***
Tim Brown, ten years old, absently dribbled sugary milk from his overladen cereal spoon onto the table. He was pretending to eat breakfast, very close to what Mom had told him to do. He and his younger brother, Zac, were actually watching Mondo Man beat the cartoon bad guys on TV.
"When this is over you have to leave for school." Mom said as she passed through the room carrying their baby sister Sally, Sally's clothes and several toys. She said that every day at this time. Tim and Zac began scooping purposefully for a moment. Then drifted back to occasionally getting the cereal to their mouths.
Chad and Shawn Jackson sat on the family room couch. They were just as raptly following the adventures of Mondo Man. They, however, had been fed by their mother before she dropped them off for the day. They came for before and after school care, and Mom charged four dollars extra on days she had to feed them breakfast.
There were howls of protest when Mom stopped in front of the TV while she dropped the toys in the toy box next to it. Then the commercials came on. As if by magic all the boys jumped up from their seats and began to move excitedly around the family room.
"Get your shoes on. Find your backpacks," Mom announced to no one in particular, while she tried to dress three year old Sally. "Stop Sally. You have to wear a shirt." After a few moments Mom glanced up at the others. "Do you need anything for school today?" No answer was forthcoming from the now immobile boys, the show was back on the TV.
Mom sighed. She let go of Sally without putting socks on her. She'd catch her later, when she had to put the clothes back on her. Sally was in her nudist stage.
Mom threw Sally's pajamas to the top of the stairs, rounded up the boys coats, hats, gloves, and backpacks and deposited them at the front door. She checked the refrigerator to see if she'd posted any notes or reminders that needed attention today. Nothing immediate. Then the show was over.
"Get your coats on. Put your shoes on. Do you have everything you will need for school?" Mom turned off the TV. Then she started herding the boys towards the front door.
Boys were heading in all directions through the house.
"I can't find my shoes!" Zac screamed from the top of the stairs.
Mom didn't even look up from where she was tying Shawn's shoes. "Look in the bathroom, on the floor." She had to be specific, otherwise they might look only in the sink.
In a few moments the boys were lined up by the front door, in order of age (Tim, Chad, Zac, then Shawn). Shawn hated always being last. But he was the youngest, and there were three of them, only one of him. So he hated it in silence.
Mom checked for coats to be zipped up, hats on heads securely, gloves near hands, and backpacks on backs. She looked in each backpack as they passed through the front door, to make sure they had their school work and lunch tickets.
She heard Dr. Terwilliger pull up into the driveway and start unloading the twins.
"Hi boys," Dr. Terwilliger said as she lifted Troy (twin one) out of the car.
"Good morn-ing, Doc-ter Ter-will-i-ger." The boys singsonged, in unison, with much practice. They also hurried away from what they referred to as the terrible tornado twins.
Dr. Terwilliger ignored them. She deposited Troy with Mom. "After I bring in Teresa, I'll check Sally's ears."
"Thanks, Tina," Mom said as she took Troy. There were benefits to watching a pediatrician's kids. She had to remind herself of all of them in order to keep sitting with the twins.
The house and all the people and things connected with it faded as the boys marched single file down the street. At a prearranged spot, far enough so that Mom wouldn't hear them, they all broke into song.
"Hi, Ho. Hi, Ho! It's off to school we go. The teacher farts, the laughing starts. Hi, Ho! Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho. Hi, Ho! It's off to school we go. We'll tear it down and burn the ground! Hi, Ho! Hi, Ho, Hi..."
They rounded the corner and stopped. Two boys were standing by the hedge in front of them. They were as tall as Chad, dressed funny, and acted weird.
"You are going to an institution of higher learning?" The first one asked.
"Yeah," said Tim, "we're going to school." Zac nudged Shawn, while Chad smirked.
The two new boys looked at each other. "We would go to school." The first one said.
"Must be foreign," Chad said, giving the others a meaningful look.
"Yes," said the second one, "we are from far away and need to learn much." Neither of them moved a muscle except their mouths.
Zac rolled his eyes. "Obviously, if you actually want to go to school."
Tim took charge. "Come on guys, cut'em some slack. They're new here. You can fall in with the rest of us. We go by age. I'm Tim and I'm 10, Chad is 9, Zac will be 8 next week, and Shawn is 7."
The first one looked thoughtful for a second. "I am Ricky. This is Fred. We are," pause, "eight and a half."
Tim motioned them back behind him. "In between Chad and Zac."
