CHAPTER 40
It was two days before the Fourth of July. Up in the attic, the four of us were finger painting fireworks onto sheets of construction paper in order to have our own little celebration since we were once again stuck in our own private Hell for another holiday. Once our pictures were dry, we planned on hanging them all over the attic so we could have a fireworks display for the holiday.
When dad was alive, this was the week he always took off from work every year. We would rent a vacation house in a different place each summer – San Diego, Monterey Bay, Palm Springs. We would take in the sites of the city or just lie around on the beach all day. On the fourth, we would gather around a small campfire to eat s’mores, listen to the local band play the usual patriotic songs and watch the fireworks explode in the sky. No matter where we were, it was always a fun time, a time for the whole family to get closer to each other.
Getting up to hang one of my pictures to dry against a clothesline we had set up, William followed me with his own artwork in hand. “We’re doing it tonight.”
“Huh?” I had no idea what Will was talking about.
“The plan. We’re grabbing the key from Adam tonight. I have a perfect diversion.” He said looking over at Dawn and Connor, who were making a complete mess of themselves with the finger paints.
“Keep talking.” I said as I continued to hang my painting, trying to act nonchalant as if we weren’t talking about a possible escape. Listening intently to Will’s idea, I nodded my head thinking it might just work.
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Minutes before dinner, I was helping Dawn brush out her hair after forcing her to take a bath to rid her of the paint she had got all over her earlier in the day. Will was still in the bathroom cleaning up Connor, who was acting as if he would melt if his skin touched the bathwater.
When Adam walked in, I handed the brush to Dawn and started to put the plan in motion. Before he could get the dinner cart all the way into the room I began asking him questions. “Adam, does Sunnydale set off fireworks for the Fourth of July?”
“Of course, the town puts on a show every year at the park downtown.”
“Will we be able to see them? If we go to the attic, which window could we look out to see the display? I love fireworks and so do the twins. It would be really nice if we could catch them.”
Just as I finished my inquiry, Connor came streaking out of the bathroom, wet and naked. “Connor, get back in here! I’m not done cleaning you.” Will ran out after him, cloth and soap in hand. Not expecting the dinner cart to be in the middle of his path to the bed, Connor crashed into it, spilling one of the dinner plates and a basket of rolls onto the floor.
“Connor! Look what you’ve done.” Will yelled coming over to stand beside me as Adam and I bent over to pick up the mess. Knocking into the side of Adam, I grabbed the chain holding the key and yanked it out of his pocket just as Will bent closer to me as if he was inspecting the damage, while strategically holding out the bar of soap so he could take the key from me and press it into the wet bar. After wiping the soap residue off the key with the wash cloth, he placed it back in the palm of my hand and stood up straight. “Connor, get back in the bathroom now or I’ll have your hide!” Will yelled as Connor screamed and went running dramatically back into the bathroom, but not before knocking into Will.
Will pushed back into me before chasing Connor into the next room. I grabbed onto Adam’s hip to steady myself, conveniently allowing me to slide the key back into his pocket without him noticing. “Oh god, I’m so sorry, Adam.” I said straightening myself out to continue picking up rolls from the floor. “You’d think we were lighting Connor on fire, not bathing him the way he’s acting. You know how kids can be when it comes to bath time though.” I tried to excuse Connor’s conduct by chalking it up to normal nine year old behavior. Placing the basket of rolls back on the top of the dinner cart, I watched Adam finish cleaning up the fallen plate.
“Maybe you should put a leash on him.” Adam said turning up his nose. I could tell Adam never had any children; either that or he had been influenced by Drusilla for too long. He moved the dinner cart to its usual position in the room. “You’re going to have to make do with the meals that you have. If Drusilla sees me bringing up another plate, she’ll ask questions which might lead to a punishment. You can make the little demon eat the one that spilled on the floor. I think that’s punishment enough.” I nodded my head to him as he turned to leave, wiping at what looked to be a gravy stain on his pants.
“Adam, wait.” I said quickly before he could leave. “What about the fireworks?”
He let out a sigh before answering. “You should be able to see them from the windows facing the front of the house. They start at nine.”
