The Twideath Zone

by Mark

Trixie jumped out of bed.  It was the first Monday of summer vacation.  The freedom always gave her the energy she lacked to get out of bed during the school year.  Of course, the fact that it was smack dap in the middle of first period already certainly didn’t hurt.

Quickly pulling on some clothes, she went downstairs for breakfast.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Moms greeted her as she sat at the kitchen table.  “Sleep well?”

“Yes.  I just love summer vacation.”  Trixie looked around and noticed everyone was gone.  “Am I the last one up?”

Moms laughed.  “They’ve been gone for hours.  Bobby went over to the Lynches’ and Brian and Mart headed out with Jim to look at that new clearing Dan’s made in the preserve.  Something about it being ideal for a campout.”

Just then, the back door flew open and Brian rushed in.  All Trixie could do was stare.  “What happened to you?”

Brian paused for a moment before his face lit up in understanding.  “Oh, this,” he said, rubbing his hand over his head.  “You like it?”

Brian’s hair normally parted on the left side.  However, the entire left side of his hair was gone.  The right side was still there, creating almost a Two-Face look.

“It’s …uh…interesting,” Trixie ventured.

“Thanks,” Brian grinned.  “I’ve decided I want to be a trend setter.  I think if I wear this enough, it will catch on.”

Moms leaned over and kissed her oldest son.  “Well, I think it looks very handsome.  But the way you rushed in here, I was sure you had something to say.  What’s going on?”

Brian got very animated again as he said, “You’ll never guess what just happened.  We were out looking at the clearing when all of a sudden a house came out of nowhere and fell on Jim and killed him!”

“What?” Trixie gasped.

Brian nodded his head.  “It was the weirdest thing.  Some woman named Susan came out.  Claimed her house was picked up by Hurricane Katrina last year and she’s been floating over the US ever since.  Finally landed in that clearing.  Mart and Dan went over to the Manor House with her to tell everyone else.”

Just then, the phone rang.  Trixie was in such a daze it took her mother three tries to get her attention.  “It’s Honey, for you.”

Trixie went to pick up the phone.  “I’m so sorry,” was all she got out before Honey interrupted.

“Thanks.  I just don’t know what we’re going to do.  I mean with Cook gone on vacation, how can we possibly plan a suitable reception for after the funeral?  Celia makes a decent Yankee Pot Roast, so I guess we can go with that.  But I just hope our social standing isn’t hurt by the whole ordeal.”

“That’s all you care about?  Your social standing?  What about Jim?  He’s dead!  Don’t you care about that?”

“But, Trixie, he was only my adopted brother.  It’s not like we were truly related or anything.”

Trixie slammed down the phone.  “I can’t believe her!” she exclaimed before bursting into tears.

Trixie sobbed for a couple minutes before the phone rang again.  “Maybe it’s Honey called to apologize.  I’m sure she was just in shock.”

It wasn’t Honey, but Di on the other end of the line.  “Trixie, this thing with Jim is just awful.  I just can’t wear black.  My hair blends into it and it makes my eyes look purple.  Do you think I can get away with lavender?”

Trixie slammed down the phone again.

Just then Mart and Dan came in, closely followed by Patch.  “Isn’t it great?” Mart asked excitedly.  “Miss Trask said we could keep him now that Jim is gone.  I’ve always wished he were our dog.”

“Speaking of wishing,” Dan piped up, “Trixie, I’ve always wished you were my special girl.  Now that Jim is out of the way, will you consider it?”

That was more then Trixie could bear.  With tears stinging her eyes, she ran up the stairs, slammed the door of her room and threw herself onto the bed, where she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.

And woke up.

Trixie blinked confusedly as she looked around her room.  Slowly she pieced things together.  It was the first day of summer vacation.  The Bob-Whites had celebrated by watching The Wizard of Oz until very late last night.  “That must have influenced my dream,” she thought as she got out of bed.  Quickly, she dressed and headed down stairs.

She was just in time to kiss her dad goodbye.  “I thought you kids would sleep later than this,” Moms said as she set a plate of pancakes in front of Trixie.

“I planned to, but I had a horrid nightmare.  See, Jim died.”

“I did what?” Jim said as he walked in the back door.

Trixie jumped up and ran to give him a hug.  “I am so glad to see you.  I was just telling Moms about this dream I had last night.”  And she proceeded to relate the details of the dream.

“See, I told you not to eat all that spicy food while we watched the movie last night,” Jim said as he tousled Trixie’s hair.  “With Celia filling in for Cook, you never know what’s in the food.”

“Another piece of my dream,” Trixie exclaimed as she finished off her pancakes.

“And we guys were talking about going out to a clearing scouting for a campout tonight.  See, you just combined all these things and came up with something wild and crazy.  Imagine, a house falling from the sky and killing me.”

“And Honey not caring?” Trixie added.  “She’d be crushed if anything happened to you.”

Moms laughed.  “It’s about as silly as Brian shaving half his head.  You know he’s too dependable for that.”

“So where are your brothers, anyway?” Jim asked.  “I was supposed to swing by so we could head out to meet Dan.”

Just then, Mart came barreling through the kitchen.  “Hi all!  Gotta run.  I’ll eat later.”

Moms, Jim, and Trixie exchanged puzzled glances.  “Did Mart just say he’d eat later?  Is my brother ok?”

The question was answered as Brian came barreling into the kitchen.  The three could only stop and stare.  The left half of his head was completely shaved.

“Where’s Mart?” Brian all but shouted.  “I need to get him!”

Moms recovered her tongue first.  “Why?  What’s going on?”

“Look what Mart did to me while I was sleeping!  He stopped and ran when I woke up.  I told you getting him his own clippers was a huge mistake!”  Brian stormed on through the kitchen.

Trixie turned to look at Jim, who was extremely pale.  “If those two ever get back without killing each other, tell them I changed my mind about the campout.  I’m going home to hide under my bed.”  Then he got up and left at a dead run.

Thanks to Kaye for not only coming up with the idea for today’s prank but pestering me to be part of it.  And editing the story.  And posting it after I got it back to her around midnight her time.

 My apologies to Susansuth and Katrina for using them in this manner.  I love ya, really.

 Brian’s hair was inspired by something I did six years ago today.  Check out the link for pictures.  http://trixiebeldenfriends.freeservers.com/mark.htm

 The characters, the Twilight Zone, and the Wizard of Oz are copyright their respective copyright holders.  No money is being made off this.