Seventy years later...
Compton, Los Angeles
We then ended up in what appears to be a neighborhood of some sort. It looks different from a typical 1930s California suburb, with people dressing differently and cars that are light-years ahead of those beetle-shaped vehicles back during the old days.
A black guy in his twenties then came right into us at the sidewalk.
"Yo, Halloween's over, get some real street clothes, the neighbors might get a good laugh at you!"
"How rude!" Sally exclaimed angrily.
"We need to find a way to get out of here and back to the party," said Claire.
"But it's too late, fifteen minutes have passed," Emma added grimly, "They'll be doing a memorial service for us instead, I guess,"
I then lamented, "And my Pop's probably worrying about me, too,"
"So what will we gonna' do?" Gilbert asked. "We can't just ask the folks there unless if they don't make fun of us,"
"We have no choice, though, but let's ask one of them, maybe they can help us," Emma suggested, pointing at a brown two storey house. "Just don't screw up and we'll be fine,"
The old woman then knocked on the door, hoping for a straight and friendly reply.
"Who's there?" a man asked.
"Uh, we're lost and we would like to come over and ask for directions," answered Emma. She's quite good at making a truckload of excuses, you know.
"OK, you can come in," the guy said, opening the door, "The name's Carl, Carl Johnson, but you can call me CJ,"
"Nice to meet you, CJ," Gilbert greeted, as he did an obligatory handshake with CJ, "The name's Gilbert. Gilbert London,"
"And I'm Sally Shine, and this is my nanny, Emmaline," Sally added.
"I'm Dewey Todd. Hollywood Tower bellhop at your service," I introduced myself laughingly.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you all dress goofy or like oldschool," Carl interrupted, "What is this, some kind of viral marketing stunt or something?"
"It's a long story," I explained, "I know you'll find it hard to believe, but we came from the past,"
"OK, I believe you, but why?" Carl asked.
"I... I dunno," I replied, "It was random, we were like having a party seventy years ago and some weird thing happened,"
"And this basically means that you're looking for some place to stay for a while right?" Carl asked.
"Exactly," Gilbert nodded.
"Well you may stay, after all, only Kendl and I spend time in this place," said Carl, "There's an extra room that you might spend some shut-eye on,"
Carl then invited the girl, as well as some of us, to play a round of video games, "Oh and we also have a bunch of video games here, if Sal wants to play some," I haven't heard or played them when CJ first showed them to us, although they were a long way from playing hide-and-seek and jump rope. And possibly a factor for America's obesity issue *grins at Emma*, unless if you're one of those Wii fanboys.
Sally then picked up the joystick, while CJ fired up the Playstation. It was a racing game, something that involved evading police officers while infiltrating a vehicle smuggling ring. They say that the game recieved negative reviews, and was as rubbish as Scary Movie or that film loosely based on what happened to me and my mates.
It was a very tense chase in the game - things blur as Sal's character is in the lead in an illegal street race. She was on a Nissan, I think, and I watched as Gilbert, Emma and Claire all cheer at the young actress.
"You can do it Sally, you're in the lead!" exclaimed Gilbert and Emma as the car blitzed its way through the finish line. I grinned sarcastically as Sal's Nissan was already a mile away from her AI rivals. I guess I should give those programmers an epic face slap.
The race isn't that hard, as the girl managed to finish first in something that she just played for the first time. Pretty rubbish game indeed.
"What a bunch of amateurs," Sally quipped, as she mildly tossed the controller, "Even a beginner like me can finish that sprint,"
"How about a trip to the shop for some street clothes?" asked Carl, "After all, you all look like from a cosplay convention or something,"
"I'll come with you, Carl," Emma suggested.
"OK," Carl nodded. "By the way, you remind me of a friend of mine,"
Carl and Emma then got in the car and went off - Sally and the others elected not to go with them, as well as me. I then decided to play a card game with Gilbert, as I have a deck in my pocket, straight outta 1939. I always carry them with me just in case I'm bored.
"So, anyone want a card game with me?"
"Poker? Or go-fish?" asked Claire.
Sally then suggested, "I'll go for the latter, my nanny's skilled at it you know,"
"Yeah, she's a crusty old dame but she can beat the s%% out of her mates on a card game," Gilbert said sarcastically, "I've actually seen and heard of her before - she had a bunch of other high-profile parents as clients back in the old days and had mad poker skills," Woah, I guess Emma would fall easily for a poker spam.
Meanwhile...
