A Cry in the Park - A Bob's Burgers fanfic - by BobsBurgersStories1

A Cry in the Park - Part 10

Once again, the Belcher family had fallen asleep together on the sofa, and awoke early. The first thing Linda did, as usual, was check her phone. To her surprise, she had several missed calls and messages, and Linda realised that the phone had been put on silent. Mentally slapping herself, she opened the latest message.

   "Bobby, they're at the last foot of rock!" she gasped, turning to face him. "They reached it at ten o'clock last night!"

   "Oh, my God!" Bob cried, beaming as he pulled his wife into a hug. Their cries of joy caused their children to awaken.

   "What is it?" asked Gene, rubbing his eyes. "Did they get her out?"

   "They're at the last foot of rock," Linda grinned. "So they've only got twelve inches, and then Louise'll be free! She's been in there for.. 85 hours now, but that's okay!" she continued, checking the clock briefly and turning to her family. "Okay, you two go and brush your teeth, you're not going to school today," she pointed at Gene and Tina, who obeyed, grinning all the while, and Linda began to bustle about the kitchen, making breakfast for everyone. If she couldn't help with the rescue efforts, she could at least make sure the rest of her children were taken care of. It was the least she could do to let them watch the rescue of their little sister.

When breakfast was ready, Bob joined them from the living room, and the four of them ate silently.

When Gene and Tina had finished, Linda bustled them towards the front door. "Come on," she said, herding them in front of her. She wanted to get to the well as quickly as possible, so she could comfort her youngest daughter.

Linda opened the front door to what she could only describe as a swarm of journalists. Cameras flashed, microphones were thrust into her face, and the reporters crowded on the doorstep jostled one another, anxious to be the one to get an interview. Some of them were pushing others out of the way to get the best angle, others shouting to make their voices heard in the din, the voices rising to a roar.

   "Mrs Belcher, can you give us a statement?" cried one reporter, shoving her microphone into the bewildered woman's face.

   "Do you think your daughter's going to be okay?"

   "Can you tell us anything?" The questions came louder and closer and more jumbled until eventually it became a cacophony of confusion; the journalists came closer to her, squeezing onto the little doorstep like a herd of cattle, pulling at microphone leads, narrowly avoiding hitting their heads on the cameras; the voices grew louder and more frenzied as each reporter fought to have their question acknowledged; the cameramen were trying to lift their equipment above the crowd to capture the expression on the mother's face, all of them still talking non-stop.

Linda froze, caught unaware. For a few moments, she actually couldn't move. Gene and Tina stood in front of her, staring out at all of the people, not knowing what to do. She saw Carol at the back, fighting her way through the crowd, and telling them to leave. Snapping back into reality, she pushed her children behind her out of the glare of the cameras and quickly closed the door, just after Carol slipped inside.

   "What was that? What the hell was that?!" she cried to Bob, who had come running over at the sound. "What is going on?"

   "Was it reporters?" her husband asked and she could only nod. She had never seen anything like that before.

   "They're all outside the front door; I can't get out! Why are they doing this?" she asked, running a hand through her hair.

   "It could be because you've only spoken to the press once," said Carol. "They want more information."