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Agent R
Author of 38 Stories |
The heat was bad again, and Methos invited Phyllis over for a swim, once they got in the pool, however…they did more talking than anything.
"What do you think?" Methos asked.
"I think I'm turning into a prune here," Phyllis replied.
"I don't mean the pool…"
"I know that…are you sure about this?" Phyllis asked.
"Yes, I think I am…"
"I don't know," Phyllis replied, "how are you going to explain it to that petunia, Duncan?"
"I'll find a way…"
"I wish you would…I don't like the way he controls you," Phyllis said.
"He doesn't control me."
"Maybe not completely, but let's face it, Methos, lately he's had a good say in a lot of what you do," Phyllis said.
"That may be…but Phyllis, I do want to go through with this, and I don't care what it takes, we're going to get married…"
"You know when you get to be my age, it doesn't take a lot to make you happy…usually I find something that keeps me going through the day…this should keep me going for the rest of my life."
"Then it's settled?" Methos asked.
"If we both live to see the day after tomorrow, then it's settled," Phyllis said, "imagine, me, being married to the world's oldest Immortal."
"I think it just makes sense, we're both getting older, we've both been alone for so long, we've both lost someone who meant a lot to us…people who…while they were alive, were the most important people in our lives…"
"They were our world," Phyllis added.
"Yes…and here we are, by ourselves again…and if we can make each other happy…I don't know why we shouldn't," Methos said.
"Well…then it's settled," Phyllis said, "come July 4th, we are going to be engaged."
"It should be a night we won't forget," Methos added.
"This is mainly just for today, we'll pick up the rest of the stuff tomorrow," Richie told her.
"Yeah, this is just a sample, to see what's good and what sucks," Amber said, "once we've got that determined, we'll go back and pick up what we know is good."
"We already have a pretty good idea of what's good in general, though," Richie said.
"Yeah…firecrackers, smoke bombs, champagne bottles, Roman candles, sky rockets, killer bees, Saturn missiles…"
"We also picked up some road flares," Richie said.
"Road flares?" Amanda repeated.
"Yeah, we figured we'd all go out to the cemetery and watch Jo do a striptease up on a grave…and we'll provide the light for the show," Amber said.
"Tell me she's kidding," Amanda said.
"Of course she's kidding, you are kidding, aren't you?" Richie asked.
"Yeah, that's just a joke," Amber replied, "boy Connor was right, you guys got no sense of humor, just like Mac."
Richie picked up a punk and a red star ball from the table. "Come on, Amber…let's go see what these things can do."
"Fine…"
After they left, Duncan came out of the den and into the kitchen, "you know what I think? If they were smart, they'd use some of that money to stock up on earplugs."
"Oh come on, Duncan, they're just having fun."
"That's what you said at Halloween and what happened? We got calls from everyone complaining about them."
"Nothing was ever proved…besides, it's just for 36 more hours, so let them enjoy it. After tomorrow night, everything will be dull and boring just like you like it," Amanda said.
"Good, because that's like I like it," Duncan replied.
"Allright…the star balls are a definite yes," Richie said, "uh…those flying bottle caps…definite hell no…those tubes with the firecrackers in them, no…uhhhhh…those little screaming things that look like twisted tissue, nope…"
"I wouldn't think so…"
"What about those flashy things?"
"Oh yeah, let's get about twenty of those so we can go blind," Amber replied.
"Allright, scratch them…"
"You scratch them, two of them already blew up on me," Amber told him.
"I'd say that about covers it…the rest we know is good…now all we gotta do is wait until tomorrow…then we can have a hell of a good time," Richie said.
"You know, Richie…tonight all our friends are going to get together and have a little fun of their own," Amber said.
"Where?" Richie asked.
"Near the cemetery."
"The cemetery?"
"Yes, the Eternal Serenity cemetery, where Shane sleeps every night…yeah, we're all going to go over there and have a little celebration tonight."
"Does Shane know about this?" Richie asked.
"Of course not," Amber replied, "why ruin all the fun for him?"
"So what time are we going?" Richie asked.
