Fred continues, "What kind of information do you have to offer?"
"I can't tell you over the line" replies the voice, "but meet me tomorrow night at ten. Then, I'll tell you."
"Meet you where?"
"There's a small bar on the outskirts of town, about ten miles from the farm."
"Does this bar have a name?"
"There's only one in the entire area," the voice yells, frustrated, "if you can't find it, you're stupid."
"Okay, okay!" Fred backs off, "Ten it is, then."
Suddenly, the phone goes dead.
"He sounds like such a nice informer" Shaggy breaks the silence.
"Do you think he is legit?" Daphne asks.
"It's hard to say right off" replies Velma. "It's the only lead we have so far."
"But it just seems strange that someone would know about our seeing it" Daphne ponders, "and, for that matter, assume that we were even investigating it."
"I don't see how they could have known," Jesse interrupts their conversation, "that area is, as I said earlier, private property. If you do choose to take this guy up on his offer, I would advise you to be careful."
"I know it does sound a bit strange," concludes Freddie, "but, it shouldn't hurt to check it out."
The others agree as they retire for the night.
A/N: Sorry for the delay, but I have been very busy. Please review!