Hey Mickie, Hey Mickie - Episode 64 "A REAL American Hero"

Written by: TVM (mrtvm@mrtvm.com)

Hey Mickie, Hey Mickie Archive

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><> (: ~ :) <>< LANEY'S 'point of view' ><> (: ~ :) <><

"What are you two doing up at this hour?" Grandpa asked as he stood looking out the front door as me and Taylor came down the steps.

"I wanna know who's been investigating me," I said. "I can't sleep anyway."

"And you?" Grandpa asked Taylor, "Like I need to ask."

"Yeah, like you need to ask," Taylor said as she hugged me. Reggie appeared back at the front door and barked her good morning as she invited us to join her on the front porch. "You let her run around without a leash?"

"I do, every morning that she's up with me," Grandpa confirmed as all three of us walked onto the porch. "I figure it's OK this early."

"Her my shaggy waggy," Taylor said as she knelt down and petted Reggie. Grandpa grew concerned as his eyes now tracked a slow moving car coming down the road from the direction of the Marvel's place. "That him?"

"Go back inside," Grandpa commanded as the car slowed and pulled into a spot on the opposite side of the road. "Take Reggie and go inside."

"But Grandpa..."

"Now damn it," Grandpa barked. I knew then he was in no mood to bargain and offered no other reply as Taylor, Reggie and I walked inside and eaves dropped from the door. The man, dressed in a jet black leather trench coat made his way across the street.

"Harold R. McCoy?" the man asked.

"Damon Hartford?" Grandpa asked as an old west style showdown ensued.

"That's me and I got the information you wanted if you've got the money," Damon said.

"Right here," Grandpa said as he showed Damon an envelope. A nervous step marked Damon's slow ascent of the stairs. He stopping as he gave a long look around and pulled a folder out of his trench coat and the two simultaneously exchanged "packages". "You better not be ripping me off."

"This better be real money," Damon fired back. "Don't open it till I'm gone and don't call me ever again. I'm done with this."

"Is someone threatening your family?" Grandpa asked.

"Let's just say I got in deeper than I should have and now I'm in danger," Damon said.

"Just tell me who it was and why..." Grandpa started to say but was cut off by a screeching set of tires as a number of Jet black SUV's squealed to a stop in front of the house. Damon panicked as he dropped the envelope and went tearing down the steps as five mysterious men emerged from the SUV's and blocked Damon's path. He stopped and seemed to know what was going on as Grandpa quickly turned and, don't you just know that he knew we were eaves dropping, quickly pushed the manila envelope into my hands before pulling the door back together. Damon was soon taken away and into the SUV by the men in black. Moments later one of the MiB's came up the steps to greet Grandpa. "What's going on here?"

"I'm Agent Marshall from the FBI," the man said as he briefly flashed a shiny badge. Mine and Taylor's bottom lips dropped in comical tandem. "What's your association with Hartford?"

"His father is a friend of mine," Grandpa said in a stone cold lie. "Well he was years ago. I don't really know his son too well."

"Don't lie to me again old man," Agent Marshall said. "Now let's try the truth."

"He was investigating my 16 year old Granddaughter," Grandpa said.

"And that investigation has just been concluded," Agent Marshall said. "Mr. Hartford won't be pursuing this any longer and I advice you with every possible meaning you can think of to drop this matter and pursue it no further."

"That's good advice," Grandpa said as Agent Marshall gave a warning eye before he quickly disappeared down the steps and back into the SUV. Grandpa watched them leave before he came back inside the house to join a shocked Taylor and me.

"That was the fucking FBI," Taylor said as she looked out the window again. "They arrested him."

"Where's the money you gave Damon? He threw it down?"

"And in all the action I picked it up," Grandpa said. "And now to the information I tried to pay five thousand dollars for."

"Watch it be empty," Taylor said as Grandpa laughed nervously and tore open the manila envelope to find a traditional folder stuffed with pages. He pulled it out and took a deep breath as he opened it. And just stared at it in what I could tell was building anger. It got more pronounced over the next few moments as he flipped through the pages and it became clear what the end result was. "Grandpa?"

