Three days went by since the battle at the museum came to pass and both Anne, Charlie and the Plantars were relieved that they found someone they can place their faith into about keeping their secrets which they know now that Charlie was correct in them placing their faith and trust in Dr. Jan.
During the three days. They rested when they needed it. Anne had slept heavily during the first day out of the three days which she started to feel better, feel energized and back to normal afterwards. They were relieved that Anne was taking a rest when her body needed it.
During the second and third day. Charlie and Anne got done with their make-up schoolwork, even if one of them needed a little assistance.
"Do you think your gold powers enhanced your brain power?" asked Anne curiously.
"I don't think so. I've been this way for years. Long before they developed and came to light." answered Charlie. "Do you think that little joke I pulled with my hand being missing but replaced with a spatula was too extreme?"
"I thought it was hilarious." said Hop Pop. "Beats that little prank I pulled when I got through washing Polly when I used a stick to make it look like I broke my leg and the bone was sticking out."
They all chuckled at the funny little prank that was brought up. They knew that Hop Pop's prank was both convincing yet humorous on his part.
"Kind of made you look like you were halfway in being like Stumpy before you gave him his hands back." said Polly.
"You have a spatula for a hand now, me boy. That's going to make things awkward when you're scratching ye back." Charlie said perfectly mimicking Stumpy's voice. "At least you can still use it to cook on a grill."
They laughed as the joke Charlie told them while his impression of Stumpy was spot on.
The Third Day
It was already sometime after eleven or close to eleven in the morning as Anne rushed downstairs with her phone in her right hand. She was excited about something.
"Plantars, assemble!" called Anne.
The Plantars came into the room once they heard Anne.
"Present!" said Hop Pop.
"What's up?" said Polly.
"Any news?" said Sprig.
"I got a text from Dr. Jan! It says, "Come see when you've got a moment! I think I found something!" Which means, the sooner we talk to her, the sooner we get you home! I already texted Charlie about the news and he's keeping an eye out." said Anne.
"Charlie lost an eye?" said Polly. "Just kidding. But this is the best news we've heard since we've tried searching for answers."
"You sure you're feeling alright, Anne? It's been three days since the incident at the museum and when you got some rest. Not going to lie. You slept for a long thirteen hours. We told Mrs. Boonchuy that you needed a good long rest from studying through all that make-up schoolwork. Don't worry, she didn't suspect a thing about what went on at the museum." said Hop Pop.
"That's good news. Don't know if Charlie's family knows anything about it because he hasn't brought it up. Also, does anyone know why the bathroom smells like deviled eggs?" asked Anne.
"Sorry, I may have farted in there this morning." Polly confessed while chuckling.
"I thought it was me." Hop Pop said with relief.
"That mystery's solved. But still, let's head out!" said Anne.
The four of them cheered and ran out the door of the house with the Plantars in their human disguises. They were about to head for the museum but got stopped by Mrs. Boonchuy. She was carrying three plates of food that looked like pies.
"Oh, good. You're here. Help us finish loading the car." said Mrs. Boonchuy.
Mr. Boonchuy opened the back door to the car while it looked like they had crates of fruit, a large bag of rice.
"No problem, Mrs. Boonchuy!" said Sprig.
"We'd be glad to help!" said Hop Pop.
"I can't carry much, but okay." said Polly.
The Plantars immediately went over to help load up the minivan which of course they felt like this reminded them of when they were at the market at Wartwood.
"Okay. But then we gotta get to the museum." said Anne.
"No way. It's market day at the Thai Temple and we are all going to be there." said Mrs. Boonchuy.
"But Mom! It's super important!" whined Anne while showing brief puppy dog eyes.
"So is this. The Thai community hasn't seen you since you came back. And this is the perfect opportunity." Mrs. Boonchuy argued.
"But." Anne interjected.
"No but! Look, I'll make you a deal. Just stay for one full hour, then you can go do whatever." said Mrs. Boonchuy. "Besides, I wonder if Charlie is going to be there. Someone mentioned him when we were there at some point but don't know if they mean the same boy since they didn't give a name. All they said was the boy was white. Could've been any other white boy, there's a lot of them."
"Alright. Fine." groaned Anne.
"Market day? Temple?" said Hop Pop looking curious.
Hop Pop handed Mr. Boonchuy a few more plates of food that he loaded up into the car.
"It's a monthly all-day event at the Thai Temple! Everyone gathers for food, music, sports, dance, and Thai language school. I think Charlie might like it there. sometimes even the Japanese community comes over. It's- uhhh..." explained Mr. Boonchuy as something suddenly caught his attention that made him pause.
They all turned to see who or what caught Anne's dad's attention and it turned out to be two students from Anne's school. One being a boy and the other a girl. The girl was African American while the boy appeared to be of ether Thai or Latino descent. Both wearing sunglasses and their school uniforms. They were taking pictures of Anne from a distance.
"HEY! I see you! Desi, Rico." Anne called out.
The two students gasped and were about to run off but they bumped into Charlie and with his muscular body type. It was like they bumped into a brick wall. Charlie gave the two students a disapproving look.
"Hand them over." said Charlie.
"Are you serious?" said Rico looking outraged.
"The jig is up, Rico. Let's just hand them over and he'll probably show some mercy." said Desi complying.
They both sighed and handed their phones over to Charlie which he took them. He deleted any and all of the pictures and videos of Anne they had on their phones.
"Do you have any other spare phones, cameras or anything else that was used to take pictures or record videos of Anne? Just so you know, I deleted all pictures and videos you just took of Anne and me which I know you two did yesterday. If you lie to me. I'll know about it and maybe I should get your parents involved?" said Charlie giving them a warning. "If you comply, I'll keep your parents out of this."
The two looked at Charlie who had a stoic expression and they knew he wasn't kidding around. They remembered him being the shy boy who had dad issues and was often a victim of bullying. Now he's fearless, confident, standing up for himself and others, as well as muscular appearing to be like the star character who they remembered from them Terminator films, someone you wouldn't want to mess with. They complied.
"Turn out our pockets?" the two guessed.
"Affirmative." answered Charlie.
They both complied and they turned out the pockets from the front, both were empty but their back pockets were unable to be turned inside out but they both shown to be empty as well. They appeared to be clean and Charlie handed them back their phones.
"Okay, you both are clean. You may go now." said Charlie. "I'll keep your folks out of this."
