30.March.09

The Beginning to a Fearful Summer

By SBert

But after everything is taken from me by ownership, I got myself, my cat, I guess I’ll claim the rat dogs of Dads, the butter bowls, and anything else that appears in it. Yup, whoop dee do!! I got the butter bowls. Oh yeah, and P.C. is my own creation, so no one is allowed to take it.

“Time to get up!”

The butterfly covered blanket shot up and gave a grunt that sounded like an “oww” when it hit the top bunk bed. The blankets shifted off the teenage girl that sat there blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Getting up, I went to my bookshelf, stumbling the whole way, and retrieved my glasses, my favorite lip balm (that my best friend gave me), my favorite bracelet, and a rubber band. I staggered into the door on the way out.

Making my way to the bathroom, I looked in the mirror at myself. I looked like any other sixteen-year-old, that is if they had long, straight, brown hair and was hefty built. I had on a very thick pair of tiger stripped glasses that were peeling on the edges. I also had very thick eyebrows that had blue eyes underneath them. Wearing a pair of cream shorts and a yellow car/dragon shirt really seemed to bring my look out even more. (I never even bothered to wear such things like pj’s or nightgowns.)

My hair is a disaster, but no one is coming today. So, why should I brush it? My clothes still look clean enough to wear another day or two, I guess. Well, (*SIGH*) it’s time to start another day of fun activities.

Leaving the bathroom, I almost got run over by my little brother, who, at the time, was pretending that the skate that he was holding, was a plane.

“Whoa! Be careful where you’re going with that, Silas.”

Looking up at me, he just smiled his evil little grin at me. I knew that he knew that he had to be careful and running around with a skate/plane didn‘t fit in that category very well. But, as everybody knows, the thing with six-year-old boys is that they will do stuff like that for fun. Running off to go crash another skate, I sluggishly made my way through the living room, to the kitchen, and the fridge door. Opening it, I peered inside.

Fearfully, I plunged my whole arm into the fridge (praying that I would see it again) and started to spelunk for the hidden pasta. After a few moments, and once again finding my hand, I withdrew several old butter bowls. Carefully, I opened them one at a time

Eww...I wonder how long that’s been in there. Oh! So that’s where the last of the stew went to two weeks ago. Wow! “Hey Mom, I found the butter.” Don’t know what that is. Hey, look I actually found the lasagna, without having to get a metal detector.

I’m not saying that I don’t like my Mom’s food, actually, I really like it. But there is waaaay too many mysterious butter bowls in the fridge, and once it is put in one of those, you will probably never see it again. At least not when it is still edible.

Pulling out a bowl from the cabinet and spooned myself out a big bunch of it, I than grabbed up the bowl, threw it in the microwave, and pressed start. When it went off, I yanked it out of the microwave and started to eat it.

(Actually Fact: I banged around, almost breaking the glass out of the cabinet doors, and when I plopped out my breakfast, it mostly landed on the counter. After I had gotten it all back into my bowl and had wiped off the counter, I went over to the microwave and wrestled it. The open button has a mind of its own. Sometimes it will open, but other times it will refuse. Yanking it open, I then had to get the right buttons pushed. But even though I’m up, I’m still not very awake, so I hit it for an obviously too long of a time. *DING* Grabbing it out of the microwave, I almost dropped it, because the glass bowl that it was in had gotten way too hot.)

Boy, this stuff is so unevenly heated. The middle is cold, but the outside is so hot that it could burn your tongue. Hmmm...I’ll just stir it up a bit and hope that it will even itself up.

Finishing up with my food, I heard the sounds of my Dad getting up. (He works nights.) Glancing up at the clock, I realized that I had just finished up my breakfast in time for lunch. (Teaches me to watch Star Trek until all hours of the night.) *SIGH* This was the time that I always went on my daily bike ride. Picking myself up (off the cold, hard, metal folding chair that we called our kitchen chair) , I walked to my room and pulled out a pair of brown beat up sandals from the closet. Slipped them on, I also put on my bracelet, and then placed my hair up in a rubber band.

Walking back into the living room, I called out, “Hey, Mom is it O.K. if I go on a bike ride?”

“Ya, just be careful and make sure to pick up the mail on your way back.“

Getting an old plastic Wal-mart sack out of the pantry, I headed outside. Leaning against the front stairs was my bike. Grabbing the handle, I hoped on. My path that I always took wasn’t very long. The ride there and back took fifteen minutes tops, but on the way back I always stopped to get the mail.

