Story: Middle Part 34
[[Continuity Note: After the sleepover Damien leaves, and Alf goes back to sleep.]]
The second time Alf awakes that morning, it's to the smell of bacon wafting through the living room. He finds that Jessica has left her sleeping bag, though she hasn't yet packed it away. Rock is still snoring on the floor, so Alf lets him rest a little more as he sneaks into the kitchen for some breakfast.
Jessica is seated at the table; Mrs Struthers is positioned to begin placing food on the plate in front of the girl.
"Rock's not up yet?" Mrs Struthers asks, as she uses the tongs to place some bacon on Jessica's plate.
"No," Alf replied as he stifled a yawn. "Not yet." He grabs a plate from a cupboard, and places it on the table, before grabbing a couple of glasses for himself, Jessica and his mother then placing them on the table. "Orange juice?" he asks her.
She looked up from her plate, and Alf noticed the bags under her eyes. "Just water, thanks Alf," she stated politely. He poured her a glass of water from the jug in the fridge, poured himself and his mother some juice, and sat down. Just as they were getting settled, Rock came in, abruptly sitting in a chair next to Alf before dramatically leaning on the table as though the trudge to breakfast was only a pause in his sleeping pattern.
Alf poked him. "Did you want to eat something?"
Rock made an unintelligible sound from under his arms.
"I'll take that as a no," Alf decided, then turned back to his breakfast. When he'd finished his first piece of bacon, Rock finally stirred, walking to the kitchen sink and washing his face and hands before turning to ask where the plates were. Mrs Struthers told him to sit down, and she organised his breakfast for him.
The rest of breakfast passed smoothly. Afterwards, the three teens were cleaning up the living room. Jessica and Rock were organising their things, and Alf was sorting out the pizza boxes and popcorn bowls he hadn't gotten around to removing last night. They'd made quite a mess, predictably, and once Jessica was finished with her things, manners dictated that she help Alf clean up. So while she was vacuuming, and Rock attempted to watch TV over the noise, it was difficult for Alf to hear the doorbell.
When he did eventually, there were a couple of disgruntled strangers on his front porch. One was a man with a thick dark brown moustache, the other was a woman with reddish hair that rather reminded Alf of Aliana.
"Alfonso Struthers?" the man asked imperiously.
Alf didn't dare deny it or suggest that he'd rather be referred to as Alf. "Yes?"
"I'm Dexter Wiley, and this is Mary-Ann Aldus. We're magi-scientists employed by the magical council. We've received permission to interview you and take a magic sample so that we may study your sudden magical abilities," the man introduced himself, rather overloading Alf with information.
"I see," Alf said, though he wasn't entirely certain he truly did comprehend.
"Is now a good time to interview you?" the woman asked. "It will only take about an hour."
An hour seemed like a long time to Alf, and Jessica and Rock were still in his house. "I don't know if now's such a good time..." He trailed off as he heard the distinct lack of vacuum cleaner noise in the living room.
"Hey Sprout, we're done!" Rock called from said room.
"Hang on a sec!" Alf called back. "I have friends over at the moment," he said. Then suddenly realised that these two people were awfully suspicious. "Anyway, how do I know if you're who you say you are?"
Mr Wiley and Ms Aldus reached into their jackets and for a moment Alf thought they were going to draw guns and shoot him like in the movies. Or draw wands and curse him, like in a Harry Potter. Instead they drew medallions from their inner pockets. "We're medallion carriers," Mr Wiley explained, as though that meant something to Alf.
"Okay," he drew out the word, wondering how he could stall. He didn't want to give them an interview... or a magic sample, which sounded about as much fun as a blood sample. Alf did not have a good past record with blood samples. The last time he'd had to have one taken, he fainted. Not to mention the way the man said "interview" it sounded more like "interrogation" to Alf. He definitely wasn't prepared to deal with that on five hours of sleep. "I'm kind of tired at the moment so maybe you could-"
Alf was cut off by Jessica. "Auntie Mary? Uncle Dex? What are you doing here?" she asked.
"Apparently they want to interview me," Alf stated. At least they were most likely who they said they were if Jessica recognised them.
"Right now?" Jessica asked him.
"It would be preferable," Mr Wiley put in.
"Okay," Jessica nodded. "Rock and I will leave then."
"Thank you," the older Aldus woman thanked them.
"Rock, we're going!" Jessica called.
"What?" he asked, coming into the hallway making it feel especially crowded.
"Auntie Mary and Uncle Dex want to interview Alf so we have to go home," Jessica explained.
"Okay," Rock nodded. "Call us when you're done," he said to Alf. "Then we can hang out."
"If you don't mind," Mr Wiley interrupted. "We'd also like to interview you when we're finished with Alf," he stated.
"Me?" Rock asked, ego boosted. "An interview? Sure. Shall I wait here?"
"That won't be necessary," Mr Wiley stated. "We'll see you at your own home."
"Okay," Rock nodded. "I'll be waiting. Come on Jessica," he added, pulling his cousin into the living room. They left shortly afterwards, and Alf was alone with a couple of strangers that he did not want to be left alone with. Why did no one care if he wanted to do this interview or not?
[[Not quite end scene, but where I'm going to stop for now.]]
posted by Cedric @ 1:58 pm
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