“Thanks. Do you think you could get us one of those s’mores servers? You know the kind that has the little fire pot in the middle and places for all the fixings around it. It’s sort of a Summers family tradition.” I put on my best puppy dog look and then looked back at Dawn, who was sitting on the bed with her own pleading eyes staring back at the butler.
Looking between the both of us, Adam gave in to our persuasive charms. “Yeah, I think I know where they have them. I’ll bring everything by tomorrow with dinner.”
Dawn and I squealed in delight. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” Dawn came over to hug her arms around my waist. “You don’t know how happy you just made us.”
We both smiled as he left the room, mumbling “yeah, yeah,” under his breath.
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Ten minutes later, Dawn and I had already started eating dinner when Will came out of the bathroom with a clean Connor. “Did I do alright? Do I get my treat?” Connor asked looking up at William.
“Yep, you were perfect.” Will walked over to the bed and started rummaging in our stash underneath it. Pulling out some ‘Ho-Ho’s,’ he handed them to Connor who immediately tore open the package.
“Mmm, I love these.” Connor said, handing one over to Dawn to share his prize with his twin sister, who gladly opted for the chocolate treat over the meatloaf on her plate.
“What are you guys up to?” Dawn asked stuffing half the Ho-Ho in her mouth. “I saw you put the key back in Adam’s pocket.”
“You did?” I said surprised. Dawn had continued to quietly brush her hair on the bed during the whole commotion, making me think she really wasn’t paying much attention. “You’re definitely too smart for your age.”
“The real question is do you think he noticed, Dawn?” Will asked sitting down at the table. He was splitting up Dawn and his meals to give some to Connor.
“No, I don’t think so. He was pretty absorbed in the cleaning; he didn’t seem to flinch or anything when Beth put it back.”
“Excellent.” Will said flashing me a grin and stealing some of my mashed potatoes.
“So, what are you up to?” Connor probed.
“Well, I don’t think we should tell you.” Will explained. “The less you know the better off you are. If grandmother catches wind of something, I don’t want her to be able to get anything out of you through her usual scare tactics.”
“Will, we’re not little kids anymore.” Dawn argued. “We’re stuck here too, you know. If you’re doing something that might get us out, we deserve to know.”
Connor nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah, I helped tonight, didn’t I? You needed me for your plan to work. Maybe we can help later on too.”
Will sighed and looked at me for some assistance on how to handle this situation. Shrugging my shoulder, I answered his silent question. “You might as well tell them. Seems to me the little buggers will figure it out anyway.”
“Ok, fine, but you’re on a need to know basis. Got it?” Will said waving a finger between both of them. Nodding in agreement, the twins listened intently as Will described the idea of making a key.
“That’s so cool.” Connor awed. “I want to watch when you melt the toothbrush. That sounds awesome.” I shook my head at our little pyromaniac.
“Is this why you’ve been up in the attic so much lately?” Dawn asked. I whipped my head around to Will, who was wearing a look of panic on his face from Dawn’s question. I could only imagine that I wore a similar expression. “I woke up the other night and heard you up there. It was late and really dark. I was too scared to go find you.”
Pushing my panic aside when I realized Will wasn’t going to answer, l replied, “Yeah, Dawnie. We’ve been practicing the pick-pocketing thing for a while, trying to perfect it. I’m sure that’s what you heard us doing.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about us.” Will interjected, snapping out of his daze. “We’ll be plotting things out for a while. If you wake up again, just try to go back to sleep.” I turned my head to Will, shaking it and rolling my eyes at him in frustration. How obvious could he be? He shrugged his shoulders and mouthed ‘What?’ to me, while the kids seemed to be mulling over what we just told them.
“Ok.” Dawn said, nodding her head in her trusting way. She and Connor went back to eating their meatloaf while Connor boasted about his earlier performance. Will smirked at me, more confident since it seemed we dodged a bullet, and started to help Connor exaggerate the story. I went back to my dinner thinking we definitely needed to be more careful in our nightly activities.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks as always to Jess and for all of you who reviewed! I just realized I was at 600 reviews. Wow! I never imagined getting such a great response from everyone. Thank you guys so much. Enjoy.