Tales of the Alternate Universe
Chapter Three: Miss Tea Hanks
Bonnibel's Saturday started like any other normal day in her daily routine. She went to Junktown's market, paid some taxes at the bank, strolled through the farming fields, pulled Finn and Flanna out of Mr. Gibb's pig farm's mud (preventing them both from strangling each other) and went back to the school, where she was working on checking and grading last week's tests.
As the highly educated teacher did this, she was trying to focus on listening to the woman who was sitting in front of her desk. Miss Teana Hanks, or Tea Hanks for short, was an elderly woman with a preference for handsome men and the wonders of the feminine touch in every daily labor.
She was dressed in a yellow button-up shirt, a light green coat and a dark green skirt that reached her black leather heels. Miss Hanks had the tendency of dyeing her greyish curls with a tint of gold, and always wore a fancy hat with a pink bow and two cloth apples, which she personally sewed on it.
"…Then I heard something strange near Mr. Gibb's barn, so I went to check it out and found Finn and that girl fighting like little animals in the mud…" Miss Tea said, remembering that morning's incident "Then he told me: 'Tee, these kids act like animals' and I replied: 'Well, maybe we are all animals…Think about you and me, don't call them like that…!"
Her voice was slow, shaky and sweet. Bonnibel loved to talk with her, but not when she was as busy as today. "Uh huh…" the school teacher replied while she read Finn's test.
"I think these poor kids that you have grounded in those corners were not fighting 'cause they are vandals or trouble makers… I told Gibb that maybe they were just upset. When babies are upset they fight and yell a lot 'cause they are hungry…" Tea Hanks held her chin and raised her head thoughtfully "Well, not always, sometimes they just do it because their diapers are dirty…but that's not the case!"
Miss Bonnibel closed her books and aligned all the paperwork on her desk, she took off her small glasses and stared at Miss Hanks "So?" she asked, waiting for her naïve justification of Finn and Flanna's recent, and probably not last, clash.
"Isn't it obvious?!" Tea Hanks giggled, "These poor things were upset 'cause they are hungry!" the old woman leaned downwards and pulled up a basket "Here, I baked them some apple pies! Now you can let them go!"
Miss Tea's famous apple pies were now placed over Bonnibel's paperwork, those were surely the best apple pies in the whole town, Tea Hanks' apple farm was widely known because of their sweet cinnamon flavor… simply impossible to resist.
"Miss Hanks…" Bonnibel sighed, trying to sound as gentle as possible.
"Please, call me Tea!" the elderly woman smiled.
"Sure, umm… Tea… Finn and Flanna were not fighting because they were hungry or upset… they have some sort of issue against each other that I'm still unable to solve. Th-they fight all the time!"
"Then they must be hungry all the time…!" Tea Hanks exclaimed in worry "Oh, those poor things…"
"Miss Tea…" Bonnibel protested "I thank you for trying to help them, really… But those pies are not the solution, please let me take care of this situation, okay?"
Tea Hanks looked disappointed, she took her basket back and abandoned her seat "I'm sorry to hear that, it's a shame I made you lose some of your time…"
"Oh no, it's always a pleasure to have you here!" the teacher exclaimed with sincerity "But Finn and Flanna… they are a tough case…"
"I understand. Have a nice afternoon, Miss Bonnie."
Tea Hanks strode towards the classroom's door and stopped briefly in the middle of the two corners where a pair of muddy kids were supposed to be reflecting on why attacking each other is not a good thing to do. The old pie-baker grinned mischievously and whispered.
"I'll leave the pies under the tree…!"
"Miss Tea Hanks…" Bonnibel muttered.
"Oh! I was just telling them to behave!" she complained "See ya later…"
And with that, the enthusiastic Tea Hanks left the scene; Finn couldn't help but to chuckle silently at her. She could always make everyone smile, even after being chased by Flanna throughout the whole field, and ending up in the mud for calling her "egg thief".
That girl…Finn didn't care if she was the one who stole the eggs or not anymore, but it was her fault that they were now trapped at school on Saturday and on top of that, bathed in pig poop. Why'd she have to be like that? Perhaps Flanna was right in getting mad with him for accusing her without having any trustable proofs, but she didn't have to be so violent.
"I wonder what's her problem…" the blonde boy muttered as he glanced at her.
Flanna's face was stamped against the wall, her reddish hair was still wet and dirty, her clothes were a mess and she had lost one of her sandals. For some reason she hadn't complained or stuck out her tongue at him angrily as she always did, Flanna was acting weird and her constant sobbing was making Finn worried.
"Did I really hit her that hard?" the boy wondered, still staring at her.
x+x+x+x+x
Miss Tea Hanks had been waiting for them outside the whole time with a muddy Jake puppy sitting by her feet. When their teacher freed them from their punishment, the gleeful old woman dragged them to her apple farm and served them a hot piece of pie with vanilla ice cream on top.