"That was actually quite painless than I predicted. Charlie is like Schwarzenegger now." said Rico.
"Was always kinda partial to that samurai from the past actually. I really like how noble he is and how he's just as powerful with the blade as he is with any weapon." Charlie admitted.
This left the two teenagers surprised and they began to walk off.
"Not gonna lie. He's kind of cool. Makes me wonder if he's single." said Desi with a grin.
"I'm already dating the lady of my dreams. Her name is Anne Boonchuy. Hey, soul sista." said Charlie confidently as he walked off.
Desi and Rico were surprised that Charlie and Anne are now dating as they walked off. Charlie assisted Anne, the Plantars and Anne's parents with loading up the rest of crates and plates into the car and had them securely strapped down so they wouldn't fall or shift during the drive and his strength was able to handle it all. After he had gotten it all loaded up and secure. He closed the back door of the car with Mrs. Boonchuy pressing a button on her car key to lock the door to the van's trunk. They all looked on at Charlie with amazement.
"You're the coolest guy alive right now." said Anne with a surprised grin.
"And the women at the party saw me with a soul sista and wondered why he wasn't flirting with any other girl from his world. With that kind of body, his muscles make him Godly. So the ladies got up and strolled over to the other side to wonder how he's got such glory. They asked the brotha "Dude, what's your story" he said "Funky Anne Boonchuy" ." said Charlie singing and rapping the words in a deep, soothing gravelly voice as he points to Anne. "Yo, soul sista."
Charlie gracefully danced his way back to his house while Anne smiled and stared at his butt and muscles till he was already inside. Mr. Boonchuy was now curious to what was going on with Desi and Rico as he knew they were taking pictures for a reason.
"I wonder if Charlie has any relation to Schwarzenegger." said a surprised Mrs. Boonchuy.
"Anne, what was that all about with those two other kids?" asked Mr. Boonchuy.
"Ugh. Nosy gossip bloggers from the school paper trying to get an exclusive photo of "the girl and the boy who went missing"." explained Anne.
"Oh! Well I got some photos they can use!" said Mr. Boonchuy getting out his phone but was mainly joking as he shown Anne two pictures. One where Anne had to be little when she was eating spaghetti which she made a mess all over herself and part of the kitchen and when he swiped his finger on the screen was when another picture of Anne when she was little that shown she was trying to look cool with sunglasses on while sporting a pose. "Here's you eating spaghetti when you were two. Oh! And here's you when you were-"
"Dad! Oh my gosh! Stop! Before Charlie sees those!" said Anne annoyed as she covered the screen.
"I'm kidding." said Mr. Boonchuy as he turned his phone off and put his phone away. "With how well built your boyfriend is. I know that if anyone was messing with you. He probably could knock someone's ass out. If he saw me joking around like that. He'd probably go all Muhammad Ali on me."
"He'd only use his words." reassured Anne.
"Let's head out." called Mrs. Boonchuy.
The Thai Temple
Anne, her parents and the Plantars arrived at the Thai Temple while they parked the car and gathered up what they were bringing with them. Mrs. Boonchuy carried a few trays and so did Mr. Boonchuy but he carried a pot of a dish while carrying a big umbrella with the other hand and arm. They walked down an aisle where there were stands until they approached the temple building. The Plantars were awestruck at the place.
"The stalls sort of remind me of Wartwood!" said Hop Pop.
"Look! There's even a statue!" said Sprig pointing at the gold statues.
Near the bulletin board. There was a statue of a man in traditional Thai clothing with two women on both sides of the pedestal, bowing and praying. Below the pedestal was two gold statues of what looked like dragons. Polly looked at the board which had plenty of pictures of other people doing the traditional Thai dancing. One of them shown Anne when she was younger and her facial expression in the picture shown some annoyance.
"No way! Is this you?" said Polly pointing to the picture of young Anne.
"Yep. I've been coming here since I was a kid. It seems cool at first, but believe me, it gets old quick." said Anne.
"Hey look, that picture or two next to yours has Charlie in there." said Hop Pop pointing at a few pictures.
They looked at three pictures that were of Charlie on the board. The first picture was that of Charlie doing the traditional Thai dance with a note below the photo that read "Biracial boy joins Thai Community" the second picture was Charlie reuniting a four-year-old girl to her family as it was probably a lost child situation which shown Charlie placing the four-year-old girl in the arms of her parents as another note below it read "Four-year-old girl reunited with family by young boy" the third picture had shown Charlie was carrying an elderly Thai woman over his back towards a gurney while four doctors laid her down on the gurney as she had a splint on both legs, indicating that she ether broken or sprained her legs. The note below it read "Teenage boy rescues elderly Thai woman from an accident" this revealed that what Mrs. Boonchuy said about a "White Boy" at the Thai Temple was indeed Charlie and he left an inspirational mark on the Thai Temple and their community.
"So this white guy my mom heard about turned out to be Charlie?" said Anne surprised.
"I think we all know why he took part in the Thai community." said Polly with a smug grin. "He was trying to get Annie to notice Charlie."
"Oh Polly." chuckled Anne.
"Looks like you found out a little secret of mine. Well, it wasn't really a secret." came a male's voice.
Anne and the Plantars turned to see Charlie standing near them. He was blushing as he admitted a little something that they have found out about him. But he wasn't alone. An elderly couple was with him as the couple appeared to be a man and a woman. The man appeared to be in his early sixties at age sixty-one while the woman was one year younger.
The older male human was tall and slender, wearing a red Hawaiian shirt and blue jean pants with long grey hair in a ponytail that samurai warriors sported. The older female human was wearing an Egyptian Blue camouflage shirt and blue jean pants. She had longer grey hair but was in a low hanging ponytail but she appeared to be taller than her husband as the man was probably six feet tall while the woman was four inches taller but the woman was surprisingly muscular. Both of them were of Japanese descent.
"So you're here too, huh soul brotha?" said Anne with a chuckle.
"Hai." answered Charlie. "These two are my grandparents. My Sofubo. This is my grandpa, my Ojīchan, Yamato. And this is my grandma, my Obāsan, Yoruichi. Guys, this is Anne, she's the girl friend of mine that I'm dating. And these are the Plantars, you know who from you know where."
Charlie signaled his grandparents with a hand sign that meant "Frog People" and then made a few hand signs that meant "Another World" which his parents nodded with a wink.
