Chapter 3
King of Dweebs
Amy Cahill pulled out her keychain as she and her eleven-year-old brother jogged up the stairs to their Aunt Beatrice's small apartment. Once Amy had unlocked the door, Dan raced off to his bedroom. Amy sighed as she slumped her way into the dining room.
Amy pulled her bulging folder out and tried to work on her homework. Amy stuffed her homework in her backpack after a few minutes of trying to solve her math homework. Amy flopped down on the couch in the squashed living room. The couch was small enough without a big mess of blankets taking over a majority of the couch. Amy's stomach growled as Dan's shout answered her thoughts.
"Ame, Food!" he yelled from down the hall. Amy reluctantly pushed herself off the couch and stepped into the kitchen to check the refrigerator's inventory. She pulled at the fridge's heavy door and peeked inside. Amy took in the contents.
Mayonnaise and ketchup sandwiches complete with the heels of stale bread. Amy thought bitterly. She closed the fridge door and opened the door of the freezer and peered in.
And for dessert, frozen bananas. Amy slammed the freezer door in frustration. Those bananas would have been perfect if they were room temperature. Amy cursed the au pair, Nellie, for freezing those bananas to make smoothies.
Amy furiously snatched up the wall phone and punched in Nellie's phone number. Amy could hear the Mario Brothers theme song going off in the living room. Amy hung up the phone and stormed into the living room. Usually, Amy never got angry with her and Dan's au pair, but things could change when you were hungry. Amy tackled the lump of blankets on the sofa.
"Argghhh!" The au pair shrieked, not happy to be awoken from her nap. Nellie Gomez emerged from the mess of blankets and pillows. Amy waited arms akimbo for Nellie to straighten herself out. Dan walked in and assessed the fridge and joined Amy in the living room.
"Hey, kiddos… why are we all ganging up on ol' Nellie?" Nellie's eyes flickered from Amy to Dan guiltily. Amy and Dan looked at each other, a silent conversation passing between them.
One… Dan's eyebrows wiggled.
Two… Amy smiled.
Three! The Cahill siblings looked pointedly at each other.
"Food!" they yelled at Nellie.
"Sure, sure, I'm hungry, too," Nellie said, unable to hold back a smile at her charges' exclamation.
"What's for eating?" she asked.
"Nothing!" Amy tried not to yell. Dan folded his arms.
"So we're going on a food run?" Nellie guessed. Amy nodded. Amy and Dan turned to face each other.
"Position?" he asked, saluting her. Amy rolled her eyes.
"The King of Dweebs will be staying home," Amy told him.
"Great, so what do I do?" Dan asked earnestly. Amy and Nellie exchanged a look. A look of annoyance.
"Mr. Daniel Cahill will be staying home. We will take care of shopping. Now, run along and don't burn down the house. Capiche?" Amy talked slowly, so Dan would understand. Dan harrumphed.
"Thinks she's in charge just 'cause she's fourteen," Dan muttered under his breath as he walked to his room.
"I've got my keys, kiddo, let's rock n' roll," Nellie grinned, adjusting her nose ring.
One trip to the local grocery store later, Amy and Nellie had enough food to feed a family of six, rather than three. When they walked into the apartment, they found it unusually quiet, and, to their surprise, not burnt down. Nellie smiled approvingly and marched into the kitchen to start making dinner while Amy made her way to her bedroom.
When Amy entered the cramped room, she headed straight for the small closet.
Might as well make some headway in cleaning up. Amy thought as she lugged one of the plastic bins from her closet unto her bed. Aunt Beatrice had been disgusted at the sight of Dan's closet and Amy was not one to try to aggravate Aunt Beatrice. Amy's closet was tidy enough, but she decided to work on organizing her plastic bins of odds and ends just to be safe.
Amy opened up the bin on her bed and glanced inside. Amy began to riffle through the contents, keepsakes from her fifth grade year. A majority of the bin was filled with rewards and recognitions from school. The rest of the bin's contents included shells Amy had found with her grandmother Grace, several complex knotted ropes, and few envelopes filled to nearly bursting with photographs.
Amy opened one of the envelopes and found pictures from her overnight camp. Amy frowned; the first four pictures were all of her. Amy had tried to avoid her picture being taken at an early age, far before fifth grade. Amy's frown deepened with each picture of herself. As she neared the bottom of the stack of photographs, she found that most the pictures were cut out so only Amy was in the picture. All of her surroundings were cut out, and Amy was furious. In one picture, Amy could see that she had had her arm around someone, but that person was nowhere to be seen.
Dan. Amy figured.
"Daniel Cahill, get your butt in here!" Amy shrieked.
"Yes?" Dan replied, much closer than Amy had thought. Amy stumbled off her bed and opened her bedroom door. Dan stood there, bleary-eyed.
"Dan, what's wrong?" Amy put an arm around her little brother.
"Grace," Dan whispered. Amy's eyes opened wide.
"What's wrong? Is she okay? Do we need to go see her? Here, let me get my coat, I'll see if Nellie can take us to her," Amy headed for her closet. Dan grabbed her arm.
"No," he said, "We can't see her, not that way," Dan looked up at his sister. His own green eyes watering.
"W-what do you m-mean?" Amy whispered, Dan's scared eyes were making her stutter. Amy only stuttered when she was embarrassed, confused, or scared. Dan's behavior was making her both confused and scared.
"Ame, " Dan sucked in a deep breath, "Grace is dead."