The Shasta Caper, Chapter Seventy-One

Chapter Seventy-One

Samuel almost shouted himself awake on the balcony of his Vegas condo. "What!" He exclaimed as he realized he had fallen asleep on his favorite lounge.

"About time you got that sorry ass of yours up and at it." Jimbo hollered from inside.

Sam, confused and stunned for several moments, stood up and stretched, and then he realized he was still dressed like he had been inside Mount Shasta.

Jimbo stepped out with a plate of fries the size of a mountain and a huge bottle of ketchup, two forks and loads of paper napkins. He set them down on the table next to the lounge chair, then pulled two bottles of Root beer from his side pockets and set them on the table. He popped one, took a huge gulp, belched, then sat down and began heaving fries into his hungry mouth, dumping liberal amounts of ketchup on the fries as he eate.

"Eat up!" Jimbo mumbled through fries and Root Beer.

Samuel sat down on the opposite side, and glanced at the sky. "This is impossible."

"Fries are the most possible thing on the planet."

"Not the fries. The sky?"

Jimbo looked up and almost choked. "Hey!"

There were two suns in the sky.

"Holy..."

"Don't say it!" Samuel warned him.

Jimbo looked at his fries, then the two suns, then at his fries again. "Oh hell, a man's gotta eat!"

He tore into the fries again.

"Where are we?" Samuel asked outloud.

Albert appeared, perched on the railing in front of him. Marilyn appeared next and stood next to him. She waved.

Jimbo almost spit his fries out. "I can see them again!"

Albert gave Jimbo a sad smile. "Sorry, Jim. Time to go."

"Time to go. We just got..."

The balcony and everything vanished.

WHAM

White light which had surrounded and engulfed them vanished, and they were now on the balcony again, minus the fries, with only one sun in the sky.

Nanny screamed inside.

Jimbo ran inside, with Samuel hot on his heels.

Nanny stood in front of a gigantic crystal that had her image in it and some kind of strange creature that was looking back at her.

Albert and Marilyn appeared again.

Jimbo looked at him. "Sorry again?"

Albert nodded.

WHAM!

Another explosion of light and this time they found themselves laying in freezing snow just outside the entrance to Mount Shasta's hollow interior.

Jimbo rolled over, spitting out snow. "I want my...."

A flurry of fries spilled out of the air and buried half his body.

"...Fries." He finished.

He sat up, noticed Samuel and Nanny also laying face down. He shoved the fries off and helped them to sit up.

Samuel gave Jimbo a weary look. "Time to go home, buddy."

"Just look at this mess, Sammie. Those darn angels can't even get a man's meal..."

A huge plate of fries materialized on the ground with three stools, a small table, bottle of ketchup, napkins and Root Beer bottles.

...Right!" Jimbo finished.

"I don't care. I'm not touching them. No more yank-ems!" Jimbo protested.

Samuel sat down and tasted a fry. "They're still hot!"

Nanny sighed, then got up and joined him. "Please remind me never to go anywhere with you two again. Ever. Ever. Ever!"

Then as her stomach gurgled loudly, she joined Samuel in eating fries.

Jimbo sighed, then gave up. He dropped onto a stool, poured a ton of ketchup on the plate and looked at his friends. "Can't beat 'em. Join 'em. That's what I always say."

Chapter Seventy-Two Samuel and Jimbo stood at the entrance to the diner of the forest ranger lodge restaurant, the Narrow Sparrow watching Nanny talking excitedly to an older woman of about forty-five. The older woman looked back at them and smiled, then returned her attention to Nanny, who wouldn't let go of her hands as she talked.

"Guess this whole trip turned out to not be such a waste of time after all."

Samuel nodded.

"Time to go back to the heat again."

Jimbo didn't nod.

Samuel looked at him.

"I gotta go back to Texas. Sis sent me a text message about that Haunted Outhouse again."

"What! But that family of spirits was sent into the Light."

"Evidently another family moved in, and they're threatening to shut down every toilet for the next ten square miles around it."

Samuel shook his head. "I guess sometimes..."

"Crap happens." Jimbo laughed.

Samuel looked at his friend. "Need help?"

"Nah. I think I got this one handled."

Nanny and the older woman came out. They joined them.

The older woman was almost a carbon copy of Nanny, just with gray hairs and wrinkles. Her mouth crinkled in a smile at Samuel. "Your friend asked if we could join him in Texas for a few days."

Jimbo gave Samuel a shy look.

Samuel looked at Nanny.

Nanny shrugged. "Mom's psychic too."

Nanny's Mom waved at Al and Marilyn who were standing next to Samuel, enjoying his expression.

They waved back.

"She's going to help that new family mosey along and I thought it'd be nice to show my fiancee our spread while she was there."

Samuel's face lit up. "You're getting married?"

Nanny lightly punched Samuel on his arm and grinned. "Not letting this cowboy loose on his ownsome. No way! Besides..."

You looked embarrassed about her next words.

Jimbo picked it up. "She wants to help us."

Samuel's face lit up. "Wow! That's great. We'll be like the guys in Ghostbusters."

"Except with a girl." Nanny laughed.

"One thing I still don't understand though, Sammie." Jimbo said. "When we ended up in those two weird places, what was going on?"

Nanny's Mom's eyes widened as she picked up the answer from her own angels, who stood behind her. Samuel couldn't see them. He wasn't supposed to.

"Al told me last night. Evidently our world is not the only one. There are an infinite number of them just like ours, only people on them made different decisions and the outcome changed everything around them."

"That maybe, but I think I prefer my fries staying on the plate I served them on." Jimbo growled angrily, then he barked with laughter. "Just listen to me, as if that would ever happen again."

He stopped laughing when a seven foot tall bunny walked past, then waved.

"Hi Harvey!" Nanny said and it waved back.

Jimbo looked at her, then at Samuel. "I'm not going to ask. Not going there. Let's go home!"