Enough

Enough is enough

Winter in St. Canard at the junior Sputterspark residence.
“Sweetheart, have you see my other red sock?”
“Last time I saw it I was doing laundry, dear.”
“Dad, why do you and mom wear colored socks anyway?!”
“Because, Tim!”
“That’s not an answer!” Tim stomps away.
“Tory, honey, have you or Emilia seen my sock? I know you two like to play with Sparky with my socks!”
“No Dad,” The girls were hiding the sock their father was looking for.
“What’s that behind your back?” he asked suspiciously.
“Nothing?”
“Nothing, my dead battery! Lemme see!” He bent down to get at it and ended up falling over the dog onto the girls. They had a game of wrestle and finally a game of tug of war. Both girls and the dog loose to their father. “My sock,” He holds up the dog chewn article then looks at the girls scoldingly. Getting up, he heads to his room, where his wife is to complain, “Those girls just have no respect!”
“What do you expect dear, they take after you,”
“Hey! I have more respect than that!”
“Oh really?” she takes her missing bra out of his drawer.
“Oh, how’d that get there, heh, heh?”
“If you like it so much, ask me to wear it,”
“I’m sorry, Elle,”
“Sokay,” She kisses him.
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to wear my green socks today, then.”
“They’re in the wash.”
“One of my blue pair?”
“Them too,”
“Uh, orange?”
“Remember, missing in action?”
“Oh yeah. Umm, then what can I wear?”
Elle digs in his sock drawer and pulls out a plum colored pair.
“Eww! No way!!”
“It’s that or nothing, Elmo,”
“Isn’t there anything else left?!” He dashes over to peer in, but there really is nothing left but that one pair and lint, a few stray coins and his comb. “Aw crap,”
“I’ll be doing laundry all day today. Tory, you’ll miss your bus!”
“Bye mom, bye dad!” Tory called as she rushed out the door, on to high school.
“Ah, how they grow up so fast,” her father says remembering when she was just born.
“Yeah,”
“I remember when I was in high school,”
“Really? You actually remember?”
“Hey, give me some credit! But yeah, it was hell! I’m glad she’s having more fun in it than I did.”
His wife nods. Tim came into view. “Tim! You can’t go to school dressed like that!” his mother scolds.
“Why not!? Everybody dresses like this!!”
Now Elmo cuts into the conversation. “Tim, you’re not everybody! You’re a Sputterspark! Why can’t I get that through your head!? You’re my son and you’re not going to be subject to be like the cool kids! You get that?!!”
“But, but!”
“No ‘buts’, Tim!! Go change!”
“Yes sir,” Tim said, humbled under his father’s authority. He wondered off to change.
“Huh, middle schoolers! Go figure!” Elmo said placing one fist on his hip and scratching his head with the free hand. Shaking his head he says, “I just don’t get it! What’s with the new style these days??!”
“It’s the latest thing from prison,”
Elmo laughs freely, knowing what it’s like to be in prison and seeing the style there and comparing that to school fashion. He sat on his bed and pulled on a sock. His son, Timothy, leaned in the door way and said rather rudely, “So are you saying that I’m not allowed to be cool?!” His father looks up from what he’s doing, puzzled.
“Dad, I’m not you, no matter how much I look like you!” Tim stomps away and with only one sock on, Elmo goes after him.
“Tim,” he calls as he follows him throughout the house. He catches up and stops him. “Tim, listen, I don’t want you to be in that sorta group because, who knows, you might be picking on someone like me!” Elmo explains.
“I never thought of it that way. Really?”
“Of course! I know these things, trust me,”
“Alright Dad,” Tim humored.
An hour later Tim went off to school. The twins already driven into their elementary school.
Elmo got ready for work; his night job. He recharged his battery, cleaned his goggles, brushed his boots and cleaned the metal prongs of his hat and the metal outlet.
When Elle got home he spent all the daylight hours with her; cuddling, cooking, cleaning, reading, writing, paying bills. After the kids got home and they were fed then put to bed, then man and wife went to work as the villain team, the Terrible Two, Megavolt and Ja Tarra.

