Author's Notes: Hi, readers. Here's chapter twenty-six of "Turnaround." I feel it is best to have the stalking incidents start slowly at first as it builds up tension and suspense. Going too fast would ruin the whole thing. Stay tuned for chapter twenty-seven.
XXXXX
Chapter 26: Off in the Distance
Gary stood before the kitchen stove. He focused on five slices of bacon cooking in a skillet on the right front burner. He held a fork in his hand. He eyed a plate containing twelve pieces of sausage and thirteen pieces of bacon. Callie hit an egg on the counter near the food. She opened it over a big bowl. The contents dropped into the bowl along with that from five other eggs.
Oscar read the newspaper as he sat at the head of the table. He flipped from one page to the next. Ronnie poured coffee into a mug. She stopped when it was nearly full. She returned the kettle to the coffeemaker. She put three spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee. She stirred the contents before tapping the spoon on the side of the mug twice. She sipped it and nodded in approval. She laid it down.
"Talk about a good cup of coffee," Ronnie said warmly. "Any exciting news, bro?"
"Not really," Oscar said, folding the newspaper and putting it aside. "Some days are so boring that you think time will come to a complete stop."
"No kidding," Gary agreed as he turned over all the slices. "I recall the power being out in my house in Tulsa once. I was so bored. Mom told me to read books. I read every book in the house throughout the three days the power was off. I became bored again, so I went outside and explored the neighborhood."
"Back when we were kids, we didn't have phones and social media. The internet was very limited. We had video game consoles, but that could become boring after hours of play if you didn't have lots of games," Callie explained.
"I had lots of video games, including all three Super Mario Bros. They were so much fun to play. I even discovered neat tricks to get into absolutely weird stages," Gary said with a laugh.
"I just wanted to play games the whole way through. I wasn't interested in finding secrets," Callie admitted.
"My sisters and I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog and Spyro the Dragon," Oscar said and cleared his throat. "Their games were so cool."
"The Legend of Spyro was meant to be a prequel series to the original, but the makers decided to make it a reboot. All three games received mixed to positive reception. It has developed a huge cult following," Ronnie explained, a big smile forming on her face.
"The majority of today's games suck ass," Oscar mumbled with a shake of his head. "They are more focused on graphics than gameplay and story."
"Look on the bright side, Oscar," Gary responded, looking over his shoulder at him. "You still have your Sega Genesis and PlayStation 2."
"That I do," Oscar agreed.
Just then, Trevor and Lucky walked into the kitchen. They had their arms around each other. Gary, Callie, Oscar, and Ronnie glanced at them as they stopped in front of the doorway.
"Well, well, if it isn't the noisemakers from last night," Gary teased and chuckled to himself.
"How did you—" Trevor started.
Callie raised an eyebrow. "You father and I heard you and Lucky going at it last night. You were pretty loud."
"Were we?" Lucky asked, cringing somewhat.
"If we kept you up, we're sorry," Trevor said and scratched the back of his neck.
"Don't worry about it. It happens with many couples," Gary commented and turned back to the bacon.
"If you are wondering about Podcast, Phoebe, and Jeanette, they are still asleep. Leave them alone," Callie said in a firm voice.
Trevor nodded at her. "Duly noted, Mom."
"Don't say that too much. You will get too many notes," Callie teased and snickered under her breath.
Trevor and Lucky went over to the table. They seated themselves on Oscar's right. They folded their hands and laid them on the table. Oscar leaned back, his hands going behind his head.
"Don't lean too far, Oscar. You will fall backward," Lucky warned.
"I won't," Oscar assured. "However, there have been cases of people hurting themselves when leaning too far back in their chairs."
"A little girl kept swinging her chair back and forth during lunch in a segment on Rescue 911. She ended up going out a window and cutting herself really bad. Her pregnant mother carried back into the house. She reported to the 911 operator that her daughter's insides were sticking out. She had blood all over her," Trevor explained with a disgusted shudder.
