The Hellandback Kids: Be Careful What You Wish For

  Chris took a bite and closed his eyes.

 

  CHAPTER 4

  Trisha walked into the kitchen. “Mom, is there anything to eat?”

  Mrs. Hellandback sliced an apple, and poured a glass of milk, and sat down at the table with two of her four children.

  Trisha hated sharing a bedroom with Brittany, but she did have one escape. Trisha had fixed up a little room off the kitchen for herself, for times when she had enough of the family—or, mainly, Chris. It wasn’t the pantry, exactly. It must have been the icebox room before refrigerators were invented. It was closed in long ago, and Mrs. Hellandback had put a desk and chair in it so Chris would have a quiet place to study. Then she gave up on telling him to study in there, since Mrs. Hellandback couldn’t tell if Chris was really doing his homework or just examining something he had found on the floor. Chris didn’t do much studying in there. The quiet made his head hurt. He said he could only hear his own annoying thoughts running around in his head. Trisha had taken out the chair and put an inflatable mattress under the built-in desk. She hung Christmas lights and said it was “cozy.” She slept in there sometimes, because it made her feel safe.

  Trisha loved anything to do with dancing: prom (“gag,” as Chris would say), dance class, or just being with her friends. Put on some music and she would dance until morning.

  Mrs. Hellandback asked, “Do either of you know when Brittany will be home?”

  They both shook their head no.

  Trisha asked with a mouthful of food, “Mom, have you seen my good pair of jeans?”

  “No, Trisha. Look in the laundry in the basement. While you are down there, throw in a load for me.”

  Trisha slowly got up and sighed heavily, as if her mother had asked her to do some labor-intensive work.

  Trisha flicked on the light in the basement and descended the stairs. The air smelled different, like the rain-soaked earth after a hard downpour. She hated the basement, musty, dark, and unpleasant. Trisha started coughing. The air was thick with something. Trisha saw her jeans on the floor. “Darn, I was hoping they would be clean.”

  She picked them up to throw them in the washer.

  Suddenly, her jeans started moving in her hand. “Ahhh!” Trisha screamed as she looked down. Hundreds of earthworms crawled all over her jeans, and thousands more covered just about every inch of the floor surrounding her. Trisha was never very athletic, but she took the stairs two at a time like an Olympic athlete.

  Mrs. Hellandback was no longer in the kitchen, but there sat her brother Chris, finishing his sandwich.

  “Chris, will you go down in the basement and get my jeans? I think I’ll wash them by hand.”

  “Why can’t you get them yourself? You just came from down there.” Chris looked at his sister, who was flushed and breathing heavily. “Oh, I see. Something scared you in the basement. I’ll get your jeans if you take the garbage out for me for the next two days.”

  Trisha said, “Fine. Now go get my jeans.”

  “If I knew you would agree so easily, Trisha, I would’ve asked for a week.”

  Chris disappeared through the basement door, and in less than a minute, he was back in the kitchen with Trisha’s jeans.

  Trisha grabbed her jeans away from her brother. “Did you see anything in the basement?”

  “Yeah.”

  Trisha almost yelled, “What!”

  “I think I found some of your courage and pride hanging around the washer, waiting for you to come pick them up.”

  Trisha stuck her tongue out at her younger brother and marched out of the kitchen.

  Trisha looked at her hand as she headed for her bedroom. There were several slimy trails left over from the earthworms. “I don’t know how Chris did that, but he probably got some help from those twit friends of his. They must have spent every bit of free time digging up earthworms.”

  Trisha found her mom putting away clothes in her room. “Mom, Chris left a mess for you in the basement.”

  “What kind of mess?”

  Trisha didn’t know how to explain the thousands of earthworms in the basement without sounding like she was exaggerating. Everyone in the family accused her of always overreacting. “You’ll see when you go in the basement to do a load of laundry.”

  “Oh, did you put a load in for me? I see you found your ‘good’ jeans.”

  Trisha looked down. She still had her jeans draped over her arm. “Yeah, I found them, but they are dirty.” Trisha gave her mother a “help me” look. “Mom, can you wash them for me? I might shrink them in the washer.”

