Author's Note: I sincerely apologize for taking so long to get this chapter released. Between the emotional uproar that was left on me upon writing the last chapter, other stuff going on, and wanting to get a few shorter stories out of the way, this story sort of, got pushed to the back burner. However, I hope to finish this story by Saturday, July 4, 2015, as there's going to now be a total of 10 chapters to this story. Also, the rating has been changed as a result of the events that took place in chapter 7, and possibly some other events that might take place in later chapters. Without further a due, let's get on, with the next chapter!
Chapter 8, Taffy's Concert Tour Begins
Bobby and Susie made it through the crowds of mingling people until they found the bleachers where their families were sitting. Spotting Peter and Kelly sitting together, gazing into one another's eyes and talking up a storm, they approached them and gave them the news that Tommy was badly hurt, and upon rescuing him and getting back down to the ground in the Dummi Bears hot air balloon, he was knocked out and unresponsive.
"Oh my goodness! My poor baby!" Didi cried, upon hearing this news.
"Come on everybody we all need to head down and see about the kids." Said Peter.
"And I need to go find out where they want me, as I'm opening up for Taffy and her band, who just left to go get ready." Said Sherry Berry, as she got up and she, along with all of the other parents, Peter, Kelly, Sandy, Derek, Mary, Bobby and Susie all gathered up their stuff and headed out of the bleachers down to the baseball field.
However, on the way down there, unnoticed by the bulk of the adults, who were only anxious to get down to their kids, Peter caught something suspicious out of his eye. Two men dressed in what appeared to be uniforms down in the front row of the bleachers. They were looking around, and no sooner had they spotted Sherry Berry walking past with the other grown ups, when one of them pulled a small shot gun out of their pocket.
"There she is Bob, get her!" Hissed Mike, as Bob pulled the gun out of his pocket, aimed it right at Sherry Berry, and was about to shoot, when somebody blocked his path.
Peter spotted this odd behavior out of the corner of his eye, and knew he needed to act fast.
"Everyone! Run! And Kelly, take this down and start performing whatever First Aid you know on Tommy. I'll be there as soon as I can." Said Peter, as he pulled a First Aid kit out of a pocket of his gray Confederate uniform, handed it to Kelly, and rushed over to the two men, twisting his ankle in the process, but he didn't care. Anything to save Sherry Berry, who was definitely their target. Peter made it just in time, before Bob could pull back on the trigger and shoot.
"Hey! What's the big idea?" Bob asked in an irritated tone of voice.
"Excuse me you two, but put that gun away." Demanded Peter.
"And why should we listen to you?" Mike asked.
"Because I'm the king of the Confederacy, and I can already tell you two are up to no good. Now, hand over the gun and put your hands behind your back." Demanded Peter.
Bob and Mike exchanged looks, then, looked back at Peter, who by the look on his face, they could tell he meant business. He reached out, took the gun from Bob's hand, then, taking out a pair of handcuffs from another one of his pockets, he handcuffed Bob and Mike to each side of his body, then led the two criminals down to the field where all of the parents had gathered up their kids, and Kelly was performing First Aid on Tommy.
"Oh my gosh, look at you!" Kelly cried, as she studied over Tommy, who had a bunch of booboos all over his body. Using some cotton balls, anticeptic and several bandages, she saw to patching up the bulk of his wounds. As she was working on patching up his wounds, Tommy became alert again, as he opened his eyes slightly, noticing the pain of the stingy stuff being placed upon the wounds.
"Outch!" Tommy cried.
"It's ok Tommy, like, I'm working on getting your wounds patched up." Said Kelly, as she continued to apply bandages.
No sooner though had Kelly said this, when Peter caught up to the group, handcuffed to Bob and Mike. Of course, this was one sight poor Tommy was hoping not to see. He was hoping to be completely finished with the terrible guys who had hurt him much earlier that day. Upon seeing Bob and Mike before him, Tommy did something that nobody could recall him ever doing before. His face went completely white and he started shaking uncontrollably. Noticing this, Peter tried to get the young toddler to calm down.
"Tommy, it's ok, they can't hurt you now." Said Peter.
"No Peter, they're gonna hurt you." Said Tommy in a weak tone, as he tried to struggle out of Kelly's grip, trying to get over towards Peter.
"Tommy! Hold still!" Kelly cried, as she had him roll over on his stomach so she could apply bandages to any wounds on his back side.
While Kelly continued to perform First Aid on Tommy, Peter, got down to the bottom of this mess.
"Ok you two, while I have you restrained, we're gonna get to the bottom of this. You guys hurt Tommy, didn't you?" Peter asked.
"No, why would we waste our time with a stupid little child like that?" Bob lied.
"I can tell you two are lying. I also see a huge pile of money in the basket of the balloon." Said Peter, pointing to the pile of cash that Tommy once occupied, before Kelly moved him out on to the grass of the field to better tend to his wounds. Then, looking around, he saw that all of the other kids along with their parents and guardians were gathered, eager to see what was going to happen next.
"Peter, Hazel and I have a couple of pieces of evidence that may prove these two guys you have handcuffed to your arms may be guilty." Said Bobby, as he pulled out the ransom note from his shorts pocket and handed it to Peter, while Hazel pulled out the pacifier from her diapers, and also handed it to Peter.