Finn munched his slice in a huff and even dared to lick the dish. Tea Hanks' pies literally made him crazy; no normal human was able to resist the deliciousness of their flavor except for one in particular, Flanna.
The red-haired girl didn't even accept Tea Hanks' invitation of taking a seat inside her cute pink-colored house; she just stayed outside, sitting by the duck pond all by herself.
"Weirdo…" the boy whispered.
Tea Hanks stared through the window and then gave Finn a confused glance "You're wrong, she ain't a weirdo…she's just sad…"
"Sad? How can you know that?"
Miss Hanks gasped in disbelief "Can't you notice it? It's scribbled all over her face!" she rested her hand on Finn's shoulder "Sad people have trouble to express their feelings and it's not easy for them to make friends…"
"But why would Flanna be sad?" Finn frowned "Her father is like the most powerful man in town and they have a big house filled with expensive stuff…!"
Tea Hanks shook her head and stroke Finn's hair softly "Those things have never granted happiness to anyone, Flanna barely sees her father and her mother died five years ago, remember? You on the other side have a mom and dad hanging around all the time…there's even a new family member on the way…!"
"Bartram?"
The old baker laughed and pushed him gently "No silly, I'm talking about your little brother!" her grey eyes drifted back to the window "Flanna's always alone in that big house filled with expensive stuff…"
"Oh…" Finn whispered joylessly "Someone should do something about it… and cheer her up!"
"Yeah," Tea Hanks nodded "Someone nice and kind with a knack to befriend people, I wish I knew someone like that…"
Finn could feel the weight of Tea Hanks' stare over him, he turned his head at her and pointed his chest skeptically "Me? Nah, no way… it won't work!"
"Please Finn, it's clear that she needs someone of her same age to play and hang out!" Miss Tea threw her arm around his shoulders and pulled him close "You are the most benevolent kid I have ever known, if someone can help her change that aggressive attitude of hers, it's you."
"But Tea Hanks… Flanna totally hates me!"
"Then try to change that, make her feel comfortable around you…!" she handed him Flanna's slice of pie and smiled "Show her you care…"
x+x+x+x+x
Finn held the dish nervously as he walked towards the pond. Jake was following him closely to make sure he'd do what Tea Hanks said and not just run away with Flanna's pie.
"Umm… Flanna…" she heard him call from behind.
"Get lost, will ya?"
The boy whipped himself back and strode away from her with the apple pie. Jake noticed this quickly and bit his pants to force his owner to stay.
"Jake, didn't you hear what she just said?! I'm just avoiding another fight!"
"Bouw…" the bulldog moaned, giving him an uneasy look.
"Fine…" Finn returned to Flanna's side and sat down "I'm just gonna sit here, it's a free country…"
She glared at him and rolled her eyes "You're right. I'm outta here."
"No!" he shrieked, pulling her hand "Stay, I just wanna chat it up with you! I'm-I'm sorry…"
"For what?!" Flanna demanded angrily "For calling me thief?! For stabbing my face?! For being the source of all my troubles?!"
The blonde boy gulped, letting go of her hand "For everything…" he lowered his sight until he met his reflection in the water "Listen, I know you're sad…"
"So now it's pretty obvious, huh?" she crossed her arms defiantly "Since when do you care about how do I feel?!"
"Since I saw you cry…"
His response made her flinch, Finn was staring at her with a compassionate look on his face and it made her feel confused.
"You should try Tea Hanks' pie," he suggested as he got up on his feet to face her "Look, if I got you in more trouble with your dad today…forgive me…"
Flanna received the plate hesitantly and watched him leave in silence, Jake ran behind him trying his best to keep up with his –in comparison with his tiny paws– big feet and the long steps they would make as the boy walked away.
"Don't look back, don't look back…" Finn murmured, "Just leave it like that…"
"Grrr…!" Jake growled in annoyance.
"What else do you want me to do? What if I say something stupid and she gets mad at me again?"
"Grrr…!"
"Alright, I'll trust you and Tea Hanks' advice…!"
Flanna had already turned her sight away from the departing boy, her green eyes were fixed on the slice of apple pie as she wondered why Finn's words hadn't irritated her as usual. His sudden concern towards her was something that she couldn't fully understand, Finn had never cared before... No one did.
Her sight flew towards the pond, noticing with bewilderment another reflection standing next to hers. Flanna turned around with a gasp and bumped with a fully blushed Finn in front of her. His hands were gripped tightly and his whole body was twitching in nervousness.
"Finn?"
