Her Royal Madness

Her Royal Madness Part 11

Only Nicholas had any color in his face, enough for all of us. It was kind of a deep purple, with a tint of green. He spluttered a few times and then spat out "Hank, just what in the world is wrong with that freak sister of yours? She coulda killed Mash. A nut job like her needs to be locked up! Whatta freak!" 

All my life I had clung to the notion that a big brother should be a protector, defending his little sister from harm. Henry had never quite lived up to that image. Until now. He was on his feet in a flash and with one hand grabbed Nicholas by his jacket collar. Nicholas' feet were barely scraping the sidewalk and he was having trouble breathing.  

Henry was seething, "Listen Nick you stupid jerk. I will tell you when to call my dumb sister a freak and when to leave her alone. Understand me! Right now you can just shut up and leave her alone." His free hand was balled up into a fist. He drew it back to take a swing at Nicholas. 

"Hank, you really don't want to do that." Martin had lumbered up behind him and caught Henry's fist in his hand. Henry strained to break free but Martin was rock steady. "We're all a little upset and on edge, so just calm down and let go of Nick." 

Henry released his grip on Nicholas, dropping him to the ground. Nicholas popped back up and charged at Henry, saying "Hank, you jerk. What do you think you're doing? If you ever grab me like that again, I'll..." He swung his fist at Henry's face. Martin caught Nicholas' fist with his other hand. 

"Nick, Nick, Nick," Martin said calmly. "You disappoint me. I thought I explained that we all need to settle down. Now I have to insist." He squeezed Nicholas' and Henry's fists. They winced in pain. "Are you two ready to kiss and make up yet?" 

"Okay, okay. Let go. Ow. Hank I'm sorry. I just got a little freaked out. No hard feelings?" 

"Yeah, it's okay. I might've got a little carried away too. No hard feelings. What about you Mash, how you doing?" 

"Oh, I'm fine. I always wanted to fly. I just wasn't expecting it. So what's going on?" 

"Long story. I'll tell you later. Right now what do you got to eat in that bag of yours. I have a feeling Mighty Mouse is hungry." 

"Gee thanks Henry for remembering I'm still here. I guess I am a little hungry, but nothing like before when I ate everything in the house. Right now it's more like when dinner's a couple hours late." 

"Okay here take this. They don't taste that great but they got a lotta energy in them." Henry said as he took one of Martin's protein supplement bars and handed it to me. He was right. It tasted like cardboard but it satisfied my hunger. "So," Henry said, "do I have to take you home before you pass out or are you gonna be okay?" 

"Well I am a little tired, but I think I can stay awake until after school at least. We better get going before I'm late. Maybe this is a good time for you to explain what's going on to these two. I need to think." 

When we got to the school, Henry waved to Ms. Howard and said he would be by to pick me up right after school. School that day was brutal. I started off by drifting off in math class again. It was bad enough listening to Mr. Purvis droning on and on about the simplest mathematical concepts the first time. But now since it was close to the end of the school year, we were doing a review of everything we had "learned" all year. Doubly boring. Or maybe boring squared. I was so tired I didn't even bother trying to look like I was paying attention. I fell asleep. This led to another fight with Mr. Purvis which led to another lecture from Ms. Howard. In English class I remembered my essay was still at home sitting on my desk. I was able to get an extension, but only with a 25% penalty. The rest of the classes just got worse. I was tired and grouchy and distracted. I got in trouble in every class. 

The day finally ended and Henry came to pick me up. Luckily he was alone so we could have an almost normal conversation. We discussed what had happened in the morning, trying to make sense of it. We still couldn't. Maybe Daddy could explain it, but what would he say when we told him everything that had happened. 

"So, do you think we should tell Dad or what?" Henry said. 

"Ohhh, Henry, do we have to?" I whined. 

"Hey, I was just asking, is all. You know my policy 'what Dad don't know won't hurt us' I mean, look at the way he freaked out the other night. And this was way worse. As a matter of fact, we'd probably be doing Dad a favor by not saying anything. You know, help keep him calm and relaxed. He needs that at his age." 

"B-but Henry, don't you think he'd want to know. This might be important." I was still whining. I hate it when I do that. 

"Well, if you really want to, we can. But my vote is no." 

I had become quite interested in my shoes, staring down at them as we walked. I considered the matter for a couple of minutes before I finally replied. 

"Okay, I guess we don't have to say anything to Daddy. But it still doesn't feel right." 

Daddy must have been preoccupied because he didn't say anything when I ate a big supper and went to bed early. I felt good the next day. Life somewhat returned to normal for a while. Then I met Juna.