“Pump it! Pump it! Kick it with your right leg. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Now with your left leg. One. Two. Three…”
Trixie watched the kickboxing aerobics instructor hop and jump around while trying to keep up. Why I ever opted to take this class is beyond me, she thought to herself.
Honey and Diana, as tall and thin as they were, had no problem looking graceful while they dripped with sweat. She hadn’t a prayer of ever looking graceful.
Looking up at the clock, Trixie groaned as she realized that there was still ten minutes left of the class. These are the slowest ten minutes ever recorded in the history of man.
The nice long shower after class was all that Trixie needed. Never had she felt so worked out. Standing in the hot water with her eyes shut, she let the soapy water run down over her body. As the locker room grew quiet, she overheard Diana and Honey chatting about their dates last weekend with Mart and Brian.
Diana looked in the mirror in the locker room and ran a brush through her long black hair. “So, any little hints as to what this party is for tonight down at the boathouse?”
Honey grinned. “I’m not telling you. Just show up in your swimming suit.”
“Oh pooh,” she pouted. “Not a teeny little hint?”
“Don’t make me smack you,” Honey said sternly as she shook her hairbrush at her. “I’m well armed with a brush and hair dryer, and I’m not afraid to use them!”
“You wouldn’t attack an unarmed girl, would you?”
“After all that kick boxing, I’m feeling ready for another round, actually.” Honey flipped her hair back and turned on the hair dryer. “So, no more questions.”
Diana shrugged and began putting her make up on.
Honey turned her hair dryer off and looked at Diana. “And no asking Trixie because she doesn’t know, either.”
“Jiminy Cricket, Mart, don’t you ever clean anything up in here?” Mrs. Belden shouted from down the hallway at Crabapple Farm.
“What now, Moms?” Mart called as he climbed up the stairs.
Mrs. Belden came through his bedroom door with box.
“In the process of changing your sheets I have found three pairs of socks, all of which I’m sure have been there since your last visit.” She reached in with a pencil and pulled up a sock. “And, while cleaning out the dust bunnies, I came across this.” She reached into the box again.
“Moms, there’s a perfectly good explanation for that,” Mart replied quickly before had a chance to see what his mother was going to pull out of the box. “It was a bet. You know how college guys are, Moms. We’re constantly betting or daring each other to do or eat things.”
“You were going to eat these?” she asked as she pulled out a bouquet of dead flowers.
“Uh…um…” Mart searched for the right words. “Those were for Diana, actually…I was wondering what had happened to those. I suppose I shouldn’t give them to her now, right?”
“If you value your life, no.”
“I’ll take these, Moms. Sorry my room’s a big mess.”
“Your room’s pristine compared to Bobby’s.” She turned away to head back down the hall but stopped. “By the way, what was this bet that is supposed to be under your bed?”
“Ah, nothing, Moms.” Mart said as he blushed and hurried into his old room.
“Someone’s gotta death wish!” Regan roared from the stable.
Trixie and Honey looked at each other and blinked. They were on their way to the lake when they heard a commotion coming from the stable. A sudden thought struck Honey as her skin paled.
“I wonder what’s got him so upset?” Trixie asked her friend.
“Ben Riker is here for the week,” she said slowly and covered her face. “I don’t even want to know what just happened.”
Meekly, the girls peeked in the doorway to see Regan, red as a beet, standing in the tack room tightly clutching a small bottle.
“Regan,” Honey said quietly. “What’s wrong?”
Regan turned and glared at Honey. “This kind of joke isn’t funny! I have no proof of who’s responsible, but I think I have a pretty good idea!” Trying to control his temper, he thrust the bottle into Honey’s trembling hands. “You can tell that cousin of yours that he better not be seen around this stable…EVER!”
Honey looked beyond Regan’s broad shoulders to Jupiter’s stall. “Regan, I hate to tell you your job, but I think you should keep your voice down. Jupiter’s getting nervous.”
“That’s not nervous, Honey,” Regan said, a bit calmer this time as he pointed to the bottle in Honey’s hands.
“So, it’s a bottle of Viagra,” Honey said with a shrug. As soon as the words came out, her eyes got wide as she understood what Regan was talking about.
