As usual, the two voyagers landed hard on the ground.
"Ow!!! I can't wait till they get a new one fixed! When did they say that was gonna be?" Jeff moaned as he got up and helped Phineas Bogg.
The older voyager sighed. He was getting tired of falling on his behind, too, expecailly on hard ground.
"I don't think they did, Kid. Jeremy DID say they were working on it, though." Bogg sighed.
"Well, I think they need to work on it a little faster!" Jeffrey began to rub his behind. It wasn't as bad as when they landed on the Titanic, though. THAT did hurt!
"Where are we?" came the usual question.
"Hold on, let me check." Phineas flipped open the omni.
"Bat's breath!"
"Don't tell me: it's on the brink again." Jeffrey rolled his eyes.
"Hey, I can't help that, ya know."
"Yeah, yeah. Tell me another one."
The two heard some screaming behind them and turned around. They saw two girls of the age of twelve. A white girl on top of the black girl with a pair of scissors!
"We've gotta get them apart!" Bogg said.
"You're not telling me anything different,"
"Watch it," Bogg warned his son. Sometimes the kid's smart mouth could get on his nerves. Expecailly after the last Voyage. He was worn totally and Jeff's smart remarks didn't help.
"You grab the black girl, I'll grab the white one."
"Gotcha,"
They both ran and grabbed arms. The little blond girl in Bogg's arms kept thrashing so, that Bogg was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold on to her.
"Hey, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you!" Bogg told the girl, but she didn't seem to listen.
He looked up and saw that Jeff was holding the other girl in a tight hug. She seemed to be crying in his chest and Jeff was gently rubbing the girl's head.
"What in bloody blazes is going on here!" a male's voice boomed behind Bogg.
Bogg calmy turned, all the meanwhile having the girl still in his grip.
"Sir, this little girl was about to cut that one's hair with a pair of scissors!"
"I beg your pardon, but my girl doesn't cut other people's hair!" the dark haird man said, his eyes blazzing with anger.
Jeff spoke up. "Sir, she was ontop of this girl. I saw it,"
Just then did they realize that others had followed the older man. A nice blond woman, a grey haird woman and a young blond man.
"What's happened?" the blond woman asked.
"This gentleman claims that Helen tried to cut Patsy's hair just now,"
The blond woman went to the girl still in Phineas's grip. Bogg let go gladly as the woman took her away.
Feeling the woman, the girl made a moan and wrapped her arms around her.
Jeff gasped. Now he knew where they were! But, he also knew he had to wait till he and Bogg were alone in order to tell his father the information. And the way it looked like, it wasn't going to be soon.
"Oh, Helen, how can I tell you not to do such things??" the woman, appearantly Mrs. Keller, said.
Captain Keller cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, my dear man. I should have realized that Helen would do such a thing,"
Phineas excepted the man's hand for a handshake.
"It's all right, sir. Looks like she's calmed down now,"
"Yes, Helen always calms down when her mother is near."
Suddenly, a black woman came charging towards Jeff and Patsy.
"Patsy, how many times do I need to tell you NOT to mess with Miss Helen?! Now, get back to the house before I give you a whipping!"
Patsy let go of Jeff, gave him a small smile and ran, with her mother chacing after her.
"I'm Phineas Bogg, this is my son, Jeff." Bogg introduced themselves. He was getting quite comfortable in calling Jeff his son and really starting to enjoy it.
Captian Keller nodded towards Jeff. Mrs. Keller led Helen to the huge house.
"We were about to have dinner when this commotion started. Would you care to join us as an added thank you?" Captain Keller asked.
"We'd be honored," Bogg nodded and looked over at Jeff.
Until then, they hadn't realized how hungry they were.
Jeff pulled on Bogg's sleeve and the pirate leaned towards him.
"Bogg, I need to tell you where we are,"
Phineas looked over to Captain Keller. "Excuse me. My son and I have to talk about something, but we'll join you in a few minutes."
"Take your time, Phineas. We'll set up plates for you,"
Jeff waited till they were all inside.
"So, what's up, kid?"
"Bogg, that little girl is Helen Keller."
"So?" Bogg shrugged.
Jeff sighed. "She's deaf and blind,"
"Oh, geeeze. No wonder she acted the way she did! Why don't they have a teacher to help her?"
It was Jeff's turn to shrug. "Beats me. She's my age, but she's supposed to behave better than that by now,"
"So, something must have happened in order for the teacher not to show up."
"Tell me something I DON'T know," Jeff retorted back.
"Will you quit it? I'm tired and hungry, too, ya know."
"I'm sorry. I just get cranky when I'm hungry,"
Bogg smiled and put an arm around his son. "Tell me something I DON'T know," they both laughed as they walked into the house.
James Keller said a small prayer and plates of delicious food were passed to them. Oh, the smell of the pot roast and potatoes...Jeff knew better than to go ahead and dig in while he was in a stranger's house.
He wanted impatiently till everyone was given a plate. Bogg was seated next to Captain Keller while Jeff was seated next to Helen. He supposed it was because of their age and for right now he didn't mind.
He was finally able to dig in. Suddenly, Helen got up and started helping herself to everyone's plate, even though her's were loaded! Jeff watched her unbelievingly and looked over at Bogg. The pirate just shrugged and kept eating.
When Helen came to Jeff's plate, he pushed her hand away. "Stop that," he said, though he knew she didn't hear him.
She tried it again. "I said stop it!" he shoved the hand away again.
"Helen's used to helping herself to other's plate," Mrs. Keller informed him.
"Well, I'm not."
For some reason, she stopped and put her grubby hands in his hair and began to feel his head and face.
"Oh, gross," Jeff moaned.
Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck, almost choking him. The stanger was going to be her playmate and if she couldn't have him...no one will!