Chapter 10: Predicament

Tammy has a dream that she's at a lemonade stand and Duckie shows up asking about grapes. Some song plays in the background of all of this, as the day seems to repeat itself and Tammy gets annoyed with Duckie asking the same question. They both don't realize they are in a dream until the very next day jingle plays for like the 6th time. "Wait a minute!" said Tammy, as Duckie approached, "Duckie! This is a dream!" "Were we just at an abandoned factory minutes ago?" asked Duckie snapping out of it, which Tammy nodded yes, "We gotta wake up!" Both of them tried to wake up, but to no avail.

Ralph was having quite a wacky dream. At first he was dressed as his favorite superhero chasing what looked to be villains who had stolen a car. Suddenly the stolen car took a sharp left and with no time to react, the mobile he was in crashed through some road closed signs and fell off a broken bridge. Ralph closed his eyes and when he opened them, he noticed his ball was in the water and his mobile disappeared. He then found out his clothes had disappeared too. Ralph yelled underwater before covering himself and closing his eyes. Next, he found his head reach surface level and when he opened his eyes, he was in a WW2 military outfit as he was on the beach of Normandy. "What is happening?!" Ralph exclaimed.

Paco was dreaming that he was in a cornfield. The sky indicated it was the evening and the tiger didn't know where he was going exactly, until he came across a homestead. Out of nowhere came out Boozoo, Lorenzo, and Rachel with all of their own tools. The 3 laughed as they suddenly started to chase him. Paco ran through the corn field, hoping he'd lose them. He then found a bike sitting around, so he took advantage of it and hopped on. Once Paco was on as he zoomed out of the corn maze, but once he was out, Boozoo and the Waterman couple were waiting for him. Then in slow motion, the tiger drifted on the dirt ground just enough to avoid their weapons they carried. Back in regular, Paco thundered out of the area. He didn't seem to come to the realization he was in a dream. "That was too close!" he said.

Finally, Jay and Dino were in a dream that they were in a bowling league. They were bowling against the opposite team as some nice classic rock music played in the background. Jay just finished up her round, and now it was Dino's turn. The opposite team laughed, as they thought he didn't stand a chance. The penguin was about to prove them otherwise. So he took the ball he needed and then threw it down the lane. To everyone's surprise, Dino managed to get a strike. Jay and everyone else on their team cheered for him, while the opposite team groaned in frustration.

Suddenly, everyone in their dreams heard the sound of bells and a train horn. The horn then started to slowly get louder and louder. Tammy, Duckie, Jay, Dino, Paco, and Ralph found themselves about to wake up from their dreams.

Everyone woke up as the train horn went by, accompanied by the sounds of the freight cars attached to the locomotives pulling. As expected, it startled all the kids as they had no clue where it was coming from. Adding to the confusion was the fact it was completely dark.

Once their eyes got adjusted to the darkness, they realized it was night time and they were in the woods somewhere. Beside them was where the train was going by. Just a few feet ahead of them was where a road was and railroad crossing, as the lights flickered and bells sounded. Once the train was completely by, the crossing bells stopped sounding as the crossing guards went up and the lights stopped flickering.

"Where are we?" asked Duckie. His question was answered when he saw to the right of him, town line for Brighton and Nash-Lake. "Town line, huh?" said Duckie, "I guess they wanted us to go home." "Why did they spare us?" asked Paco, "Are they really that imminent that no one will believe us?" "Sorry to say, but they aren't wrong if so," said Jay, "How do we tell them this? I don't know if telling others will even be worth it. If I told my dad and he took it serious, who's to say that they won't be gone by the time he and his team arrive?" "Gone!" repeated Dino. "We can't let the old man and that crazy couple get away!" said Ralph, "There must be something we can do!"