"That little shit was trying to rip me off," Grandpa said as he crushed the papers in his strong hands in anger. "The pages are blank."

"Seriously?" I asked as Grandpa fired the wad of papers against the wall and stormed off out the front door. Taylor sighed in frustration as she hugged me and kissed my lips as we both smiled. She asked, "You OK?"

"I guess so," I said.

"I'll clean the papers up and you go get some breakfast started?" Taylor asked as I nodded. She turned and picked up the mass of blank paper and stopped as she came up on a stray post-it note. "What's this?"

"It's called a post-it, duh," I said as Taylor gave me a dirty look as she picked it up and I laughed.

"The Lake Erie storage unit," Taylor muttered as I gave her a weird look.

"Say what?"

"Look at this odd note that was... I guess it was in the papers," she said as she showed it to me. Scribbled at the top was the address of the Lake Erie storage unit and under that was an off set of numbers and letters. "Unit 2412, File 14, drawer C, midway."

"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.

"Something is in unit 2412?" Taylor asked. "That's not too far away Michael's (Mickie's Dad) unit. Two buildings or so away."

"And what does the rest mean, Shirley Holmes?" I asked as Taylor grinned.

"Maybe a file cabinet? There's 14 of them, in say drawer C so I think that's what it is," Taylor said as my interest peaked.

"And midway?"

"Midway back in the files?"

"Why would that be in the folder though?"

"Maybe he was leading us to whatever he found," Taylor said as she turned the note over and found the words, "Get it before they do!"

"Before who does?" I asked.

"The people who arrested that Damon guy?" Taylor asked.

"You think the FBI will raid his storage unit?"

"I'll bet money on it," Taylor said. "We need to get down there."

"Let's go find Grandpa," I said.

"Let's just go ourselves and figure this out," Taylor said. "Jessie and Mickie will be here in a few hours and we'll go see. No reason to get Grandpa all upset if it's another dead end."

"That actually makes sense," I said. Reggie barked as if to say "I agree" as she now lay by the foot of the steps.

><> (: ~ :) <>< LYNSEY'S 'point of view' ><> (: ~ :) <><

I got up early this morning despite having Rae snuggling up to me and sat down in the kitchen feeling depressed and even though I didn't want to I was still missing Maria. Though it was seemingly less I noticed. Out of sight out of mine I guess. Anyway, I felt like crying but for some reason never did and before I knew it two hours of reflecting on fond memories turned into daylight outside and a seemingly happy Rae flicking on the light in the kitchen and finding me sitting at the table staring out the window.

"You crying again?" Rae asked as she walked up beside me. Seeing her smiling but worried face made me smile knowing that I had her to help me through this. "You weren't?"

"Just missing her is all," I said as Rae nodded. "Morning!"

"Look, here's the deal, if you wanna go to California and chase her down you can," Rae offered. "You can take the money I got for selling that painting, the one of you, and head out there. I'll be fine, I'll move in with Uncle Chuan-Li."

"You're serious?" I asked in surprise. She simply nodded to confirm and showed me the money.

"No way in hell," I said as she smiled. "You're stuck with me, Yan."

"Best news I've ever heard, Pynsey," Rae said as she smiled brightly and kissed me softly and so perfectly as I slipped my arms around her and we soon got lost in a kiss that lasted far longer than anyone we'd had before. Her arms slipped around my neck somewhere in there as my tongue softly massaged against hers in an endless search for the soothing pleasure that is so addictive. Her head forehead rested against mine when we finally parted. "I love you more every second."

"Keep telling me that and I'm gonna start liking you too," I said as she laughed.

"Be serious for a minute?" she asked impatiently.

"I love you too," I said a moment before I kissed her softly. "I'll show you how much if you wanna be late for school."

"As much as I love the sound of that, school comes first," Rae said. "Your grade in English slipped."

"How the hell did we go from talking about making love to my girlfriend to English class?"