"We'll start for the cemetery around 7:30 tonight."
"To party," Joanne replied.
"Yeah, where?" Scuz asked.
"At the cemetery," Roz answered.
"What the hell kind of idea is that?" Jason asked.
"That's where Shane is every night," Joanne explained, "we're going to drop in and surprise him."
"It's not a good idea to try and surprise someone in a cemetery," Scuz said, "try it and you're likely to die."
"Shut up," Jewel replied.
"And tomorrow night, we're going over to spend the night with Richie and Amber, and unfortunately, also Mister MacLeod and Mister Pierson," Joanne said.
"You've been seeing a lot of Richie lately," Mizz said to Roz.
"So what?"
"Nothing…"
"Incase you haven't noticed, Mizz, you and Amber have been seeing a lot of each other too," Roz added.
"Good point."
"So what time does the party start?"
"We can head over there right now," Joanne said, "they'll probably already be there."
"So what're we waiting for?" Scuz asked.
"Nothing, let's go," Shelby said.
"It's a good bet, we're running late," Amber said.
"What time is it?"
"Going on eight."
"Swell…"
"Look on the bright side, the good stuff usually doesn't happen until after dark…that's still and hour and a half away."
"Is this the place?"
"Sure is."
Amber parked the van and they got out, they saw that the cemetery already had some visitors.
"Looks like we know where the party is," Richie said.
Richie stepped out and headed over to the gate, Amber got something out of the back and followed him.
"Hey, here they come!" Mizz exclaimed.
"It's about time," Shelby said.
Richie opened the doors on the gate and they stepped in, they saw him approach them with Amber following behind him.
"It's about time you guys showed up," Joanne said.
"We were starting to wonder if you were even going to make it," Jason said.
"Always," Richie answered.
"Where's Shane?" Amber asked.
"He hasn't come back yet, I guess," Roz said.
"What've you got there?" Mizz asked, noticing something in Amber's hand.
"Road flares you idiot," Amber replied.
"I wonder where Shane is?" Joanne looked around.
"I don't know…ordinarily he doesn't go too many places," Amber replied.
"Looks like we'll have to start the party without him," Roz said.
Mizz got his boom box from his car and turned on Bad Brains' "Kick out the Jams", he made sure the volume was cranked up high.
Shane had gotten back to the cemetery when he noticed he had some company. Right away he could tell who several of them were, there was Mizz and Jason and Amber and Richie and Roz. He figured he should tell them, he didn't want to, but it was something that had to be done.
"What're you doing?" he asked.
"We were waiting for you to show up," Amber said, "we came over here to have a little fun with you and you weren't here."
Shane went over to them, "well I'm glad you came, but I've got some bad news."
Mizz turned off the music the minute he heard that.
"What?" he asked.
"What is it?"
"I just found out that…the day after tomorrow, Rachel and a lot of other graves are going to be dug up."
"What?" they asked.
"Why?" Amber asked.
"They found out that some people were buried in the wrong places, and they're going to dig them up, see if they can identify them and put them in the right places."
"Shane, that's insane, Rachel is right over there by the elm tree, isn't she?" Amber asked.
"That's right, I told them that, but they're going to dig her up anyway…along with some other people who were buried in the right places…I tried to reason with them, but they wouldn't listen to me…they said either they'd dig up all of them or none of them."
"I vote none of them," Richie said.
"I don't believe this," Roz said.
"Can they do that? Legally?" Scuz asked.
"What the fuck's it matter if it's legal or not?" Amber asked, "they'll do it if they want, they're with the city so there's nothing that can be done to them, legally…they figure it as the dead have no rights, and you can do with their bodies whatever you want."
"I am sorry, Shane," Richie said.
"Uh…these people who're going to tear up the cemetery, where are they?" Amber asked.
"I don't know…they've gone home for the night."
"Well where did they leave the equipment?" Amber asked.
"What're you getting at?" Richie asked.
"I've got an idea."
"Amber, you're insane, this is illegal you know that?" Richie asked, "they are going to know that this was pure vandalism."