"Who are you?" Peter asked.
"Oh, are you Peter, the king of the Confederacy that Phil toldid me about?" Hazel asked.
"Yes, and where did this pacifier come from?" Peter asked.
"I founded it on the ground yesterday when me and my mommy and daddy were heading back to our hotel from the library." Hazel replied, as she handed the pacifier up to Peter, who examined it, then turned to Bob and Mike.
"Recognize this?" Peter asked.
"Oh yeah, that's the pacifier we tried to use to shut the kid up." Bob replied.
"Oh, and I suppose you wrote this ransom note too." Said Peter, as he read it out loud, then, after studying the note, looking over at the pile of cash, then staring back at Bob and Mike, he saw that it all formed a puzzle.
"You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves." Peter snapped.
No sooner had he said this, when Kelly started to remove the socks that were covering Tommy's right hand, and Zack's shirt that was covering the wound on Tommy's shoulder. No sooner had she done this, when blood started to rush out. Quickly noticing this, she recovered the wounds, and called for some help. Upon hearing this, Peter rushed over as quickly as he could.
"Kelly, I believe I've caught the criminals, what do you need?" Peter asked.
"Uh, Tommy here has some wounds that bandages won't fix, have you seen his mom or anybody who knows more about medical stuff around?" Kelly asked.
"Susie! Go get your mom!" Peter called.
Susie and her mom Lucy headed over to where Tommy was, and Lucy took a closer look at the bigger wounds. While this was all going on, a couple of security guards from the stadium, two Police officers, and a news reporter had caught up to everybody, and started questioning Peter, Bob, and Mike. During their questioning, Didi made her way up to the crowd that had gathered, to spot the note in Peter's hand.
"Something looks familiar about this note." Said Didi, taking the note from Peter's hand.
"What Didi?" Peter asked.
After studying both sides of the note, Didi came to her conclusion.
"On the opposite side of this note is the copy of my itinerary for the trip that I was missing. No wonder these men were hitting every venue we went to this week. And oh my goodness! My son!" Didi screamed, as she looked over to see Lucy patching up the wound in Tommy's left shoulder and the back of his right hand, with some gause and tape. Then, Stu approached his balloon, where along with the cash, he picked up the bullet.
"What is this?" Stu asked the other parents.
"I don't know Stu it looks like a bullet." Said Betty.
Angry, Didi turned towards Peter, Bob, and Mike.
"You, shot, my, child?" Didi asked angrily.
"Hey! The kid was crying and wouldn't shut up!" Mike screamed.
"What else were we suppose to do?" Bob added.
"That's no reason to hurt a child, and my poor child. Oh, Tommy's probably traumatized by all of this, and it's all your falt! Peter, what are we going to do?" Didi asked.
"No worries, I've got a plan." Said Peter, as he pulled out his iPhone from his pocket, and called up General Frolo E. Lee.
"Frolo, this is King Peter Albany here, listen, we have a serious situation going on here. I need you to get together all of my Confederate soldiers, fire up the private jet, and fly to Washington DC immediately." Demanded Peter into his phone.
"Ok your royal hinus, but you do realize that it will take us at least eight hours to get there?" Frolo asked on the other end of the phone.
"No worries, I have a plan for tonight. I have to escort my friends home tomorrow, so I'll text you with further information when I have it." Said Peter.
"You've got it sir." Said Frolo, before hanging up his end of the phone and getting things back in Richmond, Virginia, prepared. He knew it couldn't be good if Peter needed all of this to be done.
Once Peter was finished with his phone call, he signaled to the reporter, Police officers and the security guards to come over, where quite the chat took place.
During this chat between Peter, the criminals, the guards, Police, news reporter and Tommy's parents, Stu looked at the ransom note and back at the guys, noticing something all too familiar about them.
"Wait a second, baby thump, mister thump, I seem to recall something happening a while back." Said Stu.
"What are you talking about dear?" Didi asked.
"Well, you weren't home at the time, and I had been busy with one of my inventions. I came upstairs for a break only to hear the doorbell ring. Upon answering it, a guy was standing there, and he handed me Tommy, claiming that he had learned his lesson, and addressing me as Mister Thump. Before I could get another look at these guys, they ran off in a hurry, jumping in their car and speeding away from our house." Said Stu.
"Is this true? You've kidnapped this child before?" The reporter asked.
"Uh, no." Mike lied.
"Yes, yes we did. We're guilty, completely guilty. We took this kid nearly two years ago in California, and would have kept him, had he not made such a mess. We then tried to drive away, only to have our ransom note fly in our faces, causing us to run a red light, and spend up to a year and a half in jail." Cried Bob, who was nearly in tears at this point.
"I seem to recall something about that in the news a while back." Said the reporter.
"Yeah, me too." Added one of the Police officers.
"Well, enjoy your last night on earth, because tomorrow, after what I've witnessed, you two will be put to death." Said Peter, as the officers handcuffed Bob and Mike to them, and emptied their pockets, where they found several more dollar bills, and the ticket stubs from all of the spectators who came to the baseball game, and a collection of keys.
"So what's the plan King Peter Albany?" The reporter asked.
