Chapter 2
Michael was now in the park. He was riding back and forth on a seal…boing-y thing. He then noticed a little boy looking at him. "What? I was here first. You can ride that duck. I can't ride the duck. I'd look silly on the duck. …Plus, my cousin's a duck." The little boy just kept looking at him. He finally shrugged and got off, letting the kid on. He went over to check on Gabby in her stroller. "Hey there, Gabs! Having fun yet?"
"No!"
Michael sighed. "You know, you really shouldn't argue with me, I know a lot more words." He started to walk off, pushing the stroller, and passed by a guy.
The guy was leaning against a post and panting in a purple spandex suit with a red and yellow cape. He stopped Michael. "Hey, you seen a kid's birthday party anywhere around here? I'm the entertainment."
"I thought I saw a bounce house on the other end of the park."
"A bounce house? Great. Another trip to the E.R." He started to walk off.
Michael stopped him, realizing the guy was in a superhero costume and immediately taking interest. "Who are you supposed to be, anyway?"
"I'm Captain Stretchy." He pointed at his chest. "There used to be a CS here, but it came off in the wash."
"So what's your power?"
"Super elasticity. Hey, look, a quarter!" He started to lean over, but couldn't get further down than his knees. "Oh, forget it. Not like it's a dollar, right?" He walked off.
Michael rolled his eyes and kept going with Gabby in her stroller.
Then a pretty beagle anthro passed by him with a baby of her own.
Michael instantly turned around and followed her. "Hi."
She looked at him and smiled. "Hi."
Michael noticed that the girl had the exact same stroller Gabby was in. "Like your taste in strollers."
She giggled. "Thanks." She looked at Gabby. "Aw. She's so cute."
"You, too."
She looked at him.
He caught his mistake. "I mean, yours, too!"
She smiled. "I'm Abby."
"I'm Michael. This is Gabby. Who's that little guy?"
"My little brother. We're out for a walk. We do this everyday."
"Us, too. You know what I always say: 'Babies love parks.'" [He looks at the camera and smiles.] "You wanna sit down?"
"Sure." Abby pushed her stroller over to a bench and sat down on it, Michael doing the same. "So, I saw you talking to Captain Stretchy earlier."
"Yeah. He was lost. Not much of a superhero, right?"
"He's the worst. We hired him for my sister birthday and he sat on the cake."
He looked at her. "That's…weird."
She smiled. "It's gets worse. The candles were lit so he sat in the punch."
"Wow. And he looked like such a quality entertainer."
Abby smiled at his sarcasm. "You know, I'm really impressed that you take your baby sister out to the park, my brothers would never do that."
"Well, I hope not, she's my sister."
Abby humored him with a half-smile.
He smiled back.
At the movie theater…
The adults filed into a row of seats.
"Remind me again why we wanted to see Star Exploders 5?" asked Daniella.
"Because we really wanted to see it," said Duck, gesturing to him, Rev, and Tech, "And Ryan wouldn't go with us. I hope the movie's good."
"Are-you-kidding-the-critics-hated-this-which-means-it's-gotta-be-good!"
Duck nodded and sat down.
Wendy sighed and sat down next to him, rolling her eyes.
Lexi sat down next to Ace. "Well, I really wanted to see Willow Weeps Tomorrow."
"What is that?" asked Daniella.
"It's a love saga about a girl who grows up on a farm and plants a willow tree and grows up with dreams of becoming a ballerina…" They all turned to look at her as she sighed. "…but then on the day of the big audition, she twisted her ankle so she has to go back to the farm and she has a baby and you know what she names it?"
Ace mouthed "Willow."
"Willow!" Lexi wailed, quietly (yes, that is an oxymoron).
"I feel like we just saw it," said Duck.
Wendy nodded.
"You know what? I'm kind of hungry," said Sophie, "And I know Slam is 'cause he always is. Danni…"
Daniella nodded, getting the message, and opened her bag. She pulled out a cheeseburger and discreetly handed it to Sophie. Then she started pulling out soda and candies for Slam.
"This is great," said Duck, sneaking some fries and a milkshake, "Not having to buy that movie theater food by using your magic bag, we're saving so much money!"
"Yeah, I guess I kind of had a different idea in my head when Rev suggested lunch and a movie," said Lexi, taking a hot dog and handing a corn dog to Ace.
"I thought he said 'lunch in a movie'," said Duck. He shrugged. "Guess it's hard to tell as fast as he talks."