"So what? It's July 3rd, there's over a hundred people in the town with fireworks, who's going to suspect us right offhand?" Amber asked, "you think Shane's the only one who doesn't want his girlfriend dug up?"
"If they find out, and they will…they are going to have us arrested," Richie said.
"For what?"
"For what? Try for vandalism, destruction to property, arson, they are going to haul our asses off to jail."
"So what? They'll have to catch us first, and tomorrow is going to be a busy day for everyone."
Gasoline had been poured in a ring around the diggers and the other heavy machinery, Roman candles, smoke bombs, firecrackers, morning glories, and flashes had been lined up all over and around the machinery, and was ready to go off. Richie and Amber got out from inside the ring. Amber picked up a small stick, lit one end with her cigarette lighter, and threw it onto the gasoline soaked ground. One second, and the whole area had gone up in flames.
"It's official," Richie said, "we're going to jail."
"Shut up," Amber told him, "the good part hasn't happened yet."
The fire spread to the fuses of the fireworks, the area was surrounded with smoke, there were sparks and balls of fire shooting everywhere, more damage done to the machinery, and more fires starting outside of the ring. Everyone cheered at the event, everyone else were still in their cars watching from afar.
"Now, it's a celebration," Amber said.
Everyone drove back over to the cemetery gates and parked, they jumped out of their cars and headed back into the graveyard, everyone was screaming, running around, dancing. Mizz turned on his boom box again.
"Hello dad, happy birthday, I'm in jail! I'm calling you from jail! I like it here, it's nice, I like it! Hello dad, I'm in jail! Hello dad, hi, I'm in jail! Say hi to mom from jail! I'm in jail! I'm gonna stay here! I like it here! Throw away the key!"
"That's going to be us anytime now," Amber said.
"Don't I know it?" Richie asked.
Amber took off and ran over to the entrance of the gate.
"Where're you going?" he asked.
"I'm going to get something," she said.
She came back with the road flares, everybody took them out and set them off and danced around the graveyard with them in their hands.
"This is great!" Amber said, "this is the kind of stuff that keeps you alive…the thrill, the risk, the danger…"
"The possibility of going to jail?" Richie added.
"Absolutely…it all goes together to keep your heart pumping and your pulse racing," Amber said, "it's a great feeling."
"Speaking of which," Scuz went over to Amber and handed her his set of road flares, "hold these for a minute, I'll be right back."
"Where're you going?" she asked.
"I'm going to get something out of my car," he answered.
He came back with his arms full of fireworks and a bundle of punks, he dropped everything on the ground.
"Let's really get this celebration started," he said.
That night, the air was filled with loud music, the noise of people screaming, and the all too familiar smell of smoke and gunpowder. The sky was filled with fireworks exploding within seconds of each other, and several miles away from the Eternal Serenity cemetery, a fire covered the digging equipment, and the construction site surrounding it.
"I don't believe it," Amanda said, "how could that have happened?"
"I'm not sure I want to know," Duncan said.
"Duncan, surely you don't think…"
"What? Did I say it? Did I say anything? Did I accuse Richie or Amber or any of their friends? No."
"Not yet," Amanda said, "but you were going to."
"But I did not say one word about them…it's just that if they did…"
"See! See! You're accusing them!" Amanda said.
"Amanda, calm down…we don't know what started the fire…and if it was actually someone, we don't know why...for all we know, it could've been an accident…maybe some firework misfired, or maybe…maybe it was one of those rockets or a missile and the shell crashed in the area and burnt up, and the ground caught fire from that…"
"Maybe," Amanda thought.
"Or maybe…maybe someone left a cigarette burning, or maybe somebody dropped a match, it could be anything," Duncan said.
"What's going on?" Methos yawned.
"Are you just getting up?" Amanda asked.
"It's not my fault, you kept me up all night with the screaming and howling and all that incoherent noise…the next time you two want to do that, do it in a motel like everyone else."
The front door swung open and Amber and Richie came running in.
"Good morning!" they called.
"Have you been out all night?" Amanda asked.
"Yeah, we were with some of our friends," Richie said.
