The rest of the ride home was silent, which made me a bit uncomfortable because I was used to chattin� away with Bobo, but right now I didn�t think either one of us was in the mood.
When we finally arrived back at home, I noticed right away that somethin� was wrong. All the lights in the house had been turned on... even the one in MY room. What was Kaylee up to now?
Uncle Billy parked the car in the driveway and paused for a moment. He looked like he was preparin� for somethin�. I just wish he�d do it later, I was tired and actually wanted to go to bed. I bet it was nearly 11:00 at night, three whole hours past my bedtime.
�Okay Alex,� Uncle Bobo suddenly spoke, �I want you to stay with Sean for a while, okay?�
Who? Sean went home... didn�t he?
�Where�s Sean?� I asked. �I thought he went home.�
�No, no. The other Sean.� Uncle Billy sighed, opening his car door and hopping out.
There was another Sean? Oh boy. This was confusing.
I jumped a bit, startled as my door was swung open quickly. I glanced up and saw Mr. Bean peering in.
�Hi Mr. Bean.� I grinned, �Do you know who Sean is?�
Mr. Bean unbuckled my seat belt and lifted me in the air, hoisting me on his shoulders. �Which one?� he asked.
�The one that Uncle Billy said I was supposed to stay with.�
�That, my dear, would be me.� Mr. Bean smiled, chuckling to himself.
Oh. That made sense. I guess Mr.�s are supposed to have first names too... like when people call Uncle Billy �Mr. Boyd�. I think it�s too confusin� though. Oh well.
As Mr. Bean shut the car door, I spotted Orlie, Merry, Elijah, and Bobo talkin� on the front lawn. Orlie spotted me and waved, I just yawned.
�Now Alex, we have a job to do.� Mr. Bean said, interrupting my yawn.
I frowned. �But I wanna go to sleep.�
�Yes, I know you do, but don�t you want to watch Kaylee get her surprise?�
I forgot about that. I grinned wickedly as I thought of all the horrible things that Bobo and the others could do to Kaylee, like... making her listen to Barney music for a whole ten minutes! Or... or makin� her eat pea soup. Yeah, that would be pretty bad... but she deserved it!
We headed to the back of Uncle Billy�s house and I smiled slightly as I heard Uncle Billy explainin� Kaylee�s weird thing about showin� me the pictures of Merry an� Orlie and Elijah. She had a big thing with Elijah. Poor, poor Elijah.
�Hey, ho, to the bottle I go...� Mr. Bean sang quietly. I smiled rememberin� Uncle Bobo singin� it to me the other night. Oh well, I�ll tell you about that later.
Mr. Bean brought me to the back of the house and set me down on the top of the porch steps. I was surprised to see that the backdoor was still a bit open from when I had left earlier. Kaylee didn�t seem to smart.
Mr. Bean was beside me in a flash, I hadn�t even heard him climb the steps either! We both walked on our tip toes and crouched down, peering into the house.
Again, as I said, all the lights were on in the dinin� room. I saw the door leading to the living room on the near right side of the room and guessed that�s where Kaylee was at the moment. I was right because as I moved to my left a bit, I saw a sleepin� lump on the couch. The blonde ponytail gave away who it was... not to mention that all her pictures were spread all over the floor.
Mr. Bean seemed to notice the pictures as well, because I sighed heavily. �Alex,� he whispered, �Is there one of me in amongst the others?�
I nodded solemnly. �Yup.� I replied, �But she didn�t call you Mr. Bean or Sean. She just kept askin� if I knew someone named Boromir and pointed at your picture.�
I saw Mr. Bean cringe a bit, but quickly turned back to the scene in front of me, �cause I heard the front door openin�.
I watched, a bit startled, as Kaylee was on her feet in seconds... no, less then a second. It was faster then a cheetah!
�... and that�s when I said �Not in this lifetime sir�!� I heard Merry�s voice ring out, loud and clear. He sounded different, like when my mum came home from the dentist one time. He slurred his words and emphasized others. He was really talkin� strangely.
I looked at Kaylee and saw her mouth drop and her eyes widen in disbelief. Wow, she really did like these strange guys. But why?
I saw Uncle Billy come into view at this point as he smiled at Kaylee. I could see through the disguise though, I knew he was angry. Very angry.
�Well now Kaylee, how was she tonight?� Uncle Billy asked sounding very happy and normal.
I watched Kaylee blink a few times. �Uh. Um, it went well. Yes, it went very well. Alex is such a sweet girl!� Kaylee said in the cheery voice of hers. It was fake though, I knew the real Kaylee.
�Well that�s good to know...� Uncle Billy started again, but was immediately interrupted as Merry came into view. Kaylee looked shocked as she noticed Merry�s cuts and scrapes.