The boy quickly leaned in and pecked her hurt cheek; he quickly became blurry in the instant his lips left her damaged skin, due to him dashing away at high speed. She just remained there statically, watching the cloud of dust that once was an annoying bear-hatted boy disappear in the distance.
x+x+x+x+x
Finn and Jake reached a tree somewhere near to their home and hid behind it to catch their breaths. There was no reason to hide at all, it was obvious that the red-haired girl wasn't following them; it was just Finn's embarrassment asking him to hide his reddened face from the rest of the world.
"Woof! Woof!" Jake barked happily, circling Finn's feet.
"Quit it Jake, it's not what you think!" the boy quickly stuck out his tongue and began to 'clean it' frantically with his both hands "Bleh, bleh! Kissing Flanna Hacksworth, nastiest thing I've done in my life…!"
"Grrr…!"
"No, Jake. I'm not trying to hide any repressed feelings towards that screwball girl…!"
"Houw!"
"Are you deaf?! I'm telling you it was awful!" Finn turned his face away and closed his eyes in attempt to look indignant "She had an adhesive bandage on her cheek and now my mouth tastes like a drugstore!"
Jake stood on his hind legs and leaned on Finn's knee with his frontal paws, asking the boy to scoop him up.
"Are you tired of running around, buddy? Guess we should go home now…"
Finn made some steps forward, carrying the yellow puppy in his arms; a strange distant sound invaded his ears all of a sudden. Something noisy was coming at full speed towards them, the farmer boy had only three seconds to react, barley ducking the incoming object.
His body fell over some hawthorn shrubs that stung his skin and ripped his already dirty clothes. Thankfully, the strong embrace he held on Jake protected him from being hurt by the thorns.
"What the?!" Finn yelled with an enraged voice, that thing could have killed them both.
His blue eyes squinted to glimpse a rusty pickup truck, traveling in the direction he had just come from. Three men dressed with freakish clothing were signing and laughing on top of their lungs in the truck's bed as if they hadn't seen the boy on the way. Finn had never seen a car before, they were quite rare and unique, but he knew about them from his father's merchant-traveling stories.
"Those guys are not from this neighborhood…" the boy murmured as he watched the truck rushing towards the town "I wonder who the heck are they…"
"Bouw…"
x+x+x+x+x
Tea Hanks carried some dirty dishes through the kitchen, placed them on the sink and squeezed a sponge to wash them. She smiled at the window in front of her; there was beautiful sunset in the horizon.
The sudden sound of young laughter warned her of the presence of someone in her property. "Visitors?" the old lady whispered as she removed the soap from her hands and went to open the door.
Five young men with eccentric hairstyles and exotic clothing were sitting on her apple crates, joking and chatting with each other. Tea Hanks smiled in relief upon discovering that they weren't thieves or something worse. Usually visitors only came in the morning, but probably those foreigners were oblivious of that fact.
Miss Tea noticed that each of them was holding one of her fresh apples and infered that they could be hungry travelers, so she stepped outside and gave them a warm welcome.
"Good afternoon, I'm glad to see you're enjoying my apples!"
"Your… apples?" A man with a reddish scar around one of his eyes replied, "We didn't know they had an owner…"
"Oh no! You don't have to worry about that…!" Tea Hanks exclaimed gently "I'm always glad to help those in need with whatever I can, in fact, why don't you come inside and try one of my famous apple pies?"
Four of them turned towards a man with long orange hair and dark purple funky shades. He spat the apple that he was chewing and grinned, "What are you waiting for? This good lady has given us an invitation!"
Tea Hanks' apple pies enchanted them, their leader seemed pleased with her treat and got up from his seat to shake hands with her.
"These apple pies are exquisite… a wonderful munching experience indeed…!"
"Oh my!" the old baker blushed "Thank you!"
The man smirked "Big-D is proud to announce that these pies are now part of his possessions! No one but me shall enjoy their sweet taste, ever again!"
"Awww…" the other men sighed dropping their forks aside in sadness.
"Umm… I'm glad to hear you liked them…" Tea Hanks stammered in confusion "But I'm afraid that I don't understand what you just said…"
"Easy Miss, now you will bake apple pies just for me!" He glanced at his men and snapped his fingers "Tromo, explain this lady what I'm taking about!"
The man with the scar on his eye drew his sword and slashed Tea Hanks' oven. Smoke and sparks flew into the air, causing the old lady to gasp in horror.
"What have you done?! I need that!" Tea Hanks leaned on the wall as the five men came closer to corner her "Help! Mr. Gibb! Mr. Gibb!"
Author's Notes:
Thank you very much to all those who reviewed, favorited or followed this, it really helps me to keep the words flowing :)
Here's the third chapter, I hope you have enjoyed reading it! The next one will be posted during the week so stay tuned!
2/06/13 Update: Grammar mistakes corrected.