"I have General Frolo E Lee and several of my Confederate soldiers on their way here via private jet. Since they won't arrive until early tomorrow morning, Bob and Mike are sentenced to one night in prison here in Washington D.C. then tomorrow morning, they will be borded on to my private jet, where they will be flown to the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond Virginia, where they will be sentenced to death." Explained Peter.
"No!" Bob and Mike cried.
"I'm sorry you two, but after what you two pulled, nearly killing one of my closest and dearest friends, steeling money from several tourist attractions here in Washington DC, and who knows what else you had up your mind, you deserve to be put to death. I'd take care of it right here and now, but there are too many young witnesses under the age of thirteen, not to mention, as a result of this mess, we've already caused the start of Taffy and the Salt Water's tour to be delayed by another half hour, and with it being after twenty-two-hundred hours at night, I don't wish to delay it any further." Said Peter.
"As you wish, your magisty." Said the Police officer, as he escorted Bob and Mike, now handcuffed to him out of National's Stadium, off to a patrol car, where he saw to taking them to the local prison for their last night's stay.
"And make sure they have nothing to eat or drink!" Demanded Peter, as the car drove off.
Peter, now hobbling on his ankle he twisted, made his way back to where the gang was gathered, as Lucy was finishing up tending to Tommy's wounds.
"So what's the story?" Chaz asked, upon seeing Peter appear before the group.
"Bob and Mike can't hurt us no more, and I'm about to see to giving the money they took over to the security guard, who will see that it gets returned to all of the rightful places around the area." Said Peter, as he headed over to Stu's hot air balloon, and started gathering up the money, handing it over to several security guards who had gathered.
"So how's Tommy doing?" Didi asked Lucy.
"Well, I have all of his wounds patched up, but he seriously needs stiches in his hand and shoulder, and while I am a medical professional, I am on vacation, and don't have the equipment here to finish the job, nor is my medical license good in Washington D.C. It's only good in California. I recommend you and Tommy head off to the emergency room, I've already called for an ambulance. I also sent Celeste and Kira off to the National Stadium gift shop, as they were still open for another half hour, to see about picking out some new clothes for Tommy, and a new t-shirt for Zack, as his shirt was ruined as a result of being a temporary bandage on one of Tommy's wounds." Said Lucy.
"Oh, thank you, and please tell Kira and Celeste that I'll pay them back." Said Didi, as she headed over to her child, and gently picked him up.
While the bulk of his wounds were patched up, he still hurt, and started to cry.
"It's ok Tommy, mommy's right here." Said Didi, as she did her best to sooth her son.
A few minutes later, Celeste and Kira returned with shopping bags.
"We're back, and we picked out the cutest clothes for Tommy and Zack!" Said Kira, as she got the clothes out of the bag. For Tommy, she picked up a pair of black shorts and a red short sleeve t-shirt with National's Stadium written across the front in large white letters. And for Zack, he too got a short sleeve t-shirt similar to Tommy's, only it was white with National's Stadium written across the frunt in large black letters. Zack put on his new shirt, and showed it off to the group. Along with his red shorts, he looked really cute! Didi helped Tommy get dressed into his new clothes, so he wouldn't catch a cold, and his other clothes were ruined, as his blue shirt was ripped as a result of the bullet wound, and he had so many accidents in his blue shorts and underwear, that they were not savable at this point. Luckily, Celeste still had a pair of pull ups training pants in her purse, which she had Didi put on to Tommy for now, so he would have some form of underwear on, even if it wasn't what he would prefer to wear, seeing he was already potty trained, and had been for nearly six months at this point.
No sooner were Tommy and Zack dressed in their new clothes, when an announcer came over a loud speaker.
"The premier of Taffy's concert tour will begin in ten minutes. To anybody still at National's Stadium who will be staying for the concert, please make your way to the reserved seats section of the bleachers near the stage." Said a female announcer over the P.A. system.
Upon hearing this announcement, the Barrows, Generics, Randy and Susie Carmichael, Chaz and Kimi Finster, Peter Albany, Sandy, Mary and Rosie, Hazel and her parents, Angelica and her parents, the Devilles, Stu and Dil all left the group to go and find their seats, while Lucy, Kira and Chuckie, and Celeste and Zack waited with Didi and Tommy for the ambulance to arrive.
While waiting, Tommy, who was still feeling pretty miserable at this point, not to mention, upset that he'd have to miss Taffy's concert to go to the hospital, squirmed out of his mother's arms and ran over to Chuckie, where he embraced his best friend tight, and cried uncontrollably into Chuckie's shirt, drenching it with tears.
"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked, but poor Tommy was just, too upset for words. He was starving, thirsty, hurting, had to see those terrible people again, and just, wanted it to all be over.
A few minutes later, roughly five minutes before the concert was due to begin, the ambulance arrived and paramedics walked on to the field carrying a stretcher, where they saw to getting Tommy ready to go.
"Come on Tommy, it's time to go." Said Didi, as she used the jaws of life to get Tommy loose from hugging Chuckie, and handed the crying two-year-old over to the paramedics.
"Calm down little fellow, it's going to be ok." Said a paramedic, as they got him positioned on to the stretcher, but poor Tommy wasn't having it. Deep down, he felt a feeling of vulnerability that he had never felt before. Once again, people he hardly knew were messing with him, and while they were medical personelle, after the week he witnessed with Bob and Mike, the poor child wasn't so sure who he could trust anymore.