Tammy looked at the night sky, trying to determine what time it could be. "Does anyone wear a watch?" asked Tammy. Everyone nodded in a way of saying no. She was worried that she was out past the time she was supposed to be. "I think we should all go home," Tammy suggested, "I might be past my curfew. We'll talk more about this as soon as we possibly can tomorrow." "After what we learned?!" argued Ralph, "Those 3 could have the stolen money! And we are-" "They DO have the stolen money, but listen!" Tammy said sternly, not in the mood for arguing, "Right before I passed out, Boozoo said right to my face that he and the Watermans stole the money and that no one would believe us. The point is though, we need to make a big plan and we don't have one yet. I would like to agree with you, but that book showed us what kind of person Boozoo was."

"Before that, what did you and Duckie see?" asked Jay. Tammy didn't want to answer, but she didn't want to leave her in the dust either. She took a deep breath before saying, "Victims." Jay, Dino, Paco, and Ralph looked at Tammy, not sure what to say. "Look, let's all just go home," said Duckie, "We'll plan something for tomorrow. They won't get away with this." Jay didn't see any other choice for the time being. "You heard them," she said, as she faced her brother and friends, "Let's go home."

The kids then split up to go home for the night. It was already enough of a risk going out of their way to find Boozoo, only to find out he was a much more evil person than anyone could have imagined. As unfortunate as that was, they couldn't even find the fundraiser money either. Until they knew where it was, the money could be hidden anywhere. So it was really anyone's guess as to where it could be.

The abandoned factory

Rachel and Lorenzo were sitting down in the office area as Boozoo paced around. "It shouldn't be much longer till the pilot arrives," Boozoo stated, "I know keeping those kids alive was a controversial decision, but we already have enough heat on us when we had to get rid of that foolish detective. Besides, no one will believe what they say." "And if they do?" asked Lorenzo. "Then I already have another ace up my sleeve," replied Boozoo, "When it's time to up security, there's only one place to go to." "Underworld Services," said Rachel.

Boozoo then typed a phone number on a phone that was already within the same room. "Hello," a voice said on the other line, "You've reached Underworld Services, how can I help you?" "Hey, Ebenezer Boozoo here," he said, "Me and some friends need some security until we get to the airport tomorrow. I'm sure your boss will understand greatly when I say we need a lot of them." "We only have a dozen personnel available Mr. Boozoo," said the woman on the phone, which really pissed off Boozoo, "We know your requests as you have been a loyal customer to us for years, but now isn't the time for large numbers of our personnel. My boss has been very busy, on top of an already high request of personnel for our customers to use. With that said, I'm sure you understand when I say that only a dozen are available."

Boozoo sighed, knowing this was better than nothing, "I understand. I'll just have to go through with it. You already know my bank account, so no sense in me repeating it. But where am I? I'm at Brighton's abandoned factory near that small railroad that travels through. Almost directly near the town line of here and Nash-Lake." "Thank you for your understanding," said the woman on the line, "They'll be at your location in an hour." "Thank you," said Boozoo, "Goodnight." "Goodnight," the woman replied back, before hanging up.

Boozoo hung up the phone. "Well," he said, "Only a dozen available to protect us." "We better hope nothing happens," said Rachel, sounding as lifeless as usual. "Nothing will happen!" Boozoo insisted, "No offense Rachel, but it seems being locked up really took the emotion and optimism out of you. You really used to smile more, until you and Lorenzo got locked up."

Boozoo then looked at Lorenzo and he screamed for a moment as he got scared. Lorenzo giggled as he had his mask off, giving quite the creepy grin. "For the love of God, PLEASE keep your mask on around me! " Boozoo said, "You're gonna give me a heart attack at the age of 72!" Lorenzo put his his mask back on, still giggling. The only reason he did it was to mess around with his friend.

"Anyway, our security will be here in one hour," Boozoo explained, "I already told the receptionist the deal, so hopefully she can pass it onto whoever is in charge of the team." "As long as we get out of here with the money safely, we should be fine," said Lorenzo, revealing that the money box was under lock and key in a little safe that the kids hadn't gone to. "And God forbid anyone gets in the way," said Rachel, revealing a big knife she had on her.

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 10 published 2/19/25)