- All For The Love Of Thomi
- The Resurrection of Joleigh-Anna Kelmann
- The Kingsley Twins - Dalton's Last Stand
CHAPTER ONE
A Pest and A Pet
"Jeoffrey, go pick out two boxes of cereal. Jerrianna, you grab eggs and ice cream, and I'll get the bread and milk."
"And soda!" Jerrianna and I chorused.
"That's near the cereal aisle. Jeoffrey, can you manage that? Might as well get more popcorn, too."
I shot Mom a thumbs up. "Sure, no prob! I'll get a cart."
We split up and I went off to get myself a cart, then hurried toward the middle of Price Chucker. They claim to chuck high prices out the window, but my parents feel they chuck them at us. They had a great cereal selection, though, and I knew just what Jerrianna and I wanted. Martian Mars Balls were the best tasting multigrain cereal ever! Price Chucker's own brand. Usually that sort of thing wasn't as good as any original. But MMB's were terrific even if the name was dumb.
I whipped along the aisle in a hurry to get what we'd come for. We had a family night planned tonight. Even Dad would be home for it. He worked for a computer company and was gone quite a few nights hooking up people's computers and networks. Sometimes he'd have to be gone a few days. Mom missed him a lot then, and so did my twin sister and I. We'd probably play some air hockey because that's Mom's favorite thing. Well, we all enjoy playing, but she really really loves it. We've got a decent table--not a professional sized one or anything like that, but a pretty good one, anyway. We liked to play card games, too. Golf, right now, was everyone's favorite.
I found the MMB's right off and turned to toss 'em into the cart. Bumped right into Ralph Henry Dalton! Man, my night shot down for sure!
"You eat those things?" he asked, poking the boxes in my arms. "Nothing's better than my Mom's French toast! She makes French toast better than the President's chef!"
Well, I didn't know anything about the President's chef, but I did know about my mom's cooking. Probably she was better than his mom, but I didn't say it. Didn't want to sound anything like him! The guy was a complete pest! No one wanted anything to do with him. When he first moved to Northfield in September, everyone was excited. It's a small town and we like it when new people move in.
Not this time.
"Know what else she can make better than anybody in the world? Chocolate chip cookies
and hot chocolate!" Ralph Henry started turning circles beside me. He had a problem standing still. At school, he drove Mrs. Jonesbury, our teacher, crazy. This was her last year at our school for she was heading south to be with her daughter, and she told him that in all her thirty eight years as a teacher she'd never met anyone like him before. He seemed to think it was a compliment.
I waited for a woman with six kids to pass by and then I tossed the MMB's into the cart I'd parked across from the cereal. "Yeah, well my mom bakes stuff good, too! Look, I gotta go. We're having family night tonight. I don't want to waste all my time here."
As usual, he didn't take the hint. Walking in circles right beside me, he followed me to the soda aisle. Grabbing up a jar of the best popcorn as I passed by the shelf it was on, I tried to pretend I was alone in the store.
But it was impossible. He had to tell me all about what his family did."We have family night, too, when my parents are home. Sometimes they're away a lot, so my brother and I get to do what we want when they're gone. He's nineteen. He's the best!" Now he started poking at the bottles of soda on the shelves. Rearranging them when they didn't need to be.
"Well, it can't be the best while your folks're gone. Who's making the French toast then?"
Ralph Henry climbed up the shelves to check out the top one. Hung there by one hand and looked down at me. "Ronny does. He's almost as good a cook as Mom! We do a lot of stuff together. You should come over sometime. You'd have the best time!"
Then he started telling me all about his games, his toys, and his TV set. All the best there is in the world. His video collection included every video known to mankind. In fact, Ralph Henry Dalton thought he was The Best Kid who could do Anything the Best of Anyone and who lived in The Best House on The Best Street in The Best Town of The Best State in the Best Country in the world! His Best Family drove The Best Cars, wore The Best Clothes and on and on and on . . .
By the time I picked out what kind of soda my family liked, I was ready to stuff a grapefruit into Ralph Henry's big mouth. Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if he shut up and let someone else say something. Never does, though.
" . . . and my Dad got us the best computer ever! It's got a 4 gig processor, massive memory and a 200 gig hard drive. I got all the best games on it . . ."
I grit my teeth. Wished I could say Dad had set us up with the best computer ever. But our computer needed upgrades and who knew when that would be! Dad never seemed to get around to working on our machine like he did everyone else's.