Once they had Tommy put on to the stretcher, Didi followed the paramedics back towards the ambulance, where they ran into Sherry Berry, who had somehow, gotten herself lost upon trying to make her way back to the stage from going to the bathroom.
"I'm running late, which way is the stage?" Sherry Berry asked upon seeing Didi along with the paramedics and Tommy.
"I believe it's over that way, good luck with opening up for Taffy, and please tell Taffy that Tommy and I are very sorry we have to miss this." Said Didi, who pointed off towards the direction of the stage.
Looking over at the stretcher, Sherry instantly recognized Tommy, as she had seen his picture on the news the previous day, only his picture looked a lot better than how he looked now, being covered from head to toe in bandages from all of the booboos he got. Feeling bad for this small child, who after talking with Didi during the game, she found out he was a huge fan of her music, Sherry made her way over to the distressed toddler, and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"You feel better dumpling." Said Sherry Berry, as she kissed Tommy's forehead, and made her way to the stage to get ready to open up for Taffy and the Salt Water's.
No sooner had this happened, when Tommy stopped crying, realizing what had just happened.
"She kissed me! Sherry Berry kissed me!" Tommy thought to himself, as the two-year-old quieted down, drifting off into his own little world, as he and Didi were put into the ambulance, and they headed off to the hospital.
Once they saw the ambulance drive off, Lucy, Celeste, Zack, Kira and Chuckie made their way to their seats in the audience. Zack turned to Chuckie, who had a worried look on his face.
"I hope Tommy's gonna be ok." Said Chuckie.
"Don't worry Chuckie, I'm sure he'll be fine. We'll see him back at the hotel after the concert." Said Zack.
Chuckie tried to force a small smile on his face, as the rest of the gang found their seats, just in time for the concert to begin. Once everybody was seated, Sherry Berry came out on stage.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. We sincerely apologize for the delay in getting started, but the time has come, for something very special to happen. Before I introduce our guest of honor for this evening though, I'd like to take this time, to perform for all of you." Said Sherry Berry, as she lifted up her yellow shirt and hot pink vest, to reveal her belly button.
"Come on kids, it's time, for the belly button song. You ready?" Asked Sherry Berry, as she started to sing.
I found a button but it's not on a shirt,
I found a button but it's not on a skirt.
I found a button that's a part of me,
The button in the middle of my tummy.
It's my belly button, and it's right, under neath my sweater,
It's my belly button, and it's holding me together.
She sang the next verse, and then, for the final time through of the chorus, she had the entire audience join in to sing with her. After this number finished, once the audience finished clapping and cheering, Sherry Berry made another announcement.
"For my next number, I'd like to dedicate this next number to Tommy Pickles. The poor child couldn't be at the concert tonight, but we can safely say, that despite all he's been through this week, he has been reunited with his family. During the big game, I had a chance to get to know his mother, and she told me how much of a fan Tommy is of my music, and so, I'd like to perform these next two numbers in his honor. Tommy, these, are for you." Said Sherry Berry, as she began to sing her first number.
She performed the Sweet Potatoes song, followed by the song about kissing booboos to make them better. After she finished these two numbers, she asked the question that was on every young toddler's mind in that audience. If Sherry Berry would ask one of them to come up on stage to sing with her, before the official tour began.
"And now, before I turn things over to our special guest of honor, may I have a young volunteer to come up and perform one final number with me this evening?" Sherry Berry asked.
Rosie, who got really excited, decided to make this her chance to perform with Sherry Berry. She was getting good at talking to the grown ups, even though the main adults she spoke to were her parents, and to Sandy when not too many people were around, and now, she'd get to perform a song, which, she too was going to dedicate to Tommy.
"Me! Pick me!" Rosie squealed, as she raised her hands into the air.
"How about the little girl with pink hair sitting three rows back from the front." Said Sherry Berry, as the excited pink haired toddler hopped down from her seat, and ran up on stage to join Sherry Berry.
"And what's your name little mini?" Sherry Berry asked.
"Rosie." Rosie replied.
"Rosie! What a beautiful name! And your hair matches perfectly!" Said Sherry Berry.
"Thank you." Said Rosie with a smile.
"So what do you wanna sing Rosie?" Sherry Berry asked.
"I wanna perform my most favoritest song in the whole wide world. And this song, I too, dedicate to my bestest boyfriend ever, Tommy. Whenever I hear this song, I think of him." Said Rosie, as she started to sway, and opened her mouth to sing. As she sang, Sherry Berry's band joined in, accompanying her on the music, and by the end of the song, the audience and Sherry Berry, had all joined in along with her.
Keep on, keep on
Keep on steppin' 'til you reach higher ground
Can't nobody turn you 'round
Step on up you can claim the highest star
Straight ahead, it's not very far!
Keep on, keep on
With the strength of your mind you can be set free
You can overcome your past.
Search deep inside and you will see
Time has come at last!
Keep on, keep on
Keep keepin' on, you gotta keep keepin' on
You can make it if you only try
Don't stop reaching 'til you touch the sky
Life has many ups and downs
Plant your feet on solid ground! Keep on!