"I'm not your girlfriend until you ask me to be," Rae said. "Hello?"

"That's true," I said softly. "I believe it's something we need to think about. Maybe tonight we stay in and figure it out?"

"Maybe dinner and a movie?" Rae asked with a hopeful smile.

"Yes!" I said as I hugged her tightly and she giggled before I blew a raspberry on her cheek, then she squealed in laughter and pushed me away.

><> (: ~ :) <>< TAYLOR'S 'point of view' ><> (: ~ :) <><

"Why can't we take separate cars?" I asked Laney as her and Jessie hustled us into Jessie's pink VW bug.

"Because it's gonna look weird enough for four teenagers to come into the Lake Erie Storage, weirder if we do it in two cars," Laney said as Mickie and I settled into the backseat. "Unless you don't wanna go."

"Don't be stupid of course I do," I said.

"Being from the South you kinda have to be don't you?" Jessie asked as she pulled out onto the street and zoomed off towards the Lake Erie Storage.

"Have to be what?" I asked and knew with Jessie's giggling that one of her moronic jokes was coming.

"Stupid," she said as her and Mickie started laughing while Laney and I glared at our respective girlfriends.

"I'll have you know that the South is a lot like your part of the world," I said in reply. "People who think Gay marriage is the end of the world as we know it. Not much of a difference, a whole lot of stupid people in this country."

"True dat," Jessie agreed. "Omaha is not very liberal."

"Don't gotta be Liberal to believe in love no matter who it's with," Mickie pointed out as she took my hand in hers.

"Suddenly Iowa sounds like such a nice place to visit," Laney chimed in as we all laughed. "And thank god for the Iowa Supreme Court too."

"Don't forget Mike Gronstal, a real hero, even if he is a politician," Jessie said as she made the final turn on the road to the storage unit.

"Who's that?" I asked in confusion.

"Majority leader from the Iowa State Senate who refused to allow the senate to try and over turn the Supreme Court's decision," Jessie said without a pause. "I'm not dumb you know?"

"Yeah, I already knew that," I said as she smiled at me in the rear view mirror.

"Jessie showed me that speech Gronstal gave on the Senate floor (Video) and it was so beautiful it made me cry," Mickie said as she laid her head on my shoulder.

Jessie parked a couple of minutes later as we all filed out of the car and walked past the security guard who simply waved and went back to reading his novel as we made our way down the long rows of buildings until we reached the isle that I thought was the correct one. We made our way down to the unit number to find it apparently undisturbed.

"So now what?" Jessie asked.

"Well... I don't know," Laney said. "Be great if the door was unlocked huh?"

"Yeah it would...," I giggled as I looked around and saw no one watching us and twisted the knob to find, unbelievably, that it was unlocked. "... the fucker is open."

"What? Holy shit!" Laney said as she followed me as all four slipped inside as quickly as possible. We turned to find... why the door was open, it had already been cleared out. "What the fuck? They already cleaned it out?"

"It looks that way," I said as I hugged my best friend and felt her frustration at that moment. "I don't get it why he'd put that note in the folder when the place had already been raided."

"He didn't know about it," I said as Jessie and Mickie joined us. "He must have stumbled onto something pretty big."

"He was investigating me," Laney said. "What could be big involving me?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"Guys we're already late for school," Mickie said as she took my hand and laced our fingers together.

"Yeah, no reason to hang around here!" I said as I hugged Laney and we made our way back out to the alley and stopped cold when a man covered in what looked to be oil came waltzing out of the storage units and stopped when he saw us.

"Well hello young people," he said with a bright smile. He kinda looked like that guy from the Family Feud, Richard Karn. "And what are we up to this fine morning?"

"Being nosey," Jessie giggled as I laughed as the man offered a hearty laugh as well. "On our way to school."

"So I take it you're the much talked about Hartford kids that Anita has spoken of? Damon's children?" the man asked.

"No..." Mickie said before she covered her mouth and gave me and Jessie a certain look.