Riding my blue and silver bike up to the mailbox, I yanked the lid open. Reaching my arm inside the black box that was our mailbox, I pulled out everything that we had gotten.

Shoving the letters and package in the plastic bag, I pushed my bike acrossed the road and set off once again. The ride wasn’t a long one, but the path to and from the house was practically one giant pothole. When I finally made it to the house, I jumped off my bike while it was still moving so that I could get to the door much quicker. Making sure to take the steps two at a time, I made it inside to the cool air real quick. Once inside, I began the process I like to call “The Assortment of Cluttered Refused.” The only good thing, that didn’t come as a junk mail, was letters from my best friend Andrea or one of those one papers, that says you will win something really cool if you get the lucky fruit or number. It’s always a blast to scrap that silver or gold junk off the paper with a penny.

In the heat of the day, my mind had blanked out about the package until I dumped it all onto the counter. Grabbing up the package in one hand, I read what it said. “To the Valued Resident of the household.” Giving a snort of laughter, I ripped off the top of the plastic. Inside contained a small bottle of clear liquid and a list of instructions.

“What do you have there?”

MOMMY! Screamed my mind, as I did a little mental jump. Shrugging off the funny chill that was in my arms and chest, I looked back at the bottle. “Don‘t know. Probably some makeup product they want us to try out or maybe it’s a weed killer. Whatever it is, I bet it will help out by getting ride of those June bugs off of the roses.”

“Weed killer? In a fancy bottle like that? If it were weed killer, then it would harm the roses too. No, but you’re probably right about it being a new makeup. They are probably just sending out free samples, trying to get people to buy. You can have it, but if you don’t then give it to one of your sisters.”

Wrinkling up my nose in a disgusted sort of way, I replied, “You know that I don’t like makeup.”

Smiling, she responded. “I know, I just thought I would say it.” Continuing on her way through the kitchen, she left me to ponder the bottle.

Stopping my thoughts long enough to open the instructions, I peered at the letters on the page. All it said though was, “Use half the bottle on a mirror, put the other half in your bath water, enjoy.”

Shoving the bottle away in an unsightly place for the time being, I went on with the rest of my day. It was getting late when I finally remembered the bottle again.

“Hey Mom, I’m going to take a bath before it gets too late.”

I took a nice, lobster cooking hot, bath (that had the funky liquid in it). Getting out, I pulled on a pair of blue jean shorts and a black and gray Optimus Prime tee shirt. Grabbing up the bottle of clear liquid that was sitting by the sink, I then began to wash the mirror. The mirror shimmered and got a slightly disoriented look, and then words started to appeared on it.

Before I could get the chance to inspect it further, though, someone banged on the bathroom door. So I quickly brushed my hair out and left the bathroom.

Plopping myself on the couch, I started some of my favorite videos, that is, until the whole house grew quite. Once I knew that everyone was asleep, I slowly crept into the bathroom and locked the door. The message was still there, as plain as if there was a marshmallow stuck in your ear. I walked up to it and just stared at it, as if it was a cat running around on fire.

Reaching forward, I placed my hand on the glass. A warm tingling feeling started in my finger tips and quickly went to my legs, then I gazed in awe as I watched the bathroom walls begin to melt. But after a moment of seeing squishy walls, they un-melted themselves and resumed there appropriate look. Very hastily, I let go of the mirror. Breathing hard, I ran out of the bathroom and into my room. Jumping in the covers and hoping that I wasn’t going to have nightmares, I slowly played back, in my mind, what had occurred.

***

Poke...Nudge...Poke...Poke

Hmm...What’s that? Oh well, ignore it.

Poke...Poke...Nudge

(Leave me alone I’m trying to sleep.) “Mmmffhh”

Nudge...Poke...Nudge

(Leave me alone or I will hurt you.) “Uhhnnmm...Guummff...Oommnn”

Poke...Poke...Poke

The lump under the blanket shifted slightly and then wiggled. The poking and nudging stopped for a few moments. Sitting up (and barely missing the bars this time), I looked around.

(What time is it?) “Uuuugghhmmmfff...”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite make that out.”

Looking up, I saw some guy standing over my bed. He was about five foot seven and wore blue jeans and a red tee shirt. Both his hair and eyes were the same shade of brown.

(Who are you and what are you doing here?) “Mmmmffuuu...”

Looking at me like I was odd or something, he cleared his throat...really loud. I’m guessing he was trying to annoy me or something, but if it was, ‘Ha’ this is as awake as he was going to get me.

“Uumm...Hi...I am P.A.C., but most people call me P.C. No comment.” Stopping, he waited for a response.

