Time now for a brand new chapter! Sorry for the slight delay, but it is to be expected. Hopefully, now that summer's here, things should be going by quickly. But we'll wait and see what happens! Anyway, enjoy!
Despite Helpers for Humanity usually being a bit of a charity/helping organization, many buildings were scattered all around the world, with many people having files about the world's problems, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages. In the case of one building in Central America, located in the light city of San Lorenzo, it was quite a busy time for a lot of the people working there, from scientists to charity workers to even the small bits of help like student volunteers and the like. From the looks of things, it was quite busy for a few scentists, especially the ones that were pateintly waiting for their new visitors.
A blonde haired scientist with brightly rimmed glasses and a white coat and black boots was currently adjusting said glasses as she turned to the person waiting with her, a young short brown haired man with a blue suit and red tie, and blue pants and black shoes. "Do you think they'll be here?"
"They have to be. Once they learn about the discovery we found, it'll blow their minds." The male scientist grinned.
"...even still, the last recorded evidence we discovered was a long time ago. Who even knows if-" The female asked when they heard the sound of a car approaching. The two turned around fast and saw a nice little red buggy chugging along as it made a slow stop in front of the scientists. Immediately, the doors opened as the familiar face of Brooke Lloyd came out, looking rather annoyed at the driver.
"Don't expect a tip from me!" Brooke said angrily as Buckley came walking out, a little ire himself before both slammed the doors on the buggy. As soon as they did so, she shook her head. "Honestly, this peso to dollar conversion is confusing enough as it is... twenty American dollars just for a buggy ride... and they don't even go fast! Ugh, I would have taken the bus if I known how fast these things go..."
"Sometimes it can't be helped, dear." Buckley frowned as he put his arm around his wife, calming her down slightly. "It's a sacrifice we have to make..."
"Excuse us, are you the Lloyd family?" The female scientist asked as the two looked up towards the scientists.
"Well, technically, Wellingtons, but Lloyd is my last name." Buckley said, giving a warm smile. "You must be the scientists who texted us about the news of the Shortman family's whereabouts?"
The two quickly nodded as the male scientist offered his hand. "My name is Clarence Tabootie, and this is my best friend and fiancee, Lora Frank. We're both scientists that go around a lot of countries from different parts of the world, studying various ways, helping people who were homeless and seeing to the welfare of people."
"Oh, I see..." Buckley smiled as he shook Clarence's hand.
"Congratulations on your engagement!" Brooke smiled as she offered her hand to Lora to shake. "You two must be pretty close together."
"Well, we each came from different buildings of Helpers of Humanity. See, I work in a section for Royal Woods, Michigan, and Clary here used to be working for Wayouttatown, Oregon." Lora smiled. "Two different worlds, but we met together, made it work, and we've been going around the world."
"Well, it's nice to meet you." Brooke smiled... before giving a pause. "But let's cut to the chase on the reason for our meeting. You said you might have managed to find SOMETHING related to the Shortman case?"
"We had to admit, it was a rather curious case." Lora nodded. "From what we and the other members of Helpers for Humanity learned, apparently, the two parents, along with their friend Eduardo had disappeared into the jungles of San Lorenzo on orders to save the Green-Eyes from another sickness..."
"Right, that's what it said in the journal entry we showed you." Buckley nodded.
The scientists paused briefly before Clarence motioned for the two. "If you could follow us..."
"It was rather curious that you brought this up, because Eduardo had worked with us for years, but he never once brought up what happened to his old friends. Even when we questioned him about it, he looked at us as if he didn't know what we were talking about." Clarence explained as the four of them went inside a small room that looked like a dimly lit office with a smudged refrigerator.
"Wait... so you spotted the friend of the Shortman's, and he acts like he doesn't know what you were talking about?" Buckley frowned.
"He says the last time he saw the Shortmans was when they departed with his son about near a decade ago, in order for them to raise them in a nice, suburban area. He said their son kept getting out and tried to crawl over to dangerous things." Lora explained.
