The Ones You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy (5)

Meanwhile…

Across town, a phone rang. “Yeah boss?” “Have you two bumble brains finished the burglary?” “Not yet boss, it’s a lot of work.” “WELL why are we waiting!” screamed the man on the other end. Slamming the phone down, he said, “I don’t know why I invested in idiots!” He turned in his chair, stared out the window and looked out at the city. He rubbed his hands together gleefully, thinking of the wonderful things to come.

…….

Nick remembered to ask his mom and dad if he could go to CP’s house after school the next day. He waited until they were painting again and he was on his way to bed. The last thing he wanted was to answer a bunch of questions about his new friends that no one would ever believe anyway. As Nick suspected, his parents were so happy that he had a new friend and that he wasn’t crying about Chewy that they automatically said yes. Nick left the room in a hurry before they could think to ask anything. When his mom checked on him a little while later, Nick was fast asleep, dreaming of the next day’s adventures.

The school day was always long to Nick but this day seemed to last forever.  At recess Kate had asked Nick if he wanted to go to the playground after school, like they did every Friday. Nick felt bad when he had to tell her that he was busy. “Busy? Busy doing what?”  Nick took her hand and pulled her away from all the other kids. Kate blushed. “I’m meeting ‘The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy’.”  “The who…the what?”  “It’s the group of superheroes that I called to help me find Chewy.” Kate stamped her foot. “If you don’t want to tell me, fine, but you don’t have to go around making up stories!” “I’m not, I promise.” Nick said, annoyed that Kate wouldn’t listen to him. Kate blew her long brown hair out of her eyes where it always seemed to fall, hiding half her face. It drove the teachers crazy. “Nick, superheroes do NOT exist.” “They do, honest.” “Then show me!” “I can’t show you yet, they’re kind of shy.” “UGH!”Kate screamed and walked away. He didn’t notice Kate staring at him as he watched the clock, the minute hand moving in slow motion, waiting for the bell to tell them that school was out. After school, Nick rushed home as fast as the bus could take him; threw his backpack in the door; yelled to his mom that he had his Lightning Bug and that he would call later and ran back out the door. He rushed to the corner of his street and looked toward the sky searching for signs of The Ones You Call When Everyone Else is Busy. Nick never expected to hear a horn beeping at him from the most beat up small yellow school bus that he had ever seen. The doors opened. “Come on Nick,” said Captain Pancake, “Today we ride in style! We call it the Cheese Bus.”  Nick shook his head and climbed aboard the bus. Not only did this team need a new name, they definitely needed a new ride.

Captain Pancake drove to a store that had long since been abandoned on the other side of town. The store front faced an alley that had a dead end on one side. The windows and the door were covered in brown paper. Nick wasn’t really sure why anyone would open a store there. It’s probably why it had been deserted, he thought. Captain Pancake parked the bus, carefully checked the mirrors to make sure no one was watching and quickly walked off with Nick following. In front of the door was a mailbox. Captain Pancake opened the lid, and pressed his finger on a panel inside. The door did not open. He tried again and again the door did not open. “Sorry, this is rather embarrassing,” he said, “syrup leak. It happens a lot. Never fear!” He quickly whipped a wet cloth out of his utility belt, wiped off his finger and tried again. This time, the door opened toward them. “That’s really cool.” Nick said, and he meant it. “It’s standard issue for all superhero squads, even the hopeless ones.” Captain Pancake explained. They moved into the vacant storefront and walked quickly to the back. There was another door. This one had a keypad. “Avert your eyes, son.” CP said in the loud voice he used whenever he thought he was saying something important.  He touched the keypad and entered the code. Nick could not help but sneak a look. The code was: 1, 2,3,4,5. Nick shook his head. The door swung open again and they walked into a room that for the first time, made Nick think, he was dealing with a real group of superheroes.