Excuses, Excuses!

      "Not now, Chester," I said briskly.

      Almost seeming to shrug, Chester started to walk away. As I watched him leave, I heard my front door open. There were a few whispers, and then feet running up stairs. My pets were obviously trying to escape me.

      "UJ, Patrick, George, and Kara, come down to the living room please!" I shouted.

      The running of feet instantly stopped. I listened with a chuckle as slowly, reluctantly, the feet started getting louder as they went down the stairs and neared the living room. The first pet that came into the living room was a purple Shoyru, UJ. She was closely followed by Patrick the rainbow Gelert, George the strawberry Usul, and Kara the red Kougra.

      "Sit down, everybody," I said with a huge cheesy smile, gesturing to the two comfy green chairs and the two spots next to me on the couch.

      There was a mad dash to the green chairs; nobody wanted to be near me when it was so obvious I was angry. UJ and George slid into the chairs first. Kara and Patrick gave them both looks for a second; pleading to be given the chairs, but the Shoyru and Usul shook their heads no.

      "Patrick, Kara, come sit by me. I won't bite," I said with my big cheesy smile still plastered onto my face like it had been glued there.

      I slid over to be right in the middle of the couch. Slower than molasses, Patrick and Kara sat down on either side of me. I looked each one of my pets eye to eye before saying,

      "Well, you're obviously all fine, so I am really curious about why you are so late getting home. Would somebody like to tell the tale?"

      "I will," UJ replied.

      UJ gave each of her siblings a look. I could tell she was saying with her eyes to let her do all the talking. Each sibling nodded to show they understood, except George who obviously didn't get what UJ was saying.

      "UJ, please begin," I said.

      "If you say so, Rachel," UJ said reluctantly. "It was cold and stormy on Mystery Island..." UJ began.

      "No it wasn't; it was hot and sunny!" George said, cutting UJ off.

      "George, be quiet!" UJ bellowed. "Anyways, we had split up and were off on different parts of the island. We were in two groups of two, of course; me and George and Kara and Patrick."

      "No we weren't! You three sent me off to play Tombola by myself while you went shopping."

      "George, you have no idea what you're talking about, so quit talking!

      George and I were at Tombola at the moment I looked at my watch to see it was nearly two!

      'George,' I frantically said, 'We've got to go find Kara and Patrick quick; it's almost the time Rachel asked us to be home by.'

      'Oh my goodness, UJ, we really need to hurry if we want to get home by three. We don't want sweet, loving, would- never- punish- her- pets- because- she- loves- them- to- bits Rachel to worry!' George practically screamed at me..."

      "I would never say things like that about Rachel! I don't feel that way at all about her!"

      "Excuse me?" I asked with a skeptical glance in George's direction.

      "I mean I do, Rachel the Great," George said nervously.

      "Whatever, continue, UJ."

      "So George and I ran as fast as we could to the beach where Kara and Patrick were spending their day. When we got to the beach, all that greeted us was a deserted beach. I frantically looked around the beach to see any signs of my two younger siblings. I saw their plain red towels lying in a heap on the ground. George and I ran over to them. On the towels was a short note saying,

            UJ and George,

      We have taken your siblings hostage in Kreludor. If you wish to ever see them again leave a Tombola ticket, three different fruits, and 100,000,000 Neopoints.

      Sincerely,

      The Alien Aishas... "

      "I don't remember that at all!" George said.

      "That's because your short term memory loss is starting to kick in, George."

      George was quiet for a moment. She then nodded. "You're right, UJ."

      "So you'll let me finish my story without interruption?" UJ asked, not bothering to hide her relief as George nodded. "Great, then I'll finish up!"

      "I read the note quickly and then handed it to George in shock.

      'What should we do? We could never get that many Neopoints!' I asked George with a groan.

      'You do nothing,' George replied, calmer than I had ever seen her.

      I started at her dumbfounded.

      'What do you mean, do nothing?' I asked dumbly.

      'You sit down on the sand by the towels.'

      I stood, not moving at all. With a sigh, George gently pushed me until I was sitting adjacent to the towel.

      'Now all you have to do, UJ, is sitting there for a few minutes. I'll be back soon.'

      'Where are you going?'

      'You'll know soon enough.'

      With a wink, George put on a cape with a big blue "G" on it that appeared out of no where. She then flew up into the sky. I watched her, wondering what other strange surprises this day could hold.

      George was gone for about an hour, by my watch's time. In that time all I basically did was build and destroy sand castles and glance at my watch, worrying about what you, Rachel, were thinking. I hoped you would believe this crazy story. At that point I wasn't sure I would have believed it.

      After the hour had gone by I was about to give up hope of ever seeing George, Patrick, and Kara again and just get on a ferry back home. Just in time, I saw a red figure zooming to the ground, two other figures, one red and one multicolored, in her arms. As the figure got closer I could see it was indeed my three siblings.

      'Run to the ferry as fast as you can, UJ,' George shouted as she neared landing.

      'Why?' I shouted back.

      'Because the Alien Aishas are shooting rainbow guns at us!' Patrick shouted while he, Kara, and George started to run.

      That was all the encouragement I needed to run as fast as I could. My legs were not made for running, though, and I started to lag behind the others. I remembered I could fly! Smacking myself on the head for my stupidity, I took off into the air. Soon all four of us were almost to the boat. The Alien Aishas started shooting faster, knowing their prey was almost free. We now had to dodge the blasts of light while trying to run and fly as fast as we could. We were maybe ten meters from the boat. We were going to make it! Just as that thought left my mind, though, the boat started moving.

      'Run faster!' I shouted down.

      I landed and started running with them. We had to jump about half a meter over the water to get on the boat, but we made it on. And that is the story of why we are home so late."

      UJ turned to me, obviously looking for a reaction. I just stared at her for a second before bursting into laughter. I rolled around on the floor, clutching my stomach and tears streaming from my eyes. When I recovered I asked,

      "Okay, what really happened?"

      UJ stared at the floor and mumbled, "I dropped my watch in the ocean and we lost track of time."

      "That makes more sense."

      "Are you mad at us?" Kara asked.

      "No; it was just a mistake. UJ, try and be more careful next time."

      "Okay," UJ said while standing up and moving to start walking away.

      "Wait a second, UJ," I called.

      UJ turned to me. "What?" she asked.

      "You should really think about becoming a writer."

The End