They continued to school, singing their song. Ricky and Fred joined in on the "Hi Ho"s, but just listened to the rest. They were filing away the information about bodily functions and destruction for later consideration. It was obvious that these four were learning battle techniques.
At the school Tim, Chad, Zac and Shawn dropped their backpacks around a signpost, Ricky and Fred had none. They went to the playground as a group.
Shawn piped up first, "Let's play Mondo Man, I'll be Mondo Man."
"No!" The other three shouted in unison.
Ricky looked around. "What is this?"
Tim answered in his most superior tones. "This is the playground."
"What is the playground for?" Fred asked.
"Oh," said Tim airily, "we play and do stuff. Usually we play Mondo Man or attack of the space bugs. Sometimes we'll just swing and goof off."
Ricky looked thoughtful. "You practice here, to fight against space invaders?"
"Oh yeah," Zac said rolling his eyes sarcastically. "If the Martians ever invade we'll be ready for them."
"There are no Martians." Fred seemed strangely sure of it.
"Right," said Tim. He swung his fist at his brother, who ducked. He turned back to the new boys. "What would you like to do?"
Ricky and Fred exchanged glances. "Let's do space invaders."
This seemed to be OK with everyone. The only problem was deciding who would be on what side. Finally it was decided that Tim, Chad, and Zac would be on the defending side. Ricky, Fred, and Shawn would be the invaders.
Fred sneaked a furtive look at Ricky, before asking, "What will you use to defend yourselves?"
The three defenders all began to talk at once listing their weapons. "Ray guns, lasers, blasters, light swords, phasers, blaster torpedos, death satellites, flying dreadnoughts, fighter planes." They paused a moment. "And that Star Wars stuff they've been developing," added Tim.
Ricky and Fred looked impressed, they opened a new memory category for earth on warfare between planets.
Shawn was trying to figure out if the game's rules would allow him to switch sides midway through the game. The defenders of earth never lost.
Ricky interrupted Shawn's train of thought with a question. "What is the Star Wars stuff?"
"You know, The Force." Shawn really wasn't paying attention.
Ricky and Fred were even more impressed.
Tim jumped up onto the monkey bars, shouting, "I, Captain Timothy Brown, with my brave men will defend the earth from the ferocious, evil invaders led by..." He looked at Ricky. "Hey, who is your leader?"
Ricky and Fred exchanged glances, yet again. Fred replied, "Mumblefarg."
The four boys started laughing. Tim fell off the monkey bars, he was laughing so hard. When they could finally catch their breath, Chad stuck his rear end out and swung it back and forth chanting "Rumble Fart! Rumble Fart!" The other boys immediately joined him.
Ricky and Fred were mystified.
The boys were stopped by the first bell.
The boys collected their bags and began heading for the school doors.
"One of you should be leader," Tim said, trying to be nice. "You'll never win with a leader named..." He couldn't say it, he'd started laughing again. "Nobody would take someone named that seriously."
As they entered the door, Mrs Block stopped them. "Who are these two young men? Are you new here?"
Ricky smiled programmed charming smile number two as he spoke. "Yes, Ma'am. We are from far away. This is our first day here."
"Why such polite young gentlemen. How nice. Maybe you'll rub off on these boys," Mrs. Block said. She gave the other four a meaningful stare.
They rewarded her with artificial smiles. Tim, spokesman as always, said, "We found them on the way here. And made sure they got here OK."
"Thank you, boys. That was very nice of you. Now go to class." When they hesitated she shooed them off. "Go on, NOW." After they mumbled goodbye and started off down the hall, she turned to Ricky and Fred. "Go to the office. They'll get you sorted out. Have a nice first day, boys." She waved cheerily to them as they headed in the direction she pointed.
When they were sure that she was no longer looking Ricky and Fred took off down the hall. They turned at the first corner they reached. Ricky grabbed the first child to walk around the corner, a scrawny girl with glasses. "Where is the library?"
She pulled her arm out of his grip and glared at him for a moment.
"Please," he said.
Answering curtly, she said, "Upstairs. Right above us."
"Thank you," he said. Then the two began looking for the stairs. In less than two minutes they were opening the door to the library.
It was still dark in the library. Because no students would be coming until an hour after school started the librarian kept the lights off and worked in her office. That didn't bother them, the emergency lights provided enough light for their enhanced optics. They noticed the light coming from under the door of the librarian's office. Giving it a wide berth, they split up and walked through the quiet stacks, looking for the information they needed. After a few moments they met at the opposite end of the room. A few moments consultation was all they needed, then they began recording the contents of the books in their memory banks.