Danny: Say, Alex. When Tucker and I were going through your contacts I found these guys. (shows phone)
Me: Yeah, so?
Danny: How did you get Spock's phone number?
Me: I needed help on a sci-fi story. If you want information in that area he is the most logical choice.
Danny: Scotty?
Me: Same thing. Needed someone to explain to me the technical parts of the engineering room.
Danny: And Chekov's number?
Me: Oh, thats a peace offering if my friend gets mad at me again. She is crazy for him, well the new Chekov that is.
Danny: Why do I get the feeling that you're a Trekky?
Me: (smile) Live long and prosper.
I let the dogs loose from their temporary imprisonment, as I heard the sounds of a car engine coming down the driveway. The canines tore down the hallway, all racing each other to see who can reach the kitchen door first. All those of the human species quickly ran into the living room, all trying to look as normal as possible. Well, as normal as a strange cousin, and three people from another world could look. A car door slammed in the garage, I slid across the kitchen floor as I reached the side door, yanking it open to find a startled face staring back at me.
"Hi Mom."
"Hey there kiddo, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
Rubbing the back of my neck with one hand, "I guess you could say that."
I could never deny being related to my mom, same brown hair, same heart shaped face, angular chin, and some personality traits as well. Not that I ever would deny it in the first place. As she came in the door the puppies instantly surrounded her, snorting, and snuffling, glad that she was home. Mom slung her purse into a nearby chair, and stooped down to give each dog scratch behind the ears, before glancing at the group now standing behind me.
"Who are they?" She nodded towards the new guests.
"Oh, this is Danny, Sam, and Tucker." I gestured to each one, who said hi in turn.
Standing up, brushing her hands she addressed them, "Hi, I'm Alex's mother. So, how do you know Alex? And how did you end up here?"
Sam stepped forward, "Don't you remember? We went to camp together in Arkansas. You talked to our parents on the last day for a while."
"Yeah and y'all got along so well, you said that Sam and her friends were welcome at anytime." I added.
She crossed her arms shooting me a suspicious look, "Did I?"
A lump grew in my throat; I knew she wouldn't fall for that. Even if she did hit it off with their parents she wouldn't just invite them over after one visit. I pointed over at Tucker,
"Look, Tucker even has the camp shirt from that year." He glanced down at the burnt orange t-shirt with white lettering that read, Brookhill Ranch. Danny interrupted,
"Um, where is your bathroom?"
Mom, pointed in the general direction, and Danny took off.
"So," I started to explain, "There was a mix up at the bus station apparently. Sam, Tucker, and Danny were going to visit relatives, but they accidentally got on the wrong bus. And Rachelyn and I had gone been running some errands in that part of town, and we recognized them, and stopped to chat. The station says that the right bus isn't due until next week. So we were wondering if they could stay with us for a while." I hurried through my speech, and then shot my mom the innocent face. I hated having to lie to her, but what was I supposed to say? Hey mom, these people fell out of our T.V. and need a place to stay. Please don't toss me in the loony bin!
She was giving me the signature "mom look", her green eyes which contrasted my own bright blue, held my gaze. Just as she was opening her mouth to speak she jolted a little, then closed her eyes and rubbed one hand against her temple. Before straightening up and eyes snapping open again. But this time instead of the normal emerald color, they were now glowing neon green. Danny.
"Oh, alright Alex your friends can stay." Danny's voice came out. It was so weird, but it was pretty much our only way of getting mom to agree. Danny in my Mom's body winked and continued the façade in a sarcastic voice,
"Well, I think that now that I'm letting three teenagers that I don't remember ever meeting stay in my house I had better go pick up some groceries, mostly of the junk food variety."
Tucker added, "And some more video games!"
"Oh, yeah that too."
Sam sighed, shaking her head at the boy's antics.
Danny placed crossed my mom's arms across her turquoise shirt, "Don't worry Sam I'll pick up some ultra-recycle-whatever stuff for you."
She smiled, "Danny, cut it out. And get out of there, you're a horrible actor."
Danny displayed a mock frown, "Fine, I'll be in my trailer."
The green glow left my mom's eyes as Danny flew off to the back of the house, and then sauntered back to the kitchen as if he had just left the room for a few minutes and had done absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. Hmm, maybe he was a good actor after all. Mom blinked her eyes rapidly, and shook her head a bit. I quickly threw an arm around her squeezing in a side hug.
"Oh they can stay? Thanks mom!"
Since she was a few inches shorter than me she had to look up to meet my eyes. A dazed look on her face,
"Oh yeah, sure. Just don't mess up the house any, or throw any wild parties, and stuff like that. I think I'll go grocery shopping real quick, do ya'll need anything?"
Before Tucker could open his big mouth Rachelyn quickly spoke,
"Nah, we're fine."
"Well, ok then. I'll be right back."
She grabbed her purse, and headed out the door. Car engine noises started again as she pulled out of the driveway. Lifting the window blinds so I could see better I watched,
"And she is going….going….gone!"
Tucker flopped on the couch, "I cannot believe that we got away with that!"
"Trust me," I said sitting next to him, "We wouldn't have without Danny."
Danny shrugged, "It was nothing."
We spent the rest of the evening mostly just hanging out, watching movies and junk. Mom came home and brought enough Hot Pockets for everyone, I practically live off those things. By then it had gotten pretty late and we divided the rooms up amongst us. Tucker and Danny got the guest room, Sam and Rachelyn made themselves right at home in my room, and I drew the short straw and ended up on the couch. Not that I mind, I usually stay up really late watching T.V. anyway. But after today's incident, I think I could stand to stop watching so much television. Snuggling down into a thick comforter I tried to shift into a comfortable position, "Yeah," I thought to myself with a yawn, "Way too much T.V."
Plasmius skidded to a stop in midair that is if you can actually do that whilst flying, but he seemed to manage. The handheld device in his palm gave off a faint beeping sound that quickly grew louder and faster as he moved closer to the high school. Vlad stopped to puzzle over this phenomenon. He had already checked the park, where the vortex had first appeared, and had seen some of the readings he had "borrowed" from the GIW satellite. And now, he could almost swear that the readings on the handheld looked exactly the same. It couldn't be, he was far from the park or anywhere else such strange occurrences had been recorded.
A flash of lightning arched the sky, despite the broad daylight, the super villain shot back startled from the sudden light. A hole appeared in the sky, green mist poured out, and more lightning shot around the vortex. The vacuum pull began, wrenching the sensor device from Plasmius's hand and sucking it into the growing whirlpool. This may have been what Vlad was looking for, but was certainly not how he planned it. He let out an almost girlish scream as he himself was dragged in, before the whole thing vanished without a trace once again.
Tucker: Vlad is coming into the story alot more. Does that mean your gonna poof him over here? Please say no.
Me: Naw, I'm not. I don't want him and Danny to get into a fight and wreck my house.
Tucker: (whew) Ok, good.
Me: Now, help me learn how to play this thing. (holds up clarinet)
Tucker: I don't know either!
Me: (shrug) Two heads are better than one.
(3 to 4 hours later)
Me: Oops there is no reed. So, I can't play it anyways.
Tucker: You are just NOW figuring that out?
Me: Pretty much yeah. Now on to piano lessons!
Tucker: (groan)