Keep on, keep on
Keep keepin' on, you gotta keep keepin' on
Through the strength of your mind you can be set free
You can know the? From your past
Search deep inside and you will see
Time has come at last!
Keep on, keep on
Keep keepin' on, you gotta keep keepin' on
Sky is the limit and you know that you keep on just
Keep on pressin' on
Sky is the limit and you know that you can have what
You want, be who you want
Listen, I can't let nobody keep me from reachin' the
Top!
Don't you give up for nothing keep on 'til you get by!
Reach, reach, reach you're almost there!
If you have a goal, set it in your mind!
Reach for it, say to yourself, this will be mine!
K-e-e-p, pressin' o-n spells keep on, keep on pressin'
My friend!
Ain't no half steppin' you've got to keep on pressin'!
Keep on, keep on
After Rosie finished her song, the audience clapped and cheered, as Sherry Berry led the little girl back to her seat. Rosie was slightly disappointed that Tommy didn't hear her performance, but she only hoped she'd have a chance to give him a private performance before he had to head home.
"Where is Tommy anyway?" Rosie asked.
"Tommy had to go to the hopcickle." Said Zack.
"I hope he's ok." Rosie thought to herself, as Sherry Berry made her way back on stage, where she'd finally introduce the guest of honor.
"And now, the real reason you all came here tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you all to somebody very special. This woman I've known ever since she was a little girl, when she was only five-years-old, and came to one of my concerts, where she came up on stage and performed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with several other children. I've been a huge inspiration to this woman over the years, and inspired her to make music her life, as she started a band, and is now, about to head out, on her first, international tour. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up, for Taffy and the Salt Waters!" Said Sherry Berry, as Taffy and her band came out on stage, and the crowd roared with cheers and applause.
While the crowd roared with cheers and applause, realizing that this would be the last time they would most likely see one another, as Phil's family was heading back to California the next day, and as far as Hazel knew, she would be heading home with her parents, Hazel, who was sitting next to Phil, now wearing her extra pair of clean socks that her mommy had packed for her, turned to Phil, and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
"For me?" Phil asked blushing, as he turned to Hazel and smiled at her.
"It's to remember me by." Said Hazel.
"I'm gonna miss you Hazel." Said Phil.
"Me too Phil, but I'll never forget you, and I hope our paths can cross again someday." Said Hazel, as she reached in and gave Phil a hug.
"Yeah, me too." Said Phil dreamily, as he embraced Hazel, then leaned back in his seat, as Hazel did the same, once the audience's clapping started to die down, and Taffy and her band, were now before the audience, up on stage, about ready to start playing their first number.
"Thank you, thank you everyone. And a huge thanks to Sherry Berry for opening up this tour for me and my band. It is an honor to be here tonight at National's Stadium, kicking off my big tour, something I've been dreaming of for many years now, and now, the dream is finally coming true. And so, without further a due, let's get started!" Said Taffy, as she strummed a few chords on her guitar, and began her first number.
Taffy and her band performed for another two hours, wrapping up the concert at around one o'clock in the morning, as a result of the late start. Once the concert was finished, Taffy and her band, the Rugrats and their families, all piled into the limo, and headed back to the hotel, while Hazel and her parents got a cab, and taxied it back to the hotel they were staying at.
While all of this was going on, Tommy was seen immediately upon arriving at the hospital, where his hand and shoulder were stitched up, along with giving him some pain meds, and an antibiotic to take for a few days, which luckily, there was a CVS right next-door to the hospital where Didi got the prescription filled, as while the hospital insisted that they keep him overnight, Didi let them know that they were out of town visiters, and upon looking over their insurance, it didn't cover overnight hospital stays outside of California, unless the child was undergoing surgery. Apparently, either the staff at this hospital were idiots, or they didn't consider putting stitches into a child to qualify as such, so outraged by this, Didi was thankful she had enough money in her purse at this point to afford a cab for her and Tommy to get back to the hotel, and as soon as Tommy was stitched up, she grabbed up her child, put him back into his clothes, and they made a mad dash out of the hospital, heading back to the hotel.
Upon getting back to the hotel, Didi noticed how under nourished Tommy was, and while at this point, it was nearly half past midnight by the time they made it back, she wasn't going to have her child go to sleep without eating something. She rummaged through the fridge in their hotel suite, until she found what appeared to be the only thing still edible at this point. Enough apple juice to fill up one sippy cup's worth, and a plate full of crackers topped with cheese and pepperoni.
"Here sweetie, you need to eat something, here's some yummy apple juice and some crackers with cheese and pepperoni." Said Didi, placing the plate of food and the sippy cup before Tommy who was sitting at the small round table out in the dining area of the hotel suite.
Of course, what Tommy really wanted to do was sleep, he was so tired, and they gave him some pain meds at the hospital that were making him feel a bit drowsy.
"No!" Tommy snapped at the top of his lungs.
"Come on sweetie, you need to eat something." Said Didi, encouraging her son.
Tommy started to cry, while poor Didi, who was also tired, started to cry. The two of them had a good cry for about ten minutes, until Tommy realized he wasn't going to win this battle, and the food did look yummy, so he reluctantly gave in and ate the bulk of the food on his plate, and drank nearly all of his apple juice.