"So this is Anne Boonchuy you've told us about? This funky soul sista you've fallen in love with." Yamato said as he spoke in a deep male's voice with a Japanese accent.
"With how she wears her hair. She looks wild like one of them teenagers going through a wild child phase. Reminds me of how I used to style my hair as a teenager. Those were some crazy times." said Yoruichi as she spoke in a slightly low voice but her voice still sounded like a woman. "And these must be the Plantars. Not to worry, your secret on who you really are and where you're from is safe with us."
"We heard about how Hop Pop has become more of a true father figure to our Mago from all we've been told. Mago means grandchild. We're grateful that the Plantars were there for our Charlie as well as Anne. We met members of Anne's family and they're good people, some of them might be a little no-nonsense sort of people but good people." replied Yamato.
"It sort of mixes with others in the family." said Anne.
"So you're Charlie's grandparents. Farmers as well. The Plantars have been farmers for years like you have. Have you ever grown something so huge that it looks like it's too big for words?" asked Hop Pop.
"Rarely but yes. The bigger the crops, the more there is to harvest and sell at the farmer's market. We've learned a lot in life from farming and a lot in life. The biggest crop we've grown was a watermelon. You probably know about how I've won first prize at the county fair with how big it was. It broke the world record for world's largest grown watermelon. We've dubbed it the whale of a melon." explained Yamato while making a joke.
Hop Pop laughed about the joke while Yoruichi hugged Anne and her grip may have been firm but she was gentle in her grip. She lifted Anne off her feet from the ground when hugging her.
"Wow! Your Obāsan is strong like an Amazon warrior." said Anne with a grunt.
"And I'm still the arm-wrestling champion ten years running. Even if I did retire from it. I still got it." said Yoruichi after releasing her arms from Anne. "It's really a wonderful blessing to meet you, Anne. And even the Plantars. Hope you have fun at the Thai Temple. Me and my Otto are going to be taking part in some traditional dancing."
His grandparents took off but waved at Anne and the Plantars before they went off to join in on the traditional dancing group. Anne and the Plantars turned to Charlie.
"So they're your grandparents you told us about?" said Sprig.
"They're really nice." said Polly.
"So why did you join the community of the Thai Temple?" asked Anne curiously.
Charlie blushed deeply as he knew that they probably knew or they probably didn't know why he joined the Thai community at the Thai Temple.
"Last year when I was in sixth grade. Once I first laid eyes on Anne and fell in love. I tried to find a way to get Anne to notice me or to learn about her and her culture from the Thai community. They referred to me as N̂xng chāy cāk xīk chāti h̄nụ̀ng. Which in Thai, it means brother from another nation. That, and they knew about my feelings for Anne and encouraged me to confess my feelings for her, very supportive people." Charlie revealed to them. "But you should've seen the looks on their faces when they saw a white guy first come to the Thai Temple."
"They freaked out, didn't they?" asked Anne chuckling.
"Not really, me, and the ladies of the house came on the first time I arrived here. They at first thought I was adopted but with them meeting us. They found out about who we are, that I am biracial, that I fell in love with Anne, and yes, they did learn about my dad issues. They knew that Dante made the biggest mistake of his life in what he did to me. The Thai community would often avoid bringing up Dante or so much as mentioning anything to do with father and son related topics. I've been coming here every month for over a year because I knew Anne would be here and I wanted to try and ask her out, get to know her and try to become what we are now." Charlie explained while blushing deeper.
Anne wrapped an arm around him as she smiled. Finding out what led him to joining the Thai community at the Thai Temple was what got him to try and pursue a romantic relationship with Anne.
"The lengths you'll go to confess your feelings you have for me. I wish I knew this sooner because that sounds very romantic." said Anne as she smooched Charlie on his cheeks.
He blushed with a hiccup as he was aware that he joined the Thai community to pursue a relationship with Anne, now that they're boyfriend and girlfriend, he knew that being part of the Thai community was also doing their part in helping him become the man he is today.
"I'll assist with you today." said Charlie with a hiccup.
Anne, Charlie and the Plantars made it to the stall where Anne's parents were at. Hop Pop placed one of the food trays in the stall and opened up five trays that had the traditional Thai food that was cooked and still steaming. Sprig opened up the umbrella that was used to stick into the hole that was designed to keep it there. It was like an umbrella that a hotdog vendor used.
Charlie did his part in helping out the Plantars whenever they needed it. He placed a huge jug nearby the stall that would have plenty of plastic cups as the huge jug was filled with traditional tea. Charlie would go around assisting others as he would help those with heavy lifting to their stalls, be it if the lifting was a bit heavy for them or if someone was recovering from an injury were ether on crutches or in a wheelchair temporarily. Others would assist with him but he took care of the heavy lifting.
"Thank you, Charlie. I could really use that." said an elderly woman who was helped back into her wheelchair.
"No worries. Mrs. Rochana." said Charlie as he bowed to her with his hands pressed together before he walked off.
Mrs. Boonchuy placed a cap hat on Anne's head while having her hair in a ponytail as the front of the hat read "Thai Go" on the front in orange lettering. But Anne felt annoyed as this was going on as the top of her hat was having a fake shrink on top of it. She handed Anne a tray of barbeque on sticks.
"You're on sample duty today. Now stand out in the open where everyone can see you." instructed Mrs. Boonchuy before she walked off.
Charlie just came back after it looked like he assisted everyone that needed assistance. He returned to Anne's side.
"What did I miss?" asked Charlie.
"Wait, by everyone, my mom doesn't mean..." Anne began looking like she might panic.
"What did your mom say?" Charlie asked.
Charlie immediately got his answer when he sensed five elderly Thai women nearby as he heard them gasp in excitement.
"Anne's here!" said one of them.
"She's back!" said another.
"Oh my! Charlie and Anne are finally dating!" said another woman.
"I take it they know about us." said Charlie rhetorically.
"Oh, shoot. Here comes the Ba train." said Anne under her breath.
Five older women approached the two teenagers as one of them pinched Anne's left cheek and another was pinching Charlie's cheeks as well as feeling his muscles.
"Welcome back, young Anne." said one of them.
"Hi, Ba-Med." said Anne and Charlie in unison as they bowed and pressed their hands together to greet them.
