Part 1.
A cloud of doom hovered over the MacGregor household. Sophia propped her elbow on the kitchen table, her head resting on a listless hand. A multi-grain bagel wallowing in cinnamon-walnut cream cheese lay abandoned on her plate. Her best friend Pedro seemed to fare no better. Mr. O’D sipped his third cup of Irish Breakfast tea as he skimmed the sports pages, oblivious to the severity of the situation in apartment 4B.
Zelda Screech Cat shrieked to get Sophia’s attention to telepath her true feelings in her native CatScreech. It’s Monday. School’s only been out since Friday and you’re already boring as dirt. Fix it or I’ll have to adopt drastic measures to entertain myself!
“If you don’t want me to use this cream cheese as hair mousse, can it!” Sophia was in a foul mood.
“Whoa, little girl! Where did that come from?” asked Mr. O’D, laying his paper aside.
“I can’t help it! I’m bored... Nothing to investigate. The Cru Crew is MIA with school out. And there are no adventures on the horizon!”
“She’s right, Mr. O’D. The situation is serious here! Our summer Underground Railroad Seminar doesn’t start for another week,” said Pedro.
“I think you two need to count your blessings. The Russian animal poachers are in jail, the NYPD is ignoring that you took part in that little action this spring, and Brad Whitewood isn’t waiting around the corner to flatten you!”
“True.” (We caused Mr. O’D, Henry, and Lionel a lot of trouble with Operation Save Jack just a few weeks ago.) Sophia found it necessary to add one of her signature parentheticals to clarify the situation in her mind. “But if Pedro and I hadn’t intervened, who would have saved Vlad and Jack?”
“And if we didn’t keep tabs on the Cru Crew, who knows what they would do? They would terrorize the entire school instead of just us!” said Pedro.
“What are you talking about?” asked Sophia. “Ella, her fashion terroristas, and Brad-the-Block already intimidate JSCA! Although, to our credit, we sometimes strike a blow for humanity!”
“True, but there’s still a lot to do.”
“Enough talk, you two! I have outlawed any vigilante operations conducted by anyone attached to this household. No more saving polar bears from the Russian mob and getting yourself abducted while you were at it!”
“Yes, sir.” Pedro, as usual, respected his elder.
“Now, how are you two going to entertain yourselves today? I suggest something safe and interesting before Zelda engages in feline terrorism.”
A fresh idea restored Pedro’s upbeat demeanor. “We could check out some new books or DVDs from the library!”
“I’ve already read five books since last week, and the check-out desk won’t let us have anything but ‘kid appropriate’ videos. How about a cold case from the online crime archive?”
“Yeah!” Pedro high-fived a now perky Sophia. “We could use all the tools I learned from CSI to find something…”
See Part 2 in tomorrow's post.