14. Gordon and Alan – Blame
"It was you!"
"No, it was you!"
"You!"
"You!"
"You!"
"Yo-"
"Pipe down!"
Gordon and Alan froze as the unmistakable timbre of their grandmother's voice rattled up from the kitchen.
"I'm coming up there!" she continued. "And whatever it is that's broken damn well better be fixed by the time I set my foot on the top step!"
Brown eyes met blue.
"We're dead."
"Yes."
Grandma Tracy's footfalls were heavy on the stone stairs as she ascended from the kitchen, muttering something under her breath that neither brother can make out. But the words didn't matter. It was the tone that struck terror into their hearts - the same tone that once reduced Gordon's English teacher to a puddle of fear on the floor after he had dared give him a zero on an assignment, just because it was a day late.
Gordon flicked his gaze to the smashed Buddha statue on the floor. Its face is intact, still grinning up at them. He had no idea where it came from – but it was safe to assume that it was valuable in some way, whether monetarily or emotionally.
He looked back at Alan, who couldn't have looked more like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights if he'd jammed a pair of ears on his head and declared an undying love for rabbits.
"What do we do?" he asked.
The muttering was growing louder and clearer – something about damn kids and never listening.
"I don't know," Gordon replied. "Unless something miraculous happens, we're doomed."
Grandma Tracy's booted foot hit the top step – just as the miracle happened.
"Base from Thunderbird Five. We have a situation."
John's hologram appeared and spilled blue sanctuary out across the lounge. Grandma's attention was immediately diverted to her holographic grandson and, seizing the opportunity, Gordon and Alan swept the smashed remains of the statue under a nearby armchair before they strode to the sunken seating area to imbibe their big brother's knowledge.
"What was all that noise before?" Grandma asked after John had given them the low-down. "I heard a smash."
Gordon and Alan shared the briefest of sidelong looks.
"Oh, it was nothing, Grandma," Gordon said.
"Yeah, we were just…having a disagreement, that's all," Alan continued.
Scott had arrived and was already formulating a plan.
"Looks like we'll need all hands for this one," he said. "Gordon and Alan, join Virgil in Thunderbird Two."
"F.A.B.!" they chorused.
Perhaps it was the speed at which they exited the lounge that tipped her off. Perhaps it was because Alan was as good at lying as he was at doing his homework on time.
As the two brothers entered the passenger lift and started to descend to Two's hangar, a resounding screech echoed though the villa.
"BOYS!"
They looked at one another again. Alan gulped.
"I'm never coming home," he said.
Gordon slung an arm around his shoulder and nodded in sympathy.
"Me neither, bud. Me neither."