"Where have you two been worrying your families like that?" said another one of them rubbing Anne's head. "And Charlie, you let your hair grow out and those muscles. I think he's trying to give the Terminator a run for his money."
Anne and Charlie bowed and pressed their hands together to greet the second lady.
"Good to see you, Papu. It was just a little misunderstanding. They forgot I was at tennis camp." lied Anne.
"I ended up taking a trip out of town for a while but then I went to tennis camp and met Anne there. She's now my funky soul sista." said Charlie telling half a lie and half the truth.
"Eh, typical." said Ba-Med.
"You got so skinny." said Papu. "On the other hand. I wonder the people at that tennis camp has been feeding Charlie. His muscles got bigger, I see he let his hair grow out like Billy Ray Cyrus."
"Lots and lots of protein, Papu." said Charlie.
One of the Thai women had a bowl of oatmeal and gave her and Charlie a spoonful of oatmeal into their mouths. She made sure to use separate spoons. They swallowed the spoonful of oatmeal down.
"Here. Eat something. OK, good to see you two." said the lady. "Also, we heard that you two are finally dating. And that you two met some distant relatives while at tennis camp and Charlie bonded with the elderly male as father and son."
"You are correct, Lamai." said Charlie.
"Lamai, don't bring up the D-A-D around him. He's probably still heartbroken that he left him and his family by taking off on them." warned Papu.
"Actually, I got over the dad issues while bonding with my true father figure. I call him Otōsan." said Charlie showing he wasn't bothered by the mentioning of his biological father. "As for Dante, let's just say that we finally stood up to him, stopped believing his lies, called him out and sent him out... after we figuratively knocked him on his keister and told him to hit the road."
The Thai women were a bit surprised that Charlie wasn't bothered by the mentioning of Dante, how he found his true father figure and how he finally stood up to Dante along with calling him out on his lies and for being a deadbeat. They let out a sigh of relief.
"Nicely done. If I ever saw Dante myself. I'd tear him limb from limb like lions in Africa on a hunt." said Ba-Med showing her anger towards Dante.
"There's no need for that, Ba-Med. But I appreciate the compassion." said Charlie showing calmness. "But try eating almonds, walnuts and peanuts. Two ounces a day will do wonders for lowering cholesterol and LDLs or even apples, grapes, strawberries, citrus fruits. Your hearts will thank you for it."
"And he still knows plenty of natural remedies for the body to benefit from. That's why I'm still able to arm wrestle at my age." said Papu with a grin.
"And it's good seeing you all." said Charlie.
The older Thai women and both Anne and Charlie bowed to each other while making the praying sign to each other before the elderly women walked off, waving at them and heading off to join in a group activity.
"Anne and Charlie are finally dating. When we first met Charlie, I actually thought he'd end up dating a black girl with big boobies and a huge hiney. Like one of them rap stars girlfriends." said Ba-Med chuckling.
The Thai ladies laughed at the little humor while Charlie blushed deeper about what he heard one of them say about him dating a curvaceous African American girl.
"And they say when teenagers hit puberty. Their hormones rage." said Charlie with a hiccup.
"Hey guys, what does this mean?" asked Polly making the pose and gesture that Anne and Charlie did before.
"It's called a wai. It's how you show respect to your elders. Super important in Thai culture." explained Anne.
"Even in Japan, we bow when greeting each other. Ranging from a small nod of the head or a deep bend of the waist. A deeper, longer bow indicates respect and conversely a small nod with the head is casual and informal. It's kind of like the Japanese way of wai." said Charlie.
"Make sense to me. You kids can learn a couple of things here." Hop Pop.
"Well, we've got some time to kill. You three are free to explore if you want. Just be careful to keep those disguises-" Anne began.
The Plantars took off running while uttering an excited "Woo Hoo" as they took off in different directions.
"On." Anne finished. "Charlie, can you watch out for them?"
"On it." Charlie replied as he went off to watch out for the Plantars and told Anne telepathically to let him know if anything comes up.
Charlie first followed Polly as she was walking down a walkway step by step.
"I'm walking like a human! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh?" said Polly as she stopped at a nearby entrance.
Polly peered around the corner of the entrance and saw little kids in a room with an adult Thai woman. The room looked like a classroom of some sort while on the blackboard was Thai language lettering. It was a Thai language school.
"Want to give it a go, Polly?" Charlie told Polly telepathically.
"Can I?" Polly asked telepathically.
"You can if you want to. But stay out of trouble. If something comes up, contact me through your mind and I'll be here." Charlie advised telepathically.
"And if we want to say "it's bedtime", we say..." the Thai teacher began.
Polly suddenly spoke the Thai phrase that the teacher was teaching them. Charlie was at first thinking Anne taught her a few Thai phrases. The teacher applauded for Polly.
"Very good! You taking Thai before? And is this young man your older brother?" asked the Thai teacher.
"This is Polly, she's my N̂xng s̄āw. And as for taking Thai, she only knows a few phrases so..." Charlie began.
Polly walked over to sit with the other kids and Charlie was shocked to see that Polly was speaking fluent Thai to the teacher and the children. Charlie knew how to speak fluently in Japanese, Chinese, and Thai and possibly other languages that Anne and others didn't know about. But seeing Polly could speak Thai fluently when no one taught her the language before was something of a miraculous sight that Charlie saw.
"Nanto iu shōkai." said Charlie looking surprised.
The kids were showing to be impressed by such skills that Polly shown.
"Show off." said a kid faking a cough.
"I heard that, young lady." called Charlie.
Charlie walked inside the room while the children looked to see that Charlie had a muscular body, long, beautiful hair and a handsome face. Their mouths hung open.
"He's huge!" said the kids in surprised unison.
"Are you a cop, sir?" said the girl who called Polly a rude name.
"The police station wishes that I was on their force." said Charlie popping his neck loudly as he had a stoic face. "I see you've met my younger sister, Polly. She'll be joining the class today. There will be no name calling towards each other. Your teacher here, Mrs. Achara. She's taught you better than that as well as your parents. You're all part of the Thai community like a family and family has taught us many things we should and shouldn't do, and name calling is one of them things we've been taught not to do. I want you all to be nice to each other, especially Polly. You all remember when you were new to the Thai language school and it was probably scary for you because you didn't know each other very well till you got to know one another. You all remember that feeling when you first walked into the class and you were so nervous that one of you felt like you'd upchuck and see your breakfast all over the floor but some kind students and a wonderful teacher shown you compassion and you realized you were worried for nothing."