"What's going on?" Amber asked.
"A construction site, a few miles away from the cemetery where Shane is, caught fire last night…no one can find out what happened, but it seems a bit unusual for an accident," Duncan explained.
"Duncan!" Amanda slapped him on the shoulder.
"I'm just saying…you two wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Duncan asked.
"We had no idea," Amber said, "I thought I smelled something burning last night, but that's to be expected, everybody's shooting off a bunch of fireworks."
"Yeah, we stayed at the cemetery all night, never saw a thing," Richie said.
"Really?" Duncan asked.
"Yes," Richie answered.
"Can we go now?" Amber asked.
"Yes, go ahead," Amanda said.
They headed into the kitchen, leaving Duncan, Methos, and Amanda alone in the living room.
"What do you think?" Amanda asked.
"I think they don't know anything," Duncan said.
"Good, I don't either," Amanda said.
"Only time will tell," Methos said.
"You think they did it?" Amanda asked.
"I'm not saying they did, and I'm not saying they didn't…I'm just saying that whether or not they did, only time will tell."
"What is that?" Richie asked.
"If my memory serves, it's the Washington Post," Amber said.
"What's going on?" Richie asked.
Amber looked further down the street, "it looks like a parade."
"I didn't know they had them here," Richie said.
"Me either…wanna see what's going on down there?" Amber asked.
"Sure."
They headed further down the street and got a better look at the parade. There were people on horses dressed like soldiers, people driving old cars from the 20s and 30s all painted in patriotic design. There were floats of all sorts, one resembled a large diamond, others were covered with red, white and blue balloons and carried the alumni members of several organizations and old schools. They also noticed some tanks and jeeps and camouflage trucks further down the street when they got hit with something. Looking ahead, they saw a float with kids on it throwing candy at the people watching the parade.
"I've heard candy is bad for you, but assault with confection is a new one on me," Richie said.
"Me too…"
The next major event of the parade was a marching band, over a hundred people in tight red, white and blue uniforms, playing "Stars and Stripes Forever". They stopped in the middle of the street and did a performance that lasted 20 minutes before they picked up and went on again.
"How long do you think this is going to last?" Amber asked.
"I don't know, but let's get out of here before they bring out those clowns on the funny motorbikes," Richie told her.
"Fine with me," Amber said.
Then, Joe kicked himself mentally for being such an idiot, he picked up the phone again, and dialed the number of Duncan's cell phone, still nothing. What was going on here?
"Ribs, steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken," Duncan said.
"I should hope that's not all we're eating tonight," Amanda said.
"No, that's just all that's going on the grill," Duncan replied.
"And what else are we having?" Methos asked.
"I'm going to make some potato salad and some coleslaw and a fruit salad and…"
"Let me rephrase that, what are we EATING besides the meat?" Methos asked.
"There's chips and crackers and pretzels and cheese balls," Phyllis said as she came out of the backroom.
"Phyllis!" Duncan said, a bit startled, "I didn't know you were here."
"Lucky me, I guess that's one advantage I have over Immortals," she said, "Amanda, you may want to change your mind about the coleslaw, the cabbage is bad."
"It is? I didn't know there was anything wrong with it…it was fine when I picked it up yesterday," Amanda went over to the fridge to check.
"I destroyed it TODAY," she whispered to Duncan and Methos, "nobody I have ever known in their right minds like coleslaw."
"Well I don't believe it…" Amanda said as she closed the fridge door, "well, I guess I'll just have to make something else."
"Instead of coleslaw, why don't you fix some of those stringy curly fries?" Phyllis suggested, "I know for a fact that people like those, and you have the machine for it, not to mention plenty of spuds."
"True," Amanda said.
"Besides, you can get that done just before we eat," Phyllis said.
"Phyllis, will you be staying late tonight?" Duncan asked.
"All night," Phyllis replied.
"Oh boy," Duncan said.
"Duncan," Phyllis lightly laughed, "I know you don't like me too much, I'll admit I've met better men than you myself…but I think we're just going to have to learn to get along…because let's face it, my little night crawler and I are going to be seeing a lot more of each other."