"Yes we are," Laney said. "Dad wanted us to get something out of the unit."

"Where are my manners? I'm David Pamslay, a friend of your lovely Grandmother Anita," he said.

"Nice to meet you finally," Laney lied. "Grandma speaks so fondly of you."

"Come to think of it, I saw your Grandmother just two hours ago," David commented. "She was in and out in a second and barely had time to say hi."

"She was here?" Laney asked.

"Why of course, didn't you know?"

"No, ummmmmm... did she leave with anything?"

"A folder, I think," David said. "Clutching it in her hands, poor sweet thing seemed awfully upset."

"Did the folder say anything, I know that's an odd question..."

"And a very perceptive one young lady," David commented. "It had the oddest chicken scratch at the very top..."

"Chicken scratch?" Jessie asked in confusion.

"Doctor speak for indecipherable writing," David said with a laugh. "Fortunately I read chicken scratch on a college level."

"That's a good one," Mickie giggled as David grinned.

"You're a doctor?" Jessie asked.

"Dr. Dave," he said. "Best baby doctor..."

"What did the folder say?" Laney asked rudely. "I'm sorry, it's just I'm intensely curious."

"No apology needed, let me think for a minute," David said. "Now don't hold me to this but it was something like Elaine, Elaine... it escapes me."

"Holy crap," I said. "What the hell would she want your folder for? And how did she know when to come and get it?"

"I have no idea," Laney said in shock.

"Damon? You call your father by his first name?" David asked. Fortunately a loud ringing could be heard from inside the storage unit David had just emerged from. "Sounds like the phone, be right back."

"We best get the fuck out of here," Jessie suggested as the door to David's storage unit slammed shut.

"By the way who installs a phone in a storage unit?" Mickie asked as we reached the car and a chorus of giggles made it's way through the four of us.

- - -

"See you guys after school?" Jessie asked as her and Laney walked off a few minutes after we'd reached the school parking lot.

"Uh huh," I said. I was about to pick up my back pack when I felt Mickie's arms slip around my waist and kiss my neck softly. "MMMMMM WOW!"

"We need some one on one time," Mickie said into my ear.

"MMMMMMM oh yeah," I agreed.

"And not only for that," she said as I gave her a questioning look. "I just wanna be with you for a while. You know it's been weeks since we got some real time alone?"

"I know, this whole Laney thing has been a distraction," I said.

"And Becky Sue coming down," Mickie said as I agreed.

"And then factor in Raegan and Laila's preggo situation and it's been hectic," I said as Mickie rested her chin on my shoulder.

"Yeah the Raegan thing has worked out pretty well, huh?"

"She's with Randy, bonding with Sammi and..."

"Bonding with Sammi?" Mickie asked.

"Sammi called last night and couldn't stop talking about her," I said. "Dar Dar is gonna be jealous."

"Darcy's too goofy to be jealous," Mickie said as we both laughed.

"Speaking of goofy," I said as Darcy came running across the parking lot, late like us, and slowed when she saw us and came over.

"Hey Mickie, hey Mickie," Darcy said in a mocking voice as she grinned at us.

"Go away Dar Dar, go away Dar Dar," Mickie said in the same mocking tone as I laughed.

"Ha ha," Darcy said. "You should be nice to me I might be moving."

"Yeah right, we should be so lucky," I said as Mickie laughed.

"Actually, I'm telling the truth for once," Darcy said as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. "My Aunt's moving to Colorado Springs."

"No way," I said with a feeling of loss already coming over me. I just then realized how much I'd come to like Darcy despite the way we first met. "You sure?"

"Things look pretty certain," Darcy said as we turned to walk towards the school. "The new job pays a lot more and she can buy a nicer house. I'll even have my own bedroom."

"Yeah and no friends," I said.

"And no Sammi," Darcy said with a heartbroken look in her eyes. "But who cares..."

"You do Darce," Mickie said as she hugged her friend. "You're gonna miss her like crazy."

