Saturday, September 15, 2012

C.N. - chapter 49

I thought a bit more about what had happened with Theo and Kyle and arrived at the conclusion that families, regardless of social statuses, all have sibling rivalry. As I was thinking about this, Theo was talking to Dennis so quickly that the words coming out of her mouth were like splints out of a wood chipper back home. When I think about things, I often don't mind where my eyes settle at, so I maintained eye-contact with Theo as she said many things which I didn't hear.
Theo finished her train of thought and said, 'So what do you think?'
Dennis said, 'For lack of a better word, crazy.' He sat into a chair, deep in thought.
Theo sighed, 'I know, Captain Obvious, that's why it has to work. What do you think about it, Charlie?'
I blinked and said, 'You were talking to me too?'
Theo looked at me incredulously, 'OF COURSE I WAS TALKING TO YOU TOO! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!'
'Oh,' I said, 'I'm sorry, I was thinking, so I didn't hear.' I paused, 'Is it important?'
Theo fell back onto her bed mattress and covered her face with her hands. 'Are you always like this, Charlie?'
I didn't think I was like anything else, and by 'this' Theo probably meant myself, so I nodded and said, 'Yes.' I like to be true to myself.
'And has anyone ever, and I stress EVER, told you that your brain is a bit scrambled?'
I thought about this question, I said, 'I used to have an attention deficit disorder when I was in kindergarten, but dad wanted me to play football when I was older, so he took me to a doctor and I did a lot of focus exercises. Now I have a normal attention span like everyone else.'
Theo didn't seem satisfied by this response, but we were both interrupted by Dennis, coming out of his deep thought, 'Okay, I've convinced me, this can work, but we need the coordinates on Grandfather's computer, which is currently rubble, do you have an alternative?'
'Kent has the coordinates in his notebook.' Theo said.
'In that case, we need to take a look in his notebook.' Dennis said, 'Where is it?'
'He keeps it in his study, in the safe.' Theo replied.
'Aw, that safe,' Dennis sighed, he held a hand to his forehead and slid it down his face, looking like he needed a cup of coffee, he said, 'I designed that safe, and I'm telling you it's hard to crack.'
'I can use a paper clip,' I suggested, 'Why are we cracking a safe anyways?'
'No Charlie, I'm sure a paper clip won't do any good,' Theo said, 'It's a password safe.'
'Oh,' I said, 'Why are we cracking it anyways?'
'You missed the why part because you were thinking.' Theo said, she turned to Dennis, 'Does that secret passage go to the study?'
'It does, but you don't know the password, do you?'
'It's worth a try, I'm good at guessing, remember?' Theo smiled at Dennis.
'Okay, I trust you, remember, the keypad gives you three tries for the correct password, I designed it that way because Kent confuses his passwords a lot, after three tries, an alarm activates and the room locks down.' Dennis paused and added, 'While you're at that, I guess I'll ring my buddies at the airfield.'
'Let's move,' Theo said, she got up and told me to come with her.
'Take a left, two rights, and another left and the passage will get you to the closet of Kent's study.' Dennis said. He took out a very small cellphone and started to dial a number. Theo opened her closet and stepped into it, and beckoned me to follow.
We took a left, two rights and another left and arrived at the back of another closet. Theo pressed her ear to the door and heard nothing, neither did I, so very quietly we got out of the closet and found ourselves in a neatly organized room with the smell of air fresheners. Theo immediately went to a painting on the wall and removed it, behind which was the stainless steel door to a safe, with a keypad embedded in the center of the square door, next to a handle.
'Wow, how did you know where the safe is?' I gasped.
'I used to have a hobby of making explosives, Kent found out and confiscated my stash, so I spied on him and found out where he put it.' Theo said, as she stood by the safe, thinking.
'That's cool,' I said, 'Can you teach me?'
Theo paused and the look on her face said something like, darn, shouldn't have said that.
I took the look to be her response, so I said, 'I think we're alike, I know how to make firecrackers, which are kind of like explosives, we can trade notes on it sometime.'
Theo quickly said, 'Yeah, that's neat.' And she went back to analyzing the safe. She typed in something on the keypad, took a deep breath, and turned the handle.
'Password, incorrect.' A robotic voice said following a beep. Theo sighed heavily.
'You know,' I started, remembering the conversation with Heathcliff outside before the bomb exploded, and thought I should tell Theo about it, since I was alone with Theo and Heathcliff probably wanted Theo to know what he thinks, so I said, 'Heathcliff was talking to me outside, and he said he loves you very much.'
Theo didn't reply, I took it as an indication that she was being a really good listener.
I continued, 'He also told me that you don't feel the same way about him, and I think he's a little devastated by that. Um, I'm just wondering now, do you not feel the same way about him?'
Theo turned around and said, plainly and sharply, 'Heathcliff is an overbearing, foolish romantic dreamer who I for one knows just has too much hormones. And what I can't stand most about him is that he keeps on calling me by my full name which I hate, Theodora, I can't stand it!' As she was saying this, she smacked some more keys on the keypad of the safe, I think spelling her name.
'Password, almost correct.' The robot voice said.
'What?' Theo exclaimed in shock, I think she didn't know she had typed her name on the keypad.
'Try spelling your name backwards, maybe that's the password.' I suggested. Usually, if a password guess is almost correct, then the correct password is probably the guess spelled backwards.
'I-how could the computer say...' Theo couldn't finish her thought, so to save time I went over and typed her name spelled backwards into the keypad and the robot voice came on. 'Password, correct.'
'See?' I said, 'I guessed it right.' I pulled the handle and the door of the safe sprang open, revealing another square door behind it, with a plain keyhole at its center.
'ARE YOU KIDDING ME!' Theo shouted.
'I'll use a paper clip.' I said, and reached into my pocket.

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