Part Seven
MissyRed & Kaleidopy
Two days later, the boys were having a huge case of cabin fever. Being confined to the house was not only putting the two in a bad mood, but Henri and Therese were both about ready to kill the two and plead insanity at their murder trial.
" I'm hungry!" Remy pouts as he throws a magazine across the living room floor. " Why can't we order a pizza or something?"
" No pizza! No movies, no nothing!" Therese glares over at her brother and their cousin. " And you two can march yourselves back upstairs and stay there until dinner is ready." She watches as they obey but not before her younger brother made it clear that he wasn't about to go without making a scene. His rebellion was quickly defeated when she slapped him across his backside. " And there is more of that if you don't do as I told you."
" T'erese!" Remy's voice displayed his shock and disbelief that his sister had just struck him. The angry look she gives him makes him come back to his senses and obey for fear of making her follow through with her threat.
" Glad t' finally see dat your eyes are open now t' Remy's little tricks." Henri stood in the shadows watching the exchange between his brother and sister.
" Oh nice of you to stand by and do nothing, Henri. Those two are driving me crazy." She angrily tells him. " While you were doing your business with the guild, guess what little brother decided to do since he and Lapin didn't have anything else to do?"
" Afraid t' ask."
" Well Lapin dared Remy to unlock the wine cabinet and get a bottle of wine." She begins. " Well, to make a long story short, he got a bottle and I am not talking about just any wine mind you, but Uncle Jean's pride and joy."
" Non, tell me mon frère did not get Père's 1949 bottle of Musigny Burgundy?" He asks her dreading the nod she was giving him. Rolling his eyes, and sighing. " I don' know anythin' 'bout dis, you hear me? I wasn't here." He raises his hands in the air. " You were supposed t' be watchin' him, how could you let him take dat bottle?"
" Don't you dare try to blame this on me, big brother. If I remember correctly, you are the one who is in charge." Therese raises an eye brow. " What's the matter Henri, two ten year olds getting the best of the future leader of the thieves guild?"
" Dere drivin' me crazy!" He yells as he starts pointing at his head. " I swear I am loosing my hair. Look!"
" Don't you think you are over reacting?"
" Does dis look like I am over reactin'?" He starts pulling his hair trying to show her. " You goin' t' be de babysitter, I just retired."
" No, I have a better idea." She walks over to the phone and dials a number. " Hi! How soon can you come over?" Grinning, Therese hangs up the phone. " We should have called her to begin with instead of letting the boys run wild."
Upstairs, Remy sat in the middle of his bedroom floor eating candy. He glances up to notice his cousin was outside on the balcony. " Whatcha doin' out dere?"
" Bernard just drove up."Lapin sticks his head back inside. " Hey! He's got our bikes!"
Remy grabs the duffle bag and throws it on top his bed not bothering to zip it up. He was not worried about his hidden stash of junk food only keeping out of Bernard's sight. The man had threaten to drown both of them in the pool when his beloved car was towed out. Rushing to the balcony, he made it just in time to see his brother's friend glaring up at them.
" You two brats stay out of my way or I'll make sure you never reach puberty." Bernard shouts up at the two. He touches his new car. " And you better not even look sideways at dis baby."
" You don't scare me non," Remy yells. He was about to call the man a few choice words when his brother walks out on the lawn and joins his friend.
" Get back in your room Remy." Henri orders his brother. " Don't make me come up dere."
Lapin shrugs his shoulders and walks back inside. Remy suddenly rushes inside opens his closet, grabs something small in his hands and runs into the bathroom with it. Minutes later, he has three water balloons in his hands and walks back out on the balcony. He watches the two below, who have their backs to him looking at Bernard's new toy. Remy throws the heaviest balloon and it hits it's target, both men are drenched. They quickly turn around to be hit again.
Remy drops the last water balloon quickly when he discovers the reason Bernard and Henri are the best thieves in the country. Both suddenly jump up to the balcony and climb over the railing without even blinking an eye. " Lapin, Run!" He screams as he runs back inside the room trying to get out of the room before his brother could lay a hand on him. He manages to reach the end of the stairs before the door swings open and he runs right into the arms of a visitor." Tante!"
" What's goin' on around here?" Tante picks the boy up in her arms as she turns to Therese, who only shrugs. She suddenly glances up as Henri and Bernard come down the stairs, both were soak to the skin. " Henri?"
" He hit us wit' water balloons." Henri glares at his brother, who wraps his arms around Tante's neck.
" Remy, is dis true?" She turns her head to stare directly into his eyes. " Chile, I am angry enough wit' you as it is now, so don't make dis worse on yourself."
" But dey kept barkin' orders at us,"
" Dat is not what I asked you, Chile. Is Henri tellin' me de truth?"
Remy swallows the lump in his throat. " Oui, but,"
" Upstairs, right dis minute." Tante lowers him to his feet and points him in the direction of the stairs. " I'm goin' to have a private talk with Therese and Henri to find out what has been goin' on and then I am comin' upstairs to your room an' we will go from dere."
Remy did as he was told making sure he hugged the walls along the stairway to keep out of his brother's reach. He sat in the doorway listening to the adults downstairs talking. He heard Tante's voice yell the words " He did what? Jean-Luc is goin' to have a fit." He gets to his feet and knocks on his cousin's door.
