As with every chapter before and to follow, Kim Possible and all related characters (other than those of my own creation for the purpose of this story) are the property of The Walt Disney Company. Everything else is all mine.
Strolling up the driveway to the house, Kim heard a loud "Zzzzzz!" along with a pair of all-too-familiar high-pitched cries of pain. Grey clouds of smoke began to billow out the garage door entrance.
"Oh, g-r-e-a-t", muttered Kim, "What are the Tweebs destroying this time?"
Standing at the garage doorway, she yelled, "Just what are you two doing now? From the smell, I'm guessing it's something electronic."
As the smoke slowly cleared, disheveled twins Jim and Tim stepped forward and tried to explain.
"Well, you know Ron gave us his old motorbike when he got his car…"
"…and we thought, rather than try to rebuild the gas engine, we would convert it so it would run off of fuel cells."
"Wade hunted down a refurbished Kimmunicator power cell for us…
"…and we've been trying to design a conversion system that would transfer the power cell energy to the motorbike…"
"…but we're having trouble coming up with a way to control the power cell's output so it doesn't toast the converter."
"So far, we've toasted three converters and scorched six shirts. Mom would be royally ticked if she knew…"
"…but so far we've been able get rid of the shirts and get cleaned up before she gets home."
"You're not going to tell Mom, are you?" the twins said in unison.
"Well, that depends", Kim replied.
"Depends on what?" Jim asked.
"That depends on whether you two are willing to baby-sit Rufus tonight while Ron and I go out on a date…", Kim answered.
"Oh, that's no problem", exclaimed Tim. "Rufus is still Everlot's "Tunnel Lord", and now that we have all the family computers on broadband, the three of us will have a blast!"
"…a-n-d, you two must keep out of trouble", Kim continued. "If I find out either or both of you have been causing trouble --- and you know I will find out --- Mom gets a full report from me first thing in the morning about your recent escapades."
"Deal?"
"Deal!" shouted Jim and Tim.
"Okay, now get rid of those shirts and get cleaned up", ordered Kim. "Mom called me at school. She has a late surgery that will probably not be finished until close to five o'clock. I have to get several pounds of ground turkey out of the freezer, clean some potatoes and mix up a salad bowl. Guess its meatloaf and baked potatoes again for dinner."
"Again?" moaned Tim. "Why can't we just order pizza like we used to do on Fridays?"
"You know why", Kim answered. "Dad found out at his last physical that his cholesterol levels are way too high. That means he needs to cut way back on fatty foods, like pizza."
"But why do we have to cut back, too?" Jim complained.
"Because we're a family, Jim. When one family member needs to change his or her diet for health reasons, it's a big support if the rest of the family does, too. Besides, it's not only healthier for Dad; it's healthier for all of us."
"It may be healthier", Tim observed, "but it sure don't taste the same."
Kim shooed the twins off to get cleaned up, then headed to her room, dropped off her school stuff, and went downstairs to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Ron pulled into the Stoppable driveway, put the car in "Park", engaged the parking brake and turned of the ignition. The motor shut down without any hesitation.
"Now that's the way it's supposed to shut down", Ron said to himself. "It's taken nearly three months and several bottles of additives, but I guess we've finally cleaned out most of the crud in the fuel system."
Opening his door, he climbed out, grabbed his backpack from behind the driver's seat, and closed the door. Peering toward the house, he noticed a package sitting on the front porch "Welcome" mat.
"Looks like Mom isn't back yet from her classes out at the College," Ron observed. "Well, good buddy, I guess that means you and I have the house all to ourselves."
Ron grabbed the package, unlocked the front door and went in. Setting the package on the kitchen table, he navigated down the hallway to his bedroom, tossed his backpack onto his bed, and headed to the family room.
Descending the stairs, he walked over to the t-v, expecting to find the remote in its usual location on the shelf. Not there. He went over to the couch and fished around the sides and underneath the cushions. Nope, not there either. Was it in one of the lounge chair pockets? Negative.
"I wonder where that could have gotten to?"
Rufus, meanwhile, crawled under the entertainment center, the lounge chair and, finally, the couch. At last he found it. It was standing up on end between the couch and the wall. With a few grunts and groans, he managed to dislodge the remote and, wriggling backwards with the remote between his teeth, pulled it out into the open.
"Tad-da!" he chattered triumphantly.
"Way to go, Rufus! Well, since you found it, you get to decide what we watch."
Punching in a memorized channel number, Rufus tossed Ron the remote and climbed up to his accustomed perch atop the back of the coach.
"'The Adventures of Scamper and Bitey'." Ron sighed. "I should have figured."
Ron flopped on the couch, kicked off his sneakers and got comfy. Within minutes both he and Rufus were fast asleep, snoring an octave apart.
Back at the Possible residence, Jim and Tim had cleaned up and, after doing a double-check of the network connections of all the family computers, were engaged in a road race simulation on the living room PC.
"Could you two keep it down to a loud roar?" Kim yelled from the kitchen. The ground turkey was thawed, the potatoes cleaned, the salad bowl prepared and the table set. She looked up at the clock. It was a little after five-fifteen. "Come on, Mom! I've got a lot to get done before Ron picks me up."
As if on cue, the automatic garage door engaged, and a familiar sounding car slowly pulled into the right-hand spot. The engine shut off and in dashed Mrs. Dr. Possible, still wearing her white hospital jacket.
"I'm sorry, Kimmie. There were some slight complications with the last surgery. I left as soon as I could. Looks like you've got everything ready. Thank you. I'll take over as soon as I get changed and freshened up."
"Is Dad going to make it home for supper?" asked Kim.
"Yes. Your father called me as I was driving home and said he was also running a little late --- something to do with a new space probe --- but he should be here by six o'clock."
"Where are your brothers?" inquired Mrs. Possible.
"They were in the living room playing that road racing simulation. It was rather deafening, so I told them to turn down the volume. Sounds pretty quiet now. They probably have their headphones on."
"But wouldn't we still hear them yelling?" asked Mrs. Possible.
"Good point." Kim replied. "Maybe we should take a look."
Mother and daughter slowly peaked around the corner.
"Well, that explains the quiet," said Mrs. Possible.
"Yeah, I totally forgot about that sound-proof test enclosure Dad brought home for the Tweebs last week. Sure seems to work well. Too bad they don't have portable units they could wear around the house whenever they're home."
"Now, Kim," Mrs. Possible gently admonished her daughter. "You've said yourself that they are not as bad as they used to be."
Kim sighed. "You're right, Mom. I did say that. Once. And I've regretted it ever since."
"Oh, I'd better get changed and get supper in the oven." Mrs. Dr. Possible grabbed her white jacket and walked briskly down the hallway to the master bedroom.
Kim climbed up the ladder to her room. She still had plenty to do before seven o'clock rolled around.