The students could see that Charlie was correct. They all felt that way on their first day of school or Thai language school at the Thai Temple when it was their first day. They remembered the feeling of their first day not being a good feeling at all till they met some compassionate children and a compassionate teacher. They had learned they were worried for nothing. Even their teacher was impressed at how Charlie had everything under control. Charlie pulled out a light bulb from his pocket.
"Feeling fear on your first day of school is like the fear of the dark. You think something is in there with you that appears to be dangerous but it's really just our imagination playing tricks on us. Even in the dark. It always helps to see the light." said Charlie as the light bulb in his hand lighted up brightly.
The light bulb wasn't even in an outlet to screw it into to turn the light bulb on. The kids were amazed by such a sight.
"By seeing the light. You see there's no monsters. Just our imagination running wild like the gazelles in Africa." said Charlie as the light bulb suddenly turned off. "Mrs. Achara, you could use this light bulb a lot more than I do. One of the light bulbs up there is dimming."
Charlie walked in and given the teacher the light bulb while he grabbed a stepping stool nearby. Mrs. Achara given Charlie the light bulb back as he unscrewed the dimming light bulb while screwing in the light bulb that he had before. The light bulb turned out to be a CFL light bulb that had LED lighting. It shined brightly as Charlie put the stepping stool away and the dim light bulb was placed in a nearby garbage can.
"That oughta lighten things up." said Charlie. "Children, what are we gonna do?"
"Learn Thai language as friends and family and make Polly feel welcome." said the children.
"And what are we not gonna do?" said Charlie.
"No name calling and no being mean or it's five minutes in the corner." said the children.
"Yìng h̄ıỵ̀. Now listen to your parents as they love you all as much as you love them. And listen to your teacher, Mrs. Achara. You can learn a lot from your teachers. Now have some fun. Your parents will be taking you out for ice cream for later." said Charlie with a positive note as he was about to walk out.
"How do you know our parents are taking us out for ice cream later?" asked one of the children.
"These eyes and ears. They can see and hear anything. Just like Santa Claus." said Charlie as he perfectly mimicked the Santa Claus jolly laugh. "Polly, you have fun and listen to the teacher. That goes for all of you."
"Yes sir!" said the children in unison while giving him a salute.
"Mrs. Achara, watch out for the children." Charlie instructed.
Charlie walked off and the Thai language teacher was impressed by how Charlie had kept the kids and the situation under control and got them to behave while earning their respect instantly.
"Is that guy working for Santa Claus? Like a cop?" said one of the students.
"Not likely, no. That's Charlie Matsuda. That's the boy whose being raised in a house full of women." said Mrs. Achara. "He joined our community last year."
The kids all uttered an "Oooh" as they started to remember who Charlie is. The kids were instantly impressed by how cool Charlie appears to be.
Charlie followed Hop Pop next as Hop Pop was whistling as he walked down a walkway when he suddenly found something interesting in a nearby room. Both Charlie and Hop Pop saw a group of Thai locals in flashy clothing, two were dancing and two were playing ancient music on instruments. The two dancing wore ancient golden masks. The two playing instruments were a man and a woman.
"Looks like fun, Hop Pop?" said Charlie telepathically.
"This looks like a lot of fun." said Hop Pop telepathically till he spoke out loud. "Ooh! Excuse me, what's all this then?"
"It's Khon dancing, a performance art where dancers tell a beautiful drama of epic scale through intricate movements and expressive gestures." answered a man who had a mask on. His voice revealed him to be male.
"Intricate movements? Expressive gestures? DRAMA? I'M IN!" said Hop Pop excited.
"Go get 'em, Bidā. Thai for dad. Sir, you and the people here. Keep an eye on my Otōsan." Charlie instructed.
"You got it, Mr. Matsuda." said the man.
They all saw Hop Pop enter the room and he did a dance that was all his own as his dance was at first graceful and going with the flow, then the dancing was looking like flashy looking steps. It was a crazy sort of dance that they weren't familiar with at all. They at first looked on with wide eyes of surprise after Hop Pop stopped.
"I think he over did it." Charlie told himself.
They all began to cheer for Hop Pop which Charlie didn't expect that reaction. He let out a sigh of relief.
"Crisis averted." Charle told himself.
"Woo! This guy's good." said one of the Khon dancers.
"I love it here!" said Hop Pop as he wept tears of joy.
"Have fun, Hop Pop. Kasemchai, you and the others keep an eye on my Otōsan. Show him a good time here." Charlie instructed as he walked off.
"You got it, Mr. Matsuda." said Kasemchai.
Charlie walked off and he was outside. It took him a minute to catch up to Sprig. Sprig was eating a bag of what looked like Thai sweets.
"I wish Anne had told me about these earlier." said Sprig as he began to dump the entire bag of food into his stretchable mouth.
"Careful Sprig, you might choke." Charlie warned kindly.
Sprig chewed up the food and swallowed it all down as he placed the empty bag in a nearby trashcan.
"How's the food?" said Charlie.
"It's like eating chips. No wonder some people love them so much." answered Sprig.
"Try drinking this. It'll moisturize the dry mouth. Just like when people eat a bag of potato chips." said Charlie handing him a bottle of what looked like Gatorade. The liquid was red as it was strawberry flavored.
Sprig took the bottle and immediately downed it which helped with the dry mouth and dry throat. Afterwards, he tossed the empty bottle into the trashcan and it went in.
"Three pointer from downtown and the crowd goes wild." bragged Charlie.
"Speaking of wild." said Sprig pointing something out.
The two saw what looked like a volleyball field and other people were playing the sport of kick volleyball. The ball was being bounced and kicked by people from both sides. Some used their heads, chests, feet and part of their left or right leg.
"Is that volleyball?" asked Sprig looking interested.
"Sepak takraw actually. It's basically kick volleyball. It's an Asian sport. You get to use your feet to kick that ball around too. I've seen you play around with the soccer ball in the backyard a few times." said Charlie looking as though he was encouraging Sprig to join in.
Sprig was immediately liking what he saw and heard. One of the players of the sport used his head to hit the ball, a member from the other team jumped up to kick the ball but he missed. The ball was headed towards Sprig.
