Geff and Jerald

Storm Bound

I skidded to a stop next to the cornfield. If there was a person that could help us, it was Gabe. I took my phone and quickly dialed his number.

" *STATIC* Yeah?" Quite fuzzy. I held it up. "So I have an idea, but I can't do it without you. Can you come over here?" He stayed quiet for a moment. "Uh, yup. I checked the calendar, and it doesn't look like I'm supposed to be doing anything today."

"Yeah, but hurry up. My mum's gonna make me start cultivating if you take too long." He responded with a simple 'OK' and hung up. Darn it! I forgot to tell him where I was. But no worries. He'll probably know by then.

Sure enough, he did. "So, what's the plan?" Gabe asked a few minutes later. "We all obviously know that the farmer's market is the biggest thing to happen around these parts."

"Well, what does that have to do with the corn guy?" He was still confused. Oop. I cleared my throat. "I realized that the guy doesn't sell his corn anymore, but he still buys the thingamabobs that they sell there. That means that when he leaves his house, we break in and search where he's holding Jackson." Jerald gulped. "Wait. Do you want us to break in? I don't have any experience with any of these types of things, but I do know that it's really dangerous." I patted him. "Don't worry. I'll plan an escape route. There's absolutely NO reason why you should be worryin' right now." Gabe secretly asked me how we were going to get in without Buster ripping our pants off. "Naw, I got a plan for that sucker as well. We buy one of those juicy, fat steaks that they sell. That's guaranteed to get the beast running. Or at least into a trap." They both seemed satisfied. "Well, what happens if the dog chases us, or we must run away, fast?  What do you have? Getaway cars?"

"What? Of course not. I have something way better. Just wait and see. We'll meet here tomorrow." So we both went home and (obviously) Jerald asked me how we were supposed to run faster than before. I showed him to the basement. I opened the closet in the corner and pulled out something covered in cloth. "I present to you, my super hot Ultra Peppers!" Jerald stared at the bowl. "Why do you call them ultra peppers?" I paused. "Because I'm saving them for the special moment. If you want super speed, you don't need to get stung by a radioactive animal. You only need a red-hot chili pepper! One like these. But the spice isn't that intense when it's off the stem. It starts wearing off, and the speed you get isn't as effective. So yup. We're getting 'em as soon as we begin the mission." I carefully placed the bowl in its corresponding position and closed the closet door. "How do you even prevent it from dying?" I shrugged. "I secretly water them each two days and give them some sunlight through the window." I was planning to surprise Mom and you by selling these." I knew in my mind that Jerald wanted to ask me how the heck I got the seeds or whatever to plant this, but something else told me he knew when to keep quiet. But moving on, I still had the dream of selling the top prize for the fall fest coming up in a few months. I would sell my peppers to the people who dared to eat them. But that story is for another time. We had stuff to do. 

The next day we had planned to meet up, but a storm came in and wiped out our chances. I was pacing around until Jerald told me to stop. "Let it go, man. We can do it next month!" I groaned and threw my pillow across the room. "We still have a chance! I bet there are some raincoats in the shed." We ran out, or at least myself. I quickly opened the doors and dashed inside. "Where's those raincoats?" I lifted and looked inside some boxes, covered in dust. I coughed and wiped some dirt off my chin. "Dang! When's the last time any people have seen inside this darned place?" I checked around some more, but no luck.

"Maybe Mom has some. We can ask," Jerald said a few minutes later. "Bro, if we ask her, then she's gonna get onto us and  say that where we're going and all that crap." I fidgeted around some more and finally decided to call Gabe up and ask him if he had any. "I think Jane has some, she likes raincoats. Dunno why, but she does. I think she has about like,  four. I can ask her."

"Aight. That sounds good. See you then." He hung up, and I waited around. "You gonna sell those peppers?? Jerald asked me. "Maybe. I need a whole small section, though. These need space to grow. " 

"So we gonna do the whole mission thingy you were talking about a while back?" I nodded. "Later. We just need the perfect timing. But first, we gotta eat. I'm starving! We ran down the stairs, and luckily, dinner was ready. After eating some fish (what?) we went on over to the main road. The sides of my hat drooped with the rainfall. Gabe was standing still, barefoot. "Are you always like that?" I asked him. He shrugged a little and held up the raincoats he promised. "It took me more than twenty minutes to convince Jane to fork them over, so yeah. Be grateful." So my bro put them on and I put the hood over my hat. "Okay, it's all good now. Wait-- what about T.J.?" Gabe showed a small gesture of worry. "He got a fever, so he won't be able to come. I know, it sucks. But we can still do it. We just gotta keep watch." So we hurried down the dirt road, which had turned into a mire. My feet made sloppy sounds as I trudged through the swampy trail. "Darn! You still think the man's gonna leave his house?" Jerald asked. 

"Well, I've never heard about anybody that's afraid of a couple of rain. It's just a drizzle--" I got interrupted by a strike of thunder a few miles away. The raining intensified. "What a downpour," Gabe muttered to himself. We made it to the man's house. His dog wasn't on the porch. "Huh... that's funny. Buster shouldn't not be on the porch." Gabe secretly walked onto the deck. He sniffed the chair. "They just left. Notice I said they. Normally the guy keeps his dog at home to watch for intruders." I heard a weird sound behind me. "What the-- RUN!!!" It was Buster, obviously, and he was hungry. But the other guys didn't run. 

I totally forgot that I had kept the steak in my back pocket.  Buster seemed more playful than ferocious. The whole time I was running there seemed to be no viciousness in him. Finally, I gave up and came to a halt. But when I did, the meat went flying and Buster pounced. I crouched and he gobbled it all up. He seemed satisfied. "So, he's not going to attack us?" Gabe poked at the guy's head. "No, he looks tired. Better appreciate this time while it lasts." Then, I opened the window and we both slipped inside.