Chap 33 The Lawn War
At around ten am.
Inside the RV, the only sound was the tap-tap-tap of Gwen's fingers on her laptop. She sat on the sofa by the open window, her attention fixed on her screen.
She was so engrossed that she didn't hear the dry rustle of grass outside or the muffled, high-pitched giggles just below the windowsill.
Suddenly, two figures launched themselves at the window with a synchronized, "BOO!"
"GYAAH!" shrieked Gwen, jumping away.
Her heart hammered against her ribs as she registered Ben and Rio pushing themselves up from the ground, using the windowsill as leverage to stick their bodies inside the RV, grinning like idiots.
Ben laughed. "Haha, you scream like a little girl."
"I am a girl, you doofus!" Gwen shot back. Her fear evaporated, replaced instantly by righteous indignation. She snatched a heavy decorative pillow from the sofa and swung it with both hands.
THWACK!
The cushion connected squarely with both boys' faces, the impact sending them reeling backward onto the lawn.
Gwen leaned out the window, a smug smile playing on her lips as she looked down at their dazed forms sprawled in the grass.
"Well, well," she mocked, her voice filled with satisfaction. "Now who's the one lying on the grass like a little boy?"
Rio was the first to recover. He sat up on the grass, rubbing his nose and chuckling with a wide, lopsided grin. "Man, she caught us clean, Ben."
"What did I tell you? She's dangerous!" added Ben, though he was already scrambling to his feet.
He brushed the grass clippings off his shirt with aggressive energy, glaring up at Gwen, who remained perched in the window like the smug Queen.
"You think you won? That was a fluke! A totally cheap shot!" yelled Ben, pointing a finger at her. "And Gwen! You could have knocked my brain loose!"
"Hard to knock something loose that isn't there in the first place," teased Gwen, sticking her tongue out.
Rio stood up, dusting off his jeans with his usual calm. "She's got a point, Ben. You did kind of walk right into that one. Or, well, leaned into it."
"Now leave me alone. I'm trying to finish this research before we leave for the trailhead." She started to slide the window shut, but Rio was faster. He snatched a handful of long, loose grass clippings and yellow dandelion heads from the lawn.
Normally, Rio felt the constant weight of being the "older brother" figure, the shield scanning the horizon for the alien threats appearing everywhere.
But looking at Ben's eager, goofy grin and Gwen's indignant huff, he realized that if he spent every second looking for monsters, he'd miss the people standing right in front of him. They were only fourteen once. If he couldn't protect their right to be silly, what was he even fighting for? The work was endless, but these moments were fleeting. He needed this—to feel human again before the world got heavy.
The weight of the world could wait five minutes.
"Oh, no you don't!" Rio laughed, lunging forward and tossing the handful of grass through the narrowing gap.
"Rio! Gross!" shrieked Gwen, batting at the air as a shower of green and yellow pelted her laptop.
"Target confirmed!" shouted Rio, bumping shoulders with Ben. "She's distracted! Ben, get the hose!"
"On it!" Ben cheered, sprinting toward the side of the RV.
Gwen's eyes went wide. She knew Rio usually stayed out of the messier pranks, but when he decided to join in, he was deadlier than Ben because he didn't telegraph his moves.
"Rio, don't you dare!" warned Gwen, lunging for the window handle. "If my laptop gets wet, I am telling Grandpa you're the one who 'took apart' his old gears and even the RV, to see what was inside!"
Rio froze, his hand halfway to another clump of grass. He looked at her, then looked at Ben, who was currently wrestling with a kinked green garden hose.
"You wouldn't," said Rio, a look of genuine teenage betrayal appearing on his face.
"Try me," Gwen challenged, her lips twitching with a suppressed smile.
Rio turned to Ben. "Abort the hose, Ben! She's using the Grandpa Protocol! We have to go to Plan B!"
"Plan B?" Ben yelled back, finally freeing the nozzle. "What's Plan B?"
"Manual extraction!"
Before Gwen could react, Rio hopped up, grabbed the window frame, and began hauling himself up like he was scaling a fortress wall, reaching for the treasure that was Gwen's computer.
He was halfway through, his sneakers scuffing loudly against the RV's siding, as he tried to hitch a knee over the ledge. Gwen frantically tried to shove him back out with one hand while shielding her laptop with the other.
"Ben, help! Push my feet!" Rio shouted, his voice cracking with the effort.
"Gotchu, bro!" Ben abandoned the hose and dove toward the RV, grabbing Rio's waist and shoving upward with all his strength.
"Get—out—of—here!" Gwen grunted, bracing her shoulder against Rio's chest. "You're tracking mud on the upholstery! Rio, you're supposed to be the sensible one!"
"It's my day off!" Rio wheezed, a wild, goofy grin on his face. He managed to snag a throw pillow from the sofa and tried to pin Gwen's arms. "Ben, shove harder! We're breaching the perimeter!"