“Tory?”
“Yeah Emilia?”
“Why do Mom and Dad go out at night?”
“How should I know?” she said rather rudely.
“We-ell, you are the oldest!” she said.
“Point, Squirt?”
“I wanna know where they go!”
“Probably just to go out on their own, Emi. After all, they have a heck of a job caring for the four of us!”
“Yeah I suppose,”
Silence.
“Tory?”
“What?!” she snapped.
“Why did they have all four of us?”
“Cause they wanted?! I don’t know! Go to sleep Squirt!”
“Ok,”
Silence.
“Tory?”
WHAT?!!”
“Will you two chill??!” came a young male’s voice from the doorway.
“What do you want Tom?!” Tory snapped.
“Well you two certainly are making a racket over here; and us guys can’t sleep in the other room with you yapping all night long!”
“Well take your complaints to your twin; it’s her fault!”
“Emi, you’re such a blabber mouth!” Tom dissed her.
“Shut up Tom!”
“Hey meatballs, what’er you all doing?” an older male in the house joined in.
“Emilia won’t shut up, Tim,” Tory filled him in.
“Emi, shut up,”
“Make me, dork!” the cute little furball said.
The three other siblings eye each other then tackle Emilia. Time passed and after they were done beating on her they decided to just have fun and have a tickle fight. It got so late that just when they were getting tired they heard their parents come home and the boys dashed to their room and the girls got back in bed.
“Huh, that’s funny,”
“What’s that honey?”
“I thought I heard something before we got up here. Oh well!”
They went to bed as the soft snickering of their children faded as they too drifted to pleasant dreamland.

The next morning, Friday, the twins sat eating breakfast and watching the TV across the way.
“Don’t watch too much dears, you’ll rot your brains.”
“Yes momma,” they responded.
“Hey, my little electrolytes!”
“Hi Daddy,” they said with more zeal.
“How’re you doing?” he asked as he kissed their heads good morning.
“Daddy?” Emilia asked. “Where do you and Mommy go late at night?”
Elle dropped a spoon and the parents look at each other worried. “Eh…” Elmo was speechless.
“We, uh,” Elle tried to say something.
Tim came in the room and said, “Stop asking stupid questions, Squirt! It’s obvious that they go out to the movies!”
“Oh! Ok,”
“Every night, Tim?” Tom asked his older brother.
“No! Just when there’s a new one out. Every other night they go fer walks! I don’t know!”
The parents look at each other confused. Where was Tim getting this?!
“Uh, yeah! That’s it!” Elmo agreed. Emilia giggled while Tom rolled his eyes.
“Enough you two, finish up and get ready.”
“Yes momma,” the twins headed off to their separate rooms to finish.
“Thanks a lot, Tim!” his dad thanked.
“Sure, but what do you do? Really?”
“Ummm, nothing you need to know about.”
“Why? You two convicts er something?”
“NO!” both parents blurted out.
“Uh, that is,” Elmo thought.
“Heh, why would we, your parents, be convicts?!” Elle added.
“Ha! What an absurd idea!” her husband chuckled.
“O-ka-ay, you people are weird!” Tim walked away.
As soon as Tim was out of sight Elmo and Elle let out a sigh of relief and looked at each other and chuckled.

*************************************************************

No matter how absurd the idea was, it was the truth! That night the villain parents went into town to rob a jewelry store. The husband took all the light bulbs and the wife took all the jewels and raided the cash register. She would even help him get the ones that she was closest to while he was getting the ceiling lights. It was the perfect villain team because they helped each other, when needed, and the woman always reminded her spouse to short out the alarm systems!! Help for the store never came, unless some unsuspecting police officer wondered past, but by then it would be too late, they’d be gone. The wife had ears with perfect hearing and she had more sensitive senses than her husband, so she could tell if they were being followed or if someone was coming and they’d be out of there as quick as the wind they came in on.
And how they loved each other; deeper than anyone had ever dreamed! Even though they were opposing species, they got along wonderfully, and loved each other with every breath they took and with every nerve and ever blood cell. Strange how he never though that the two of them could ever come up with anything to say to one another, being that they are so different! Regardless, they never fought and they were never mad at one another, or their children, unless they weren’t doing well in school, but there was no reason they shouldn’t; after all they were the children of a genius father!!