Trixie swore she saw steam coming out of the groom’s ears.
“The Viagra isn’t the worst part of the joke, Honey,” Regan said as he pointed to Jupiter’s stall. “The worst part is that it was given to Jupe!”
Honey understood as she saw Jupiter rearing and banging up against the stall door in an attempt to get out.
“I tell you, Honey, your cousin better steer clear of me or else I’ll…”
“Regan, don’t get mad,” Honey said with a twinkle in her eye as she opened the bottle and one blue pill came rolling out onto her hand. “Looks like Ben forgot one.”
Regan put his hands on his hips and thought about it for a while. Soon, his temper had subsided as a smile crept up on his face. “Let’s do it.” (Get your minds out of the gutter! *g*)
Trixie helped herself to a large watermelon slice. “Yummy,” she said as she smacked her lips and took a big bite.
The other Bob-Whites sprawled out on the grass. The afternoon breeze lightly brushed itself through their hair and across their bodies.
“What was Regan hollering about?” Jim asked. “I figured that I best stay out of the way, so I didn’t ask.”
Trixie giggled. “You’re never going to believe this, Jim,” she said as she popped a watermelon chunk in his mouth. “Ben fed Jupe some Viagra and Regan was going ballistic.”
Jim’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. “He did what?” he yelped.
“Viagra’s not going to kill him,” Honey said. “They give that stuff to racing dogs to make them run faster.”
“Ben’s a dead man,” Jim said with a chuckle. “Speaking of him, where is he anyway? I thought he was invited down to the lake with us.”
“Oh he is,” Honey said with a grin. “But I told him to come down later. We have to get official business out of the way first.” She stood and climbed up on the picnic table.
“Ladies and gents,” Mart announced in a deep voice. “Here to make a BWG announcement is our own Honey Wheeler!”
The Bob-Whites clapped.
“Here, here!” Dan called.
Honey grinned. “It was seven years ago, today, that five of us made a decision that would change our lives forever. We vowed to be brothers and sisters and to help each other out at all costs. All for one and one for all. Trixie, Brian, Mart, Jim, and I each had a brainstorm and came up with a semi-secret club. Happy anniversary, Bob-Whites!”
As they clapped at Honey’s announcement, the Bob-Whites smiled and congratulated each other.
“As one of the original Bob-Whites, I have a certain amount of seniority,” Mart added with a grin. “And I suggest we eat!”
Instantly, the potato salad, fried chicken, lemonade and chocolate cake appeared on the picnic table, and Brian and Dan started the hamburgers on the grill. Still, there was no sign of Ben.
“He’s probably going to show up right after everything’s prepared,” Trixie said. “Which is just what we are counting on!”
Honey winked at her and continued to fill the glasses with ice and lemonade.
“What are you guys going to do?” Diana asked. “You’re not going to hurt him, are you?”
“Whatever gives you that idea?” Trixie asked with mock innocence. “We’d never do anything to hurt Ben.”
“Talk about perfect timing,” Honey whispered to Trixie as Brian set the platter of grilled hamburgers down on the table. Ben stepped out of the Manor House’s front doors and headed for the lake.
“Quick!” Trixie whispered as Honey produced the small blue pill. Very lightly, she crushed it with a spoon and sprinkled it on top of the meat patty and handed the finished burger to Mart.
“I don’t want that!” Mart hissed. “This joke is on Ben, not me!”
“Cool it, Mart! If Ben does what I think he’ll do…” Honey stifled her response as Ben came jogging down the trail.
“Hey guys!” he called. As he came up to the table, he eyed all the good food. Just as Honey expected, he reached over and grabbed Mart’s burger, replacing it with a wad of chewed gum.
“To commemorate our seven year anniversary,” Honey announced later, after everyone was finished with his or her picnic dinner, “I thought we could have a little fun!”
She stepped inside the boathouse’s back door and carried out a small black radio. Next, she produced an extension cord. “Karoke!”
“Oh, good grief!” Trixie moaned.
Brian and Mart gave a collective sigh.