Lucky cringed. "The girl was lucky to have survived such a severe injury. Glass is capable of slicing an artery. Unless direct pressure is applied, you will bleed out rather quickly."
"A tourniquet can stop that from happening," Trevor murmured while rubbing his nose.
"Mm-hmm," Lucky agreed. "Of course, there are risks with a tourniquet."
Trevor furrowed his brow. "Risks are everywhere. Just stepping outside the Firehouse can be risky."
"Yes, it can," Gary replied and held up the fork. "Imagine a car coming out of nowhere and hitting you as you step outside."
"KAPOW! WHAM! SPLAT!" Oscar blurted out.
Callie put her finger over her lips as she looked at him. "Shh. Don't be so loud, Oscar. Podcast, Phoebe, and Jeanette will be very grumpy if any of us wake them up."
"Okay. I won't be so loud, Callie," Oscar insisted while holding up his hands.
"Thank you," Callie whispered in relief. She turned back to the eggs and let out a small yawn. "Podcast and Phoebe need all the sleep they can get. They will be dealing with many sleepless nights after Gabrielle is born."
"At least that baby will have no shortages of babysitters here," Lucky pointed out matter-of-factly. "Of course, you won't see me changing dirty diapers."
"The same goes for me," Trevor said smugly.
Gary leaned toward his wife. "He's not getting out of changing dirty diapers."
"You got that right," Callie responded with a snicker.
"I heard that!" Trevor shouted, looking toward his parents.
Callie pulled away from her husband. They continued fixing breakfast and proceeded to whistle. Trevor turned back to his girlfriend, who clicked her tongue twice.
00000
The entire group was eating breakfast an hour later. Gary sat at the head of the table. Callie and Oscar were on his right. Trevor and Lucky were on his left. The center was filled with breakfast food. A bit of it was gone. Ronnie reached out with her fork. She poked a piece of sausage and brought it to her plate. She smiled in much warmth.
Callie picked up her coffee-filled mug. She sipped a bit of it and put it down. She moved it in a circle, its contents moving around somewhat. She heard laughter and looked over at Gary, who was shaking his head fast. Lucky put a piece of bacon in her mouth and proceeded to chew. Trevor sipped some of his orange juice from a glass.
"Unh-unh. Alien is the best installment in the Alien franchise. It is filled with absolute horror," Gary said.
"No way. Aliens is the best installment. It is pumped with action and horror," Ronnie responded. "You know James Cameron is the king of sequels."
"He has made four sequels so far. Avatar: Fire and Ash is coming out this December," Callie pointed out. "Avatar is the only franchise where he has done more than one sequel."
"I saw on Twitter the haters crowing it will flop. They claimed Avatar: The Way of Water would do the same. It didn't. It made over two billion dollars at the box office," Trevor said, rolling his eyes as he put his juice down. "When will they learn?"
"Those buttheads think their voices represent the norm. It doesn't. Avatar is immensely popular all over the world. This is especially true for China. The Chinese fell love with the first movie. They did the same with the second one," Lucky explained and swallowed. "The second actually made more than the first did in its initial run there."
"The haters will go silent when Avatar: Fire and Ash makes big bucks at the box office," Gary said honestly. "They sure will."
"It won't stop them from saying Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 will flop," Callie said, her eyebrows raising.
"True," Gary agreed.
Callie picked up her cream-filled coffee to sip more of it. She set it down with a contented sigh. She looked toward Lucky, who got some eggs on her fork. Lucky popped it into her mouth. She started chewing as Ronnie got a piece of her sausage cut away.
"Your idea of us having our own Twitter and Instagram pages is a great idea, Lucky," Callie commented.
"You guys don't have to do it, especially since Podcast and Phoebe are still minors," Lucky pointed out and swallowed with a loud gulp.
"Lily-Rose Depp has been running her own Instagram page since she was fifteen. She has over seven million followers. This includes Johnny Depp," Gary answered. "I don't see why we can't include them on posting."
