Chapter Seventeen: An Unexpected, Yet Pleasant Guest

"Now hold still Anna," Rosie chided dabbing her daughter's bloody knee with a wet washcloth.

Mary Jane was wiping the dirt from Anna's arms, Hillary was working on washing her hair, and Anna felt as if she were at a day spa. It was a long progress, but the dirt and blood was washing off and she felt that the tear in her family life was being mended. So she sat there enjoying the acceptance of her and ignorance of what she had done.

XXX

Otto walked down the street on his bottom tentacles. His heart pounded fast, his eyes jerked tears. He had been out searching for what seemed like forever for his daughter. His appendages remained silent, for which he was grateful. Otto felt as if his heart was pumping desperately, trying to keep him alive. If his tentacles hadn't been walking for him, he knew his knees would fall under him and he would collapse onto the ground.

"I've failed," he told himself quietly and hopelessly. His top appendages glanced down at him as the other two set him on the curb.

What do you mean?

We have not failed.

"Yes, yes we have," Otto assured them and covered his face with his smudged hands. A couple tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. The top and bottom right appendages gently peeled his hands from his face and the top left used one of its small utencils to wipe them away.

Do not cry.

We have not failed.

We just have not finished the machine.

"Not everything can be solved by a wrench,"

We know that. But we also know that you want to get the machine done. And since you have not accomplished that goal yet, it's making you weep. Therefore, we must go straight and finish the project.

"No, that won't help," Otto said as he stood up. "I'm going to stop by home and gather more supplies. This search is proving to take longer than I thought." he finished trying to appear without emotion.

That is not the true reason you want to return home. The appendages commented wryly in unison.

He walked briskly down the street trying to ignore their statement.

You want to take a break. Visit that 'Rosie' woman again.

"That is none of your concern!" Otto defended. It was apparent that they had hit the nail on the head. "I do need to get more supplies."

But we are far from our home and it is well into the afternoon. There are many places where we may restock. Why go all the way back home?

Otto sighed and continued walking. His tentacles had mapped exactly his thoughts and no defense came to mind. He'd go see Rosie and then go right back out. He needed someone of flesh and blood to talk to.

XXX

Otto made it home and it was now evening. He saw the door standing there, begging to be opened. Or was it just his lust to go inside? Either way, he was going to enter the house. How disappointed Rosie would be when she found out that he hadn't found Anna. Just the thought brought tears to his eyes as he reached for the knob. Otto brushed them away and slowly pushed the door in.

"Rosie?" a small sheepish voice came from his mouth and spread through the room. Nobody answered so he stepped inside. He closed the door and the sound of it latching remained the only noise in his ears.

Otto carefully walked into the living room. Anna sat on the couch with Rosie, Mary Jane, and Hillary alongside. The light conversation between the women was cut when one of Otto's assistants chirped. All Otto could do was stare at his daughter. He said nothing as he walked up to her, his bottom tentacles hitting the ground with a metallic thump along with his steps. Anna stood up. Otto didn't know what to do. He carefully embraced her with a hug. He kissed her cheek a couple times and hugged her again.

"Oh Anna," he whispered as tears began to fall. "I was so worried…"

Anna allowed the hug with a smile, a smile that he did care, that he did love her.

Otto's and Anna's appendages looked each other over curiously. They made various chirps and clicks. If one didn't know, one might say that the other appendages understood the sounds when they returned them with more of the same.

After the choice moment, there wasn't much to say. Mary Jane attempted to lighten the room with a conversation, but to no success. She was just about to try again when the doorbell rang.

Rosie was a little suspicious given that no one visited them since Otto's accident. Yet she stood up and opened the door. A young man was standing there. He was dressed very nicely for his adolescent age and a bouquet of roses took the space of his hand.

"Hello," he greeted," I, uh, I'm here for Anna Octavious."

A smirk crawled onto Rosie's face. "Oh, well come in," she said as she closed the door behind him. "Anna, this young man is here to see you."

Anna gasped and tried to hide her tentacles by lowering them to the ground and scooting them under the couch. Otto did nothing of the sort but his facial expression changed drastically from a soft smile to a hard scowl. One could here his tentacles wreath and chirp as they studied the boy.

"Hi Anna," the boy greeted her personally.