"Heads up!" called a male Thai adult.
"Sprig, kick it and show that ball whose boss!" Charlie instructed.
"You got it!" said Sprig.
Sprig used his foot to catch and deflect the ball and as it went into the air. He jumped up six feet into the air and did a flip as he kicked the ball straight towards them when he landed on his feet. They were all looking at Sprig with surprise as they were impressed by how good he was at the sport.
The ball nearly hit the kicker in the face but Charlie used a power of his own that drifted the ball to the kicker's hands as it looks like he grabbed hold of the ball after Charlie helped him snap out of his shocked daze. They immediately wanted Sprig to join the sport.
"Hey! New guy! Join our team!" called the male Thai adult.
"Hey! We saw him first!" argued one of the other male players.
"Yĕn mạn!" Charlie uttered sharply. "At ease, men!"
The Sepak takraw players immediately stood up straight and gave Charlie a salute.
"Khrạb th̀ān, Mr. Matsuda!" they said showing obedience.
"You know these guys?" asked Sprig.
"Played a bit of Sepak takraw when I first started coming here. Quite a lot of fun." answered Charlie.
"Charlie, mind if I give it a shot?" asked an excited Sprig.
"Okay, just keep your disguise on." Charlie told him. "Gentlemen, don't fight over my N̂xng chāy. Keep an eye on him. It's his first day here."
They all gave Charlie a salute and they uttered the words "Yes Sir!" and Sprig approached them on the court.
"Calm down, everyone. Plenty of Sprig to go around." reassured Sprig.
"Have fun, little man." said Charlie as he walked off.
Charlie kept in contact with the Plantars telepathically and their brainwaves were close for his mind to sense. He could tell they were doing just fine. He started to hear what sounded like music playing and it made him begin to dance.
"Someone playing some music, huh?" said Charlie.
That's when he started to see that there was a group of people nearby doing karaoke as a man just got through singing and the host of the karaoke group was a slender Thai woman who was at least fifty years old.
"That was quite a performance. Who's next for the karaoke session. We even got a bit rap rock music going." called the middle-aged Thai woman.
Charlie had a thing for karaoke and he smiled at the opportunity as he jumped at the chance.
"Maybe something with a little funky soul brotha!" called out Charlie.
They turned to see Charlie as he was dancing his way over and the person who turned on the karaoke machine and the music. Rap rock music was playing as Charlie put on some cool looking sunglasses with black frames and every part of his sunglasses was black but the lenses were reddish gold. His singing or rapping was sounding like he was a gifted rap artist.
"And the women at the party saw me with a soul sista and wondered why he wasn't flirting with any other girl from his world. With that kind of body, his muscles make him Godly. So the ladies got up and strolled over to the other side to wonder how he's got such glory. They asked the brotha "Dude, what's your story" he said "Funky Anne Boonchuy"
They were impressed by his dancing and his rapping as Charlie approached the little stage and was handed the microphone as he was now looking like he instantly became popular which the people apparently remember him from his frequent visits. They would cheer for him as he was like a popular rap artist who just arrived at the party.
"All these brothas and sistas at the party see this big truck. Then they see a white boy coming out and they're like "There goes our good luck" but wouldn't ya know, at this scene. This white boy getting all the sistas like he's got a lot of green. He ain't mean, but the soul sistas are a screamin' at how funky he is, they thought they must be dreamin'. But when the ladies are a flirtin, he politely turned them down and doesn't want anyone to be hurtin, but then these brothas and sistas are a wonderin "How is this white boy such a hunk?" he revealed to them that he ain't no punk. But there was only one soul sista on his mind that no longer made him a dreamer and when the men and women see him with this girl, they're all biting their nails and getting a bit chewy. But they never saw a sista looking so cool as funky Anne Boonchuy. Yeah, that funky soul sista, funky Anne Boonchuy"
"I think this means what I think it means!" said one of the Thai women.
"Anne and Charlie are finally dating! Ahhhhhh!" said a few excited Thai women.
Back at the Thai Go stall
Anne was holding a plate that had Moo Ping samples as a few random people came to take a sample to try them out. The first to approach Anne was a skinny Thai lady to try some of the Moo Ping, she welcomed Anne back. Then the next to try some Moo Ping was a slightly heavyset male Thai adult. They even congratulated her on finally becoming Charlie's girlfriend. Mrs. Boonchuy returned as she had a few dishes with her.
"What you got there, mom?" asked Anne.
"Just returning a few dishes some of the community members lent me." answered Mrs. Boonchuy.
She walked off and returned some dishes to the people that lent them to her. Mrs. Boonchuy would interact with the people she returned the dish trays to. Anne pulled out her phone.
"All right. It must've been almost an hour by now." said Anne as she looked at her phone and she was wide eyed with outrage when she saw very little time has passed. "IT'S ONLY BEEN TEN MINUTES?! That's it."
Anne took the remaining Moo Pings and scarfed them down but spat out the sticks afterwards. Her patience had run out. She began to make a phone call to Dr. Jan.
"Sorry, mom, but I have more important things to do today than hand out samples. I'd go get Charlie but don't have the time for that and he's watching Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly right now." said Anne as she now started to speak into her phone. "Hey, Dr. Jan. It's me, Anne. I'm at the Thai temple, but I'll be at the museum in thirty minutes tops."
But somewhere, during Anne's phone call. Somewhere in the outskirts of the city. The Cloak-Bot was listening in on Anne's phone call as it was using an eavesdropping device that worked like a directional microphone. It pinpointed the location of the phone call and that's when it opened a compartment from its neck and flying balls blasted out, but when they were released, they transformed and once transformed, they looked like robotic dragonflies.
"Search and destroy. Watch out for male target when at full power. Male target is a dangerous monkey." instructed the Cloak-Bot.
The dragonfly robots flown towards the Thai Temple. The Cloak-Bot uttered a laugh.
"Wonder which one is dumber. The female monkey or her boyfriend, the male monkey." insulted the Cloak-Bot.
Back at the Thai Temple
Ann had looked at her cell phone and already made contact with Dr. Jan but it looked more like she received a text message from her rather than a phone call. She placed her phone back in her pocket.
"Now, all I got to do is collect those frogs and a soul brotha and avoid some parents." said Anne.