Dan remained calm. Maybe if I don’t say anything and keep still, they’ll forget I’m here and won’t ask me to sing.
Diana squealed with delight.
Ben jumped up from the picnic table. “I would like to start this little shindig off with a sweet little song about a sweet little girl.” Ben rifled through some of Honey’s karoke CDs. “Ah! Here we go!”
He put the disc in and tapped the microphone. Little echoes came out as Honey made adjustments.
Ben struck a pose just as the song began.
“Wait!” Honey called and dashed into the boathouse. A second later she came out carrying a hula-hoop. “Use this!”
Ben grinned. “Anything for flesh and blood.” He bent down to restart the song and struck the pose again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
I think I did it again
I made you believe we're more than just friends
Oh baby
It might seem like a crush
But it doesn't mean that I'm serious
'Cause to lose all my senses
That is just so typically me
The Bob-Whites cheered and made catcalls as Ben sang and danced while swinging a hula-hoop.
Oops! I did it
again
I played with your heart, got lost in the game
Oh baby, baby
Oops! You think
I'm in love
That I'm sent from above
I'm not that innocent
Suddenly, it was right there in front of them. The little blue pill was taking effect on Ben. He didn’t realize it and kept on singing. Ben continued to ham up his act and make eyes with the girls, totally oblivious to what was happening.
You see my problem is this
I'm dreaming away
Wishing that heroes, they truly exist
I cry, watching the days
Can't you see I'm a fool in so many ways
But to lose all my senses
That is just so typically me
Baby, oh
None of the Bob-Whites really knew what to do or say other than the fact that they really didn’t know how Ben didn’t notice what was happening.
Oops! I did it
again
I played with your heart, got lost in the game
Oh baby, baby
The music continued to play but Ben stopped. His face was flushing a bright pink. He looked down to his swimming trunks and in an instant saw what all the catcalls were for. Looking up at his audience, he realized that they were all laughing at him.
“Hey sailor,” Diana cooed as she handed him a fifty-dollar bill and winked.
Frozen in his tracks, Ben stood rooted to his spot. Ben was always quick with a retort about anything, but for right now, he was speechless.
“Smile, Ben,” called a voice from the boathouse. “You’re on Candid Camera!”
Regan emerged from the wooden boathouse holding a video camera up to his eye. “Hey, sporto! Let’s see another dance like that!”
Ben dropped the fifty-dollar bill and ran into the woods, yelping as he went.
“What’s up, big guy?” Mart after him. “No encore?”
“Encore! Encore!” everyone shouted after him.
Author’s notes:
Again, no right to use the Trixie Belden characters. And, if Western Publishing Company comes after me, I have them know I can snap the Scorpion Death Lock on any one of them in seconds flat. (Not that I’ve done that before…)
Thanks again to the woman “who’ll make it after all” in D.C., Mary who will probably behead me if she has to correct another one of my comma errors…
Things that are not mine but I used them anyway:
Jiminy Cricket is a creation of Walt Disney and is owned by Disney.
Viagra belongs to Bob Dole and should never be used without a prescription. “Talk to your doctor to see if Viagra is right for you!”
Karoke is a trademark of something or someone. All I know is that it seems as if no party is complete without embarrassing your friends by making them sing really lousy songs in front of people…and one of those lousy songs happens to be:
“Oops! I did it again” by Brittany Spears. It is advisable that you should never sing that in public. Anyone who knows the effects of the atom bomb knows how dangerous a Brittany song can be. (P.S. Brittany Spears is also a pert little friend of Bob Dole, just like his little blue friend…and we’re not talking about Pepsi, either.)
“Smile! You’re on Candid Camera” is a line from “Candid Camera”, famous TV show from the seventies. I can’t for the life of me think of who hosted it. It’ll come to me at about midnight or there-abouts…
Now, before everyone binds me up, gags me, and roasts me over a spit for not continuing the scene with Jim and Trixie in the last one, there’s something y’all should know. I can’t write it. I just…can’t. Maybe someday when I’m all liquored up I’ll write it…
Pepsi, used in the author’s notes was used without
permission. I’m thinking young today,
and so that’s why I used it without permission. Great plug, eh?