In the limo on the way back to the hotel, the toddlers all had their own little conversation.
"Wow Rosie, you did great!" Said Kimi.
"Thanks, I'm just sorry Tommy had to miss it." Said Rosie.
"Yeah well, I'm just glad Tommy is back with us, and if it weren't for Dil, we would have never made it down to the ground." Said Kimi.
"But you were the one to turn the knob on the balloon." Said Dil.
"Yeah, but you were the one to spot it and point it out. And come to think of it, me and Chuckie o you an apology." Said Zack.
"Yeah Dil, we're sorry we made fun of you and called you names." Said Chuckie.
"Yeah, I'm sorry too." Said Zack.
"I accept your apology." Said Dil with a smile, as he turned towards Zack and Chuckie, who smiled back at him.
"While we're all apologizing, I'm sorry if my hyperness made you mad Lil." Said Jesse.
"No Jesse, I'm sorry. I guess, I was just, jealous of Phillip, and sad that he didn't wanna spend time with me on this trip, only wanting to spend time with Hazel. And to tell you the honest truth Jesse, I do like you as a friend, just not, like a boyfriend like Rosie likes Tommy." Said Lil.
"Really? You're my friend?" Jesse asked.
"Uh huh?" Lil replied.
"Wow! Thanks!" Said Jesse excitedly, as he leaned back in his seat in the limo.
"Well, being friends is a start at least." Jesse thought to himself, as the limo continued to drive on down the street, inching its way along, as a traffic jam that was coming out of National's Stadium, continued to move along at a snail's pace, making the ride back to the hotel take forever.
"Yeah, I'm gonna miss Hazel, but I'm glad to know that we'll never forget one another, and now, I know how Tommy and Rosie feel, having a girlfriend, well, it's, pretty incredible!" Said Phil.
"Yeah, it is isn't it?" Rosie asked.
"And I'm sorry Phillip for getting all mad at you. I should have known that no matter what happens, you'll always be my brother." Said Lil, as she put an arm around Phil.
"Awe, thanks Lillian, and I just want you to know, that you will always be my sister no matter what." Said Phil.
Lil let out a giggle, as the two twins gave one another a hug.
"I'm glad we're all friends again." Said Bobby.
"Yeah, me too." Said Chuckie.
No sooner had Chuckie said this, when the limo pulled up to the doors of the hotel, to let everybody off. However, before everybody got out of the limo to head inside, Taffy, who wouldn't be returning into the hotel, as she and her band were continuing on to New Jersey for their next concert, which would be the next afternoon, meaning this would make it the last time Taffy saw everybody for a while. So upon arriving back at the hotel to drop everybody off, while it was nearly two in the morning, as a result of the traffic slowing everybody down, Taffy took this opportunity, to tell everybody goodbye.
"Well everyone, I just, wanted to thank you all for accompanying me on the start of my big tour, it really means a lot." Said Taffy, as all of the adults circled around her, and gave her a hug.
"Awe, we're gonna miss you too." Said Howard D.
Once the adults had each given Taffy a hug, she made her way over to the minis, and helped them get out of the limo.
"And minis, I'm gonna miss you most of all, and I have something for each of you." Said Taffy, as she handed to each child, a small square package, about the size of a small jewelry box, each one, wrapped in different colored paper. Each child took their small wrapped gift, and gave Taffy a hug, as they exited out of the limo and approached their families. Realizing she had one extra package for Tommy, Taffy approached Stu, where Dil had caught up to him at this point.
"And Stu, this small package wrapped in blue paper is for Tommy. Please tell him Happy Birthday for me, and, please let Didi know that in a couple of weeks, I'll be getting a little bit of time off, at which time I'll be returning home briefly, and can attend Tommy's birthday party at Discovery World." Said Taffy, as she handed the small package to Stu.
"I'll be sure to let Deed know, and to tell Tommy good bye for you. Good luck Taffy." Said Stu.
"Thank you Stu." Said Taffy, as she gave Stu a hug, and saw to getting back into the limo.
Before Taffy could get back into the limo, Sandy ran up, and gave her best friend from childhood a huge hug, as she burst into tears.
"Oh Taffy, I'm so happy for you, but I'm gonna miss you so much. Good luck, and I'll be sure to come see you perform when your band comes to Boston." Said Sandy through her sobs, as she embraced Taffy into a tight hug.
"Oh Sandy, it means a lot that you could come, and I'll be sure to keep in touch." Said Taffy, as she too started to cry.
Once they hugged for a few minutes, Sandy pulled out a small wrapped package for Taffy. It was a flat box wrapped in dark purple tissue paper. Taffy opened it up to reveal a picture frame containing a picture of her, along with Sandy, Bobby, Susie, Angelica, Chuckie, Kimi, Jesse, Phil, Lil, Tommy, Zack and Dil. It was a photo they had gotten taken a few months back when Sandy had come up for a week to visit Taffy.
"Whenever I look at this photo we had taken the last time you came out to visit, I'll think of you guys, thank you Sandy." Said Taffy.
"You're welcome girlfriend." Said Sandy, as she walked up and caught up with Mary and Rosie, as everybody made it inside of the hotel, and Taffy climbed back into the limo.