"More?" Amanda chuckled, "if you two see any more of each other, you might as well get married."
Amanda laughed a bit longer, expecting them to join in, but both remained silent, finally Amanda's laugh died down.
"Oh my God," she said, "you're getting married, aren't you?"
Methos said nothing, he lightly bit his lower lip and kept his head down, Phyllis spoke.
"We hadn't gotten that far in the planning, but we were going to be engaged by tonight," she explained.
"Oh my God," Amanda gasped, "I am so sorry, I didn't know."
"Neither did I," Duncan said.
"Well…not much point in waiting till tonight, now, is there, Methos?" Phyllis asked.
"I guess not," he replied.
"I am so sorry, I didn't think," Amanda said.
"Oh don't be sorry," Phyllis said, "we're still going to go through with it, we just figured we'd drop the bombshell on all of you during the fireworks tonight…"
"Well you probably still could," Duncan said, "Richie and Amber don't know yet, do they?"
"No," Methos answered.
"You see?" Amanda asked, "you can drop the bombshell on them, and Duncan and I will just act so surprised, they'll never know that we already know…I'm still having trouble believing it myself."
"So I want to go out with a big bang this year, so what?" Amber asked, "it's just for tonight, and then it'll be another year before the matter even comes up."
"What's going on?" Duncan asked as he, Methos, Amanda and Phyllis entered the dining room.
"Well Mac," Richie started, "we went to pick up some fireworks…"
The bags dropped on the floor and Duncan saw it was a lot more than 'some' fireworks.
There were firecrackers, tanks, flying bees, boats, hens, parachutes, Roman candles, smoke grenades, crackling balls, flashes, star balls, jumping jacks, cones, snakes, fountains of all sorts, bomb rockets, sky rockets, Saturn missiles, and much more.
"How much did this all cost?" Duncan asked.
"Well that's the thing," Amber started.
"Don't tell me you stole this," Duncan said.
"No, we didn't steal it, but we didn't pay for it either," Richie explained.
"What?" Duncan asked.
"Yesterday at one place where we got the fireworks, I entered a drawing, and today they determined the winner and it was me, and the prize was a $200 night pack," Amber explained, "it was the weirdest thing, the guy down there said that he had tried calling, but nothing happened."
"That's impossible, nobody called here…nobody's called here all…"
The realization had hit Duncan, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed the house being so quiet.
"Nobody's called here all day," he said.
"Sort of…apparently, something happened last night and whatever it was, it brought them down…" Duncan said.
"Weird," Amber said, "how could you not have noticed that until now?"
"I don't know, I just didn't pay any attention to it," Duncan said.
"You think anyone might've tried to call you for something?" Richie asked.
"I'm not sure…I'll see…where's my cell phone?"
"I know where it is," Phyllis said.
"Oh good, you found it," Duncan said.
"I sat on it…about two hours ago…" Phyllis replied.
"What? You hated my cell phone too?" Duncan asked.
"No, I didn't know you'd left it on the chair," Phyllis replied.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Duncan asked.
"Excuse me, I'm 63 years old, my mind is not what it used to be," Phyllis said.
"I don't believe this," Duncan said.
"Well, it's a holiday so you can't get the phone lines fixed, or your phone replaced today," Amanda said.
"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do but blow up this stuff," Richie said.
"Good idea, let's get rid of the day stuff now," Amber said, "it'll be night before we know it."
Richie and Amber picked up a few of the bags and headed outside.
"Times like this I wish I'D bothered to get some earplugs," Duncan said.
"Way ahead of you," Amanda went over to the telephone stand, opened the drawer and took out a pack of plugs.
Amber went up to the porch and took out from one of the bags 16 parachutes in one container. She took it out into the middle of the yard, lit the fuse and ran back over to the driveway with Richie. They watched the parachutes get launched from their shell, some 2-3 going up at a time. Finally they'd all come out, opened up, and floated down to the ground.
"You know, I had a neighbor who got one of those things, but it had 200 little parachutes in it…it took us hours to find them all," Amber said.