Mom came out of the paper plates and napkins aisle and Jerrianna hurried toward us with her stuff and a bag of Granny Smith apples. Our favorites. The BEST! And I thought that thought savagely like someone might take it away from me or try to convince me some other apple beat them out.
"Found a buddy, Jeoffrey?" Mom asked as we met by the macaroni display.
We pulled over to let the mom with all the kids go by. They were bugging her and the baby girl was bawling. I felt sorry for her, but I thought I'd rather be her with all those kids and all that noise than to be me with Ralph Henry's bragging face following me everywhere. I couldn't wait to check out and leave him behind. His hyperness was getting to me, too.
Before I could pipe up and say he wasn't even a friend never mind my buddy, Ralph Henry started right in. "Hi! You Jeoffrey's mom? Hey, hey, I've seen you at the bowling alley! You're the one that beats everyone playing air hockey, aren't you?"
Mom never bragged about that much. She always said if she started parading any of her talents before the world like that, it'd be a sure bet someone would show up to put her in her place in no time flat. And that could happen anytime.
Guess it could. But still, she was good enough to play in official air hockey tournaments if she wanted to. We'd gone to watch a couple and she got to play informally with some of the people in them. They'd been pretty amazed at her abilities and had tried to encourage her to start playing in matches and tournaments. She just said she wanted to keep it fun.
Now she said to Ralph, "They just need practice, Ralph Henry. You play pretty good yourself, I noticed---when you're not showing off."
Ralph Henry beamed, did this dumb little dance. I stared and groaned. My mother had noticed him? And he was good at something . . . which she just now acknowledged? Oh, great! Probably he'd be tossing up the fact my mom thought he was the best forever now! I let my head drop suddenly forward. My night was ruined.
"Don't let him get to you," Jerrianna murmured in my ear. "We're going to have a great time tonight. He won't be there. Stop looking like that, Doom Dork!"
I twisted my neck enough to be able to give her a black look. She shook her head at me and went to put her stuff into Mom's cart.
"Got Jell-O for neck muscles, Jeoffrey?" Mom asked. "Let's head for the check out. Nice meeting you, Ralph Henry. Maybe we can play a game together sometime."
"Ho! That'd be the best! I'll beat you in five minutes! Less!"
Mom smiled. In her look, I could see she'd formed the same impression of him we had. My head rose back up like a weed stealing a big sip of water from petunias as she said in her most casual manner, "You can try."
A Pest and A Pet
"Jeoffrey, go pick out two boxes of cereal. Jerrianna, you grab eggs and ice cream, and I'll get the bread and milk."
"And soda!" Jerrianna and I chorused.
"That's near the cereal aisle. Jeoffrey, can you manage that? Might as well get more popcorn, too."
I shot Mom a thumbs up. "Sure, no prob! I'll get a cart."
We split up and I went off to get myself a cart, then hurried toward the middle of Price Chucker. They claim to chuck high prices out the window, but my parents feel they chuck them at us. They had a great cereal selection, though, and I knew just what Jerrianna and I wanted. Martian Mars Balls were the best tasting multigrain cereal ever! Price Chucker's own brand. Usually that sort of thing wasn't as good as any original. But MMB's were terrific even if the name was dumb.
I whipped along the aisle in a hurry to get what we'd come for. We had a family night planned tonight. Even Dad would be home for it. He worked for a computer company and was gone quite a few nights hooking up people's computers and networks. Sometimes he'd have to be gone a few days. Mom missed him a lot then, and so did my twin sister and I. We'd probably play some air hockey because that's Mom's favorite thing. Well, we all enjoy playing, but she really really loves it. We've got a decent table--not a professional sized one or anything like that, but a pretty good one, anyway. We liked to play card games, too. Golf, right now, was everyone's favorite.
I found the MMB's right off and turned to toss 'em into the cart. Bumped right into Ralph Henry Dalton! Man, my night shot down for sure!
"You eat those things?" he asked, poking the boxes in my arms. "Nothing's better than my Mom's French toast! She makes French toast better than the President's chef!"
Well, I didn't know anything about the President's chef, but I did know about my mom's cooking. Probably she was better than his mom, but I didn't say it. Didn't want to sound anything like him! The guy was a complete pest! No one wanted anything to do with him. When he first moved to Northfield in September, everyone was excited. It's a small town and we like it when new people move in.
Not this time.
"Know what else she can make better than anybody in the world? Chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate!" Ralph Henry started turning circles beside me. He had a problem standing still. At school, he drove Mrs. Jonesbury, our teacher, crazy. This was her last year at our school for she was heading south to be with her daughter, and she told him that in all her thirty eight years as a teacher she'd never met anyone like him before. He seemed to think it was a compliment.