Upon closing the door, putting on her seatbelt, and the limo driving off to their next destination on their tour, as happy as Taffy was to be starting on this tour, she couldn't help but start to feel just the slightest bit homesick. As the limo inched its way through the streets of Washington D.C. and finally, out on to the main highway that would take them in the direction of New Jersey, Taffy cried herself to sleep, realizing that she'd miss the minis most of all, but knew that once she was at her next concert venue, she'd have the show go on, living out this dream she's had for years to come.
Once inside of the hotel, Sandy, Mary and Rosie headed off to their room to get some sleep, but the rest of the gang, curious as to how Tommy was doing, and if he and Didi had made it back from the hospital, they all headed up to the suite that Tommy's family, the Finsters, and Wehrenbergs were sharing to find Tommy, still barely awake at this point, was sitting at the table, with one cracker with cheese an pepperoni still sitting on his plate.
"Come on sweetie, eat your last cracker, and then you can go to sleep." Said Didi.
Before Tommy could attempt to finish clearing his plate, everyone burst into the room, and the toddlers all circled around Tommy.
"Tommy! You're ok!" Said Zack excitedly, as he went to hug Tommy, who sleepily turned towards Zack, his eyes vbarely open, as he was so tired at this point, it took nearly every ounce of energy just to stay awake.
"So what happened Tommy?" Chuckie asked.
"Did you have to get stitches?" Phil asked.
Tommy held up his right hand with the stitches on the back of it, and pulled his left sleeve up on his shirt, to reveal the stitches that were on his left shoulder.
"We have our goodbye presents from Taffy, let's open them!" Suggested Kimi, as she sat down on the floor with the other toddlers in a circle, everyone with their packages in their lap, about ready to open them.
Upon noticing this, Stu came over and handed Tommy his present, and he went over to the circle to join his friends and little brother. Only, with being so exhausted, he remained standing, as he knew if he sat down, he'd probably fall asleep. Everybody opened up their presents, where each person was presented with a small square box. Inside each box, was a picture of Taffy with each toddler, so in Tommy's package, there was a picture of him with Taffy, while in Dil's, there was a picture of Dil with Taffy, and so on, and along with the pictures, each child got a small puzzle that was made by a friend of Sandy's that Taffy has gotten to know over the years named Robert. Robert had recently gotten his start in making jewelry, working for Premier Designs, but on top of his jewelry making business, he was also getting into making jigsaw puzzles, and thinking of starting a small puzzle company, that would work similarly to such businesses as Premier Designs and Cozy Candles, where the products would be sold via hosting parties, and having the guests buy from the catalogue. One of the first puzzles that Robert made though, was a specially designed jigsaw puzzle for small children, and one that Taffy gave to each of the rugrats along with the pictures she had taken with each one of them separately a while back. When the puzzles were put together, they made a piano keyboard, and Taffy had each keyboard made, so each key had a different letter on top, but rather than the standard A through G keys like in music, these custom made keyboard puzzles, spelled out the words, I Love You and the child's name. So in Zack's case, as he was the only one to put his puzzle together upon opening it, once it was put together, it read, I Love You Zack. Pleased with their gifts, they all sat down on the floor to play with them, only to be interrupted by the adults, who were all exhausted at this point, and all, wanted to go to bed.
"Come on pups, it's two in the morning, time to head to bed." Said Betty, as she gathered up Phil and Lil, and saw to taking them back to their suite they were sharing with the Barrows.
"When is our flight home tomorrow anyway?" Howard D asked, before following his wife out back to their room.
"Flight is at 12:05 PM, and checkout at the hotel is at eleven." Said Stu sleepily, hardly able to stay awake at this point.
The Generics, Barrows, Angelica and her family, and Carmichaels, all gathered up their stuff, and headed off to their rooms, while Kira was helping to get Kimi ready for bed, and Didi was doing the same with Dil.
"Wanna play Tommy?" Chuckie asked, eager to spend some time with his best friend who he hadn't seen in days.
Tommy nodded, and collapsed to the floor, where he slowly crawled over to his bed he was sharing with Chuckie and Zack, where he climbed into bed, spotted Frosty and Wahwah on the bed, so hugged them tight, and no sooner had Tommy's head hit the pillow, when his eyes slammed shut, and the overly exhausted two-year-old toddler, nearly three-years-old at this point, fell asleep. He was still dressed in his new black shorts, red National's Stadium shirt, and the pull up pants of Zack's, but he didn't care. He was too tired to change into his jammies, and wasn't up for waiting for his mommy to finish getting Dil ready for bed, to help him.
"Come on Zack, maybe we should go to bed too." Said Chuckie, as he went over to the dresser, changed out of his clothes into his pajamas, and headed over to the bed.
"Yeah." Said Zack, as he too found his pajamas, changed into them, and got into the bed next to Tommy, and Chuckie curled up on the opposite side of the bed, removed his glasses, put them on to the nightstand next to the bed, and felt around, noticing his Wahwah was missing.
"Hey, where's my WahWah?" Chuckie asked.
Zack looked around, noticing that Tommy was sound asleep, curled up with Frosty and WahWah.
"I know where he is, he's curled up with my bear Frosty and Tommy, but I think after what poor Tommy has been through this week, he needs Frosty and Wahwah more than we do tonight. Goodnight Chuckie." Said Zack, as he lay back on his pillow and closed his eyes.