"Hi," Anna replied on the verge of stuttering. Hillary smiled wryly at her friend although Anna couldn't see it.

It was her dream boy, the one from the ice cream shop, here to see her. Of all people. The boy looked Otto over casually.

"I see you're fans of Doc Ock," he commented.

"You fool! I am Doc Ock! And how many times did you say you hit your head on the wall?" Otto wanted to say, but since it was apparent that his daughter liked the boy, didn't. This was Anna's time, not his. He didn't need to ruin the moment.

"Yeah, Dad and I don't have the strength to walk without equipment and Doc Ock was one of our relatives, so we decided to model the brace after him," Anna explained.

"Oh. I'm sorry about what happened then," the boy apologized. He sighed and then picked up his voice. "Well, I came here to take you on a—on a date…if you wouldn't mind—"

"Oh not at all!" Anna said excitedly. "I just have to get fixed up." She skipped merrily towards the hall. Otto followed her and grabbed her shoulder gently.

"Anna," he whispered into her ear. "you should have asked me whether you may go on a date with that boy. But since I'm a nice guy, I'll let you."

"Thanks," Anna whispered back.

"And another thing," Otto continued, "You need to tell him the truth."

"But—"

"You have to, Anna. Otherwise he'll find out later and find out that you had been lying to him, and won't trust you. That's not a good way to start a relationship."

"Who ever said that I was starting a relationship?"

"No one—er—I mean, even though he probably won't be coming back—that is to say—I want you to have a wonderful time tonight. I want you to feel free."

Anna smiled. "Thanks Dad—"

"But not too free. I don't want you going to his house, or slobber-kissing—possibly no kissing at all—none of that stuff," Otto chided sternly.

"Got it." Anna replied walking to her room.

Otto turned back around and walked towards the boy with a smile that said: OK, let's see what you're made of. His stride would almost be a saunter if the bottom appendages didn't strike the ground creating a thump with each step. Surprisingly, they didn't interfere with his walking or make him appear rough; and equally surprising was that the boy didn't seem to be afraid. He appeared nervous, but not afraid.

Perhaps it was merely because he hadn't a brain but only a tangled mass of nerves beneath his skull. Maybe he was irregular also. Or maybe he knew Anna's secret, he knew Otto's secret, and was just waiting for the appropriate moment to strike. Otto slightly pushed up the cuffs of his leather trench coat and headed over to the boy waiting happily by the couch. Otto was going to give him the talking to, make sure he understood the rules and regulations – and the consequences if one didn't follow them.

Otto kept a smirk present on his face and approached him.

"Well, well, well," he said with his hands in his pockets. "The very smooth and handsome—"

"John. John Calhoun," the boy said quickly.

"Well John," Otto said with the same smile as before. "How are you?"

"Very well, thank you," John replied. "And yourself?"

"I'm considerably content, thank you for asking." Otto nodded a couple times digging up his next words. "Yes, you really have a wonderful woman to spend tonight with."

"Why thank you. And I've very pleased that you're allowing me to go out with her," John answered.

"He's good." Otto thought. Mary Jane had gone into the kitchen but Rosie still sat on the couch watching her husband's every move. She gave him a warning look that he didn't catch.

"But she is not to be played with," Otto lectured.

"Yes, I know—"

"She is a human being. Not just some toy that people—especially not you, young man—can do whatever they want with."

"Yes sir."

"But Otto is happy that Anna is finally getting out with someone special," Rosie interrupted standing up and grabbing Otto's arm before he could say anything more to scare the boy.

"Yes I am." Otto admitted with a more sincere smile. "Let's just hope that you're that 'someone special' that my wife is talking about."

Rosie kicked the side of his foot secretly to get her husband to behave. The couple exchanged glances in a silent conversation. They both looked at John again and, after grinning a sweet smile at the boy, Rosie made her way to the kitchen.

"So," Otto began. "What do you enjoy?"

"Oh a little bit of everything. I like music, skateboarding, animals, reading," John said.

Otto nodded as the top right tentacle shot out a red light that scanned over the boy's entire body.

"Um, Sir? What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm just recording you into my memory."

"What do you mean 'recording me'?"

"Your height, appearance, body posture, strengths, weaknesses, stuff like that."

"That thing knows my strengths and weaknesses?"