"MAXIMUM POWER!" Ben roared, digging his heels into the dirt and giving one final, massive heave.
The result was a tangled mess of limbs. Rio tumbled forward into the RV, Gwen fell back onto the sofa with a muffled "Oof!", and Ben, losing his center of gravity ended up face-planted against the RV's metal wall.
Shaking off the impact, Ben got to his feet and sprinted to the door, bursting inside to join the fray.
Inside, Rio, Ben, and Gwen were a whirlwind of flying pillows and tangled limbs, laughing and shouting at the same time. The start of the thing was forgotten; and what remained was pure, unadulterated cousin chaos.
"Ahem."
Suddenly a sound came from the door of the RV, although it wasn't loud, it carried the weight of a mountain.
The trio froze. Rio was pinned under a seat cushion, Gwen had her foot pressed on Rio's chest to keep him down, and Ben stood holding a pillow, in position to strike Gwen in the middle of the mess.
Grandpa Max stood in the doorway, having just walked over from Grandma Vera's house. He had his hands on his hips, his face set in a stern, no-nonsense mask. He surveyed the disaster zone: grass and mud tracked across the carpet, pillows scattered, and three disheveled teenagers.
"Look at the state of this," Max said, shaking his head with a heavy frown. "It's the first thing in the morning, and you three are already acting like a pack of wild nusky-hounds. I could hear you from inside the house"
"He started it!" / "She started it!" Gwen and Ben shouted in perfect unison, pointing fingers at each other.
Rio, ever the one to recover first, slid off the sofa and tried to flatten his chaotic hair. "Technically, Grandpa, it was a tactical maneuver that... escalated."
Inside, Max's heart was warm. Watching them, he couldn't help but think how lucky they were—fourteen years old, full of life, and still capable of finding joy in a simple prank. He remembered being that age; the world felt endless, and every day was an adventure. He loved seeing that fire in them.
But, of course, he couldn't let them know that.
Max stepped inside, stepping over a sneaker that had somehow flown off Ben's foot.
"We're guests at Grandma Vera's," Max continued, his tone authoritative. "She's expecting us for a meal, and I won't have you showing up looking like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards. You've got fifteen minutes to make this place look like a home again and get yourselves cleaned up."
"Sorry, Grandpa," immediately switching into 'helpful mode', said Rio.
"Yeah, sorry, Grandpa Max," mumbled Ben, though a smirk still lingered.
"It was their fault," added Gwen, already folding the blankets.
"I don't care whose fault it was," said Max, hiding a small smile as he turned back toward the porch. "Just get it done. We'll have a quiet afternoon to digest, and then we're hitting the road. I want us at the next campsite by sundown."
The trio didn't argue back. There was something about the way Max spoke that made "complying" feel like the only logical option. As he walked away, he heard the frantic sounds of cleaning—and the occasional whispered "Ow! You stepped on my hand!" that made him let out a soft, private chuckle.
Kids will be kids.
This was but just a small episode in the life of the trio. They quickly cleaned up their mess, and headed over for their breakfast. To the kids immense relief, the meal was actually meant for human consumption this time.
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By the end of the evening, they were all standing in front of Vera's house.
Vera was hugging both Max, and the kids goodbye.
"Oh Max, why are you leaving so early?" Vera stood at the door, reluctantly looking at Max and the kids who had packed up.
" Vera we have to travel to other places, and the whole summer trip is already planned"
"Did we not entertain you well?"
"That's not it, the ox tongue cake and the pork pudding you made were truly delicious and i want to stay too, but i can't"
Listening to Max and Vera's conversation the kid faces nearly turned green, after all, the taste of all three are still at a normal person's standard.
And when they had been "fed" these "food" for lunch they couldn't wait to vomit it out.
"Don't be strangers." Finally Vera told her brother with a gentle smile.
"We won't." Max assured her, with the kids saying goodbye next.
"Bye, Aunt Vera." Gwen said, reaching to hug her.
"Bye, dear. You will always be welcomed here." Vera replied. "Oh, and this is for the road." She then handed Gwen a green Jell-O mold. "Ben told me how much you loved my gelatin mold. This one's lime with chunks of grouper and chickpeas."
Just then Gwen heard Ben's trademark snorting laugh.
"Uh, thanks." said Gwen as she walked to the Rust Bucket while grumbling at her cousin.
After hugging Ben and finally Rio Vera shouted. "Have fun on the road."
"Don't worry, Aunt Vera. We definitely will." Rio said, running towards the RV.
Finally the family of Tennyson resumed their adventurous Summer trip as they drove out of the Retirement complex.
The memory of the aliens here just like the entrance that was hidden would only be known by the three kids and their grandpa.
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