"Yeah, maybe you're right, night night Zack." Said Chuckie, as he too closed his eyes, rolled over, and went to sleep.
Everybody slept the soundest they had all slept in days, only to cause everybody to wake up late. Everybody except for Tommy, who was so exhausted, that Didi had to put the sleeping toddler into his stroller, as everybody awoke at 10:30 AM, rushed around to get dressed, more or less, skipping showers so they could get their suitcases together, checked out of the hotel rooms, and flag down taxi cabs, as it was going to take quite a few cabs to get a gang of roughly thirty people to the airport. Not only had everybody overslept, but as a result of this, they all missed breakfast downstairs at the dining room, as breakfast stopped at 9:30 AM at this hotel, and they had a plane to catch, so panicked and hungry, everybody gathered up their things, got dressed, and headed out of the hotel, where they found cabs, and saw to getting to the airport slash train station, which were both in the same building, as Sandy, Mary and Rosie were heading back to Boston on a train, while everybody else was taking an airplane back to California. Unfortunately, as a result of being overly tired, Stu gave out some wrong information on the airplane ticket. When they arrived the next day at the airport, they quickly learned that they had missed their flight, because the flight was at 10:05 AM, not at 12:05 PM.
While all of this chaos and frantic running around was taking place, the knocked out toddler known as Tommy Pickles, wasn't having a very restful sleep at this point, as he proceeded to have a nightmare. In the nightmare, he and the other toddlers were on the airplane heading home, when Phil spoke up.
"Hey Tommy, didn't you say we'd try again to meet the pilot of the airplane on our journey back home?" Phil asked.
"Yeah! Let's go exploring!" Said Lil.
"Yeah!" Added Kimi.
"What do you say to that Tommy?" Zack asked.
"Sure, come on you guys." Said Tommy, as he climbed out of his seat, and led the toddlers through the airplane up to the cockpit, where they approached the pilot and co-pilot.
Upon reaching the cockpit though, is when all of the trouble started. When the pilot and co-pilot emerged from the cockpit to face the young toddlers, they appeared as Bob and Mike, pointing guns at the toddlers, ready to shoot.
"Now, we can get you all at once!" Mike said in an evil tone of voice, as he picked up his gun, and started firing.
"Run!" Tommy shouted, as all of the toddlers ran the opposite direction back through the airplane. Tommy, tried to catch up, but it was too late. Bob aimed his gun right at Tommy, shooting him in the back, causing Tommy to collapse, awakening from the dream.
If awakening from a nightmare wasn't bad enough, the poor child, now crying, had once again, experienced something he experienced the previous day. Passing out in one place, and waking up in another. The previous day, it was passing out at the bomb shelter, awakening several hours later on a balcony at National's Stadium, and this time, he had fallen asleep the previous night, or more technically, several hours ago in the wee hours in the morning, at the hotel, only to awaken, crying from his nightmare, in his double stroller next to Dil, in the lobby of the airport slash train station, to his father and uncle Drew fighting.
"How could you cause us to miss our flight Stu? You read about as well as you invent!" Drew shouted.
"Hey, for your information bro, I've had a rough week, with my child missing, and when giving that information, it was two in the morning, and I was exhausted! Why don't you cut me some slack, won't ya?" Stu shouted back at Drew, as several traveling passengers passing through the airport and train station, started staring, giving the gang strange looks.
"Please you two, stop it! You woke up Tommy! Oh, you poor thing, don't worry, mommy's here." Said Didi, as she ran over to the stroller and picked up her son, who not only was crhying from his nightmare, but on top of it all, the pain medication they had given him at the hospital the previous night had worn off, causing his body to be in a great deal of pain again, especially his left shoulder and the back of his right hand, only making him cry louder, as he buried his head into Didi's shoulder, and Didi, tried to rub his back and calm him down, while at the same time, was a bit disgusted at how her husband and brother-in-law were acting, and that once again, they were stranded, because they missed their flight.
"Bad news." Said Randy, as he and Chaz came up to the group, with disappointed looks on their faces.
"We just spoke with the airlines and there's not another flight to California until Tuesday." Said Chaz.
"Until, Tuesday? I can't wait that long! I have an important meeting to get back to at work, that I can't miss! Thanks a lot Stuie, now you're going to jeopardize my job? Huh?" Drew asked angrily between clinched teeth.
"Hey, I'd calm down Drew, I'm having to push back appointments at the hospital because of this flight delay." Said Lucy.
"And Chaz and I will have to delay reopening the Java Lava after being closed down for a week because of this, we're all at stake here, but fighting about it isn't going to fix anything." Said Kira.
"Kira's right, any other ideas on how to get home?" Chaz asked.
"Well, why don't you travel home like we're doing, by train." Suggested Sandy.
"Oh, a cross country train trip sounds wonderful!" Said Didi excitedly.
"Great plan Deed, except some of us need to get back to the office the day after tomorrow, and a cross country trip from here back to California is going to take us, at least, four days if not longer." Said Betty.
"Great, now what are we going to do?" Randy asked.
And, what are they going to do? We'll find out, in the next chapter, so please, do stay tuned! And I'll do my best to not take as long to get the next chapter released.