Anne was looking around her surroundings as if to make sure she knew where her parents were at or to find someone that could make her plan work. She turned to see what looked like a young girl who could be Anne's age or possibly older, she appeared older than Anne but she looked similar to Anne by appearance. Mostly everything about this girl's appearance was similar to Anne but the woman had piercing earrings on her ears, her nose was slightly bigger and shaped differently and her hair was mostly down but she had some of her hair from behind in a high slightly high bun ponytail. A grin spread across Anne's face.
"First, a decoy." said Anne to herself.
Anne approached the woman who was at a stall where it served Thai oriented ice cream on the left and barbecued food on a stick on the right.
"Psst! I'll give you five bucks to pretend to be me for forty-five minutes." whispered Anne.
"I don't see why not." replied the woman.
Anne placed the Thai Go hat on her head and gave her the plate that she had while she ran off to go find Charlie and the Plantars. She looked to her right and saw her mother; she quickly hid behind a large sign as her mother passed by. Once Mrs. Boonchuy passed by. Anne snuck off to the Sepak takraw court and called out for Sprig but she was wide eyed at how good Sprig was at the sport as she saw him run up and jump so high into the air that he did a flip and kicked the ball, making land on the opposing team's side of the net. Sprig landed on his feet and while the players cheered for him as Sprig was feeling a sense of confidence rising inside him.
"Wow. He is really good at that. Looks like he's having fun too. Maybe he can give this one a miss." said Anne walking off.
Anne walked off to look for Hop Pop and when she found him. She was wide eyed with surprise and gasped as she saw him wearing one of the ancient masks while he had a cane as he did a contemporary dance of some sort. The people in there were impressed by how Hop Pop was a fast learner at doing their sort of performance and dance routines. Anne approached Hop Pop.
"Psst! Hop Pop! Psst!" whispered Anne. "Where's Charlie?"
"Hold up, Anne, this is a silent theater. And I'm on a roll." Hop Pop whispered back.
"Not to worry, miss. We're keeping an eye on him in case something bad happens. Charlie had instructed us to do so." whispered a man nearby.
Hop Pop walked up to one of the Khon dancers who picked him up gracefully as Hop Pop stepped on one of his legs and the man who had him held him up high into his hands and arms as Hop Pop stood upon his right arm which he held onto one of his feet with his right hand while his left hand held onto him by his waist and Hop Pop struck a pose. Anne sighed as she walked off.
"Man, those two have really gotten sucked in." said Anne.
She passed by another room and stopped as she saw Polly was in the classroom for the Thai language school. She had a conversation with both the teacher and the children as she spoke in the Thai language fluently. This surprised Anne more than anything she's seen in a long time. What she told them got them all to laugh.
"What the heck? I sat through Thai school for years and can barely string a sentence together." said Anne under her breath. "Well, I'm starting to be able to speak it fluently."
Anne looked on and saw that Polly was having a good time as well. She got the people to laugh which Anne smiled as she figured that this was probably a good thing that the Plantars were having fun connecting to the culture of the Thai Temple and the Thai people.
"It is sort of neat to see all three of them connecting to Thai culture like this." said Anne. "Excuse me, anyone see Charlie Matsuda around here?"
They all turned to see Anne standing at the entrance.
"You mean the tall, muscular, biracial boy? Japanese? He was here a minute ago. He's so great with children and women." said Mrs. Achara. "Are you a friend of his?"
"I'm his girlfriend." answered Anne.
"You're actually dating that cool guy?" said one of the female Thai students looking admired.
"That guy is so cool. He's like that undercover cop from Kindergarten Undercover Cop. Big, tall, strong, but very cool." said one of the male Thai students who began mimicking a deep male Austrian accent. "I'm Detective Jack Kamble, you hit a child, the law hits you, party pooper."
They were laughing as the boy was mimicking an actor from a film he remembers which Charlie seem to have a very positive impact and positive influence on the children and the teacher. Anne was half expecting Charlie to have this kind of a positive influence on them but in ways that were not what she expected. Polly winked at Anne and that's when Anne heard people cheering nearby.
Anne took off towards the source of the cheering and that's when she found out where Charlie was. When she found him at the outdoor karaoke lounge and she saw that plenty of people were cheering for Charlie as he was doing some sort of dance while Charlie was rapping out to promoting business to Thai Go as hip pop and pop rap music was playing.
There were some chorus female singers who were singing out "Come to Thai Go" a few times while they'd also sing out "It puts some pow in your life" a few times as Charlie began to rap out some words who shown he was a great rapper.
"I'm gonna head to Thai Go. I'm little Matsu and if you're lookin for a place that goes with the flow. Then Thai Go is the place for yo. It might not be internationally known but it makes up for it in business as I rap it out to the microphone. Call the place a success, crown it the place for your location to impress. It's the first place I go and say yes. The place is a winner, not a loser. The place is the location I choose yeah, people gonna love it, don't tell them to shove it. The food's so good, come to my hood, and you know that Thai Go makes you feel like you're in a perfect mood"
Charlie was dancing like he was a professional choreographer as the female singers were singing out "Come to Thai Go" a few times while they sometimes sang out "It puts some pow in your life" a few times. Charlie jumped seven feet into the air and did a few flips as he landed on his feet.
"It puts the pow in pad kra pao! It puts some pow in your life. Come on over to Thai Go, okay, yo"
Everyone cheered for Charlie as his performance was incredible. He was like a famous celebrity with his performance and Charlie was promoting business to Thai Go, the restaurant Anne and her family own and run. Anne felt her heart pound from how Charlie was promoting business for Thai Go. Charlie turned to see Anne as he approached her.
"I see you're having fun and promoting our family business?" said Anne with a proud grin. "You're like Bruno Mars right now."
"He's got nothing on me." said Charlie proudly. "What's up?"
"Not much time to explain but for starters. Dr. Jan may have found something we need to know with that vase." Anne revealed. "She mentioned something about meeting us here."
"Are you sure we should leave right now? I'm keeping Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly in contact with my mind and all but I don't know if we should just mmmpppppphhhh." Charlie was interrupted.
Anne planted her soft, full lips to Charlie's lips which not only left him wide eyed and blushing but anyone who saw them kiss would cheer for the both of them as they saw that their relationship is official in person. She pulled her lips off in a loud pop which Charlie blushed deeper and let out a hiccup.
"As long as we don't leave the temple and she's meeting us here and I keep in contact with the Plantars telepathically. I'm down." said Charlie immediately complying.