"So, do you have any other clients besides Sally?" Carl asked.
"Oh yes," Emma replied cheerfully, as she tapped her fingers at the plastic trim, while listening to some Benny Goodman song on the radio. "I mostly work with high-profile people from Los Angeles, although I do feel at home with Sally's family,"
"For sure," said Carl.
"I may be strict and protective at times, but Sally and her parents love me as much as I do," Emma added, "Plus some free beef jerky dinners, too," The two then laughed as the woman made a reference to her diet.
"I've never seen so much traffic in my entire life," Emma quipped,
"Yeah, and a police chase, too," answered Carl.
As usual, Carl then sounded the horn amidst the traffic. They did make it to the mall after a few minutes, though.
"OK, we're here, Emma," said Carl, "And don't worry about the cash, I can take care of it,"
"You're such a generous young man, lass," Emma thanked.
"Oh, gee, thanks," said Carl, "Oh, and I gotta give you this,"
"What's that?" asked Emma.
"It's a cellphone," explained Carl, "Welcome to the modern world, Mrs. Partridge. You can call from anywhere with that. I already told Dewey and the guys to call on that phone just in case, and oh, it's prepaid, you can only call for a limited time there,"
"I'm getting the hang of this," Emma exclaimed. She then took off her coat and hat, grabbed at her bag and went off the vehicle with Carl.
They then went in the mall - there's a mandatory security check at the entrance so as to keep those terrorists from doing any mischief on public places. Of course, Carl and Emma had to undergo such checks, of which the woman had no qualms at complying.
Seeing that customers had to have their butts checked for bombs, Emma then quipped, "People seem pretty paranoid these days,"
"They do," Carl lamented, "**** happens when suicide bombers come in and crash the party,"
The two then decided to go on and stroll their way to the department store. The woman gazed at the boutiques, smiling at the rather fancy dresses of which she was too chubby to year.
"You seem to be envious at them clothes, Emma," said Carl.
"Yeah, I do, lass," Emma sighed, "I guess I'll have to be on a diet if I want to wear those,"
"Hey, there's the children's section," Carl pointed, "I'm sure you can pick up some threads for Sal there,"
Emma's Nokia then rang. Without any sign of confusion, she clicked on the green call key and placed the brick near her ear. It was the home line, as expected, with Sally speaking rather cheerfully.
"Hi Nanny!"
"I'm here at the department store, lass, finding some clothes for you,"
"Oh goodie, thank you so much, Nanny,"
"It was nothing, my dear,"
Emma then picked up a pink Minnie Mouse T-shirt, as well as some jeans to go along with it. Clothes based on the Barbie line are fine, but I find it rather sexual and overrated. And so is Hannah Montana, of which you can see a mother lode of merchandise all over the mall - kiddie bicycles, toys, dolls, you name it.
They then went to the cashier, handing out 15 bucks worth of cash, as the saleslady packed the items on a plastic bag. Carl then asked the woman if she's interested on buying some threads for herself.
"So, aren't you going to get yourself some clothes, too?"
"I guess so,"
"For sure," Carl nodded, "You do look retro in that you know,"
"Yeah, for sure, lass," said Emma, as she and the gangsta strolled their way to the women's section, which isn't that far away from the girls' department.
"You could've shaved a couple pounds if you don't want to keep on wearing bedsheets or something," said Carl mockingly.
"Yeah, although I'm sure Disneyland still cares about fat people," Emma grinned. "And it's OK even if you make fun of me like that, I do lament at myself you know,"
Without any ado, the two got themselves some nice new threads. Carl then decided to head back to the hood for a BBQ spree, with him and Emma rushing to the front exit.
"You stay here, while I get the car,"
"Okay," Emma nodded as she twirled her finger in the air while listening to a Yael Naim song blaring through the mall speakers.
Carl then honked the car horn, waving at Emma as the woman walked towards the vehicle. She then boarded the car as usual, and the two went off for a short ride back to the Grove.
An advert for some soap opera announced, "Coming soon on CNT - Two lovers, one damsel in distress, all ending up in a shameful bloodbath,"
"And they do make some rather sappy dramas these days, my dear," Emma commented.
The advert continued, "When a rich family shares brethren with a poor household, things get complicated. 'The Three of Them', this summer, only on CNT,"
"This is BS, real quality BS," ranted Carl. "Oh well, at least I have a nice DVD collection,"
Carl and Emma then smiled sarcastically at the radio announcer and laughed their way as they're a few miles away from home.
