The Rescue
Alicia, Ellie, Julie, Eby, Brenda, Donna, Lizbeth, Mandie, and Rita were gathered outside of Sofie’s home, hiding in the shrubbery, disguised as various plants and bushes.
“Okay,” said Alicia, in a whisper, “first we get rid of the son, then we have to get through the cellar door before Sofie learns we’re here.”
Nods of assent were given all around.
“Can we get on with it, these leaves are making me itch,” said Ellie, scratching her neck around the collar of leaves and twigs she wore.
“What are we going to do about Mr. martial-arts booby-trap man?” asked Brenda watching Sofie’s son through her binoculars. (Since Sofie did not post the name of this (fictional?) son, we have no definite way of referring to him.)
“What’s he doing?” asked Mandie.
“He’s flinging kids off the front porch,” replied Brenda. Then all the girls looked up to see a couple of pre-schoolers flying overhead. They landed safely in some soft brush, laughing, and ran back to the house for another
“Oh yeah, he seems really scary,” said Donna.
“Eby, status?” said Alicia
Eby looked to the screen of her laptop that was connected to a cell phone and online at the DWG website. “She just posted something. She’s online.”
“Perfect.”
“I’ll just keep responding to her posts to keep her engaged,” said Eby.
Just then a whistling noise was heard and Alicia removed a tea pot from the fire. She opened a ring on her finger and spilled some powder into the tea.
“Alright Rita, just take this,” said Alicia, handing her the tea pot, “and get him to drink some.”
“Why do I have to deliver the poisoned tea?”
“It’s not poison, it’ll just put him to sleep for a couple of hours. And, you are the tea server, remember? Anyway I’m sure she’s warned him not to take tea from me.’’
“Fine,” said Rita with a resigned sigh.
“Good luck,” said Ellie. Then, “oh Rita, wait.” Rita turned back and Ellie helped her remove her tree disguise.
Then Lizbeth gave Rita a small microphone to be attached under her shirt. That done, she said, “now, just be casual, and charming,” and gave Rita an encouraging look.
“Right,” replied Rita as she walked towards the house.
All of a sudden Eby started laughing out loud. When everyone looked at her she said, “what? someone posted something funny.”
“Just remember the reward, Eby, it starts with a D and ends with a Y, and all you have to do is keep Sofie occupied online,” said Mandie.
“Okay, I’m doing it. Look she just posted something else.”
“What’s going on?” asked Lizbeth of Brenda, who was watching Rita through the binoculars.
“She’s walking up to him and saying something.”
“Why didn’t we all bring binoculars?” asked Donna.
“I don’t know,” said Brenda, “Ebony was in charge of supplies.” They all looked at Eby again, but she was not paying attention because she had fallen out of her chair and was rolling on the floor (er, ground) laughing out loud.
Brenda handed the binoculars to Donna as Lizbeth turned on the equipment to hear Rita’s conversation.
Rita said, “hi there.”
“Um, hi,” said the son of Sofie, as he threw a couple more kids off the porch.
“Whatcha doing?”
“Just, you know, tossing kids off the porch.”
“Is it fun?”
“For them.”
“Not for you?”
“Not really. I’d rather be indoors surfing the internet, but my mom makes me stand out here to keep watch while she hogs the computer.”
“Oh. What are you watching for?”
Then he looked at her suspiciously. “Why are you carrying a tea pot?” By now some of the children had retrned, giggling, and he tossed them again.
“Oh,” she said looking at the tea pot, “I just, um, thought you might, er, like some tea.”
“I don’t drink tea.”
Rita gave a frustrated sigh. Of course, he doesn’t drink tea. Why didn’t anyone plan for that? “What do you drink?” she asked him sweetly.
“Oh, you know, other stuff.”
“Well, why don’t you just try some?”
“Are you one of those,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, “dwiggies?”
Rita feigned ignorance, “a what?”
“Oh that was good,” said Brenda, as Donna handed her back the binoculars, “she’s very convincing.”
