"Hi, Logan." There was a grunt and the boots under the jeep moved slightly. Megan smiled. "Mind if I bug while you do that?"
"Go ahead," came the answer from under the vehicle. "You know I can't help with homework, though. That's a rule - kind of like not making pizzas for breakfast," he added dryly. "Seems I got caught on that one."
She giggled. "Sorry about that. I won't ask for them again. Well, not for breakfast, anyway." After perching gracefully on the stool near the vehicle, she glanced over the papers she was sure he had heard rustle in her hand. "It's a letter I'm writing to my mom and dad. Rogue kind of suggested it, since I always write them anyway. Know anything about spelling?"
"Might."
"Or I could just read it to you and you can tell me what you think," she offered. "See, it's kind of a homework thing because we're supposed to write a long, interesting letter for Language Arts, but I thought I'd just go ahead and write like I normally would to my parents and get a good grade anyway. Rogue said Ms. Munroe would accept it."
Logan grunted again and she took that for an okay to go ahead with her reading.
"Okay, here's the letter:
Dear Mom and Dad, How are you? I am fine. Is London nice? That's good.
She looked over at the jeep. "I always ask them how they are in normal letters," she confided before continuing.
I had an interesting day today. I went off in the woods behind the school like I promised I wouldn't do, because I was looking for the snake that got in the mansion last Christmas. He's been out in the woods for a while now and I wanted to see if he had grown up any.
Here Megan paused and thought for a moment. "You know, I'm sure I told Illyana where I was going. I know Dr. Gray doesn't believe me and she's got that ability to read people's minds and all, but I think I really did tell Illyana before I left," Megan said. "I really shouldn't have gotten in trouble for that."
Logan didn't say anything so she continued.
I did find the snake and I know I also promised never to bring it or any other snake into the mansion ever again, but I did it because I thought I would show him around real quick and then put him back. He got away from me and it took me a while to find him. He had gone back to Dr. Gray's lab. I guess he remembered it from Christmas. She sure remembered him.
She paused again. "It's all your fault. You told me once that if I ever wanted to know what fear smelled like I should put a snake in Dr. Gray's lab."
There was a chuckle from under the jeep. "So it was on purpose. I also told you not to do it unless Mr. Summers was around."
"Yeah,' Megan admitted. "I forgot that part. Hey, did you know Dr. Gray can levitate herself, even when she's screaming?" She grinned for a second, then realized she hadn't finished the letter. "Um, oh yeah, the lab part."
I owe the school for some broken things now, so I guess you can give my next month's allowance to Professor Xavier. And I also owe Mr. Summers a new pair of shoes because I let Dutch into the gym and he chewed up his sneakers.
"That was on accident," she said in her own defense. "I didn't really think Dutch was behind me or I wouldn't have left the door open." She took her pencil and added another line to the letter then frowned and chewed on the eraser. She looked down at the boots. "Logan, why is it bad to give a dog chocolate? I mean, chocolate doesn't really hurt a dog, does it?"
There were a few noises of metal against metal for a moment after which Logan replied. "Don't know. I never had a dog before. Dutch eat some chocolate?"
"Yeah. I saw some in one of the grocery bags in the kitchen and opened the box and gave him a piece. By the way," she said, going back to writing, "how do you spell 'exlax?'"
"Exlax?"
"That was the brand of chocolate I gave him, but I can't remember exactly how it was spelled on the box. Dr. Gray got really mad at me and took Dutch down to her lab. I suppose exlax is her favorite chocolate?"
"I don't know, Megan. I don't eat chocolate much," he replied, the strain in his voice telling her that something underneath the car was being particularly difficult to remove. "I've smelled it on her before, though."
"Yeah, me too."
"What about Dutch?" he reminded her. "Is he okay?"
"Oh yeah," she said quickly. "Mr. Summers came in later and told me he would be. That was nice of him. He even helped me clean up the kitchen. I should put that in the letter, too. My parents always like to hear about teachers being nice."
"Clean up the kitchen?"
She shrugged. "Well, see Mr. Summers yelled at Dutch and I could tell he wasn't happy about being yelled at, so I brought him into the kitchen to give him a treat, Dutch, not Mr. Summers. That's when I saw the groceries and the box of chocolates and gave him one." Megan sighed. "I really didn't think it would hurt him, you know. I'm glad he's okay. Dr. Gray came in after I'd given him about three or four and started yelling at me. She looked really mad when she grabbed his collar and took him away." She brightened and said in a cheery voice, "Oh, by the way, new rule: no giving Dutch anything but dog food or dog treats - no people food. Got it?"
"Got it." There was a clang and a grunt. "Well, if Mr. Summers told you he was okay, you don't need to worry," Logan said. "It was an accident. I didn't know you couldn't feed dogs chocolate either. So why did you have to clean the kitchen?"
"Well, everyone wanted pizza for lunch and it wasn't your turn to make it so Ms. Munroe ordered delivery pizzas. But they got here about the same time I fed Dutch the chocolate and everyone was worried about him and forgot about eating so I thought I'd keep the pizzas warm in the oven. I forgot that that oven preheats when you turn it on. Rogue told me that but I didn't remember. I guess when I stacked them in there, the top box was touching the heating iron at the top of the oven and when I turned it on, it caught fire."
There was a pause and the boots went still. "Uh-huh."
"Oh, it's okay. The fire's gone. Bobby put it out, and we opened the windows and the smokes gone and everything, but all the pizzas got frozen and no one wanted to eat them."
"Hold it." Logan rolled out from under the jeep and glanced at the clock. "This just happened, right?"
"Right!" she answered cheerfully.
"Megan, if it's lunch time now and all the pizzas are frozen, what's everyone going to eat?"
"Well, I'm not sure." Long brown eyelashes batted over innocent yellow eyes. "Rogue said I could come out here and finish my letter so I wouldn't be in the way. I got the feeling everyone else wanted her to ask you if you minded washing up and making pizzas, but she said it was taken care of," Megan said in a confidential tone.
"Uh-huh." He looked over at the door to the garage and discovered a few heads peering through the partially open doorway. They quickly disappeared. He turned back to Megan, still perched on the stool above him. "And Rogue sent you in here just to read me that letter?"
Megan grinned knowingly. "Well, of course not, silly. She told me to talk about everything I had done this morning, too. I heard her say to Mr. Summers that she would start the dough and you would be in there soon to work on the sauce. He said he didn't think it would work."
"Uh-huh." Logan couldn't quite hide the twitch at the corner of his mouth and Megan, who was looking for it, knew Rogue's plan had worked.
"So, will you help make the pizzas for lunch?" she asked hopefully, though she knew he would say yes.
"Yeah, let me get washed up."
As he stood over the sink, lathering up his hands and forearms with the soap, Logan looked at the happy eleven-year-old girl beside him. "Megan?"
"Yes?"
"Where's Dutch now?"
"In the lab still."
"And the snake?"
"In a jar." Yellow eyes twinkled merrily.
"And the jar is sitting right beside Dutch's carrier, right?"
"Right! See I heard Dr. Gray say she'd go check on Dutch after we eat," she explained enthusiastically, "so I plan to tell Mr. Summers about the snake then so I can follow him and watch her jump in his arms. Good plan, huh?"
He grinned at the impish face beside him. "Worth making pizzas for."
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Story Notes:
This is all Megs' fault. All she had to do was write the word 'adventure' and Megan jumped me. 07/28/05