Note: An anonymous reviewer named PachySam suggested I meet the Grand Councilwoman in this chapter. However, I think that would make things a bit abrupt, if you know what I mean. I'd rather let my character find out about Lilo's contact with aliens one at a time. But I want to congratulate them on a very well-thought out idea anyways.
After dinner, Lilo and I helped Nani and Aunt Pleakley with the dishes. The sun was already going down, so Lilo and I went upstairs to change into our pajamas. Before we did, Nani asked Lilo, "Lilo, do you remember what tonight is?" Lilo looked at the calendar.
"Friday?"
"Uh-huh. And you know what that means?"
"I get to stay up until eleven?"
"Besides that." Lilo thought, then she and Nani looked at Stitch. Stitch got suspicious from them staring at him so innocently, then he knew what it was. He darted out of the kitchen into the living room and dived under the couch.
"Friday is when he gets a b-a-t-h," Lilo explained to me. "Let's get started! Go get the n-e-t from the hall closet, and I'll find some s-o-a-p." As I was wondering how n-e-t would clean Stitch, I obediently went to the closet and pulled out a net, and as I went back to the living room, I wondered why they had net in their hall closet in the first place. I guess her uncle fishes a lot.
"What's the plan?" I whispered.
"Get ready to capture him in the net at any time. I'm chase him towards you!" I had a bad feeling about this, but I didn't say so. I crouched into proper springing position. I could hear Lilo's voice say," Oh, Sti-itch...come on out..."
Stitch made a sound that sounded like, "Naga!" What made it really weird is that it sounded like he really SAID it, although since he's a dog, I know that would be impossible. But anyways, I heard some scrambling sounds, Lilo screamed, and then Stitch darted in front of me. I leaped forward to try and capture him...but instead I accidentally flattened Lilo. Given the fact I am a LOT taller than her (and a little fatter), it couldn't have felt good.
"Ohmigosh, Lilo! I'm sorry!" I said quickly.
"You're fine," she said getting up, "but we still have to grab Stitch! Let's go!" We ran into the kitchen, and scoured the room. "Check the cabinets," whispered Lilo. We searched each one.
No Stitch. "I don't see him anywhere," I said. Then we heard a banging sound from the freezer. I opened the door, and out popped Stitch, frozen in a block of ice.
"Silly Stitch," Lilo laughed. "Let's go get the hairdryer." We borrowed Nani's hairdryer, and slowly began to thaw out poor Stitch.
"Hey, how did he get in the freezer, anyway?" I asked. Lilo was silent for a minute, like she was afraid to answer.
"Umm...he gets into everything," she explained. "He's a... very special dog." My beagle, Lucy, was lucky if she could jump onto the couch or bed, much less climb into our freezer. Like I said, this family was interesting. Uncle Jumba came into the bathroom at that time.
"What has happened to 6-I mean, Stitch?" he asked.
"He locked himself in the freezer to avoid getting a bath," I answered. He chuckled.
"Typical Stitch. He does not like water." A dog that hates water? Usually it was cats that didn't like it. Finally, Stitch unthawed completely, and fell into the tub that was filled with the melted ice. He flailed around, terrified, like he was about to drown.
"Stand up, silly," giggled Lilo. "It's only knee deep!" Stitch stood on two legs, and realized she was right. "Well, now that we've got you in the tub, let's get started!" Stitch made a noise like a groan as we began to scrub him down with soap. Pretty soon, we dried his fur with the same hairdryer and he turned into a big puff of blue fur. Lilo and I both laughed, making him growl. He hopped down from the counter and stormed out.
"Your dog has anger issues," I joked. Then I thought, What AM I saying? It sounded weird, but Lilo just smiled. We finally went up to her room and changed into our pajamas. She gave me a small tour of everything in it, including her Elvis record collection, her antique hula lamp, and her homemade doll.
"This is Scrump!" she declared proudly. The doll was green with buttons for eyes, a sewed mouth, a pink bow with pipe cleaners for hair, and an abnormally large head. But considering how young Lilo was, it was very creative. I told her so, and she beamed. Then she strolled over to her record player and pulled out a record. "Wanna listen to The King?" she asked.
"You betcha!" I said. She put the needle on the record, and soon Jailhouse Rock started playing. Lilo turned the music on full blast, and we started bopping around happily. One look and you would've thought we had known each other for years (although considering Lilo's age, that wouldn't be very long) and not just for a few weeks, including the pen pal letters. All of a sudden I pulled my pillow out from my sleeping bag and launched it across the room at Lilo. She giggled and pulled a pillow from what she had said was Stitch's bed earlier. Before I could wonder why she didn't use her own (I found out later she kept the picture of her parents underneath her pillow), WHACK! She pelted it at my gut.
Soon, a full-out pillow war ensued. We were laughing and running around, and add that with Elvis going on at max volume, we must've been a real nuisance downstairs, because a few minutes later, Aunt Pleakley and Uncle Jumba came up into the room.
"Girls, stop this-OOF!" Out of nowhere, a surprise attack pillow flew across the room and bopped Aunt Pleakley in the head, knocking her down. Just as Uncle Jumba started laughing at her, a different pillow flung across the room and knocked him down as well. Lilo hurriedly turned off the music and we stood over them to examine them.
"Aunt Pleakley, are you alright?" I asked.
"Oh yes, I'm quite alright.." she said, weakly pulling herself up. Then Lilo and I gasped simultaneously. The pillow had accidentally knocked off Aunt Pleakley's wig. It wasn't so much losing the wig itself that freaked me out, but what was underneath: AN ANTENNAE! Just as I witnessed that shocking discovery, I also found out about Uncle Jumba, besides the fact his mustache was a fake, he had four eyes! I just stood there with my mouth gaped open like a gargoyle, unable to make any intelligible sound or action, and for a moment I thought I'd spend the rest of my life in that spot. "What? What's wrong?" asked Aunt Pleakley, and saw the wig on the floor. They (I say "they" because at this point I was unaware of Aunt Pleakley's gender) yelped and quickly stuffed the wig back on their head backwards. After looking like Cousin Itt for a split second, they turned it around the other way with a sheepish look.
"Is too late, Pleakley," Uncle Jumba grumbled. "She knows now."
"Knows what?" I said finally. I looked at Lilo in a questioning way.
Lilo sighed, "There's something I haven't told you..."