“A dwiggie,” repeated the Karate Kid.
Rita laughed, “what in the world is a dwiggie?”
“I’m not sure, but my mom just said to watch out for strange women, especially if they’re bearing tea pots and tapping their feet.”
Rita stilled her ever-moving toes, and silently cursed Alicia for fixing the thermos idea.
“I think your mom is just paranoid,” said Rita, “I mean, she obviously just doesn’t want you to have a chance to use the computer.”
“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully, “so you’re not here looking for HIM?”
Rita was a bit discomposed by the mention of HIM, but she quickly recovered, “HIM who?” she asked coolly.
“Hey, did those trees over there move?” asked the kid flinger.
“Oh, that’s just the jostling of the bushes, when the kids land,” said Rita quickly.
“Right,” he replied.
“Okay, she needs some reinforcement,” said Alicia, “any ideas?”
“We could make him thirsty,” said Ellie.
“I just happen to have this habenero pepper,” added Mandie.
“Great, Julie, take it over there and get him to eat it.”
“How am I supposed to get him to eat it?” asked Julie.
“I don’t know, you’re a writer, make something up.”
“Don’t forget to remove your leaves,” said Ellie, giving her a hand.
Lizbeth added, “and lean towards Rita when you talk, I don’t have any more microphones.”
“Sure,” said Julie, as she sauntered up to the house carrying the pepper.
“Hi,” said Julie when she arrived at the porch.
“Hi,” said Rita.
“Hi,” said the martial artist.
“Um, who are you?” asked Rita.
“Oh, me? um, I was just, you know, walking by and I was just, ah, wondering if either of you could, er, tell me what kind of pepper this is.”
“Sure,” said Rita, “that’s a ha . . .” Julie stomped on Rita’s already aching foot and shook her head. “Right, um, I have no idea,” said Rita.
“Do you know?” asked Julie tUming to Sofie’s son.
“Well, I’d have to taste it,” he said, “but I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“Who me?” asked Julie innocently.
“You’re not after him are you?”
“After who?” asked Julie.
The son looked around then moved close to the two girls and whispered, “Darcy.”
It took all their willpower to appear not to know of whom the young man was speaking.
“Isn’t that a girl’s name?” asked Julie.
“Ooh, that was very clever,” commented Donna.
“It’s his last name,” replied the son of Sofie.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” said Rita, strenuously controlling her foot from tapping. “I told you, your mom is paranoid.”
“Maybe she is, but there have been noises coming from the cellar.”
“Well, did she warn you against eating peppers?” asked Julie, impatiently.
“Well, no, she didn’t say anything about peppers.”
“Alright then,” said Julie offering the pepper.
He hesitated for a moment, then took the pepper and ate it. Then his face went red and he grabbed the tea from Rita and took a big gulp. Just as he fell to the floor asleep he muttered, “habenero.”
Alicia, Lizbeth, Ellie, Eby, Donna, Mandie, and Brenda joined the others on the porch with all haste, having shed their disguises.
“Now what?” asked Donna.
“Now we find the entrance to the cellar,” said Brenda.
“Wait,” said Ellie, “what about the booby traps.”
Just then Eby was crying and wiping her tears with a tissue, saying, “that is so sad,” as she read another story.
“Is she still on line?” asked Mandie.
“Um, yeah,” said Eby, blowing her nose.
“I think Sofie was bluffing when she mentioned the booby traps,” said Alicia as she stepped off the porch. Just then, the ground under her gave out and Donna and Mandie each quickly grabbed one of her arms and prevented her from falling into a large ten foot deep hole that had been cleverly covered by tree branches and foliage.
“That was close,” said Lizbeth, as the girls looked down to see a bunch of large toads at the bottom.
“Yuck,” said Alicia, “thanks girls.”
“No problem,” said Donna and Mandie.
“So the booby traps were a bluff?” asked Ellie, looking pointedly at Alicia.
Alicia just shrugged.