Brooke and Buckley looked at each other in curiosity, before nodding. "Well, if Eduardo wasn't the one who visited the Shortmans that fateful day they had to leave for the Green-Eyes, then who was?"
"Nobody knows. We didn't even get informed about anything, but Eduardo insisted that the day he said goodbye to his friends on their plane trip to Hillwood was the last time he saw them." Lora shrugged. "But thanks to this new information, we wanted to find something, anything that could get a good location on what happened to them."
"And...?" Buckley asked after a bit of silence.
"We did find something." Clarence said as Lora got up and set up a small TV screen. "We looked everywhere for a sign of a plane crash or any word if the plane was just misdirected to another building for Helpers for Humanity. It was thanks to Lora that she found something while investigating for files in an old office."
Lora nodded before going over to the room and picking up a computer that was attached to a telephone, with a red light blinking in and out. As the female scientist was attaching the cables, Brooke raised an eyebrow. "What is that device?"
"You know those old Picturephones of the 1970s? Well, this is a prototype upgrade we made during the eighties, with a lot of Helpers for Humanity having at least one phone similar to this for their home." The male scientist explained as he gave a nod. "We need you to at least watch the first message."
"The FIRST message?" Buckley asked as Brooke looked curious.
"You'll see soon enough." Clarence said as he turned to his wife. "Got it all set?"
Lora smiled. "All ready to go, honey."
"Push Play!" Clarence gave a thumbs up as his wife pushed the play button, as the screen immediately came on.
Brooke and Buckley could only watch as the rich couple gave gasps, with Brooke holding her hand to her mouth in surprise...
Meanwhile, all the way back in Hillwood, the familiar couple had walked out of the movie, Arnold's face looking a little stagnant as Rhonda looked at him in concern as her hand reached his and squeezed it, trying to comfort him. "You, uh... have to admit, it was a pretty nice movie."
"I know." Arnold said, though his face and mannerisms weren't reflecting a happy tone.
The rich girl bit her lip as she tried to think of something. "Look, if this movie was a problem..."
"I don't have a problem with the movie, Rhonda. It was good." Arnold shook his head. "It's just... jungles, families... when you understand who I am..."
Rhonda immediately winced as she looked at him. "I... I'm sorry, Arnold, but why didn't you say anything?"
"I wanted to, but you looked so excited, and I couldn't say no to you." The football headed kid explained as he sighed. "I'm sorry, Rhonda. Here I am, wanting to have fun on our date before we go home and do our homework, and now I'm just thinking about my parents again."
Rhonda looked down sadly, feeling a little guilty, before looking around, hoping to find something to distract her boyfriend from his sadness. Immediately spotting the familiar sight of Slausen's before her, she gave a smile. "How about this, sweetie? We sit down for a sundae to share? Will that make you feel better?"
Arnold paused as he looked up at the smiling eyes of his girlfriend. Feeling the positive aura of the young lady, Arnold couldn't help but feel a small smile perking in his face. "Well... I guess one sundae, but we better make it a small one. I don't want to miss out on Grandma's dinners..."
"Stuffed peppers with chili meat and cheese sauce?" Rhonda asked with a smile.
Now Arnold was giving a warm smile as he gave a chuckle. "However did you guess?"
"Let's just say, after spending at least a couple of months with your grandparents at your house, you start to pick up on the small quirks here and there." Rhonda giggled, before smiling. "Is it true that your grandmother usually celebrates the Fourth of July on Thanksgiving?"
Arnold looked rather surprised at Rhonda's sentence as they entered into the ice cream parlor. "Where did you hear about that?"
"Your grandfather and Mr. Potts have told me how they always celebrate different holidays on the holiday that isn't celebrated in your home." Rhonda giggled. "Personally, a Fourth of Julsgiving sounds like a wonderful treat."
"Yeah, well, that's my grandma for y-" Arnold laughed, before blinking twice as he turned to Rhonda. "Wait, Fourth of Julsgiving?"
"Why not? It's a rather cute idea, so I figured giving it a naming theme would be pretty nice." Rhonda explained as the two went up to the parlor as the shopkeep turned around. "Hello, my boyfriend and I would like a small banana split to share."