Anne took hold of Charlie's hand and the two took off running as they made it to the exit of the temple.
"We'll just update them after we see Dr. Jan." said Anne.
"Anne, heads up!" called Charlie.
Charlie stopped as he stopped Anne from running further as they almost bumped into Anne's mother and they even saw that Charlie's mother, aunt and the ladies of the house were arriving with Anne. Mrs. Boonchuy almost dropped the plates she had in her hands but when she dropped one of them, Charlie caught it in his hands and the plate was in a sealed up, plastic box. It didn't get damaged and he gave it back to Mrs. Boonchuy as she started to look at Anne with a cold expression.
"I can give you a hand with that, Mrs. Boonchuy." offered Charlie. "Hi, mom, aunt Hayami, ladies."
"For one, I got this one. And two, Anne? You're supposed to be at the stand." Mrs. Boonchuy reminded.
Anne was about to say something but was almost at a loss for words as she hesitated with the excuse or lie she was about to use. Mrs. Boonchuy on the other hand saw right through her.
"You were sneaking out to visit your museum friend. Weren't you? And you were dragging Charlie along." said Mrs. Boonchuy looking stoic.
Charlie began to panic as he knew that both of them were caught red handed. Anne was trying to appear shocked but was nervous about it.
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Ok, you got me." Anne confessed.
"Be advised. We got a A.M.S. situation. Angry Mama Situation." said Charlie with a nervously loud hiccup.
"This wasn't Charlie's idea. It was my idea and I had him come along with me." said Anne in Charlie's defense.
"Mrs. Boonchuy, let's try to take a moment to think without losing it. If we lose it now, they'll never want to tell us anything ever again. Trust me, you'd rather have your kids tell you everything and come to you for help and advice." advised Imani.
"Imani, ladies, let me handle this." said Mrs. Boonchuy looking annoyed. "I don't believe this. You really couldn't wait one hour?"
"Look, I already said hi to everyone, Hop Pop's already getting into silent theater and Khon dancing, Polly's actually fluent in Thai, however that happened, Sprig is turning out to be a pro at Sepak takraw, I have no idea how that happened, and Charlie actually promoted more business for Thai Go with how he's rapping out." said Anne listing off a few things.
"Wait! Charlie promoted business to Thai Go?" said Mrs. Boonchuy surprised.
"Having fun with the karaoke again?" asked Kikyo rhetorically.
"Guilty." said Charlie nervously with his cheeks redder than ever. "I think I'm addicted."
"You're not addicted, honey. But if it takes over your life. Then we'll try to help you kick the habit." said Mabel kindly.
"Yes ma'am." said Charlie.
"Other than that. Now I have to get to the museum so we can get our interdimensional friend's home. It's super important." argued Anne.
"So is this! We owe so must use this community. Why do you think I'm returning all those dishes?" said Mrs. Boonchuy.
"Anne, don't say anything you'll regret. She's being rhetorical." Charlie told Anne telepathically.
"I got no idea mom. It's better if you tell me since everyone's a bad guesser and so am I." answered Anne heeding Charlie's warning.
"Everyone here cook us meals and took care of me and dad for all those months you were gone." answered Mrs. Boonchuy. "They also did the same for Charlie's mother, aunt and the ladies of the house. Not gonna lie. Kagura got really emotional than most of the women. A bear hug from her feels like I'm being hugged by someone who's got super strength. I'm surprised her grip didn't literally break my back."
Anne and Charlie looked at Kagura for a moment. Anne was surprised but Charlie knew this about Kagura which the adult woman was blushing with a big-lipped grin as if to reveal she was the one who was most emotional when Charlie was gone for so many months. Anne looked at her mother and she appeared shocked. Even Charlie was showing surprise when Anne's mother told them this but he sort of suspected that this was a possibility.
The Thai Community looking after Anne's parents, Charlie's mother, aunt and the ladies of the house during the time the two kids were gone for so many months. Anne realized that her reception, impatience, the way she convinced Charlie to try and leave with her, and her arguments with her mother has not painted a flattering picture of her and she finally realized that she wasn't being very grateful.
"Oh. I-I had no idea. Wow, I feel like a jerk." said Anne showing remorse.
Anne's mother placed a hand on Anne's left shoulder while Kikyo embraced Charlie.
"They were worried about you two and us. The community ran our store here and sent us the money. Even helped out at the restaurant. And never asked for anything in return. They even provided the same support for Charlie's family as well. If you thought me and your father were a worried mess during the months you and Charlie were gone. Just imagine how worried the ladies of Charlie's home have been. Eight mama bears worried out of their minds." explained Mrs. Boonchuy showing she calmed and was being compassionate.
"That's really cool." said Anne.
"It is pretty cool." said Mrs. Boonchuy.
Seeing this sweet moment between Anne and her mother and how Charlie had a sweet moment with his family. He felt touched, and he felt like he couldn't keep anymore secrets from his family or Anne's family. He felt like he had to tell them about his powers and their extraterrestrial origins. He knew they had a right to know.
"Mrs. Boonchuy, ladies. There's something I got to tell you." said Charlie. "During our time in Amphibia. Me and Anne found out about something involving me that's going to be hard to believe but I have proof of what I'm going to tell you."
Anne turned to see Charlie as she knew that he was ready to tell them about his powers and Anne was informed by Charlie telepathically that they have to tell them about such powers, even Anne felt like now was the time to tell them about her powers too. Mrs. Boonchuy looked at Charlie with curiosity. The ladies of the house felt as though they knew what Charlie was going to tell them as they appeared worried but not too surprised.
"I'm listening." said Mrs. Boonchuy.
"Guys, I found out that I'm..."
"What the hell are those?" said Sonya pointing something out.
They were interrupted and there were shadows of what looked like huge dragonflies but as they all looked up into the sky. Anne, Charlie, Mrs. Boonchuy, Kikyo and the women all looked up into the sky to see these dragonfly-like robots flying in the air. They saw them and only Anne and Charlie seem to recognize them.
"We gotta find the Plantars. Ima!" said Charlie sharply.
They all ran back into the Thai Temple area and everyone at the Thai Temple were seeing these dragonfly drones flying in the air. All of them looking at them with confusion.
"Hop Pop, Sprig, Polly, front and center!" Charlie communicated telepathically.