Late one night, the villain pair got home near dawn and crashed in their room, for whatever time there was left in the fast fleeting night. It was a rough night and they had a run in with Darkwing Duck and almost got caught. They had lost all, but a few, jewels when they were forced to retreat to the bay; or should I say into the bay! Ja Tarra as no longer affected by her husbands electricity and so electrocution to her was like getting chills up your back.
When the sun rose over the horizon and filled the room with light there came a knocking at the parent’s door. “Momma, Dad!! Are you guys up??!” came a worried voice of a youngster. She opened the door and saw her parents sound asleep, laying ascue on their bed…in their villain clothes!! Emilia gazed at the pair with wide eyes and her breath caught in her throat. She just stood there, mesmerized and terrorfied. She knew who Megavolt and Ja Tarra were! They were the best, or worst (depending how you perceived them) villain team in all the world!!
When the light from the outside reached the pair’s faces, they stirred and Emi was still transfixed. She couldn’t recognize them to be her parents due to the mud that was on them from the bay and the fact that their get-ups were to avoid recognition. They looked at Emilia and there was a moment between the three. Emilia ran out of the room screaming when her nerves finally let her move. The pair went after her and the screaming had awaken the other children. Megavolt caught Emilia and held her while she struggled. “Emi, it’s me! It’s me! Daddy!”
She stopped struggling and looked to see for her self. She still was in shock.
“It’s me,” he said then removed his plug hat and goggles.
“Daddy?!” She threw her arms around his neck. He seemed relieved of her reaction to love him as opposed to fear.
Tory came out of her room and looked at the scene and was speechless. Ja Tarra turned to see Tory and went closer, but not too close, to explain. “Tory, it’s alright. Everything’s alright,”   The mother took off her black mask.
Tory takes her attention from Megavolt and Emilia and looks at Ja Tarra. “Mom?” the cat-rat mix asked, squinting her eyes, trying to see her mother through the mud and disguise, upon recognizing her mother’s voice. “What happened to you guys??” She noticed the filth.
“Plan didn’t go as planed.”
“You’re Ja Tarra and Megavolt?!”
“Yes darling, we are.”
“Then Tim was right…all along.”
“Yes, he was dear.”
“What’s going on out here, you guys?” Tom said as he walked out of his room, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Ja Tarra took her hair down out of it’s bun, sick of the messieness the river caused. He saw the scene and said, “Woah, what’s up here?!” He looked around. “Ja Tarra??! Megavolt??!……. Mom? Dad?” He looked back and forth at the two villains for the longest time. “Woah.” he finally said.
Tim walked from the bathroom, drying his hair and found his family very disheveled. “What’s going…” Then he noticed his parent’s attire. “I knew it!! I knew it!!! You are villains!! HA!! I knew it!!!!!!! So, when were you going to break down and tell your ‘beloved’ family?”
“Tim, don’t talk to us that way.” His father said, sternly as he stood up, slowly.
“Heh, yeah right. What other secretes do you two have hidden?”
“Tim, there isn’t much we kept from you. Not telling you we are villains was best for us and you!”
Tom thought about this and agreed, “Yeah, if we knew we might squeal, trying to be boastful and get Mom and Dad nailed by the cops and we’d never see them again!”
Emilia added, catching on, “Yeah! And then we’d go to the orphanage and get split up in foster homes and life would not be worth living! Aw! Thank you Mom, Dad!!” Emi hugged her parents, Tom following suit. They’re so cute at that age.
Elle went up to Tory, slowly and said, “Tory, are you alright? Are you ok with this fact? And you, Tim? Tell us what you think, please,”
There was a silence from the eldest two. Their father spoke up, in a humbled voice, “Please, guys,”
Tory tried to say something, but found difficulty getting the words to her mouth. “B, but you two are…so loving…. How…opposite from…from the villains you…are,”
Elmo walked closer to his daughter. “Tory, you remember that song I told you about? ‘You don’t know how it tastes until you try? You don’t know how to laugh until you cry?”
“ ‘You don’t know where you are till you’re homeward bound, and you don’t know what you’ve lost til it’s found’ ,” she finished for him. “Oh Daddy!” She ran up to him and gave him a big, loving hug. She started to cry too. Her father rubbed her back and her smooth, silky, golden brown hair. “It’s ok, Tory. You know Mom and I love you and your siblings. It’s ok,” he comforted her.
The family was gathered in hugs and comfort.

She awoke with an all too familiar sickness. She had gotten it seven times before. Four of those are alive and downstairs and in their beds. How could this happen??!! She was forty-seven!! She was too old to have a kid!! But nautious she was, there was no denying that. As always her husband comforted her and took her to the doctor…the results were stunning… She was pregnant and they were going to have another child. They had four already!!
“Elle, enough is enough. I think after this one there will be no more, what do you think?”
“I think I’ll sooner have my insides scooped out and put on a silver platter!!”
“Ew,” he grimaced at the imagery.
“Well, however this will go, after it’s born or stillborn, I want to be spayed. My mother did after Henry, my little brother, was born, as was her mother and her mother before her. It’s sorta like a family tradition thing, y’ know?”
“Well, ok, if you really want to, I guess,”
“Thanks hon. It’ll spare you and the kids from unneeded hell!”
“Ok,” he said absolutely clueless what would have happened otherwise.

Breaking the news to the kids would be…odd, at best. Everyone thought Piper would have been the last.