CHAPTER FOUR
Uncle Donald's car didn't run as smoothly as Uncle Scrooge's, but compared to the open bed of Ratmeat's beat up truck, it was a thousand times better. Even if the car did break down a couple times on the way, it felt so amazing to be inside it and not outside when it started to rain.
My brothers kept talking the whole way, and a couple of times when I stood up to look at something interesting they reminded me to buckle up just like Uncle Scrooge had. Uncle Donald kept talking to me too, but I had no idea what he was saying.
Uncle Donald parked the car in a parking spot next to a dock that was floating on the water.
"Well, quwqkaka, kwqkaksakqwqk."
"What did he say?" I whispered to the brother in blue as we got out of the car.
"He said 'this is it, home sweet home.' We live on that houseboat." The brother said, not even bothering to whisper. He gestured over to the boat at the end of the dock as we got out of the car.
Something flashed, and Uncle Donald muttered happily to himself as he looked down at a camera. I guess he had taken a picture of us?
"AwqoqwboysawoqHueyqlwawqowwm." Uncle Donald said, winding the camera for another photo. It must really be an old camera if he had to wind it, like the one Crazyhair found in the dump.
"Yes Uncle Donald." Louie and Dewey said.
"What'd he say?" I whispered. Was the blue brother Dewey? He was, right?
"He told us to show you our bedroom." Dewey responded, "Come on!"
He grabbed my hand-seriously, what is up with the hand grabbing? I didn't even do anything!-and dragged me over to the houseboat that was attached to the dock.
The houseboat was the biggest boat I had ever been in before, but the way it worked inside was a lot like the trailer Ratmeat and Crazyhair lived in. Since there weren't very many rooms, I knew right away when the brothers opened a door from the kitchen that this was their bedroom. It had a bunk bed on one side, a small bed on the other and a lot of clothing on the floor. There was even clothing and toys covering the bottom bunk bed. I guess cleaning will be part of my chores now, but at least this wasn't as bad as back at the trailer.
"Sorry, it's a little messy right now." Louie said.
"You get the bottom bunk," Dewey said, taking the clothes and stuff off of the bottom bunk bed and tossing them straight onto the floor. "The top's Louie's, and that's my bed over there."
I nodded. It was nice that there was a sheet already on the mattress. Actually, it was pretty nice that they happened to have a bed they weren't using in the room. I wasn't so sure I would have enjoyed sleeping on the floor since the boat kept rocking back and forth.
"Louie, go get the extra comforter from Uncle Donald's room."
"On it," Louie said, racing out of the room.
"As soon as he gets back, we'll give you the grand tour!" Dewey said, "I'll show you where you can put your stuff. Hey, where did you put your suitcase?"
"Suitcase?" I asked, then, "I didn't bring one."
"What, really?" Dewey asked, raising an eyebrow, "Did you at least remember to bring your swimsuit?"
"I don't have one."
"Seriously? Well, I guess we could let you use one of our old ones. We go swimming a lot around here."
I could see why. They lived on a houseboat by the ocean, so why wouldn't they go swimming outside whenever they wanted?
Louie came back with the biggest comforter I had ever seen in my life and tossed it onto the bottom bunk bed.
"Done!" He said, not even bothering to spread it across the mattress, "Now, come on! We've got a whole houseboat to introduce you to!"
Someone grabbed my hand again, and I was taken on a whirlwind tour of the place.
It didn't take long to go over every room. I was really surprised that the twin's bedroom was the messiest, and that Uncle Donald didn't have any empty pizza boxes or beer cans in his bedroom. When the twins showed me the kitchen, they kept talking about the soda in the fridge like it was some kind of treasure. And when they brought me back to their room and showed me their comics, I was really astonished that books like those exist.
Uncle Donald stayed in the kitchen for most of the time, but sometimes he followed us around with his camera and said things I couldn't understand while he took pictures. Dewey and Louie ignored him, but once or twice they told me to look up at him and smile while he took a photo. I wasn't really sure what smiling had to do with anything, but since they were doing it too I didn't feel too weird about it.
So far no one had told me what my new chores were going to be, but when I asked Louie he looked at me funny and said not to worry about them, since Uncle Donald would tell us when we had to do any.
After following the twins around and doing whatever they felt like, Uncle Donald apparently announced that it was time for dinner. This really surprised me, since normally Ratmeat and Crazyhair make me tell them when it's time for dinner. The meal Uncle Donald made turned out to be soda and pizza. This was the kind of food I was used to, and actually I was a bit sick of it, so I didn't eat much. But I was really surprised that we ate with Uncle Donald at the table. Normally Ratmeat and Crazyhair eat most of the pizza first and give me the slices that are leftover after they're full, so I thought all adults did too when they weren't eating out in a restaurant.
"Unca Donald, dis is so good!" Louie said, his mouth full.
"Why can't we eat like this all the time?" Dewey asked.
Dewey and Louie really surprised me by eating almost all of the pizza right away, while Uncle Donald had only one slice. Did he not like pizza? But why would he order food if he didn't like it?
After dinner, Louie and Dewey told me to sit down on the small couch that faced the tiny tv. Then they sat down next to me, put in a DVD, and watched a cartoon movie I had never seen before. Uncle Donald walked into the room at one point to take another photo, and just when I thought he was going to tell us to get out so he could watch tv he handed all three of us a big bowl of ice cream.
Honestly, this whole day was amazing. I was still a little worried about what new chores I would have, but no one seemed to want to talk about them so I didn't ask.
After the movie, Dewey and Louie dragged me back to their bedroom to go to bed, but Uncle Donald said we had to take a bath first. (At least, that's what Dewey told me he said.) I don't like baths, so I asked if I could take a shower instead and Uncle Donald showed me how to work the shower and had me go first. He even gave me some red clothes to wear when I got out. By the time Dewey and Louie were done with their bath, I had made the bottom bunk I was going to sleep in and cleaned up most of the mess on the bedroom floor.
Finally, after what seemed like the shortest but best day of my life, I was lying in bed listening to Dewey and Louie snore in their sleep. It was so weird sleeping in the same room as other people, and in a real bed. Uncle Donald had even come in at one point, when Dewey and Louie were still awake, and he pulled up the blankets for each of us and even kissed each of us on the forehead. He said something to me when he did mine, but I still don't understand him, so all I heard him say was my name. He had rubbed my head before he left, leaving the door open just a little.
That was hours ago, though. Uncle Donald and everyone else was asleep, but I hadn't been able to fall asleep. The bed was too soft, and besides I was a little worried that if I went to sleep I'd wake up back in the trailer. Finally, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to sleep, so I just got up instead.
At first I walked outside of the houseboat and stood on its deck because I wanted to see the stars, but it turned out that there was too much light from the city. I didn't mind though, because I had never seen the city at night before. And the sounds of the water lapping up against the boat were pretty nice, too.
Then, after a while, I walked off the houseboat and over to Uncle Donald's car where it was parked in the parking lot. I tried opening it, but for some reason it was locked. It was a little weird to lock your car, but I guess people do things differently here.
As I was exploring the parking lot, I had a brilliant idea. Why not go visit Uncle Scrooge? I memorized the streets we took when Uncle Donald drove from the hotel to the houseboat. It shouldn't take too long to walk there, and everyone else was asleep, so why not?
With my destination in mind, I started walking down the road right away.