Stranger Danger

Part 2

The next day, at 2:30, the phone rang. As soon as it did, Cassidy picked up the receiver. She was sitting in the living room, the phone in her lap. "Hello?" she said.

"Cassidy?" came Page's answer on the other end, in Cassidy's aunt's voice.

"Aunt Reva?" Cassidy said.

"Yes. It's me darling."

Cassidy's excited heart skipped a beat. "Okay, just hold on a sec." She put the phone against her stomach and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Mom! Dad! Aunt Reva's on the phone! Pick up the extension line!" She heard footsteps upstairs and put the receiver back to her ear.

A few seconds later, her parents were on the line too. "Reva," her mother said. "How are you?"

Page, as Aunt Reva, "I'm good. How are you Megan?"

"Okay. A bit stressed from work. You know how it is. How are the kids and everybody else?"

"The kids are a pain in the butt. You know that hasn't changed. Everybody else is fine. George is still in Atlanta. He'll be spending the whole month of August with us though. The kids will be very happy. How's David?"

"He's fine. He's actually standing right next to me. He says hi."

"Well, tell him I say hi too."

"I will. So, uh, just to get straight to the point, Cassidy told David and I that she wanted to go to your house two weeks earlier. She called you yesterday, asking for your permission, and she told us you said yes. We wanted to talk to you about it first."

"Of course."

"Is it really okay for Cassidy to stay over at your place for four weeks?"

"Yes. I don't see any problem with that. Cassidy's always welcome. She's the biggest help and never causes any trouble."

"I told you Mom," Cassidy couldn't help saying into the phone.

"Okay Cassidy," Mrs. Banks said, sounding annoyed. "But Reva, what I was mostly worried about was whether you'd be alright taking Cassidy in while you have to deal with the kids."

"Like I said before, Cassidy is no problem. Every time she's here she helps around the house like it were her own. I'd love to have her stay longer than two weeks. I'm sure everyone would."

"Okay," Mrs. Banks said, letting out a sigh. "Now that that's cleared up, David and I will just need to start looking at available flight dates for next week. Since we don't have a month or more to plan this out, we'll probably have to pay more. If we're even lucky enough to find a flight."

"Well don't worry, over here I'll be checking for available flight tickets online. George travels quite frequently so I've learned from him how to properly search for a flight. So I'll do my part and help out."

"Okay. Thank you Reva. I greatly appreciate it."

"Anything for a sister."

Mrs. Banks chuckled lightly. "Alright, I'm going to go start searching online. I'll give you a call if we find anything."

"I'll do the same."

"Okay. Anyway, I don't know if Cassidy wants to stay on the phone and exchange a few words with you, but I'm gonna go."

"Okay. We'll talk soon. Take care. Bye."

"Bye." Mrs. Banks got off the line.

"Thank you," Cassidy said into the phone to her good friend Page.