Gravity Rises (S2)

HW: Part Five

Robbie Corduroy had hoped that, discovering the Mystery Museum closed off and dark, his parents wouldn't say anything about going into work.

Yesterday, he had walked over in the morning, only to find the doors shut and the lights off. This meant one of two things — either the Pines had failed and were captives of the Order, or they had succeeded and were sleeping off their adventures. Robbie hoped it was the latter. Either way, the Museum wasn't open today, and he had the day off from work.

He'd headed back home, plopping back onto his bed. His parents weren't home; they hadn't been when he'd woken up. He was used to this — as the town's only graveyard managers and morticians and funeral directors, they often got called away at odd hours to do various things. Robbie had no idea what those things were, which he personally saw as a great accomplishment. With how much they loved to talk, it took skill to be ignorant of his parents' lives.

Well. . . He glanced out the window, the dark corridors of the Order appearing in his mind's eye. Not completely ignorant.

He stayed in his room all morning, hoping his parents wouldn't find him here when he was technically supposed to be at work. That didn't last long, though — soon enough, his dad appeared in the doorway.

Gregory Corduroy said something, but Robbie couldn't hear it over the rock he was currently blasting into his ears. And he was okay with that.

Dad sighed and mimed taking out the earbuds. Robbie rolled his eyes, but he sat up and followed the unspoken request. "What?"

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Why, so I can spy on the Pines?" Robbie asked. His dad opened his mouth to respond, but Robbie cut him off. "I went over this morning for my shift, but it wasn't open. So I came back here."

Dad came over and sat backwards on a desk chair across the room. The chair tilted as he leaned on it. "Not so you can spy," he said. "So you can earn money. Not everything has some ulterior motive."

"Sure," Robbie said. "Well, here's the answer to your question: Yes, I'm supposed to be at work, but nothing's exactly normal right now, so I'm here instead. We good?"

Dad frowned as he thought that over. "What do you mean, nothing's exactly normal?" he finally said. "I mean, you're right, but how would you know. . . ?" He trailed off, realization dawning in his eyes. "Did you give them the password, son?"

Robbie lay back down on his bed and rolled onto his side, pulling a pillow over his head. "So what if I did?"

"No wonder you wanted to leave that tour so quickly," Dad said after a moment of silence. "You didn't actually want a tour at all, did you?"

Robbie sat up. "Of course not," he said acerbically. "Who'd want a tour of your and Mom's freak show?"

Dad closed his eyes and took a long breath. "I know you don't like the Order, Robbie," he began.

"That's putting it mildly," Robbie muttered.

"But helping the Pines? I'm sure they seem nice, Robs, but you don't understand the danger they pose! They're planning to destroy the town!"

Robbie scoffed. "Yeah, right! Have you ever met the Pines? Mr. Pines is a grumpy old codger, Melody's a sweet lady who wouldn't harm a fly, and the twins are these adorable goofballs. Forgive me for not thinking that they could destroy anything."

"That's a front," Dad said. He took a deep breath, the sign that he was about to tell a story. "Thirty-six years ago, Stanford Pines came to town to research the paranormal."