Chapter 4: Make Them Stop!
Kim twirls the Staff with an expert flick of her
wrists. “This is fun.”
Trini toddles up to her and reaches out a slim finger to
touch Kim’s knee. “Shiny…”
Kim pats her head and smiles. “Glad you like it… Well better get back to business. Power
Down!” The magnificent armor fades
away, leaving Kim dressed in her short black shorts and a fuchsia halter top.
She smirks, then lifts her right hand to tap her index
finger against her lips. “So what do we
tell the parents?”
Tommy stares at her in horror. “Oh my God! What are we going to do?”
“Oh jeez, do I have to do everything?” Kim sighs and gently rubs her temples. “Do we have all our voices on record?”
Alpha, who is still standing near the console, turns to
it again and reviews the appropriate files.
“Yes we do, but what do you need it for?”
Kim looks at Alpha with a mild shock. “Don’t you have a superior AI IQ? We use the
voice patterns to generate a message to all of the parents. You really ought to
watch more TV.” Tommy chuckles.
“WE CAN TAKE CARE OF THAT KIMBERLY. YOU AND TOMMY SHOULD
GO AND TAKE CARE OF THE RANGERS. WE WILL BE IN CONTACT IF ANYTHING COMES UP,”
Zordon says.
“Ok then, teleport us all to Tommy’s. Oh and generate a
few dozen diaper packages please,” Kim requests.
“IT WILL BE DONE.”
Zordon nods and the eleven Rangers stream out in a bright array of
colors.
~*~
The group re-forms in the middle of Tommy’s living
room. The floor is covered in a plush
coffee-pink carpet. There is a couch, a
love seat and several armchairs, all covered with throw pillows. The huge windows let in the early evening
sun, which makes the various polished wood shelves glint brightly. The amount of trinkets on the many surfaces
is staggering, souvenirs, pottery, glass pieces, etc.
Adam immediately wanders out into the hall. Zack climbs onto the coffee table, knocking
off a small glass unicorn, which is luckily cushioned by the carpeting.
“You’re it!” Rocky taps Kat and sprints forward, neatly
evading Tommy by ducking between his legs.
Kim frowns. “Hold
it!” Rocky freezes in the process of
grabbing Zack’s ankle.
“Let go of Zack,” she orders. “Zack get off that carefully.”
The boys obey and creep towards her, each hugging one of her legs. She pats their heads. “Tommy we need to take them clothes
shopping.” Tommy cringes internally,
vividly recalling Kim’s ability to shop for over twelve hours.
“Well we can’t all fit into my car.”
Kim grins triumphantly.
“That’s why we’re renting a van.”
She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out Zordon’s corporate credit
card. “Enjoy. You know where the phone
is.” Tommy meanders around the
toddlers, grumbling something about controlling females and the speed
limitations of vans.
“I heard that,” Kim calls out after him.
“Yeah, yeah…” He
lifts the phone and dials 0 for the operator.
Kim turns her attention back to the kids and begins to
count, “Tanya, Trini, good they’re occupying themselves. Jason… Jason, get away
from that. Billy…” Billy is tucked into a corner, behind an armchair. Kim moves towards him slowly, impeded by the
two clinging boys on her legs. Finally
reaching him, she offers her hands, and Billy eyes Kim carefully. Deciding he likes her, he stretches up and
wraps his stubby fingers around her slender ones. She lifts him easily and settles him on her hip, “So that’s
Billy.” She looks down at the two
hellions, “I hope they stay that way. Aisha… oh God leave that alone.
Kat…” Kat has decided to follow Tommy
and is barreling through the room to get to him. Kim shakes her head and lets her go, “Adam… Adam? Adam honey
where are you?” Kim panics, a cold
sweat instantly covering her body, “Adam?”
Her cries reach Tommy almost instantly and he scoops up
Kat and dashes through the living room.
“What happened?”
“Adam…” Kim replies, her fear evident in her eyes. Kim waddles into the hall, her three burdens
weighing her down considerably. Tommy
follows, absently shifting Kat in his arms as she tugs on his ponytail.
The hallway contains several doors, a family room, a
bathroom, a small hallway into the kitchen, the stairs to the basement, the
stairs to the second floor and finally the door into the backyard. It is the last one that’s left ajar.