(Oh, so that’s who you are, but why are you here?) “Guummpphh uuunnnmmph...”

“Um... Yes, all right. Well, I’m here to ask you a small favor. You see, I work for HASBRO and I have been sent to ask you an important question. Every summer we need someone to personally watch the Beast Wars characters, but they have proved to be...er...a pain. Even our best agents can not handle them all at once. So we were hoping to ask a loyal fan, who can keep it a secret, to watch them for us.”

(Help with what? Hey, why are you here anyways? How‘d you get into my room anyways?) “Uumnnpphhmmm mmnnoopph uggpphhmmn...”

“Umm... It would be easier for me if you would talk normal while you’re trying to speak.”

(What do you by mean ‘normal’?) “Uuummggrph mnmpphh...”

Flopping suddenly onto my pillow, he gave a deep sigh.

Warmth radiating all around me. So soft hiding under the covers of my blanket. I don’t ever want to leave the comfort of my warm bed. Even if I am having weird dreams of people from HASBRO. Just forget everything and anyone and drift to sleep. Huuu...what’s that? What a weird sound, but just ignore it. My Warmth! It’s leaving out from my blanket. A creepy coldness is penetrating my shields. What’s that? A weird wetness that has a very unpleasant feeling. No, fight urge to wake up. Must go back to sleep, but...weirdness...too annoying. Slowly, I felt my eyelids open. Ooohh...They’re so heavy feeling. Eyes, please, slowly come into focus for your mama. Good thing I kept my glasses on. Oh no! Not him again.

“Maybe some water flipped in your face will eventually wake you. But until you do get up, I will just keep getting you wet.”

“Mmmpht...Leave me alone.”

“Not until you listen to me and actually answer me to where I can understand you.”

His voice sounded very far off and very disoriented, but through everything he said, I made out the jest of what I was suppose to do. Get up or forever be hit with wet water droplets.

No, don’t get up.

A few more minutes of mind and body talk went on before my mind finally won the conflict. Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes.

“What do you want then? Just quit getting me wet, okay?”

“Sounds fair to me.” He said with a grin of triumph. “Now I need to ask you a favor.”

“If you wanted my help, then you should let me sleep. Uhhh...What is it?” Keeping my eyes closed, I asked with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

“Well, all our agents are tired and worn out from previous summers. So, we were curious if you, by any chance, would take their place? Some of them have had some pretty rotten summers, and they really could use a break. So, would you be willing to help us out with the Beast Warriors for the summer.”

Popping my eyes open, I stared at him with disbelief. “ME?? You want ME to watch over the Beast Warriors for the summer?!?!”

“Didn’t I already say that? Yes, I need you to watch over them and train them throughout the summer. Will you help me?”

Sitting there a little dazed and excited, my mind started racing.

Me! I’m being asked to watch over and train the Beast Warriors for the whole summer. It’s like a dream come true. But I know I should also realize that this would be no walk in the park. All those HASBRO agents would have had the finest equipment. What do I have? Nothing!! Wait...Duuuh, I’m talking to P.C., the HASBRO agent sent to ask me to help them. I could just have him get me some of these things. After all, I’m going to be watching The Beast Warriors. But wait a minute, what if I’m just asleep. Oh well, if it is I’m never going to wake up.

“Um...P.C., guy, sir. I don’t have any cool stuff to help me out with them. How am I suppose to train them if I don’t have any equipment or protection?”

“Don’t worry about a thing. You will be given several forms of protection and training gadgets. Is there anything more that you want me to do for you before I leave?”

My mind raced once again. Was there something else I want? Yes, I want someone to share the experience with me and to help me out. But who would be willing to help me?

“P.C., I would like to have my friend, Andrea, here to help me.”

Smiling, he replied at me. “Do you think that she would mind?”

“Only if are family notices us being gone. I don’t think that she would mind helping me out.”

“All right, I will bring her here in the morning, and you don’t have to worry about them noticing you being gone. It’s one of the advantages of being here. They will never notice that you our missing for a long period of time. Thanks for doing it. We really needed the help.”

After he had said those few last words, he left. I, on the other hand collapsed onto my pillow and left all forms of conciseness behind.

***

Poke...Poke...Poke...

“Anna, I’m awake. So can you stop it?”

“Anna? Is dat some sort of codename or something? Because if it is, dat isn’t going to be my codename. All right?”

“Rattrap! Will you stop it? She said that she is awake and she will get up by herself in a moment. So your talking would probably just sound like a bunch of gibberish to her right now. Remember how those other agents were.”