  Mrs. Hellandback handed Trisha a piece of paper. “I will throw your jeans in the wash if you put on the calendar Jon’s flight number and time of arrival.”

  Trisha took the piece of paper. “Thanks, Mom.”

  She had just put the information on the calendar when her mom walked through the kitchen with an armful of dirty clothes. “Looks like you’re not the only one who doesn’t know how to do laundry.” She descended the stairs, and there was silence.

  Trisha waited for some kind of hysterics from her mom. Nothing. Silence. “Mom, are you okay?”

  Mrs. Hellandback was on her way up. “Why wouldn’t I be okay, and what about the mess Chris made?”

  Trisha mumbled, “Nothing.” She went downstairs cautiously, tiptoed over to the washer and dryer, but saw no worms. Things were as they always were, a little messy, but that’s all.

  Trisha said under her breath, “I’m going to get Chris back for this.”

  Trisha had no way of knowing, but this would not be the first time she would encounter thousands of slimy things. Would her trip to Scotland prove to be fatal for her?

  CHAPTER 5

  Mrs. Hellandback was beginning to get worried about twelve-year-old Brittany. When she started to make a phone call, Brittany walked through the front door. She was carrying a small, soft brown leather bag.

  Mrs. Hellandback said, “Brittany, what’s in the pouch? Did you get a present from one of the patients or a nurse?”

  Brittany had been reading to patients on the pediatric unit at the children’s hospital for the past six months.

  “Sorry I’m late, Mom. The head nurse wanted to give me this.” She held up the little brown bag. “The nurse said the little boy in room two-ninety-two appreciated me reading him a story yesterday. So, he left me a present.”

  “Brittany, that was thoughtful of him. I told you they would enjoy your storytelling.”

  “The weird thing about it was I didn’t go into room two-ninety-two. It was empty.”

  “I’m sure you just got confused.”

  Brittany untied the leather strap and showed her mother. Inside the tiny bag were about a dozen brilliantly colored stones.

  “Brittany, they are beautiful. You don’t remember this little boy at all?”

  “No, Mom, I have a feeling this gift belongs to someone else.”

  “How can you be so sure you didn’t read to someone in that room?”

  “Because, Mom, it’s my locker number, and I always make sure I stop by. Usually there is always someone in there, but yesterday it was empty. I need to find out who deserves this gift. When I go back next week, I will check with the other readers.”

  “Would you like a snack?”

  “No, I had something at the hospital. When is Jon coming home for the summer?”

  “He will be home next week.”

  Brittany was following in her older brother’s footsteps. She was brilliant, but did not care for money as her brother did. She loved science and wanted to go to a top university and become a scientist. Brittany loved helping others. Even though she was only twelve, she had the compassion of a much older soul.

  “Is Dad going to take Jon out driving with his permit?”

  Mother tied the small pouch closed. “I don’t know, Brittany. Why are you so interested in Jon driving?”

  “Chris and I had a little bet going, that Jon would hit a nonmoving obj
ect and Dad would blow up.”

  “Brittany, you and Chris shouldn’t make such a bet. The streets of Boston are overcrowded, and it is very hard for a beginner to navigate the streets.”

  “Mom, it was more of a bet about Dad blowing up. Chris said Dad would lose it, and I said he wouldn’t.”

  “Brittany, I think I will be taking Jon out for his driving lessons.” Mrs. Hellandback knew that, with Jon being a perfectionist, and her husband’s controlling, ways the outcome would not be good.

  “Oh, Mom, I got an A on my research paper on the bubonic plague for science class.”

  The phone rang, and Brittany ran to get it. Mrs. Hellandback yelled after her daughter, “Good job, Brittany. I’m proud of you.”

  After a few minutes Brittany said, “Mom, that was Linda. She was looking for Jon. Mr. Shark needed to speak with him. Who is Mr. Shark?”

  “I don’t know, Brittany. I have gotten several strange phone calls, and I’ve been trying to reach Jon on his phone, but he doesn’t answer.” Mrs. Hellandback wasn’t worried about her son. For all his intellect, he constantly lost things: his phone, wallet, jacket, anything that wasn’t attached to his body.