�Now Bobo, who in the world is this lovely lady?� Merry slurred, staring at Kaylee. I heard Mr. Bean chuckle under his breath.
Why was Merry acting like this? Wasn�t Kaylee supposed to be gettin� in trouble?
Uncle Billy shook his head. �Dom, you really should go lie down you know? After that brawl you got into...�
�You know he was twice as big as me, and I got him good. Isn� that right Bobo?� Merry continued. He then turned to look at Kaylee and winked.
I saw Kaylee turn bright red... She didn�t say anythin� though.
�Dom, please.� Orlie sighed, coming up from behind Merry and placing his hand on his shoulder. Merry whirled around in surprise and looked at Orlie strangely.
�Hey mister guy, who are you?� Merry continued in his weird speech. I gulped. Maybe him helping me out made him hurt his mind.
�Anyway, Kaylee. I�ll just let these guys say goodnight to Alex, and then I�ll pay you afterwards.� Uncle Bobo said, starting towards my room. That was strange, I thought Uncle Billy knew I wasn�t asleep yet.
I watched silently as Uncle Billy walked through the dinin� room towards the bedrooms. Kaylee was hot on his heels and right behind her was Elijah an� Orlie. Merry hung back a bit, stopping in the dinin� room. After everyone else left the room, I saw Merry turn to look at me and Mr. Bean. His face returned to normal, and� not all goofy like it had been and he winked at us.
I smiled. So he was just pretendin� to be strange, good!
�Come on.� Mr. Bean whispered, �Let�s go see what�s going on.�
I nodded and quietly slipped through the backdoor, tip-toeing over to where Merry was standin�, all the while hearing Kaylee talkin� in the next room over.
�Well, actually. I really wouldn�t go in there.� Kaylee spoke quickly, sounding very nervous.
�Look, Kaylee. I�m tired and I would like to go home. But first I want to say goodnight to the little runt. We won�t wake her up.� Elijah whined.
�Well... um... you see, you can�t go check on her because... she just got to sleep! Yeah, she wasn�t able to fall asleep before at all, and now she just got to sleep...� Kaylee rambled on. I grinned �cause I knew she was lyin� and lyin� is wrong.
I heard Uncle Billy sigh. �Look, Kaylee, I know you�re just trying to let her be, but I�m her uncle. I think I have the right to see my niece, whether she�s sleeping or not.�
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up to see Mr. Bean wink at me. There was only silence from the other room.
After a moment, I heard my bedroom door open and...
�WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!?!�
I cringed, burrowing my face into Mr. Bean�s leg. Uncle Billy was yellin�. Again. I wanted to know what happened, I really did!
Merry exited to where the other�s were and a few seconds later, came back in the dinin� room. He looked confused, which could only mean that Kaylee did somethin� to my room.
�Alex,� Merry whispered, kneeling down in front of me, �When you left this house, how did you leave?�
I pointed at the open backdoor.
Merry nodded and returned to the next room.
I was confused. I guess Mr. Bean was too, �cause he seemed to really wanna go and see what was happenin�.
�Well... uh, Mr. Boyd. You see this is the truth. Alex was acting up and would not calm down. She refused to do anything I asked, including taking a bath and even going to bed. She even tried to hit me with... with... a ball!�
What? When did this happen? Where was I... wait. She was lyin�! Again!
�... and she wouldn�t calm down, so I stuck her in her room, and told her to go to bed and to not come out. After a while, I didn�t hear anything from inside the room so I thought she went to sleep. I came to check on her, and I guess she just... um... escaped out the window! She�s not a good child Mr. Boyd. I was surprised when I saw the bed sheets like that...�
The bed sheets? I didn�t touch those. That�s it. I had heard enough.
�That�s not true you liar!� I exclaimed, brakin� away from Mr. Bean and running into the next room.
I saw Elijah in the hallway, but since the floors were hardwood I couldn�t stop in time. I ran into him, but luckily Elijah�s strong, �cause I didn�t knock him over.
I peered into my bedroom and Kaylee, Bobo, Orlie, and Merry stood there looking at me. Kaylee was dumbfounded. Her jaw was hangin� open and her eyes were poppin� out of her head. She looked like a fish.
�You liar! That�s not the truth!� I hollered at her. I put my hands on my hips to make me look tougher as I glared at her. I was very mad now. �First you trick me into hidin� and then you called me a brat. An� now you�re sayin� I hit you with a ball! You�re the worst person ever and...� I paused at this point because Elijah put his hand over my mouth. Dammit.
Uncle Billy turned to look at Kaylee, his eyes narrow. He looked very angry now... too angry. �Kaylee.� He started, using the exact same tone that he had used with Merry when he first saw the white haired guy. �I�m going to give you one chance. Just one. Tell us the truth.�
Kaylee just looked from me, to Uncle Billy, to the rest of the guys.
�Well...