Megan and Her Shrink Ray Gun

Chapter 9: Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Chapter 9: Tuesday, June 17, 2008

In the morning, Megan's mother made breakfast for her and sent her off to school before she went to work. Megan walked to school with trepidation, knowing that Scrapper would be her teacher. Along the way, Shelly’s brother Chris showed up in his 1957 station wagon and picked her up. Shelly was already in the car.

"We're supposed to get a book today," said Shelly. “The teacher said we could keep it."

"On what?" Megan asked.

"Edgar Allan Poe," Shelly replied. "We need to pick stories from that book and write reports on them."

When the girls were dropped off at the junior high school, Megan got out and walked slowly toward the classroom.

"You don't need to worry," said Shelly. “Captain Vargas reassured me that Scrapper won't make a move against you in public."

"How can he be sure of that?" Megan asked.

"I don't know, but I wrote down something he told me to show to you."

Shelly handed Megan a piece of paper. "It's a police report for the next few days."

"A bank robbery, this afternoon?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, he said he wanted you to stay away from there when it happens," said Shelly.

"If I go there with the shrink ray gun in my backpack, I could stop them!" said Megan.

"Well, the robbery does happen before Chris goes to work, so he could take you there and drop you off," said Shelly.

At the school, Scrapper gave them the Edgar Allen Poe book and tried not to draw suspicion from Megan or the other kids. When school was out, Megan went to Shelly’s house. She asked Captain Vargas if guns worked at shrunken size, and he said that they could not function when miniaturized.

It took twenty minutes for Megan to convince Christian to drive her to the bank that was going to be robbed that afternoon.

“Once I shrink their guns, they can’t shoot them!” said Megan. “Those shrunken guys from the future explained the science of neutrino dissimilators to us!”

He finally relented, and dropped her off near the bank. She had the shrink ray gun stashed in a backpack. When the bank was robbed, she stood off to the side of the bank and aimed it at the exit.

One by one, the six armed gunmen filed out, and Megan reduced them to the same scale as Captain Vargas and his crew. She scooped them up and stuck them in her backpack, and zipped it up. She used her cell phone to call the police and led them to the piles of money left behind. When the police left, Megan returned to Shelly’s house.

Later that afternoon, Scrapper met with Megan’s mom at her home.

“I’m happy to report that your daughter attended class today, you should be proud of her!”

Margaret brought coffee to Scrapper, and a cup for herself. “She hates English and loves math, she’s always been that way. Her father is an engineer, so she takes after him.”

“If that co-worker of yours gives you any problems, I can handle him.”

“Stanley?” Margaret asked. “He’s harmless, just a weirdo. If my husband was still alive and knew Stanley was trying to court me, we would have a good laugh.”

“There’s a concert at the grange hall this Friday,” Scrapper began.

“I wouldn’t go to something like that,” said Margaret.

“I was thinking your daughter and her friend could go to the concert, while I take you to a nice dinner somewhere.”

“Isn’t thirteen a little young for a concert?” Margaret asked.

“Where I come from people that age go to concerts all the time.”

“Where exactly is that?” Margaret asked.

“Enceladus,” Scrapper began, then cringed because he had accidentally said something anachronistic. Most people in the early 21st century wouldn’t be that familiar with a moon of Saturn.

“Where the hell is that?” Margaret asked.

“It’s somewhere in Latin America, I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of it.”

“You’re Latino? I wouldn’t have guessed. I can let her go to the concert if you take me to dinner. Am I driving us?”

Back at the motel that night, Scrapper was cheerful.

“Everything is going according to plan! Margaret Weiss is letting Megan go to that concert this Friday!”

“What’s your plan?” Gator asked.

“While I’m eating dinner with her mother, one of you make contact with her and kidnap her! We’ll get that weapon one way or another!”

To Be Continued!