  Brittany ran up to her room and let her mother’s voice trail off. She dumped the polished marbles out. The room filled with light, and things started to look a bit strange, like when you go to a carnival and they have those odd mirrors that distort images. Brittany hung on to the bedpost with one hand and scooped the rocks up with the other. She quickly put them away in their small pouch. She rubbed her eyes. “I need to take a short nap.”

  Trisha entered the room. “Brittany, what’s in the bag?”

  “Nothing, just a gift that doesn’t belong to me.”

  “Can I see? Is it a piece of jewelry or something?”

  Brittany opened the small bag, and Trisha looked inside. “Pretty glass marbles or something.”

  The room didn’t glow or swirl around like it had earlier.

  “Brit, who do they belong to?”

  “That I don’t know, but I’m going to take them back to the hospital next Saturday.”

  “Hey Brit, can you go get my jeans in the dryer? I don’t want them to shrink too much.”

  “Trisha, normally I don’t mind you ordering me around, but I’m tired today. You’ll just have to get them yourself.”

  Trisha dreaded going into the basement, but since she wanted to wear her favorite pair of jeans to the movies, she had to go down into the tomb. She dug out her winter boots in her closet and put them on. She’d run down and squish a few worms, get her jeans, and run back upstairs. Besides, her mother didn’t seem to see anything out of place when she went down, and things seemed normal enough when she had gone down the last time.

  Trisha clicked on the basement light and slowly descended the stairs. She was truly expecting to see the floor covered with night crawlers, but there were no insects or worms covering the floor. With the exception of a few dead roaches on their backs, the floor was barren of any creepy-crawlies. Trisha saw a shadow over by the old boiler. It looked like a silhouette of something hairy with a huge head.

  Trisha got her jeans and ran all the way to her bedroom. I need to have Mom schedule an eye appointment for me. The last time she had seen things that weren’t there was when she needed glasses four years ago. She wore contacts now, but maybe they weren’t fitting correctly. Of course, Chris had something to do with the earthworms in the basement. Maybe he had a hand in this too.

  Brittany said, “Trisha, could you please try to be a little bit quiet and not turn on so many lights?”

  “Sorry, Brittany, but I need to get ready to go out.”

  Brittany threw her covers over her head. “Ahhhhgggg!”

  Although the Hellandback children tolerated each other, the trip to Scotland would have to be different, or one of them would perish.

  CHAPTER 6

  The Hellandback household was very busy in the summer months. When the school year ended and summer began, the house went nuts. No one knew their schedules, but all of the Hellandback children had to get to games and practices and camps. It was always chaos, but Mrs. Hellandback kept everything under control.

  Chris walked home from lacrosse practice and ran into the house, out of breath, again.

  Mrs. Hellandback asked, “What’s wrong, Christopher?” She always used his full first name when she was either mad or frightened. Chris figured this time she was mad because she jumped. He must have startled her.

  Chris leaned over and caught his breath, then said, “That dog is after me again.”

  That stupid dog on the corner had been chasing Chris since he could remember. He only chased Chris, no one else. Chris thought the dog would outgrow it, but he never had.

  This dog was huge, part Rottweiler and part pit bull, and just plain menacing. On top of that, a dog had bitten Chris on the hand when he was very young. He had gone with his mother to visit friends when he tried to feed the neighbor’s dog some scraps from his lunch through the chain-link fence. He put his hand through the fence, and the dog bit into it. So, yeah, Chris still got a bit hysterical every time this dog chased him.

  Mrs. Hellandback looked at Chris. “That dog on the corner?”

  “Yeah, that one. He was going to take a chunk out of my leg.”

  Mrs. Hellandback obviously thought Chris was overreacting because she raised one of her eyebrows. “Christopher, that dog may be big, but he would lick you to death before he would take a bite out of you. He is perfectly harmless. Brittany weighs under a hundred pounds and walks by there every day. She swears he is a nice dog. He is just playing a game with you. He wants you to turn and play with him.”

