Part 2...
They entered the kitchen. The cabinets all hung open and
empty.
MIKE: Wow, Bigfoot really did a number on this place, huh?
The refrigerator was the only remaining appliance. It would go
to the future tenants.
TOM: Actually, it's because Dr Quest's experiments took root in there
so the fridge is too heavy to lift now.
A couple of coolers stood on the counter. Jon went to
one of them and opened it. "Jolt, Kona or Mountain Dew?" he
asked.
MIKE (as Jessie): Got any Jack Daniels?
"God, Quest, don't you plan on sleeping while you're
here?" she laughed.
CROW: Not while you're here, baby.
MIKE: CROW!!!
"I'll take a Kona." He passed her a bottle and took out one for
himself.
Opening the other cooler, he said, "I've got some, uh,
Cheetoes... Doritos... chips..."
TOM (as Jon): Part of a balanced breakfast!
His voice trailed off when he saw the amused look on her face.
"I've had lunch," she assured him. "How you get so big
eating food of this kind?" she added in her best Yoda imitation.
MIKE: How you dare mock the great Yoda in this way?
He grinned and pulled out a bag of Doritos.
They sat in companionable silence, drinking their sodas
and sharing the corn chips.
CROW: HURRY UP AND GET BACK TO WORK SO THE STORY CAN END!!!
"How's work?" he asked at last.
MIKE: Not happenin' right now!
"Going okay," she replied. "I'm kind of between
contracts at the moment. I finished the translation work on
those extraterrestrial signals two days ago." She smiled.
CROW: They turned out to be "Charlie's Angels" reruns.
"Everybody was all excited,
TOM: They were expecting "I Love Lucy."
and I was doing my best to act surprised."
"Anything that looks like it might be from Dad?" Jon
asked, trying to sound casual.
CROW: I knew it! I KNEW Jonny Quest was descended from aliens!
Jessica shook her head. "I'm sorry. Has he contacted
you?"
"No," Jon said. "I guess Alice is keeping him busy."
MIKE: We've come a long way from Wonderland, baby...
He quickly changed the subject. "I got an e-mail from Hadji.
He's sorry he can't come over to help with the packing, but being
Sultan is a full-time job."
CROW: What with the harem and all.
MIKE: CROW!
"And with the baby on the way, I guess it would be even
harder to get away from Bangalore," Jessica agreed. "Sonja's,
what, 2 months away from delivery?"
CROW: 3 months. He sent her by UPS.
"Hard to imagine our Hadji as a dad," Jon smiled.
"Well, he was always the most responsible one of us,"
Jessica pointed out.
MIKE: Which doesn't really say much for him, does it.
"Speaking of which... how is Linda?"
TOM: Who the hell is Linda?
Jon shrugged. "I think she's fine. She went home to
Connecticut to marry her childhood sweetheart."
CROW: Obviously this Linda woman has good judgment.
She looked at him, waiting for him to continue. As she
knew he would, he did. "She didn't like all the secrecy of my
work," he said. "Or my schedule. Or the way I ate my soup. Or the
color of my ties..."
MIKE: In other words, she was a normal woman.
"Since when did you wear ties?" Jessica asked, smiling.
"She wanted me to. So I thought, fine, I'll humor her,
but I might as well have some fun with it, you know?"
CROW (as Yakko Warner): Goodnight, everybody!
Jessie nodded. "Anyway, that was the beginning of the end," he
finished, and quirked an eyebrow. "What about you? Won't Chuck be
worried that you disappeared off the face of the earth like this?"
"If he cared," she replied. "We broke up last month.
CROW: So we're both on the rebound. Wanna make something of it?
He wanted to own me. I told him I didn't appreciate him trying to
take over my life."
Jon pretended to wince. "Ouch. Big blow to his ego, huh."
MIKE (as Jessie): Hey! You're supposed to be MY friend!
"Yeah, well, I dumped him first," Jessica stated. "Mom's
going to be disappointed. She was the one who introduced him to me."
She took a swig of her Kona. "And that's the last time I let my mom
fix me up."
"How'd she take the news?"
"Don't know. I sent her a letter, but she's somewhere in the
Amazon now, so I'm not sure if it got to her yet.
CROW: Is it just me, or do all these people have a real problem with
togetherness?
Dad's ecstatic, though, he never liked Chuck."
TOM: No, he preferred more tender cuts of steak.
"Grandpa can't say enough good things about Race," Jon
smiled. "Every time I call him he thanks me for sending your dad
along."
CROW: Oh, I get it. This is the author trying to fill us in on 20
years of history in one conversation. How pathetic.
"Yeah, Dad's pretty psyched, too," Jessica agreed. "He's
almost grateful he listened to us and retired." She leaned forward,
her face serious. "Look, Jon - I know what happened in Madagascar.
Are you okay?"
TOM: I hear the roaches there can get really savage.
Jon's face darkened briefly. "I'm fine. It was...It
comes with the territory," he said.
"Jonny, narrowly escaping getting blown up by a car bomb comes
with no territory I know," she said. "Why didn't you tell me?"
CROW: Because then the whole world would've known by the next morning.
"I didn't want you to worry," he said.
"Too late. I worried anyway," Jessica said. "And why
did you lie? Why did you tell me you had been in a Zen retreat
when you were really in the hospital? And why did I have to find out
from Dad?"
MIKE: And why do we have to read this?
"I told him not to tell anyone," Jon said.
"I'm not 'anyone.' I'm your friend," Jessica retorted.
"At least, I thought I was."
"Jessie..." Sadness came into Jon's eyes. "You were
working on a sensitive project. I didn't want you to be
distracted."
"Jonny..." She reached across and took his hand. "I
appreciate that you consider my work to be more important than
you. I even accept your logic. The news would have been
distracting." Her hand tightened around his.
MIKE (as Jon): Okay, that's tight enough. That's fine now. Ow... ow...
OW!
"But *you* are important to me. And you lied to me."
ALL: DUM-DUM-DUMMMMM!!!! (the three-note that was played over the
title card at the beginning of every classic JQ episode)
"Ow," he said. "I'm sorry, okay?"
CROW: Boy, he sounds sincere.
"Just promise me you won't do it again," she said.
"I promise," he said, fixing his eyes on hers. "The next time
some terrorist tries to blow me up, you'll be the first to know."
MIKE (as Jon): Of course, that means you have to give me your phone
number. TOM (as Jessie): On second thoughts, forget it.
"Good," she said.
"Fine," he replied.
CROW: WHATEVER!
Their gaze stayed locked for a long moment.
MIKE: Because they lost the key.
"Let's get to work," she said at last.
CROW: IT'S ABOUT TIME!
Cont'd in Part 3... (
geocities.com/soho)