"No, but judging from your appearance, it can be up to eighty percent sure. –Oh I'm sorry. Ninety. Just in case that something happened tonight and I had to hunt you down and make sure that you never went on another date again with my daughter, or anyone else." Otto replied casually taking a rag from his pocket.

The boy made a face at him, "Uh huh—"

"Oh—which reminds me—if you do anything whatsoever to or with my daughter that you wouldn't be confident doing in front of me, I'll kill you." The top left appendage shot out a blade that was a good two or three feet causing the boy to jump as Otto worked at scrubbing the stains from the steel.

Anna walked out from the hallway in a lovely, sleek, black dress that actually illuminated her tentacles into an accessory. "Ah Anna, you look very nice." Otto greeted as if he had forgotten about everything he said earlier.

"Thank you," Anna replied with an excited smile. "So," she turned to John, "What do you think?"

"You're beautiful," John commented taking her hand and leading her gracefully over to the doorway.

"Have fun Anna," Rosie called from the kitchen.

"I will Mom," she said as she walked out the door.

John was about to walk out when Otto came up to him and whispered in his ear. "Remember," and snapped a tentacle near his ear. John pretended he hadn't heard the man and quickly made his way out of the door. "Good bye Anna. Have fun!" Otto said as he watched them walk off.

XXX

The restaurant came into view. Rather expensive for what she thought they'd go to. The beautifully decorated hedges glowed with the lights that fell on them in their path to the sidewalk they were destined for. Nobody who walked through the double glass doors was dressed any worse than dress pants and an unchecked dress shirt. And Anna had wondered on the walked over if John could actually afford where he was taking her.

The air was crisp, but not cold, making it a nice night to be out. John walked with his hands in his pockets and stared up at the stars. The conversation between them had ceased. Anna looked up at John and back down. He was acting like it were his very first date with him avoiding looking her straight in the eye and clearing his throat every once in a while but never began talking.

"So John," Anna began- to lighten the mood. "I—I hear from Hillary that you're interested in music."

"Yes," John finally said, "My father's a producer. You know of Jump5, Hoobistank, and Green Day?" Anna nodded. "My dad's produced many of their songs."

"But that would make you filthy rich."

"Correct," John said, his face turning a shade of pink. Having mountains of money was no reason for embarrassment of course, but he acted as if it were. Anna, though, didn't know him in the least except for what Hillary had bragged on about, so she wasn't sure what to expect. And, by the look in his eyes, neither did he.

"Then why are you working at 'Joes'?" John made a small laugh, which gave Anna a little more confidence. The part-time job he had found at a fast food restaurant was not one of his more wonderful moves in business.

John sighed. "It's because I wanted to meet normal people instead of movie stars," he explained.

"And you consider me 'normal'?" Anna asked shyly. John smiled in replacement of an answer. He obviously didn't want to answer falsely, but he didn't want to answer truly either. Anna recognized his silent message, though, when he glanced at the tentacles restlessly looking him over. Although this did hurt her, she couldn't blame him, and she wasn't about to have her night ruined by a facial expression.

As John took hold of the door handle, the top right tentacle consumed his hand. This made him flinch and looking down and not being able to see the door handle, his hand or forearm scared him.

"She could crush me with next to nothing of her strength!" He realized. He glanced back up at his date; she didn't appear to hold anger against him for his glance. Instead, she let a pleading sigh pass through her lips.

"When—we get in there, could you not—I mean it's not your fault, but could you um—"

John put his finger from his free hand to her lips to stop her. "Don't worry. I'll just pretend like your metal arms don't exist," he said with a charming smile.

This time it was Anna's turn to blush. "Thank you," she said as the tentacles gently retraced from his hand and hung among the others.

"Well then," John started. "Let's go inside, shall we?"

XXX

Spiderman stood atop a tall building. His sweep of the city had taken longer than he felt necessary. It was now around nine or ten. The two girls were nowhere in sight, but he knew that he couldn't give up on them. He was Spiderman! He could find them! …Couldn't he?