Kim bends down and lifts Zack, then hands him to Tommy,
who cuddles him carefully. She then
picks up Rocky, balancing him on her free hip.
Tommy nudges the door with his left foot and it swings open with a
creak.
The backyard is huge, flowerbeds, a small vegetable
garden, and a lot of bushes and trees, all fenced in by a four-foot wooden
barrier.
“Adam?” Kim calls out.
There is no answer. Kim catches
Tommy’s gaze and nods to the right. He
moves silently in the direction she chose.
Kim checks her grip on the boys and heads left. She meanders along flower bushes and reaches
a small patch of dense trees. A soft
rustle sounds. Kim carefully sets her
burdens down with a wink and a silent command to be quiet and snatches a wide-eyed
Adam out of the foliage. “Ha! Got you.” Realizing that three boys are a little too
much for her to carry, she calls for help.
“Tommy?”
A moment later Tommy emerges, his eyes panicky. “What happened?”
Kim smiles and points to Adam. “Found our infantile delinquent.” Tommy exhales explosively.
“You’re going to have to carry one more,” Kim adds. “Pick.”
Deciding Billy is better off with Kim and one holy terror is enough, he
settles Kat on his shoulders and bends down, painstakingly slow, to scoop up
Adam. Balancing three toddlers, he
leads the way back. Kim, in a practiced
move, lifts up both Billy and Rocky and follows Tommy. They make their way into the living room as
quickly as they can…
Aisha has overturned the coffee table and is pretending
it’s a little ship. Jason and Tanya are
engaged in a pillow fight that has several pillows lying on the floor with
their stuffing falling out. Trini has
climbed on top of a bookcase and is swinging her legs in tune with the song
Aisha is singing. Tommy halts his
movement, his mouth a perfectly round “o” and Zack giggles from his vantage on
Tommy’s hip.
Kim shakes her head, her face stormy. “What do you four think you’re doing?”
Aisha stops her singing and is looking at Kim with tears
in her eyes. “I… I… waaaah…” Her sobbing starts off Tanya, who dashes to
hide behind the loveseat. Trini stops
moving her legs and looks down. Her
face scrunches up with terror as she suddenly realizes how high she is. She begins to scream, her voice hitting a
very high note. Jason sniffles, then
curls into a small ball. The five kids
perched on the two teens quietly enjoy their lack of responsibility.
Kim walks over to the couch and carefully dumps both boys
onto it. “Hold still for a
minute.” She then removes Kat from
Tommy’s shoulders and sets her next to Billy, as Tommy deposits Zack and Adam
next to Rocky. Kim quickly assesses the
situation. “Tommy, get Trini.” Tommy, lost as to how to proceed because he has
never dealt with toddlers before, obeys, stretching up to grab the little girl
and gently cradles her to calm her down.
Kim kneels next to Aisha and wraps her arms around her,
lifting her into her lap. “Don’t cry…
Shhh…” She rubs Aisha’s back,
remembering how she used to do it to calm her cousin Kelly down, and the child
quiets.
Trini is calm again, surveying the room, as Tommy is
unable to look away from the sight of his ex comforting their friend.
“Kim…” Aisha
looks up, hiccupping slightly. “I wet.”
Kimberly sighs.
“Tommy, put Trini down and go get the diapers.” He obeys again, still in mild shock, and in
a moment he is offering Kim the package.
She instead hands him Aisha and nudges him towards the hall, hoping
he’ll get the message. He flashes her
an enigmatic look and moves in the right direction. She watches him intently
for a minute.
Kim decides to take care of both Jason and Tanya and so
moves quickly to lift them. She sits in
the love seat and cuddling them to her.
They calm down soon enough and Kim looks at them sternly. “Listen, you shouldn’t play with things in
this room. Tommy and I will go buy some toys for you and turn the basement into
a playroom. You can play there but the rest of the house is off limits. Got
it?” They nod solemnly.
Kim sweeps her gaze across the bunch on the couch. “That goes for the rest of you too.” They nod as well. Tommy returns with a cleaned-up Aisha and at that moment a car
horn sounds. Kimberly’s adrenaline
pumping, she swerves her head in sheer terror.
She isn’t expecting anyone.
Could the Olivers be home early?
How could they explain this?