" Come in," His cousin's voice calls from behind the door.
" You said dat we wouldn't get in trouble for takin' dat stupid bottle of wine. Papa is goin' skin me alive. No way am I goin' t' take de rap for something you did too." Remy jumps on the bed and grabs his cousin by his shirt collar, when Lapin cracks a smile. " See how funny dis be when you got no teeth t' smile with,"
" You were suppose t' get a cheap bottle not de expensive one. I thought you knew de difference." Lapin explains as he shoves his cousin on his back. The two were so involved in their quarrel that they didn't see another person walk into the room until a duffle bag was thrown on the bed.
Remy was the first to notice the bag and knew who had found his stash of junk food. He looks up into the angry face of Tante. " It's not mine, it's Lapin's."
" You liar!" His cousin quickly sits up on the bed. " Remy, you know dat's your candy and cookies."
" I know who is lyin' to me and it's both of you." Tante folds her arms and glares straight at Lapin. " You wouldn't have known what was in de bag if you didn't know, Frances."
" Frances? Who's Frances?" Remy asks. He turns to his cousin before laughing. " You're named after a girl?" He laughs harder. " Mebbe you named after dat talkin' horse we saw on television de other night." He was about to make another joke but Tante yanks him off the bed.
" You think dis is funny, Chile?" She angrily shakes him. " You stole your father's prize wine, you were in assassin terrority after bein' told to stay around de house, not to mention dat you threw water balloons after Jean-Luc strickly told you never to hit anybody again with them and if dat isn't bad enough, you just lied to me about dis bag. How many times have I told you not to eat dis stuff?"
" I, I didn' eat dat much." Remy tries to find some way to calm her down. He looks over at Lapin for some sort of support but his cousin only drops his head in defeat. He tries to smile slightly but he quickly finds out it was the worse thing he could have done.
Tante pulls him out of the guest bedroom and into his own room. His pleads and crying did nothing to detour her.
Downstairs, the three hear everything. Therese begins to feel guilty but the feeling quickly disappears when she glances over at the wine cabinet and the thought of having to tell her uncle that his favorite bottle of wine was poured down the toilet because of a game her brother and cousin were playing. She shutters at the thought but then again, Henri was the oldest, he can do that job.
Almost half an hour later, Tante comes down and heads into the kitchen. She clearly remains angry as she pulls open the cabinets searching for something. Therese comes inside to join her. " Junk food! Dat Chile had a bag full of dat garbage hidden in his room and had de nerve to lie about it." She glances over at the younger woman. " You know why he is actin' like dis, don't you?"
" My guess is that he is testing us." Therese suggests.
" He thinks if he acts like a spoiled brat, you or Henri will call Jean-Luc home." Tante opens the refrigerator and pulls out some vegetables. She starts cutting them up after washing them over the sink. " I just explained to him dat his little plan backfired and how disappointed I am in him for doin' dis to everyone." She stops her work before taking a deep sigh. " I think dat little speach hurt him more than dat spankin' I just gave him."
Upstairs Lapin slowly opens his cousin's bedroom door and sees Remy lying face down on the huge bed. " Remy, I'm sorry."
" Leave me alone," His cousin's voice barely was audible.
Lapin goes over to the balcony and pulls open the curtains. He does a double look before yelling. " Remy, dere's a man in a tree over dere lookin' at me! I think he has a pair of binoculars."
" I'm not fallin' for dat trick again, Lapin. Get out of my room!"
" Remy, I'm not lyin' dis time, he is out dere. He might be an assassin." Lapin tries to convince his cousin, who rolls over on the other side of the bed and ignors him. " Be dat way, goin' downstairs and tell de others what I just saw, dey will believe me." He runs out of the room and down the stairs screaming everyone's name. After telling them what he saw, he got the shock of his life.
" You can go back upstairs and tell Remy if he doesn't stop his lyin' I am comin' back up dere and give him another spankin'." Tante comes out of the kitchen drying her hands on her apion.
" But Remy didn't put me up to dis, I really saw dis man. He is outside Remy's bedroom window." Lapin pleads with them to believe him. " I'm not lying."
" Oh really!" Henri laughs. " You and Remy weren't lyin' when de operator called yesterday afternoon about dose prank calls you two played?" He hold up one finger. " You weren't lyin' when Remy claimed dat my car was stolen by the Mafia?" He then holds up two fingers. " Or when Remy said de reason he couldn't get the mail today was because he saw Darth Vader attack de mail man." He throws up three fingers and shakes them in front of Lapin's face. " And how can I forget de reason why you two couldn't take out de garbage, dere was an alien dog up in de tree."
" Alright, I admit dat we lied 'bout dose things, but dere was a dog outside an' It looked like a big rat." Lapin tries to defend himself. He quickly remembers why he was downstairs. " But Henri dere really is a man outside." Lapin sees that he wasn't getting anyone to believe him so he runs back upstairs to lock his bedroom windows. He was making sure that who ever was outside was not going to get him. Having a change of heart he returns to his cousin's bedroom and locks his windows as well. He looks outside to find the intruder had disappeared. It did nothing to ease his mind.