"No kidding…what else is there?"
"We got some of those big parachutes with flags on them…I got an idea, let's take those, the boats and the tanks and the helicopters over to…"
"Don't even try it, Amber," Duncan called from the back yard.
"Damn him," Amber said, "I hate him eavesdropping."
"It's NOT eavesdropping," Duncan replied.
"I got an idea, we got some of those smoke flares, let's get them, twist all the fuses together and disappear," Amber said.
"Are you nuts?" Richie asked.
"If it'll get you to say yes, then yes I am," Amber said.
"Amber," Richie said.
"Come on, Richie, soon it'll be dark and we won't get to set off the rest of this stuff," Amber told him.
"Allright, allright, go get the flares," Richie said.
Amber ran back over to the porch, got the flares, twisted all the fuses together, and put them on the sidewalk. Richie lit them and they ran. But not far enough away, as the smoke spewed out, they got caught in it. The smoke blocked their view from the street, otherwise they would've seen all of their friends pull up.
"What's going on?" Scuz asked.
"It looks like there's a fire!" Shelby exclaimed.
"Who's there?" Richie asked.
"Richie?" Roz called.
"Yes, who's this?" Richie asked.
"It's Roz."
"Oh."
"Roz, I'm glad you're here…you know your way around Richie about as well as I do," Amber said, "come in here and get him for me."
Within a few minutes, the smoke died down and Richie and Amber were greeted by their friends.
"Well it's good to see you guys," Richie said.
"You're early," Amber pointed out.
"We know, we wanted to make sure we were here in time to eat," Scuz said.
"Don't your parents feed you, Scuz?" Amber asked.
"Not every day," he replied.
Amanda saw them from the front window and went over to the back and stuck her head out the window, "Duncan, they're here."
"Allright, everything should be done soon."
"I have been trying to call Duncan all day, and nothing, no answer, no busy signal, no ringing even…I tried his cell phone too and got nothing."
"Why're you so anxious to call him? What's wrong?"
"There is an Immortal by the name of Hans Hamilton, he is in Florida and he's looking for Mac."
"Is that bad?"
"Yes, we've checked the records, this guy's got a history of 300 dead Immortals, all of which were very much like Mac."
"Oh boy," Connor said, "what about Methos? Have you tried him yet?"
"Yes, and still nothing…I hope I'm not too late, but I have no way of finding out," Joe said.
"I'm sure he's allright," Connor said, "but just the same, I'll head out there tomorrow and find out for myself."
"I agree," Shane added.
"Well I should hope you liked it, Shane," Richie said, "you ate ours."
"Sorry," he said.
"Well, at least we can enjoy the watermelon, that's the best part of the meal anyway," Amber said, "Amanda."
"Coming…" Amanda brought out a large dish full of watermelon slices and put it out in the middle of the picnic table and let them grab at it.
By the time they were finished, the only thing left were the seeds they spit out on the ground.
"Now the fireworks," Richie said.
"Oh good, let's go!" Joanne said.
Duncan and Amanda and Phyllis took the dishes and dumped them in the kitchen sink, there'd be time to do them tomorrow, they got Methos and headed out front.
Scuz was getting some rockets and Roman candles and spinning fountains out of his car, Shane was getting packs of road flares out of his.
"This is going to be a hell of a show, you know that?" Scuz asked.
"Yeah, and just wait until it gets really dark," Joanne added.
"What happens then?" Richie asked.
"Our friends are coming over," Joanne said.
"What?" Richie asked.
"You heard her, Richie," Amber replied, "we got more people coming over."
It was still a bit light to shoot off any of the night fireworks, so while they waited for the sun to set, and the rest of the people to arrive, Mizz took out his boom box again and turned it up.
"You wake up late for school man you don't wanna' go, you ask your mom please but she still says no, you missed two classes and no homework, but your teacher preaches class like you're some kind of jerk."
Meanwhile, Duncan, Amanda, Phyllis, and Methos watched from the porch.
"I have a feeling this is going to be a night we're not going to forget," Amanda said.