"Quiet, the movie's starting!" Tech said, putting on the 3-D glasses.
The rest of them followed his example.
Then a nerd came in dressed as alien and sat down right in front of Sophie.
Sophie groaned, trying to see over his helmet. "Really?" She tapped on his shoulder. "Excuse me, could you please remove your…tentacles?"
The guy nodded and took off his tin foil helmet.
With Sarah…
Sarah's spell took her to a different world entirely. She looked around. Half of the land seemed to be desolate and barren and the other half appeared sweet and vibrant. "No contest here." She jumped onto the vibrant half. She started looking around for people. "Hello? Hello! Hello?" She sighed. Nothing and no one. "This may take a while." She then saw a white rabbit (not an anthro) hopping by…wearing a suit and carrying a pocket watch. "What is this? Alice in Wonderland?" She ran over to him. "Hey! Little albino bunny!"
"Can't talk! I'm late!" He started hopping off.
She sighed. "It is just like Alice in Wonderland." She started to race after him. "Hey!"
" I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date, no time to say 'hello!' 'Goodbye!'- "
"You're late! You're late! You're late! I get it!"
The rabbit started off again.
Sarah started after him.
He hopped into his hole.
Sarah almost followed him, but stopped herself. "Whoa-ho! I'm not falling for that." She looked around. "Wow. I don't think I'm in Acmetropolis anymore. How do I even know I did the spell right? How do I know this is where Jack is? Oh, Wendy's gonna freak and my parents are gonna kill me."
Then, a mouse jumped over to her. "Hello!" he chattered with a Mexican accent, "Welcome to Fairy Tale Land! I am Swift Gonzalez."
"Oh, you must be a munchkin—"
"I am not a munchkin!"
Sarah backed off.
"Man, you're under 5'2" and wear curly shoes and be a mouse and suddenly you're a munchkin!"
A mouse in a silly outfit, the same shoes, and a pointy jester-like hat jumped out of a bush. "You are too a munchkin! You're the sheriff around these parts, remember? And you aren't even 5 + 2 inches tall!"
Swift pushed him off. "Yes, I am! I'm a very sturdy foot tall and I intend to hit another growth spurt."
"At 24?"
Sarah sighed and knelt down to jump back into the conversation. "Alright, listen, I'm looking for someone and I don't know where he is. Is there any way I can find him?"
"Yes, there is! But it is a long and perilous journey into the dangerous and far-most reaches of this land. You will have to venture into the wild unknown—"
"I get it. Where do I go?"
"Well, I can't point you all the way, but you can get started by following the yellow brick road."
"You've gotta be kidding me, right?"
"No, I'm serious."
Sarah sighed.
"Now, listen. If you need our help, just call us."
"How?"
"Like this!" Swift whistled and a bunch of munchkins rounded up and said the rhyme that called them places:
" Calling all munchkins, let's do lunch-kins, all for one, and one for all, calling all munchkins, take our call. "
Sarah memorized this. "OK…" She stood back up. "Where's the road?"
Swift pointed her in the direction of a yellow brick road.
Sarah nodded and went over to it. She started down it. "Thanks, Swift!" She raced out. "I gotta find Jack and get out of here."
Back at the tower…
Benny laid down Penny and held up a hat. "You know what, guys? I think I can do magic just as well as you can and I'm gonna prove it." He put the hat on his head and took out 2 little objects: "In this hand, I hold a quarter. In the other, an ordinary egg." He took off the hat and put both items inside. "Now I put them in this hat, spin them around, and presto!" He turned over the hat and the egg fell out and got yolk all over the floor.
Lucy looked at her brother. "You know, just out of curiosity, what was supposed to happen?"
Benny just put the hat on the floor and picked Penny back up.
Michael came back in. "I love this baby! Any time she wants to go to the park, sign me up!"
"What happened to you?" Kelly asked, going over to him to take Gabby for her next shift.
"Let's just say Gabby made a friend, Michael made a fried."
Kelly smiled, then picked up Gabby. "Whoa! Did either you or you friend bother to change a diaper?"
"There was no time for that. I was too busy talking to Abby."
"Who's Abby?" asked Robert.
"Well, she's—"
"Michael?" Kelly interrupted, panicking.
"What?"
"You brought home the wrong baby!"
They all jumped up and raced over there.
Kelly showed them. "Take a look. Wrong parts."
Suddenly, the baby started peeing all over the floor.
"There's nothing wrong with those parts," said Robert.
They all glared at him.