  “He doesn’t want to play with me; he wants to tear me apart. I barely got home alive.”

  Mrs. Hellandback followed Chris to the front door, where, sure enough, that slobbery big dog sat waiting outside. Chris looked down at the scars on the palm of his hand. All of the reasons for hating this dog flooded his mind. Chris stormed off to his room and slammed the door.

  Chris looked out his bedroom window and watched his mom give that overgrown drool factory a snack. Mrs. Hellandback scratched his ear and watched him walk down the street. Chris could hear their miniature schnauzer barking; he was out of control.

  Titan truly believed he was a large dog, and he had the attitude to go with that. He was very protective, and Mrs. Hellandback knew that. If she let Chris, he would have had Titan fight that big dog. Titan probably would have won. He was very spirited for a little dog, and he would do anything to protect the family.

  Chris came down to the kitchen. “Hey Mom, Titan is acting strange. Why is he sitting by the basement door, scratching to get down?”

  “I don’t know, Chris, but yesterday when I opened the door, he raced down the steps and started barking and growling at the boiler.”

  Mr. Hellandback walked into the kitchen. She asked her husband, “Can you take a look behind the boiler? Titan seems to think something is back there. I hope it’s not raccoons again. They did a lot of damage to our ductwork on their last uninvited visit.”

  Mr. Hellandback grabbed the biggest flashlight he could find in the kitchen drawer. Chris handed his dad one of his old lacrosse sticks. “Dad, better take a weapon. They probably outnumber you.”

  Mr. Hellandback had gained some weight over the years. The last time he had gone behind the old boiler, he was a lot thinner. As he tried to wedge his girth between the wall and the exceptionally warm boiler, he said, “Chris, I don’t think I can squeeze back there. You’re going to have to do it.”

  Chris thought back to the night something was in his closet. “Mom, you’re smaller than Dad.”

  Mr. Hellandback lowered his voice. “Chris, this is not a job for your mother. Anything that could fit back there is going to be smaller than yourself.”

  That hadn’t convinced Chris to go back there. “Why not call a professional? What if this thing has rabies, or is a mother protecting it
s young? They can become quite vicious.”

  “Chris, you don’t need to make friends with it. I’m not asking you to invite whatever is back there to your next birthday party. Just open the window and let it escape.”

  “This is so unfair. Jon is never around for this kind of thing.” Chris grabbed the flashlight and his lacrosse stick.

  He slowly went a few steps, letting his flashlight lead the way. “Maybe we can wait until next week when Jon comes home.”

  Mr. Hellandback said, “The quicker you open the window, the quicker you can get out of the basement.”

  Chris eased back into the confined space. He tried to open the window. “I think it’s stuck, painted shut or something.”

  Mr. Hellandback said, “Put your back into it, Chris.”

  Mrs. Hellandback said, “Don’t tell him that! You know how fragile his back is. Trying to save money and not call a critter removal service may end up costing you more if Chris hurts his back and has to see a doctor.”

  “He’ll be fine. Chris, got the window open yet?”

  “Dad, couldn’t you just break the window from the outside and let whatever is down here escape that way?”

  Mrs. Hellandback put her head up to the boiler. “Chris, do the best you can. We’ll understand if you can’t open it.”

  Just then Chris heard a small pop. He didn’t know if it was his back or the window. The window started to move. “I think I got it, Mom.”

  Not only was the window moving, but so was something else around Chris’s feet. “Oh my God…something is attacking me!”

  Chris dropped the flashlight on something that cried out in pain. He flew through the thin opening, getting abrasions from the wall in his haste.

  Mrs. Hellandback immediately grabbed for Chris as Mr. Hellandback yelled, “What was back there?”

  “I don’t know, Dad! I didn’t take the time to introduce myself. I left the flashlight back there. Why don’t you go get it?”

  Mrs. Hellandback examined Chris, nothing around his ankles, just a few spots of blood where he had caught his hand on something. “I think we will just leave the flashlight back there.”

  Mrs. Hellandback said, “Chris, come into the kitchen. I’ll clean those two small spots on your hand.”