The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy (4)

Captain Pancake, Sixty Second Flight Girl and Nick started off their search by walking around the block. It was close to dinner time so no one was out on the streets, of course, no puppies were either. “So, “ Nick said, “I’m just wondering, I mean if you don’t mind me asking, how did you start shooting butter and syrup?” “I loved pancakes when I was little. I ate them all the time. Well, you know that expression moms always say, ‘Be careful, if you keep eating that, you’re going to turn into a pancake one day.’” Nick nodded though he was sure his mother had never said that.  “It turns out, my mom was right. When I turned 18, poof, I started dripping syrup and sliding in butter. That’s when my mom sent me to The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy camp and here I am, team leader of a whole bunch of superheroes with really strange powers.”  “There are more of you?” “Sure there are, just wait till you meet all of us,” said Sixty Second Flight Girl, “you’ll be amazed by all of our, well, for lack of a better word….powers.” You could tell by the sound of her voice that Sixty Second Flight Girl was not amazed in the least.

After walking around the neighborhood a bit, the heroes returned to Nick’s house and sat down on the front porch to talk about the case.  “So,” Nick said, “where should we look next?” “That’s a good question Nick, obviously this calls for a plan,” Captain Pancake said in his very important and booming voice. “Sooooo, do you have one?”  “Me? I thought you were the superheroes. You’re supposed to come up with the answers.” “Yes, that’s right and we will, we just wanted to know, you know, if you had any ideas.” Nick slapped his hand to his forehead. “Exactly how many problems have you solved?” “Including this one,” Sixty Second Flight Girl asked. Nick nodded his head. “Let’s see….um…..one, and well, we haven’t really even solved this one yet.”  Nick was suddenly a lot less confident in his new friends. “Is that why I haven’t heard about you before? You aren’t exactly on the news or anything.” Captain Pancake appeared to be examining his fingernails. “You see,” he said, “we live in Middleville too and every town needs its superheroes but we have never really tried to protect and serve before.” “Why not?” Nick asked.  “Well, no one has ever called The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy to solve a case.” “Okay that’s it! We have got to find a better name for your team. Who would want to call? It sounds like you haven’t got a clue.  You need something cool; something that says who you are. Maybe a cool acronym, you know, one of those names where all of the first letters spell out a word or something everyone remembers like LOL, laugh out loud. You need a name that everyone will want to remember. Think about it, The Justice League, now there’s a name. Everyone knows what they stand for.” Captain Pancake cringed at the mention of the famous superhero squad. “Yes but they also have, you know, cool powers.” “I think shooting butter and syrup is pretty cool too,” said Nick, “and any superhero can fly, but flying for sixty second time limits, now that’s hard work.” Sixty Second Flight Girl beamed at the compliment.

Nick’s Lightning Bug phone beeped. “Time for dinner,” Nick said. “Do you want to meet the rest of the gang tomorrow and tell them about the missing puppies?” asked Captain Pancake. “I can’t wait!” said Nick excitedly. “Can you try to think up a plan tonight?” he asked, trying not to beg. “YES! We can do that and we can try to think up a new team name. Let’s go home, Sixty Second Flight Girl. Up, up and up!”  Nick watched his new friends take off, fly and land a few times before his phone beeped again reminding him that dinner was waiting inside. That night, Nick slept a little better knowing that he would see Chewy again soon.