Just then two children came giggling back to the house and looked sadly at Sofie’s son lying asleep on the porch with a huge grin on his face. Then Donna had an idea, “hey kids, do you know anything about any booby traps around here?”
“Sure,” said the little boy, “Sofie’s son showed us where they all are.”
“Great, and do you know where the cellar door is?” asked Ellie.
“No,” said the little boy.
“I do,” said the girl.
“Perfect,” said Lizbeth, “let’s go.”
The children led the way through Sofie’s yard and around her house, avoiding various perils, until they reached a door that had several chains and locks on it.
“I’ll use my hairpins,” said Mandie.
“I’ll kick it in,” said Donna.
“I’ll remove the hinges,” said Brenda.
“I’ll get the bulldozer,” said Rita.
“No,” yelled Eby, “you might hurt him if you use the bulldozer.”
“Is she still online?” asked Mandie again.
Eby checked her computer, “she hasn’t posted for five minutes, but I think she’s reading a long chapter.”
Ellie put her ear to the door and reported that she could hear muffled sounds coming from inside, while Mandie was able to unlock most of the padlocks with her hairpins and remove the chains. There was one lock remaining, on the door itself, a dead bolt.
Just then a “moo” sound was heard coming from one of the upstairs windows, followed by a wicked cackling noise. Everyone looked up and Mandie climbed on Donna’s shoulders to look inside the window. “It’s Sofie, at her computer,” she reported.
“I thought the computer was on the other side of the house,” said Alicia, looking at Rita.
“That’s what I was told,” she replied innocently.
“She must be writing about Caroline,” said Lizbeth.
Meanwhile, the children had been playing on the ground near the door.
“Hey what’s this?” asked the little boy as he picked something shiny up off the ground. He held up a very unique-looking key that was attached to a string.
“It’s the key,” said Alicia, “she must have dropped it.” Then she asked the boy, “may we have it?”
“I’ll trade you for it.”
Alicia dug into her pockets, but all she had in them was lint. “I don’t have anything,” she said. Then looking to her companions, she said, “quick do any of you have something he might want to trade?”
Everyone dug into their pockets, but no one had anything. Just then Alicia remembered her backpack where they had carried all their gear. “Are you hungry?” she asked the little boy.
“Starving,” he replied.
Then she pulled a plastic container out of her bag and handed it to him.
“Mmmm,” he said, “cucumber sandwiches, my favorite,” and he handed her the key.
Alicia made quick business of unlocking the deadboit. But even after the last lock was dislodged, the door wouldn’t budge. Donna tried kicking it but it did not move. Mandie tried her karate kick, but it did not move. Brenda removed the hinges, but it did not move. Then Donna and Mandie kicked it again, together, and without the hinges it caved in.
“Great teamwork,” said Lizbeth.
The girls rushed into the cellar and found a man in a chair, tied up with, curiously enough, string, and wearing a black hood over his head. As they untied him, they heard footsteps on the stairs, and they did not have time to remove the hood. Grabbing his arms they pulled him along and out the door, with Sofie on their heels.
"Elizabeth?” came a voice from behind the hood.
“Oh that voice!” said Eby, smiling.
Once they were outside again, Julie said, “we need a get away vehicle.”
“The bulldozer,” said Rita.
Everyone piled in and they drove off in the bulldozer. They looked back and saw that Sofie ran after them for a bit, then stopped and watched them go, shaking her fist at them. When they reached a safe distance, they stopped and helped HIM out of the bulldozer. The ladies stood watching him as Alicia removed his hood. All the girls gasped and then swooned. He watched them dropping to the ground around him, looking carefully at each one. “No, none of them is Elizabeth,” he said sadly. Just then his story pager started beeping. He looked at the code that told him what story it was and said, “ah, Novel Hopping, it’s about time.” He knew he had to get home to put on his best Regency outfit for the scene he was about to be in; but, before he left, he awakened each of the girls, thanked them for his freedom and kissed them each once on the cheek.
© 2002 Copyright held by the author.