Part One: The Animal Ark

Morgan shrugs when asked who did it. "I dunno. Happens a lot. I usually just walk my bike home and fill up in the garage. It costs a quarter at Johnsons."

When Mikey makes his offer and she thinks about him pasting some of the idiots that pick on her right in the face, it's hard for the girl to keep from darkly giggling. But then she pictures him trying to punch Rex, the biggest bully in the school, and the one who has given the nerdy and socially inept girl the most grief over the years. Rex is big for his age, was held back a grade, is meaner than the junk yard dogs he lives with, and has really bad breath. In her mind's eye, there's brave Mikey with his dukes up facing off against the much bigger kid -- and then there's a flurry and the blonde boy is on the ground with Rex on top of him, snarling and wailing away. Nugies are given, lunch money is stolen, a wedgie is delivered, and at one point Mikey's face is pressed precariously close to some dog poo on the grass as the bigger boy laughs and gloats. It's all very terrible, and Em looks at the boy very seriously as she says, "Um, no? I don't think you want to do that. Not a good idea."

It's about then that Andy finishes pumping up the bike's front tire, and when Em notices she comes right over to check out the portable pump and test the tire by squeezing it. "So cool," she says softly. "Thank you, Andy! That thing is -- wow, so neat. I think I need to get one of those..."

Holding her bike so Andy can pump up the rear tire, Morgan grins broadly and goofily at him, happier than she can express as a bit of pink comes to her cheeks. Looking at everyone else, she brushes her hair from her eyes and says, "I think we'll be ready to go in just a minute!"

"If you say so," Mikey says, punching the palm of his left hand with his right fist once and trying not to show that he's glad she refused his offer.
When Morgan says they'll be ready to go in a moment, he goes to unlock his own bike and climbs on it. "Then let's go!", he says. "Last one there is a..." He finishes that statement off with that new word he heard his father call some TV referee the other day. He's not exactly certain what it means but he's pretty sure it's something to do with queers.

Georgie gets his own bike, moto cross style with a fake plastic gas tank (broken) and fenders (covered in stickers). He got it at a garage sale for ten bucks if allowance money and may have over paid.

"We're like a gang. We should have a gang name, like the Catters!"

Andy tries not to beam and practically skips over to his bike. The wheel spokes are decked out in clothespin attached baseball cards because the sound they made was the coolest thing going.

Catters? He asks Spud. That's just dumb. Doesn't sound tough at all.

Em gets on her old green Schwinn and arranges her pleated skirt just so as the boys tear over to their own bikes. After checking on something in her backback, the girl puts it on and sits waiting, ringing her bell a few times with her thumb as the wind tousles her messy hair and she spins one pedal with her sneakered foot.

Georgie retorts, "What would you like, Dumb Ball Kickers?" He laughs and tries to share that joke with Mikey before realizing that Mikey, too, kicks balls. He winds down quickly, muttering, "Dumb Ball Kickers. That's funny."

You're just a loser Georgie admit it. Who else would go around with a potato for a nickname? Spud. Andy spits out the word Spud as if it tasted like lima beans. Haha, now that is funny.

Mikey grins and laughs along with Andy. He wants to add something funny on to it but can't think of anything so he just says: "Yeah, that's funny!"

Then he decides to speed up ahead of the others, standing in the pedals and pushing into them with his full weight to get into pole position.

Mikey makes sure to always stay ahead of the others. After his announcement at the beginning of the trip, he won't be caught dead arriving last!
He looks back over his shoulder rather than focusing on the road ahead and calls out: "Hey, Georgie, where'd she last see the cat?"

Georgie has been thinking about what he'd heard. "Zorro likes to sleep in the sun near the house. He never wanders very far because of there's enough rats and scraps for him to eat. They haven't seen him since a few evenings ago and he was sleeping nearby. I bet they've checked all around the house, though."

Maybe the cat is stuck in the basement. Do they have a basement? Andy asks no one in particular.

"I was going to say basement!", Mikey lies. Then he thinks further. "If he likes lying in the sun, I bet he likes warm places. Maybe he went into a boiler room in their basement. Or he found another warm spot in the area. That's what we should look for."
He sports a wide, proud grin at his deduction and looks at the other kids to see if they're impressed with his logic.

Georgie isn't sure about going in the house. His cousin Nikos let him watch a movie about Texas cannibals last Christmas and he still was leery of going into strange buildings, especially in the wilderness. "I can go ask them, I bet they will be happy to have help, and maybe they want to get started making that lemonade," he laughs.

He lets his bike drop with a clatter and the sound of more plastic breaking, and approaches the house.

You drop your bikes in the dirt, to the side of the old track that leads from the larger road down to the main farmhouse. As you approach, you see the middle-aged couple, Marge and Joan, tinkering with some wires on one of their old gates to the chicken coop. They see you approach and put down their tools to greet you. They spy you for a moment, wondering what a group of kids wants here on a Friday evening as the sun goes down and rain blows in.

"Evening, boys..."

Marge examines you closer.

"... AND girls." she gives Em, what seems like, an approving nod.

"What can I help you with? Only we’re kinda busy tonight!"

Andy just shook his head at Georgie's lemonade comment and approached Marge ad Joan.

Uh hello, He said tugging at the bottom of his shirt, a habit he had when talking to adults who he was a little unsure of. We heard your cat Zorro had gone missing. We wanted to help and I was wondering if you had a basement? Maybe he got locked in there by mistake?

Mikey nods approvingly when they mention girls to include Em. It only feels right that they do. But he stays in the background and only watches them with a frown. His father says those two are not good people - and he has a lot of colorful expressions for them - so Mikey knows to stay away from them.

"I'm Rebecca's friend, Georgie. That's Andy, and Em, and Mikey, and Jaden. We all go to her school." He looks around. "That's all of us. That came, not that go to her school, that would be a lot of kids tramping around and yelling, haha," He wheezes a laugh, "That's funny."