I waited for a woman with six kids to pass by and then I tossed the MMB's into the cart I'd parked across from the cereal. "Yeah, well my mom bakes stuff good, too! Look, I gotta go. We're having family night tonight. I don't want to waste all my time here."
As usual, he didn't take the hint. Walking in circles right beside me, he followed me to the soda aisle. Grabbing up a jar of the best popcorn as I passed by the shelf it was on, I tried to pretend I was alone in the store.
But it was impossible. He had to tell me all about what his family did."We have family night, too, when my parents are home. Sometimes they're away a lot, so my brother and I get to do what we want when they're gone. He's nineteen. He's the best!" Now he started poking at the bottles of soda on the shelves. Rearranging them when they didn't need to be.
"Well, it can't be the best while your folks're gone. Who's making the French toast then?"
Ralph Henry climbed up the shelves to check out the top one. Hung there by one hand and looked down at me. "Ronny does. He's almost as good a cook as Mom! We do a lot of stuff together. You should come over sometime. You'd have the best time!"
Then he started telling me all about his games, his toys, and his TV set. All the best there is in the world. His video collection included every video known to mankind. In fact, Ralph Henry Dalton thought he was The Best Kid who could do Anything the Best of Anyone and who lived in The Best House on The Best Street in The Best Town of The Best State in the Best Country in the world! His Best Family drove The Best Cars, wore The Best Clothes and on and on and on . . .
By the time I picked out what kind of soda my family liked, I was ready to stuff a grapefruit into Ralph Henry's big mouth. Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if he shut up and let someone else say something. Never does, though.
" . . . and my Dad got us the best computer ever! It's got a 4 gig processor, massive memory and a 200 gig hard drive. I got all the best games on it . . ."
I grit my teeth. Wished I could say Dad had set us up with the best computer ever. But our computer needed upgrades and who knew when that would be! Dad never seemed to get around to working on our machine like he did everyone else's.
Mom came out of the paper plates and napkins aisle and Jerrianna hurried toward us with her stuff and a bag of Granny Smith apples. Our favorites. The BEST! And I thought that thought savagely like someone might take it away from me or try to convince me some other apple beat them out.
"Found a buddy, Jeoffrey?" Mom asked as we met by the macaroni display.
We pulled over to let the mom with all the kids go by. They were bugging her and the baby girl was bawling. I felt sorry for her, but I thought I'd rather be her with all those kids and all that noise than to be me with Ralph Henry's bragging face following me everywhere. I couldn't wait to check out and leave him behind. His hyperness was getting to me, too.
Before I could pipe up and say he wasn't even a friend never mind my buddy, Ralph Henry started right in. "Hi! You Jeoffrey's mom? Hey, hey, I've seen you at the bowling alley! You're the one that beats everyone playing air hockey, aren't you?"
Mom never bragged about that much. She always said if she started parading any of her talents before the world like that, it'd be a sure bet someone would show up to put her in her place in no time flat. And that could happen anytime.
Guess it could. But still, she was good enough to play in official air hockey tournaments if she wanted to. We'd gone to watch a couple and she got to play informally with some of the people in them. They'd been pretty amazed at her abilities and had tried to encourage her to start playing in matches and tournaments. She just said she wanted to keep it fun.
Now she said to Ralph, "They just need practice, Ralph Henry. You play pretty good yourself, I noticed---when you're not showing off."
Ralph Henry beamed, did this dumb little dance. I stared and groaned. My mother had noticed him? And he was good at something . . . which she just now acknowledged? Oh, great! Probably he'd be tossing up the fact my mom thought he was the best forever now! I let my head drop suddenly forward. My night was ruined.
"Don't let him get to you," Jerrianna murmured in my ear. "We're going to have a great time tonight. He won't be there. Stop looking like that, Doom Dork!"
I twisted my neck enough to be able to give her a black look. She shook her head at me and went to put her stuff into Mom's cart.
"Got Jell-O for neck muscles, Jeoffrey?" Mom asked. "Let's head for the check out. Nice meeting you, Ralph Henry. Maybe we can play a game together sometime."
"Ho! That'd be the best! I'll beat you in five minutes! Less!"
Mom smiled. In her look, I could see she'd formed the same impression of him we had. My head rose back up like a weed stealing a big sip of water from petunias as she said in her most casual manner, "You can try."
Author News:
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