Lifting my eyes slowly, I peeked to see what was going on. To my disbelief, there was two Transformers standing over my bed. Quickly lifted myself up, I fetched my glasses out from under the bed. With my glasses on now, I could tell which ones were arguing over me. My annoying poker was Rattrap, and the other one talking to him was Cheetor. Getting out of bed, I gazed up at them. (For some reason the ceiling was very tall today, and they could fit into my room.)

“Ya, I remember how they slept. ‘BUG them and DIE’ was the normal routing, but still, we have been waiting for her to get up a long time now, and dat P.C. guy wants to talk to us before he goes.”

“What does he want?”

My question made both of the robots jump with surprise. I guess they hadn’t expected me to get up quite so fast.

The first to get his voice back was Cheetor. “Well, we’re not really sure what he wants, he just wasn’t willing to wake you up for it.”

An evil smile played acrossed my lips. He he he! Serves him right..

“Um...so if you are awake enough, would you mind comin’ with us? We would really like to get rid of him as soon as possible.”

Smiling up at Rattrap, I nodded my head. “Ya, I’ll be out there in a minute.”

“Well okay, but just a minute.”

Walking out my door, I heard the sound of the front door opening and them going outside.

Practically running into the bathroom, I quickly pulled a brush through my hair and stuck it up in my rubber band. Giving myself one last look over, I then ran back into my room for my sandals. Running out of the house on top speed, sliding acrossed the lawn outside, I made my way to where P.C. was standing. I was so calm and smooth about the whole thing, so what if I had butterflies going around in my stomach, I was so cool about it. (Actually Fact II: Not one of them was near him. They were all off exploring the place out.) I strolled casually over to where the P.C. was standing. (Actually Fact III: I ran over to him, bouncing the whole way and squealing. “Is it true? Is it true?”.)

Looking at me strangely, he inquired. “Is what true?”

“Is it true that I get to have all of the Beast Warriors at my house for the summer?”

“No.”

I stopped bouncing. “Why?”

“Some of them aren’t here.”

A frown formed on my face. “Why not?”

“Just because the agents need a break doesn’t mean that we can afford for them to forget their training. So we have left some with them, but we did bring you ten of them. So, they will have a break from ten of them for the summer and some of the worst at that. Sorry for giving you the baddies, but they’re the ones we need the break from the most. We left Agent 43 with Dinobot II and Rhinox. Tigertron and Airazor are with Agent 59. We assigned Agent 14 to Terrorsaur, Quickstrike, and the Vok. Last, but not least, we left Silverbolt and Blackarachnia to Agent 93.”

“Okay, but I get the rest of them, riiiight.”

“Yup, you got all the rest. So, be careful and good luck.”

“Hey, wait one sec, P.C.!”

Turning back towards me, he gave me a look of confusion. “Yes, is there something else?”

Disappointment crossed my face. “Where is Andrea? You said that she would be here to help me.”

“Oh, yes. She should be coming down your lane very soon.” And with a wiggle of his nose, he was gone.

(Actual Fact IV: He didn’t wiggle his nose or anything. I was just in a dazed state and I thought that I might have seen him do that. But, running into him later, I asked him about his twitchy nose problem. But all he said was something about me being off my rocker. HA! Jokes on him. I don’t have a rocking chair. Hee hee.)

Staring at the empty spot where he had been, I then heard the sound of someone. Looking over my shoulder, I saw my friend, Andrea, riding her purple bike down the lane. Waving and smiling at her, I motioned for her to join me.

“Hi, Brittany. Do you know what is going on here? I was just riding my bike down that old railroad track by our house, and it, for some reason, lead me here.”

Explaining to her took a few minutes, but I told her everything that had happened to me since I first woke up the day before, minus the butter bowl diving. Her eyes got wide when I told her about P.C. and what he wanted us to do.

“Sooooo, I hope your not mad at me for dragging you into this.”

“No, I’m not mad at you. I just wish that I had some sort of warning.”

“Well, next time a P.C. pops up at my house at 4:00 A.M. and asks me if I can baby sit for him, I’ll say ‘Wait one sec, I want to consult with Andrea who might be willing to join me.”

Smiling at me, Andrea, walking alongside her bike, beckoned for me to follow her. Walking acrossed the yard, we ended up in my parent’s garden. Beside the garden, in the orchard, was all the Transformers lounging.

“Sooo, who are all of them?” She whispered close to my ear.

Ponting my finger out, I answered. “Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Megatron, Rampage, Waspinator, Depth Charge, Cheetor, Dinobot, Tarantulas and Inferno.”