The city stayed quiet as far as what sounds he was searching for. Cars speeding, people constantly talking, road rage, horns sounding, music blazing, the recognizable babble of New York streets. Spiderman removed his mask and wiped his hand over his forehead. If he weren't careful, fatigue would overtake him. But he had to stay awake; he had to find the girls…

XXX

The dinner was wonderful. Though John offered to buy anything for her on the menu, Anna had chosen an inexpensive (if that was possible in this restaurant) turkey breast with pork gravy, and fettuccini alfredo. John hadn't ordered much for himself, but he explained this to her by: he was going on a diet to lose the 'fat' around his middle. Although, he looked far from needing a diet, Anna said nothing.

Despite the amount of food she had, the young woman scarfed it down like there was no tomorrow. Anna had forgotten how truly hungry she was until she took that fist sip of iced tea set on the table.

"Hillary tells me you write songs," John said as he dabbed his lips with the cloth napkin folded neatly on the table alongside his dinner plate.

"Yes," Anna blushed pulling a strand of hair behind her ear. She didn't enjoy gloating but did desire to tell him more. "I'm trying to get a music major in college," she stated.

"Wow, thinking of college already," John said in awe, "You're pretty determined to get a good career."

"Well my dad values education over almost all else. He—he's a scientist." Anna was almost reluctant. What if he put two and two together and realized that her dad was the Doc Ock and not just some fanatic with tin foil tentacles?

She regretted telling him and wished she could rewind time. He, either already having gotten the answer or disregarding the comment completely, said nothing more on her father. Instead, he asked her exactly what she wanted to do in life. When Anna told of her childish dream of becoming a rock star, John's eyes lit up with excitement.

"I could help you out with that dream," he said fondly, his eyes twinkling with charm.

Anna's eyes lit up also. "Seriously?" She asked as her tentacles rose in unison with her emotion.

"Seriously," John answered. "I think I could probably persuade my dad into giving you a contract."

"But I have to be good enough," Anna said solemnly. "I want to earn it."

"Naturally. You'll have to have talent to get in. But I have no doubt you'll be singing professionally on stage in time," he assured her.

Man! Were his lines good! How long had he practiced in front of the mirror? She thought. His voice was clear, his sentences flawless, it was if he was directly sent from God to pick her life up. Well, if it was God's will, Anna didn't want to deny it. Even if Anna wasn't religious, this boy had to have been an angel.

It would be the least she could do to tell him the truth. John was a levelheaded boy, he would understand. He would tell her it was OK. It was his nature. Although, this was only her first date. Explanation could wait 'til the next date—if there would be a next date. The thought hadn't hit her that he might not encourage a relationship. And if he didn't, there would be no reason in telling him the horrible truth.

XXX

After the dinner and a romantic movie with almost a Phantom of the Opera theme, John Calhoun took her home.

Now she had gotten braver and actually held hands with him as they strolled down the night streets. They rounded another building corner and came upon Anna's home. They walked up to the door and John told Anna, with love, that he enjoyed the night.

"Me too. Thanks for everything," Anna agreed with a broad smile as her hand reached for the doorknob. John bided her to wait. Heeding his words, Anna withdrew her hand and held it and the other behind her back. She excitedly awaited—although trying not to appear eager—what the boy wanted to tell her. Or ask her, for that matter.

"Would you like to do this again sometime? Sometime soon?" he asked with more confidence than what was usual for asking others on dates.

"Sure!" Anna replied excitedly. "I'd love that!"

"Great. And then we can talk about what you need to do for a contract and if you've got the stuff," John said relieved to have that said. "Is there any specific time that would be good for another outing?" he asked.

Anna paused. "Nope," she concluded. "Whenever."

"How about I pick you up next Friday. That all right?" Anna nodded her head vigorously. "OK then. Goodnight," John said giving her a sweet little kiss on the cheek. He smiled charmingly at her and walked back down the street.

"Bye…" Anna dragged out as her finger went to the place still warm from his lips. It tingled with the sensation of love, of a boy who was actually interested in her. And what a sensation it was!

Anna smiled drowsily and opened the door to go inside. She wasn't sure whether to go straight to sleep so that she would dream about him, or whether to flip her shoes off, run up to her room, and scream incoherent words into her pillow.

That wonderful feeling remained on her cheek and soaked into her jaw, which also made the bones of her cheek feel as if they were vibrating and going to fall right off her face. Anna plopped down on the couch and closed her eyes with a satisfied smile. What a night that was…what a night…