Chapter 10: Black Cow or Boiled Leaves?
The bright rays of sunlight penetrated Cindy's thin eyelids first. Grudgingly, she opened her eyes. She noticed that someone's hand was slung over her waist. She rolled around to see that it was Jimmy's.
"Ew!" she whispered while backing away from him. She quickly scolded herself for the harsh reaction. She stared at his closed eyes and noticed how peaceful he seemed. It appeared that all of his problems disappeared whenever he slipped into unconsciousness.
As soon as she took her eyes off of Jimmy, she looked up at the sun. It took her a moment to realize exactly why it was bothering her so much. She immediately began to shake Jimmy. "Jimmy! Wake up, Neutron!" she shouted into his ear.
"The covenant!" he screamed while jumping up. He glanced around quickly before remembering where he was. "Cindy, what the hell is the matter?"
Cindy pointed straight up at the sun. Jimmy immediately realized her point. He looked at the clock in the hover car. "It's ten o'clock in the morning! We've been asleep for eight hours!" he shouted as loud as he could.
"Buckle up," he instructed Cindy.
"Good morning to you too," she mumbled while clicking in her seatbelt. "This is just great, Neutron. We left Libby alone with Sheen and Carl. Those two idiots tried to amputate her leg the other day!"
"Hey!" Jimmy shouted, immediately coming to the defense of his best friend. "It was Sheen's idea, and Carl was trying to talk him out of it!" He nervously tapped his fingers against the steering wheel while navigating through the twisting streets. "I left Sheen and Carl in charge of my lab! Dear god, who knows what they could have done."
"Libby's probably crawling around trying to get some help while everyone else is partying!" Cindy shouted.
"LET'S NOT PANIC!" Jimmy shouted while kicking his hover car into turbo drive. "We'll be home in just a few minutes," Jimmy explained as calmly as he could.
Cindy calmed herself down as she lay back in her seat. Sheen and Carl were stupid, but they weren't dangerous. They're not dangerous. I'm almost sure of that. For the next several moments she tried to clear her mind, and was finally serene when Jimmy's shocked voice brought her back.
"God damn she's good," he muttered while shaking his head in amazement. When Cindy opened her eyes she reiterated his point.
"Well, alright then," Cindy said while shaking her head in amazement. She and Jimmy jumped out of the hover car, leaving it in the middle of the street. It wasn't as if any cars were being used in the city. They walked onto Jimmy's front lawn.
Libby was hobbling along the grass with a walking stick in both hands. In front of the entrance to Jimmy's lab were several grills. Sheen was busy flipping bacon, eggs, pancakes, and basically every breakfast food imaginable. Everyone was sitting down on the grass, eating their breakfast.
Cindy and Jimmy walked up to Libby. "Hey guys," she said cheerfully while struggling to hobble over to them. "You two were out late last night. What were you doing?"
Jimmy and Cindy stared at each other, silently discussing whether or not they should tell the others what they had found. Not yet, Jimmy thought while giving a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. Cindy took the hint.
"Oh, we just went around the town to check the security cameras and find out what damaged them."
Libby stared at her. "What?"
"She was out of it before we started that stuff," Jimmy explained to Cindy. "Maybe you should catch her up. On the cameras," Jimmy instructed.
"Sure, Jimmy," Cindy said while leading Libby away from him. "You've missed a lot, Libs," Cindy began to explain while taking her best friend for a walk through the yard.
Jimmy strolled over to Sheen, who cracked four more eggs onto a grill. He flipped two pancakes onto a plate and filled a cup of orange juice. He then hit a bell on top of the grill in front of him, completely unaware of Jimmy's presence. "Two blowout patches and a hug one!" he shouted.
"What the heck are you…" Jimmy tried to ask, but Carl came running by.
"Sheen, Ike wants a biddy board with a hen nut, a mystery in the alley, and an Atlanta special," Carl quickly told Sheen.
Sheen shook his head while immediately getting to work. "An Atlanta special at ten in the morning? You sure he didn't want an Adam's Ale?"
Carl smiled. "How could I mix those two up?" he asked while grabbing the orange juice and flapjacks and running off.
Jimmy took a moment to absorb all of this before shaking his head. "What the hell are you two doing?"
Sheen flipped another flapjack into the air and caught it on another plate. He hit the bell and shouted, "Another blowout patch!" to Carl. He then bent back down and continued staring at the grill. "I'm making breakfast, James. What have you been doing all night, gallivanting around with your girlfriend?"
Jimmy scowled while grabbing a piece of toast off of a plate. "When," he asked while taking a bite, "did you learn how to cook?"
Sheen smiled a little. "Not all of us took sewing, ok? The manly choice was to take cooking if woodshop was full."
Jimmy swallowed his dry bread and glared at Sheen. "Alright, whatever. Did Libby organize all of this?"
Sheen nodded. He rang the bell once again. "Burn the British with skid grease for the PITA!" Carl came running up and grabbed the food. "Libby got up early and told me, Carl, and Nick to get some food. She sent a few girls out to get grills, plates, and all that stuff. With my cooking expertise and Carl's excellent obedience, things have been going quite well," he explained to Jimmy.
"Nick, take over!" he shouted. Nick came running up and continued Sheen's work. Sheen grabbed a chocolate doughnut out of a box on the ground and grabbed Jimmy's shoulder. "Let's go for a walk," he said while leading him to the backyard.
"Alright," Jimmy said as Sheen led him through the grass. He noticed how long it was. His dad had been planning to cut the lawn today. "What's up?"
Sheen took another bite of his doughnut and swallowed. "Libby's a really good leader. Everyone assumes she's third in charge around here, after you and Cindy. But she doesn't know what's going on. The kids aren't feeling too great. You notice that?"
Jimmy nodded. He had felt a certain despair in his yard's atmosphere when he and Cindy had pulled up. "Yeah, people did seem kind of bummed."
"You and Cindy are going to have to talk to them later." He paused for a moment. "And, well, I need to ask a favor."
Jimmy finished his toast and threw the crust on the ground. "Shoot."
Sheen cleared his throat. "Well, I, uh, looked around your house and a few others, but I couldn't find any crutches or wheelchairs for Libby. Could I borrow your hover car and drive to the hospital to grab some?"
Jimmy didn't even think about it. He took the keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Sheen. "How is Libby feeling, by the way?"
Sheen and Jimmy both stared at her as they rounded the house. She was sitting next to Cindy on the lawn with her leg stretched out in front of her. She coughed for a moment before nodding in response to Cindy's explanation of last night's events.
"Pretty good, I guess," Sheen told Jimmy.
Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck before heading to the entrance of the lab. "I've got to work some stuff out. I'll talk to the kids around noon," he said while entering the clubhouse and closing the door shut behind him.