Time......... (Part 14)

Mr. Sperring discussed his son's absence with the movie star's uncle, Abraham Hethe.
"What do you make of it?" he asked.
"Well, my nephew has been acting odd lately, but I have no clue how he got in New York City. I doubt that he had any thing to do with the Scallions's break in though."
"Has it been proved then that it was in fact the Scallions?"
"Oh, yes. They found the green handkerchief by the door, and it has been identified by the police. Clever trick they had, in order to get into that jail."
"But why would they release my Peter of all people?"
"That's beyond me. Unless they made a mistake?" Mr. Hethe asked the question in a hopeless sort of way. Both he and the Sperrings feared the worse: Kevin and Peter had joined a robber's gang and were hanging around in who knows where.
"Wait!" Mr. Sperring said suddenly. "Surely your nephew wouldn't leave a blooming career as an actor to join a robber gang, would he?"
"Not normally," Mr. Hethe admitted.
"And Peter would never go and do such an outrageous thing; he had his heart set on becoming a chemist."
"Do you think they were mere victims then?" Mr. Hethe said hopefully. The next moment his countance dropped. "That doesn't explain the odd machine they found with them in the street."
"True," Mr. Sperring agreed. He pondered it all in silence for a fewe moments. At last Mr. Hethe made a suggestion.
"Let's go have dinner now, and leave the problem for later," he pointed to a restraunt across from the police station. "From there, we can see if anything odd appears to be happening around the station."
Mr. Sperring took a deep breath and took his wife's nervous hands. "Alright," he said at last.

Peter felt slightly relieved when the trip was over. He clambered out of the truck in a hurry and tried to find Kevin.
"Hi, Pete!" Kevin called, suddenly appearing on Peter's right side. "I was looking for you."
"So was I. I mean, looking for you."
"What do we do next?" he whispered.
"Get out of here?"
"Yes, but how?"
"Let me think a little while," Peter shrugged.
"We don't have a while. We could slip away now in the midst of confusion, but how would we get the machine out of the police station without being caught?"
"Um, make friends with a pick-lock, I suppose," Peter grinned.
"Peter! I'm serious!"
"I know, Kev. But I'm all out of ideas."
"Humph," Kevin sighed. "Could we swipe a few tools perhaps?"
"We could, but I'd feel bad about doing that - even to a gang of robbers."
"So do I. Oh, hang it all! There must be some way!"
"Hey, fellows! What are you trying to hang?" a burly robber pushed his way into their midst. Peter noted with some alarm that this was the man who had tried talking to him while on the truck.
"Um, just a - you know - um," Peter murmured.
"Hey? Speak up! I can't hear ya!" the man yelled in Peter's ear. Or at least, it seemed like he yelled.
"Nothing!" Peter yelled back.
"Oh, okay. Say, have ya met Maxamillia yet?"
"No, I haven't had a chance -"
"She's over there! Just tell 'er you're a friend of mine."
"Um, thank you," Peter walked determinedly towards the woman indicated as Maxamillia, closely followed by Kevin. Both were glad for an excuse to get away from the man.
"What was that about, Pete?" Kvin whispered.
"An old friend of mine I met on the truck," Peter said grimly.
"Did you say 'friend'?" Kevin said suddenly, halting in his stride.
"Well, you know what I mean. He isn't exactly a friend, I just -" Peter stopped as he realized what Kevin was getting at. "If we want to get the machine out, we have to make friends with a pick-lock," he said slowly.
"Yes, and it looks like you've already started the process. We've come up with a plan for making that guy convinced that releasing a machine is worthwhile."
"I sure feel sorry for the police, though," Peter said dejectedly. "If I ever get out of this adventure alive, I'm going to be in hot water with the authorities, no matter how much I'd have done to save a distant planet in Andromeda."

"Edmund! Did you pack socks?" mom called.
"Yes, I did."
"And and extra shirt? You never know when it might rain."
"Yes!"
"And your tooth brush?"
"Yes, mom! I've got everything!"
"Well, I'm just checking. You'll be away a whole week with no one to look after you!"
"I'll have dad."
"I mean no mother to look after you. Guys are so disorganized without girls around."
"I wouldn't make so broad a generalization. After all, my friend Luke is so organized, his mom always complains she can't find anything, because he picks up all her things when he has none of his own."
"That's Luke. That's not you or dad."
"Okay, don't worry about it mom. We'll just be in New York City for the conference, and then we'll be home."
"Ah, web designing!" mom wailed. "When you come home from the webdesigning conference, I never understand a word you're saying for a week afterwards!"
"I'll try to talk English then, for your sake," Edmund smiled.
"You're too kind," mom said sarcastically.
At last the suitcase was packed, and Edmund went to bed. His laptop was packed away.

Copyright - 11/20/2008 - Curious Cognitive Content (CCC)
Please do not reproduce without permission from the author(ess).