Michael and Norman were sitting in the middle of their apartment living room. It was dusk outside, and the clouds were fading off into the distance. They had cartons of Chinese food on the coffee table in front of them, as well as dirty chopsticks which were laying on unfolded napkins. The windows were open, and a slight New York breeze coming in from the city softly hit their faces. Michael's record player was playing a soft synthpop instrumental in the background, and bored sighs coming from the two guys were made obvious. It was July the first, and they had only a couple days to organize their Independence Day activities.
"Norman," Michael spoke at last, twiddling his used chopsticks back and forth on his napkin. "Do you have any ideas for the fourth? I mean... It's almost that time, and I feel like we need to do something. There needs to be more than just sitting at the balcony, watching the fireworks go off."
"You're right. Honestly, I have no flippin' idea as to what we should do. We always do the generic stuff around here. Then again, it's our first year here... We need to make the most of it, y'know?" Norman replied, a curious and nearly anxious expression on his face.
Little did they know that down the street, a small family was nearby... And they were planning something.
----
The McCallister household happened to be sitting at their dining room table. A young boy named Timmy, who happened to be Billy the robot's new school friend, was sitting in front of his parents, chewing away at a steak.
His father, Peter, who was reading the afternoon paper, shuffled them a little and glanced at his son.
"So, Tim, how was your first day of school?" the man asked his son as he shifted his papers. It was Timmy's first day of what seemed to be a daycare school in the middle of summer.
Timmy smiled a bit and swallowed a bite of steak. "It was great! I met a boy my age named Billy."
Peter lowered his papers and raised his brow at his son. "Billy?"
Timmy nodded eagerly at his father. "He's part of the Crocket family from down the road!"
His mother's eyes widened at the boy. Her grasp on her expensive glass of wine had released, and it soon fell to the ground.
Crocket.
Later that night...
"Oh, I don't know, dear," Kate McCallister said to her husband. She adjusted her pillow as her husband stood at his side of the bed.
"Oh, c'mon, honey. We should invite them over for the fourth, have a cookout. I want to meet Billy's parents," Peter suggested, eyeing his wife with suspicion.
Kate grimaced. "I don't know... I heard from Susie down the street that Billy is a trouble child, and he wears a helmet... What is he trying to hide...?"
Peter sighed. "Will you stop worrying? He's just a kid, and our sons' friend. I'm going to invite them over."
----
It was July the second. Norman made Billy get up early and forced the little robot to wash Michael's black Ferrari Modulo, as well as Norman's motorcycle. It gave the bot something to do, and that really was a miracle around this certain Crocket household.
Then again, that was at two in the morning, and Billy had to go to daycare. He had four hours to goof around, but it seemed that Norman wanted him out of the house.
"C'mon, let's take you outta here," Norman growled. He grabbed the little bot by the shoulder and forced him out the door, aggressively going downstairs, through the main entrance, and eagerly to the bus stop.
It didn't come to his attention that Kate McCallister was watching from across the street. She was watching his every move through the window, her eyes narrowed at both the man and the bot.
"There they are, Peter!" she called to her husband, beckoning him quickly towards her.
The man stared at his wife for a moment, as if she were crazy. "What's wrong with you, Kate? Can't you give them some privacy?"
"They're outside their apartment. That's not something 'private' at all!" Kate argued, pulling the white curtains in front of the window once again. She walked out of the kitchen and over to the door, peeking her head out at them.
Soon enough, Michael ran out of the apartment. He was wearing a black bathrobe, black sunglasses and some quickly put-on iridescent shoes. It appeared that the guy was chuckling at the robot, but he picked up the morning paper and walked inside.
Norman seemed to be getting impatient, and he ran to the private parking garage. He sped out of it with his motorcycle, and placed a new pair of sunglasses over his eyes. He worded something to Billy, which was apparently 'get your ass on the bike'.
"They're... So strange," Kate mumbled as she watched. "There's something about that Billy boy, I'm telling you, Peter."
"Don't be so judgmental!" Peter sighed. The couple happened to be interrupted as their son, Timmy, ran down the stairs to them.
"I heard a motorcycle!" he gasped. "It sounded like it was right next door, too!"
"Oh, that was the Crockets, son," Peter replied.
Kate nudged him harshly in the side and whispered to her husband. "Did you invite them over?" she asked.
"I'm going to tonight."
----
That night...
Michael gasped and looked at Norman. "I can't believe they want us to go over there! That's great, Norman. We should do it. We hardly get invited anywhere anymore, and the kid that lives there knows Billy, I think."
"Yeah, I think we should go. It does sound kinda fun... Especially if it's a cookout. I mean... Come on, free food, right? I just hope that there's no creeps there or something."
"Well, it seems like a neighborhood party or something. It's not going to be a party party."
"You're right. What do you think, Billy?" Norman asked.
No response.
"Uh... Billy?" Norman called again.
I bet he's upstairs on that damn computer again.
"We could just surprise him," Michael suggested. "Like... Not let him know until we get there. He'd be shocked to see Timmy there."
"Yeah, yeah," Norman nodded quickly as he pulled a beer out of the fridge. "I really hope this doesn't end up to suck, though."
"Yeah.. We can only pray that it's not going to be a disaster," Michael agreed. He sat down on the couch and stared at his can of soda.