"I hate to say it, but I think you're right," Duncan said.
Within a short while, it got darker, but still Mizz kept his boom box on, and soon enough, several cars came up the road and parked, many teenagers got out, everyone carrying something, some of them were carrying six-packs of beer, others had road flares, some had Butane lighters, some brought food, others had their boom boxes with them, and they all got together out in the front yard. Duncan jumped off the porch and headed over to Richie.
"Hold it! Hold it!" he said, "what the hell is going on?"
"What's it look like, old man?" one guy said, "we're having a party."
"Hallelujah, let's get crazy!" Joanne said.
"We're already crazy!" Mizz said.
Amanda came running down the sidewalk, took Duncan by the arm and took him back up to the porch.
"Amanda, this is a mess! Look at all those people out there!" Duncan said.
"Duncan, they're only going to be here for a few hours, and then they'll go home, nobody gets hurt, nobody dies, so just let them have their fun, it's just for tonight," Amanda said.
Duncan dreaded the idea of what their home would look like after tonight, but as he saw it, there was no winning this fight. So all he could do for the next few hours was bite his tongue and keep his mouth shut.
Over the hours, the sky lit up with fireworks, everyone got drunk and danced around, some carrying road flares, some were doing some very deep kissing, others were just running around, some of them had jumped onto the roofs of their cars and were dancing there, others were doing it out in the street. Shane was hooked on the fireworks, every time one went off he jumped up whooping and howling and screaming and applauding. Richie and Amber went up to the porch to get some more fireworks, and Methos saw it as the best time to do it. He stood up and went over to Phyllis.
"Phyllis Daltrey, would you do me the honor of making me the happiest man alive?" he asked.
"No, but I'll marry you instead," she replied.
"You will?" Methos acted surprised very well.
"You will?" the others asked.
Amber and Richie were very surprised, Duncan and Amanda were doing their best to keep their act going.
"Yes I will," she replied.
She got up and hugged Methos, a bit too tightly, his eyes were getting the size of baseballs.
"Richie, I think I'm having a heart attack," Amber said.
"Come on," Richie said, "let's see what these bomb rockets do."
They took them out to the sidewalk and lit them and ran back a bit, the rockets shot into the air, and just when it seemed they were duds, a shower of red sparks covered the sky.
As the excitement from that died down, most of the people sensed another Immortal was approaching, and they all watched as the man who seemed to be in his 30s, but was probably much older, with sandy air and wearing a tan overcoat, entered the yard, walked past all the mortals.
He came across Richie and Amber and Shane and Mizz and Shelby.
"Where's MacLeod?" he asked.
Duncan got off the porch, "I'm Duncan MacLeod," he said.
The man walked up to Duncan and looked him in the eyes.
"I'm Hans Hamilton," the man replied, "you and I have a score to settle."
"I'll fight you, but not here," Duncan said, "and them, leave them alone."
"Don't worry, I'm only here for you," he said, "meet me down on the next street, in the alley…and hurry, I'll be waiting."
And the man disappeared just as easily as he entered. Duncan went and got his sword and followed him. Richie and Amber ran up to the porch.
"Amanda, what're we're going to do?" Amber asked, "I don't think Mac has a chance with him."
"There's nothing we can do," Amanda told her, "we just have to act natural."
"Natural?" Richie asked, "how do we do that?"
"Get the sky rockets," Amber said.
They got them, hesitating a bit at first, they took them out to the sidewalk and lit them, and stepped back. The fight must have been a quick one because just as the rockets exploded, an Immortal in the alley received the Quickening. Also at that time, several other fireworks lit up the sky from different parts of the neighborhood, making the Quickening less noticeable, but all the same, it was a light show that everyone noticed. When everything had died down, Richie and Amber, and Methos and Phyllis and Amanda slipped away from the party unnoticed, and went to the alley. Duncan stepped out, more or less in one piece, but weak.
"Duncan, are you allright?" Amanda asked.
"I'll be allright," he assured her.
"MacLeod, you didn't fight him, did you?" Methos asked.