"So? I'll make other friends," Darcy said with a tearing up of her eyes. "I can make it..."

"Mickie, Mickie, Mickie, Mickie, Mickie," Jane's voice rang out as she came out of the side door leading to the parking lot and saw us. Darcy grew quiet as Jane ran over and had to be stopped by Mickie as she skidded by in her shoes. Darcy slipped away and disappeared inside the school. "Principal Kennedy wants to see you."

"OH crap, I totally forgot about the reports," Mickie said with a horrified look on her face.

"What reports?"

"They're done," Jane chimed in.

"The expense reports for the extra curricular clubs," Mickie said. "Mom had all this stuff going on this weekend and I just didn't have time to..."

"They're done," Jane repeated.

"Mr. Kennedy is gonna kill... what did you say?" Mickie rambled.

"The reports are all done, here," Jane said with a proud smile as she handed Mickie a stack of papers.

"WOW these are really detailed," Mickie said as she flipped through the organized and even color coded pages. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome," Jane said. "Anything else I can do?"

"GIRLS!" Mr. Kennedy bellowed from the door.

"Coming," I said as Mickie and Jane lead the way and we made our way inside the school. I kissed my girlfriend and got ready to head on to class.

><> (: ~ :) <>< TAYLOR'S 'point of view' ><> (: ~ :) <><

"Love you too," I said as Taylor smiled and walked off.

"Now that we have our good morning out of the way can we please get down to the business of running the school?" Mr. Kennedy asked. "The expense reports?"

"Right here," I said as Jane stood by silently. Like my little helper monkey.

"These are very impressive Miss James," Mr. Kennedy said.

"Ummmm it's not Miss James, it's Mrs. James-Raynewater, I got married over the weekend," I said with a smirk as Mr. Kennedy laughed. "Since when do you call people Miss?"

"Mickie!" he said firmly. "These are very impressive indeed, the figures are detailed, makes my job easy indeed. I see that I made the right choice for President."

"Sure did sir, excellent choice," Jane said smugly.

"And now that I see you'll have no problems handling the duties of the office we can jump into the official duties head first," Mr. Kennedy said. "See ya after school."

"Don't worry, I'll help," Jane said with a reassuring smile. The most frustrating feeling of my life came over me at that moment as I decided this whole Presidency thing just was not for me.

"I don't want you to help!"

"F-fine then," Jane stammered with a hurt look. "Do...it...your..."

"Jane, wait, don't cry please?" I asked as I blocked her exit. "I want you to do it yourself. I can't handle the job."

"Yes you can," Jane assured me.

"That was your work and I'm not taking credit for it," I said pointedly.

"What are you saying?" she asked with a worried look. I simply took her hand and lead the way back into the office. "Sierra is Mr. Kennedy on the phone?"

"Like I care if he is, go on in," she giggled. I grinned as I dragged Jane along into Mr. Kennedy's office.

"Ladies," he said in surprise. "Can I help you? I thought we'd concluded our business."

"That report is not mine, it's Jane's work," I said matter-of-fact. "If you want someone who's smart and driven to be President, you couldn't pick a better person. And oh yeah, you can take that job shove it, sir."

"Johnny Paycheck huh?" Mr. Kennedy said as we enjoyed a good laugh.

"My Mom loves him," I said.

"Well, Jane? What do you say?"

"I can't speak in public I get nervous," Jane said as she adjusted her wire rim glasses. "I'm a behind the scenes person."

"Yes you can," I said as she blushed. "And I'll be your helper monkey. I have no problem speaking in public."

"That Mickie is very evident," Mr. Kennedy cracked as him, Jane and Sierra (listening from the doorway behind us) laughed.

"Very funny... and true," I said. "What do you say Jane?"

"Someone has to represent the students and with no representation how can they have a voice?" Mr. Kennedy asked.

"I guess so," Jane said. "I'll try!"

"You're cute when you're all distressed," I said to Jane as she half smiled.

"Then I must be downright adorable at this moment," she said as everyone laughed out loud.