"There is also the matter of what is posted. We have to be careful as someone could take offense to something we say," Callie added.
Trevor scoffed. "Screw what people think, Mom. We can't go through life tiptoeing around their feelings."
"Trevor's right, Callie. The truth hurts sometimes, but it has got to be said," Gary agreed.
"For example, ghosts exist," Ronnie said and clasped her hands together. "Some Twitter users will claim believers are crazy, but who cares? It's true!"
Gary gestured toward her. "Ronnie gets it. We could post pictures of ghosts we captured on our phones on the accounts, but it won't sway them in the least bit."
"Not all people are like Mayor Peck. We can't point guns at people and make them believe ghosts are real," Ronnie said, pointing her finger in the shape of a gun.
"Don't shoot, Ronnie!" Trevor shouted while holding up his hands. "I surrender!"
Lucky placed the edges of her hands on the table. "Me too. I don't want to die in the least bit." She observed Gary, Callie, and Oscar mimicking her. "It looks like the others are surrendering as well."
Ronnie pulled her finger away. "Good."
Gary, Callie, Trevor, Lucky, and Oscar put their hands in their laps. They let out relived sighs before clearing their throats.
"The next question is whether or not Podcast and Phoebe should tell the world they are expecting a baby," Gary said honestly.
"I think it should be up to them, Gary," Callie suggested. "Many people will be very judgmental. They may accuse us of being bad parents. Others will be supportive, especially since they chose to be homeschooled."
"Speaking of school, it starts back in two weeks. That means Jerry will be coming to the Firehouse to teach the expectant parents five days a week," Gary said, a big smile forming on his face.
"You think we could ask him to stay over some nights?" Trevor wondered excitedly. "Perhaps he could see us in action."
"I think he'd like that," Gary said with a smile. "He did say he was a fan of the Ghostbusters."
"I wonder how many followers we could get after the Twitter and Instagram pages are created," Ronnie said curiously.
"Who knows?" Callie commented, giving a shrug. "We do know that Johnny Depp got hundreds of thousands of followers quickly when he opened an Instagram page. If there are many fans of the Ghostbusters, we could get just as many that fast."
"We have to be careful. Some of the followers could be bots," Lucky pointed out seriously. "Some social media users will purchase followers and likes to boost their pages. It gives the illusion they are popular."
"There are several ways to tell if an account is a bot," Ronnie murmured and breathed deeply. "The first is IP correlation in the geological location of the account. The second is content correlation in close proximity of posts. The third is automation in which short replies appear to be automated. The fourth is content similarity in which content is posted at the same time. The fifth is accounts with very recent creation dates. The sixth is account description in which account looks automated because the username contains numbers. The seventh is the account is following a lot of users, but it does not have many followers and posts faster than a human could."
"That is wild," Lucky said in amazement.
"It sure is," Ronnie agreed. "It is believed nearly half of all social media accounts could be bots."
"That is a lot of hardware that would be needed for such a thing," Trevor said, chuckling a little nervously.
"Humans are very crafty. They will come up with ways to do stuff," Callie said and clicked her tongue.
"One thing is clear," Oscar whispered in determination. "We must keep an eye on any social media accounts we create. Hackers could try to get in and mess them up badly."
"Of course, Oscar," Gary answered with a nod. "That is why many celebrities have publicists who post stuff on their social media accounts. They are much better at detecting hackers than they are."
"If we create Instagram and Twitter pages, I believe Phoebe should be the one to keep an eye on them. She'd be able to see if hackers have gotten into them," Trevor suggested.
"I say that is a good idea, Trev," Gary said, laughing warmly.
"Me too," Callie commented and gave her son a wink.
"Me three," Lucky said while holding up her hand.
"Don't forget us," Oscar and Ronnie said while motioning toward themselves. "We are all for it."
Trevor smiled in a very wide way. He started talking about the time Phoebe tricked him into falling for a snare trap as he and the others proceeded to finish their breakfast.