The shopkeep nodded as he picked up the scooper and started to head for the vanilla ice cream, then for the strawberry ice cream.
"Whoa, whoa!" Rhonda frowned as she crossed her arms. "One scoop vanilla, one scoop chocolate, THEN one scoop strawberry."
The shopkeep blinked twice before getting the scooper towards the chocolate ice cream, and scooping it up to put it in the middle.
"Whoa, whoa... put the strawberry scoop in the middle." Rhonda frowned.
Arnold just watched in surprise as the shopkeep put the chocolate near the left, then strawberry in the center. Rhonda smiled as she gave a nod. "Now, hot fudge... oh, but only on the vanilla and chocolate! Regular chocolate sauce on the strawberry."
The shopkeep frowned as he followed the girl's orders as Rhonda gave a nod. "Okay, now the whipped cream."
The shopkeep kept an eye on the short raven haired girl as he pulled out the bottle of whipped cream and started to spray the cream around the ice cream.
"Okay, okay, not so fast!" Rhonda waved her hands as the shopkeep followed her instructions to the letter. "Take it a little easy... a little more... fill in that space... a little more on the vanilla... perfect!"
Arnold couldn't help but roll his eyes as he asked, "Is this all necessary, Rhonda?"
"For you, sweetheart, anything." Rhonda smiled towards her boyfriend before turning back to the ice cream shopkeep. "Now for nuts... but peanuts ONLY on the vanilla."
The man frowned as he put the peanuts on the covered chocolate side.
"And marshmallows for the chocolate. None of that melted marshmallows, though." Rhonda said as the man put the marshmallows on the ice cream. "Now, here comes the complicated part. No yellow M&Ms on the chocolate, yes yellow M&Ms on the strawberry, but both no orange M&Ms, except for the vanilla, which should receive EXCLUSIVELY orange M&Ms."
The shopkeep rolled his eyes as he put the M&Ms respectively on each ice cream scoop as Rhonda gave a nod. "Yep, that should about do it."
The man rolled his eyes as he gave the ice cream to Arnold as Rhonda pulled out a few bucks and handed it to the man. "Keep the change, my good man."
"Yeah, yeah..." The shopkeep frowned as Arnold pulled a couple of plastic spoons and handed one to Rhonda.
"You know, Rhonda, you are going through a lot of trouble for me... you know, you don't have to-" Arnold started to say, before Rhonda shushed him.
"Aw, come on, Arnold, I want nothing more than to see you be the happiest boy in the world. If you weren't happy, then... well, I don't know how else I can cheer you up..." Rhonda sighed. "I mean, I know what I'm doing wouldn't be what you truly want, but..."
"Hey..." Arnold smiled as he looked up at his girlfriend. "What you're doing for me now is more than enough. What say we eat up your complicated order?"
Rhonda looked over at the smiling football head before giving a smile herself. "That sounds fair. Though hey, my ice cream orders are not THAT complicated."
"Are you kidding? Last week, when we were out for burgers, you gave the specific instructions 'No onions, extra pickles, and make sure the ketchup is on the BOTTOM bun'." Arnold pointed out.
"So I like to have my fast food prepared in a specific way." Rhonda shrugged, before giggling, as she and Arnold clashed spoons as they dug in to the nice little treat.
Sure, it was a small banana split, but to Arnold and Rhonda, it was a sweet little moment together, and to Arnold, it was a good way to perk himself up after his depressing thoughts...
Little did he realize that at this current moment, Rhonda's parents were calling his grandparents about a big development...
And that is it for this chapter! How did you guys like it? Yeah, I know Rhonda sounded like a Daffy/Karen in this chapter, but she's doing what she can for her boyfriend, and after all, Arnold knows that's who Rhonda is. At least he's feeling better and all cheered up! Next time, Arnold and Rhonda come back home with a surprise in store. Those who happen to know the Hey Arnold mythos would likely already guess, but let's just say, I'll be putting a new spin on things. How's that? Well, we'll just have to wait and see! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, everyone!