“Um...Okay.”

I had the feeling, though, that I would probably have to tell her their names again. That is, until she gets to know them better. She just isn’t into Transformers like I am.

Small tugs on my shirt canceled out my next thoughts. Looking over at Andrea, I saw that she was quite fixated on something and pointing. Although I should have known better, I looked too. To my disbelief, though, I saw my little orange kitten, Shasta, up in the top of a tree in a shiny blue spider web. My mouth dropped open and my eyes became as large as plates.

“TARANTULAS!”

“What? What have I done wrong?” A purple, gray, and green tarantula climbed out of the tree and drove over to me.

Grabbing the closest thing I could get my hands on (A handle to an old shovel that we have had laying around forever), I started to hit him with it.

“Ooowww!! Why are you doing that for?”

“YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EAT MY CAT!!! SO GET HER OUT OF THE TREE!!”

“All right! All right!”

Racing over to the tree, he climbed up. Cutting the webbing, he threw Shasta out of the tree. I quickly ran over to where she was falling, but instead of catching her, she landed on my head with a yowl and a bunch of claws.

“Oww! Shasta, I’m trying to save you!”

She didn’t care that I had just saved her hairy hide from being eaten. All she wanted was to get away from here...and quick. Making a running beeline toward the little hole that would lead under the house, she dived in.

Looking up the tree, I gave a really evil glare at Tarantulas. He just stared back at me with little concern in his optics. My guess is that he has gotten this same glare from the former Agents that he stayed with. *SIGH*

Making my way back over to where Andrea was standing with her bike, I exclaimed, “I think we’re going to have us an exciting summer ,and I have a feeling that were going to be doing this a lot.”

“Ya, it probably will be the weirdest summer that we have ever had, Brit.”

“Brit? Hmmm...That just doesn’t sound quite right. I mean, for someone who is going to be doing a bunch of odd things this summer.”

“Well, what do you want to go by then?”

Shrugging, I replied, “I’m not sure. I know I want something kind of personal, but also very unique.”

“Your sisters call you ‘Bert‘. Why don’t you use that?”

“Na, it reminds me of some weird cartoon that Anna and Silas like to watch. I want something that shows off my craziness and nerdiness. I want some weird/cool codename, something out of X-Men or Tick.”

Mulling over it for a few minutes, we decided that we weren’t probably going to think of anything right off.

While we had been talking and thinking up different names, the Beast Warriors had descided to sneak off and figure out what that funny yipping sound was that they kept hearing. The strange yipping sound that was coming from the back of one particular building.

Ms. Kraccieee? Ya, maybe that will do or maybe Topper Crazy Stopper. Na, too long. But maybe...

“Brittany!”

Shooting my head up, I looked around. Seeing Andrea running for the Kennel, I followed at top speed.

Running to the kennel just a step behind Andrea, I saw that Rampage had in his crab pincers a small Min Pin dog within his clutches.

“What, in the galaxy, is this thing suppose to be?”

“That’s called a dog” Hollered Andrea at him.

Grabbing a stick, I glared at him. “Have you never seen a dog before?”

“Yes, I have, but this thing doesn’t appear to have any of the characteristics of a dog. This is just a big version of a rat.”

Looking at the me with the stick and then at the mini dog that was in his grip, he did a robotic shrug and then flipped it back into its cage.

“Wouldn’t have been much of a meal anyway.”

“Why are you guys so hungry?”

“Because dat P.C. guy took us away before we got breakfast,” Whined Rattrap, while he rubbed his stomach.

Andrea and I looked at each other with a look that said ‘Feed them! This is going to be real fun.’

“Um...Miss?”

Looking over at Tarantulas, who was squirming a little, I asked, “Yes?”

“Why, may I ask, do you have such funny mood spurts? One minute you are really excited to see us. And then you get mad at us, and then happy, and then mad again, and then your going to feed us. You’re not going to poison us with the food to get even against us, are you?”

I didn’t answer him right off, though, in fact I had stopped listening right after the first sentence.

“Um...Miss?”

“Hu...Oh yeah, well, about my name. You can call me SBert. So...” Clapping my hands together, I gave them a grin. “are you guys hungry or what?”

Strolling over to Andrea, we walked side by side towards the house.

“SBert?”

“Ya, sounds cool, hu? Now we just have to come up with a name for you.”

Making a look of disgust at me, she replied, “Not if it sounds like that.”

Chuckling at her, we climbed up the steps to the house. Maybe breakfast would be a lot better then the first impression we had.