"No I didn't," Duncan replied as he gasped for air, "but he did."
Looking down the alley, everyone saw a larger Immortal, lying face down on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Richie and Amber went down to get a closer look, and turning him over, saw that it was Shane.
"He came in at the other end and took over the fight, I had no choice, I had to stay out of it," Duncan said.
"Will he be allright?" Amber asked.
"Yes, but let's get him to the house, he'll need some time to recuperate," Methos told her.
They got Shane back to the house, slipping past everyone's attention, laid him out on the couch for him to recover. Seeing as how that would take some time, they stepped back outside to see the final fireworks light up the sky just before midnight. It truly was a night they wouldn't forget.
"Are those kids still fornicating out on the front lawn?" Amanda asked.
"No, they left about an hour ago," Methos said.
"Oh good," Amanda said.
"And, is the yard a mess?" Duncan asked.
"A bit…nothing that can't be taken care of given about an hour's time," Richie said.
"And Shane?" Methos asked.
"Still unconscious, Mac, how did he win the fight?" Amber asked.
"He picked Hans up and impaled him on something in the alley and then he beheaded him," Duncan explained.
"Man, I never knew Shane could actually do it," Amber said, "I taught him a lot of what he knows, and he never showed any signs of taking it seriously, and he never showed any signs that he had it in him to actually take a head."
"Well now you know," Methos said.
The phone rang and Duncan got up to answer it.
"Hello? Joe…Joe…calm down, Joe…what's going on? Yes…I know…he's already dead…no…Shane killed him…yes."
"Well, last night sure was fun," Richie said.
"That's right, and I can't wait to do the same thing next year," Amber said.
"So, why don't you tell us about the night before last?" Methos asked.
"Huh?" they asked.
"We know that you set that machinery on fire, but why?" Amanda asked.
"Well…these guys who work for the city found out that some people hadn't been buried where they were supposed to, and they were going to bring in their equipment today and dig up a certain amount of rows," Richie started.
"Which include where Shane's girlfriend, Rachel is buried, even though she's in the right place, and he tried to reason with them, but they wouldn't listen, so we did the only thing we could," Amber said, "it was all or nothing, either they'd dig them all up, or they wouldn't dig any of them up…they're screwy like that."
"But if they find out it was you," Amanda said.
"They're not going to know," Richie replied, "they're going to think the joint's haunted."
"How so?"
"Because the only thing they're going to find are the tire tracks to a 1916 Studebaker, a car that is so old, nobody around here drives anymore," Amber explained, "they can check everywhere they like, but they're never going to find the car…and besides that…the men who were going to dig up the graves received a letter which read and I quote 'if you don't want to die, don't disturb the residents of the Eternal Serenity Cemetery', and I think it'll get the point across. Because as it turns out, a lot of corpses who were buried in there diedfrom the1910s to the 1930s…and as it turns out, some of the workers are very superstitious."
"Well then where did the car come from?" Amanda asked.
"When I first met Shane, he told me he lived nearby the cemetery but he slept there, and I have never seen his house, but the night before last, he went there, and a few minutes later he drove out in the Studebaker. He keeps it in an old house nobody knows about, and once you get near the property of where it is, the ground has no tire tracks on it anywhere," Amber explained.
"So Rachel can stay where she is, Shane won't have to sleep somewhere else, and with the exception of the diggers, everybody's happy," Richie said.
"Well that's good," Amanda said.
"Speaking of happy," Phyllis said as she came into the kitchen, "don't forget, Methos, we're engaged now and you know what that means."
"I do?"
"Yes, it means we're one step closer to driving Duncan off the wall," Phyllis said.
"Forget off the wall," Amber replied, "try driving him up it…don't you agree, Richie?"
"Yeah…boy, wouldn't it just do Mac in if he found out we almost got married?"
"If you want, we can go through it again and see if it kills him," Amber said.
"No thanks, once was enough for this time around," Richie replied.
"Well…it looks like its back to our old boring lives for now," Amber said.
"Trust me, there's nothing boring about the way we live," Richie told her.
"And we have last night to prove that."
