The Ones You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy (10)

After Ian called his mom to make sure it was okay, Ian and Nick went to Nick’s house after school. Nick’s mom was in the kitchen when they came through the door. “Hey mom,” Nick shouted, sounding very excited. “Nick I’m right here, you don’t have to yell.” Jen stopped short when she came into the living room. “I brought a friend home mom; I hope that’s okay.” “Of course, it’s okay Nick, we love when you have someone over, you know that.” Jen turned to Ian, “You must be CP, I have heard so much about you.” Ian looked confused. “No mom, CP is another friend, this is Ian. We’re going up to my room okay?” “Sure,” Jen said and smiled. She wasn’t worrying so much. Nick seemed to be making new friends and he hardly mentioned Chewy anymore. She looked over at the empty dog bed and sighed, maybe, she thought, it would be time soon to talk about getting a new puppy.

Nick and Ian went right to work when they went upstairs. They unrolled a large sheet of paper and began to make a drawing, a cartoon just like Rube Goldberg had done. Ian planned and Nick drew stick figure versions of all The Ones You Call When Everyone Else are Busy. Ian was trying to think of a new name for the team of Superheroes too. He couldn’t wait to meet them, and he was hoping Nick was going to introduce him very soon. It didn’t take too long and soon they had a plan in place. Nick grabbed his Lightning Bug Phone and dialed The Ones You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy hotline. He smiled because he realized that with Ian as a friend, he finally had a fourth number to add to his phone. Captain Pancake picked up on the first ring. Nick explained that he had to see him today because he thought of a plan to go in and rescue Chewy and CP agreed to meet him in their usual place. At first, Ian was hurt because Nick didn’t even mention him. Nick explained that CP and the gang were shy and that if he told him he was bringing a friend, CP would just say no. Nick figured, if CP was surprised, he would let him bring Ian along. In fact, he was going to stop on the way and pick up Kate too. He was going to prove once and for all that his friends were real.

On the way out the door, Nick and Ian ran into John, Nick’s dad. “Hey Squirt,” Nick’s dad said, “Where are you going in such a hurry?” “Oh, this is my friend Ian, we go to school together. I want Ian to meet CP before we have to get back for dinner.” “Okay, you kids have fun!” John said. He walked back to the kitchen where Jen was preparing the food. “Hon, does CP go to school with Nick?” John asked, loosening his tie and grabbing a carrot. “You know, I have no idea, I just figured he did. Why?” “Well, Nick was in a hurry to introduce Ian to CP. I thought if they all went to school together, they would know each other.” “Maybe he is in a different grade or maybe he lives in the neighborhood. We’ll have to ask Nick.”

Nick called Kate on the way and asked her to meet them at the corner of his street right away. When they were all together, Kate wanted to know why Nick called her. “I want to prove to you that CP and his friends are real; that there really is such a thing as superheroes! I’m supposed to meet CP here in five minutes. I want him to take you two with me to headquarters.” “Oooookay, Nick, if you say so. We’ll wait.” They waited, and waited, and waited some more. CP and the cheese bus never showed. Before long, it was time for dinner. Nick said, “I don’t know what happened, he’s never been late before.”  Kate glared at Nick, “You know what? Don’t bother calling me again! I don’t want to hear about these stupid imaginary friends of yours, or your lost dog anymore! They are not real, and it wasn’t funny to make me come out here and wait for them. I could have been having fun instead of being the victim of your practical joke. Ha ha! Let’s see how long we can make Kate wait for someone who is never coming!”  “Kate, that’s not true…they are real…” but it was too late, Kate had already walked away.  Ian put his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “I believe you Nick, but I have to go home for dinner. Maybe we’ll get to meet them another day.” “Yeah, see you tomorrow” Nick said, and he sadly turned away and walked back to his house.

Nick’s Lightning Bug phone lit up when he was near his house. He didn’t even ask who it was. “Yeah, yeah mom, I’ll be there in a minute.” “Nick, this isn’t your mom.” “CP? Where are you? Is everything okay?” “Everything is fine. Why did you try to bring your friends?” “You saw them? You were there?” “I was a block away when I saw the three of you. I turned around and went back.” “You went back? Are you kidding? Thanks to you the two best friends I have in this world think I am a lunatic!” “I’m sorry Nick, but we shouldn’t meet new people yet. We aren’t ready. The more people that know about us, the more our secret gets out. The team is not ready for that kind of press. We can’t handle it. We can’t even help you.” “Yes, you can CP. That’s what I was bringing my friend, Ian for. We figured out a way that you can help me, if you will just let Ian meet you, he will explain. Plus, you are ready. You can help people. You just need to believe in yourselves.” In the end, Captain Pancake agreed to meet Ian the next day, but he wasn’t so sure about Kate tagging along. Nick sighed, “Don’t worry. She’s not talking to me. I don’t think I could get her to come tomorrow if I tried.” “I’m sorry kid.” “It’s okay. I have to go, it’s time for dinner. See you tomorrow.” Nick hung up the phone, knowing that at least one of his friends would soon know that he wasn’t crazy.