SF Chapter 37: Go East on Sunset
Few days after, on Friday afternoon, Daniel was lazily resting on the living room couch while reading a book.
Meanwhile, Charlie was - incredibly - actually working.
He sang and played on the piano:
♫♪ If you've got bugs
If you've got ants
If you've got bugs and flies andslugs and things that crawl ♫♪
Charlie thought for a moment, then nodded, writing down what he had just sung in a notebook resting on top of the piano.
The door then opened, Alan's face popping in. "We're here!"
"Mom, come see my room!" Jake rolled into the house on his scooter.
"I'll be right there, honey!" his mother replied.
"Hey, Uncle Charlie. Uncle Dan."
"Hi, shorty!"
"Hey, Jake!" Daniel high‑fived his nephew, before the boy headed toward his room.
"Hello, Charlie. Hello, Daniel," Judith greeted succinctly.
"Hello there."
Charlie stood up from the piano and walked over, asking, a little curious, "Hi, Judith. What are you doing here?"
"If you must know, I'm here to help Jake set up his room so he feels like nothing's changed."
"Really?" Charlie pointed out, "you don't think he'll notice his dad living here and his mom dating chicks?"
She gave an ironic smile. "Could you say that a little louder? Jake might not have heard you."
She continued, clarifying, "Just for the record, I'm not dating anyone, and I threw your brother out because he was sucking the life out of me."
"Could you say that a little louder?" Alan said this time, having overheard what his wife said about him.
She simply ignored him and carried the box she was holding into her son's room.
"Uncle Charlie, Uncle Dan, you haven't met Porky yet!" Jake suddenly appeared, running through the room before rushing off to get his pet.
"I don't suppose that's a Rubenesque nineteen‑year‑old girl," Charlie commented with a certain irony.
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "She'd have to be really hot to make up for a nickname like 'Porky.'"
"Well, there was a girl I dated named Jill. She was a bit of a slob, but you should've seen her body," Charlie recalled from a past date.
"Isn't that the hot girl from the portrait in the desk drawer?" his brother asked, gesturing with his hand.
"Oh yeah, that's her."
Daniel made a thoughtful face and nodded in agreement. "That seems worth it!"
Then he had a eureka moment. "The L.G.L. II (Let's Get Laid) - a function of how hot she is and how much of a slob she is, with the premise that she's actually very clean, only a slob around her."
"Watch it, that's my ex," Charlie said more seriously. But then smirked, "it really was," patting his younger brother on the back.
Alan looked at both brothers, exasperated, and returned to the original topic. "Porky's his pet guinea pig." He then went to grab the rest of the boxes.
"You're bringing vermin into my house?" Charlie scoffed.
Jake returned holding a cage. "Uncle Charlie, Uncle Dan, check him out! Isn't he awesome?"
"Yeah."
"Well…"
"See those little black things? That's his poop." The kid lifted the cage so his uncles could see it up close.
"Awesome."
"Cool…"
Jake then headed to his room to put the pet away.
Just then, another guest appeared at the door. Penny rushed in and kissed Dani. "I got the job!"
"Wow! Awesome! That calls for a celebration!" Daniel said with a wide grin.
[Daniel and Penny commentary]
"Because of the golf club, and because of the company my father created to produce my scripts, he knows some people in the media industry," Daniel commented, sitting cross‑legged on the Malibu couch.
"One of these days, I went along with my dad to the golf club, and one of his friends mentioned a few openings that were available."
Penny chimed in excitedly, "I got a role as a presenter on a late‑night show."
"It's not very well‑watched, but it's a start. And I'll be making three times more than I earn as a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory. Goodbye, minimum wage!" She grinned.
[Commentary ends]
Judith appeared again, coming out of Jake's bedroom.
"Hi, I'm Penny, Dani's friend," the blonde introduced herself.
"Judith. Jake's mother."
"Whoa, you look so young," Penny remarked, surprised.
Judith gave a rare smile, then turned to Alan, who had returned to the entryway.
"I don't want him in the water this weekend. He might have an ear infection." She pointed at her son, who was standing nearby.
"Oh, Mom," Jake muttered dejectedly.
"No, it's okay, pal," Alan tried to cheer his son up, getting an idea. "We can go to Disneyland. We'll have a great weekend."
He went on enthusiastically. "We can play miniature golf, go bowling, ride bikes, watching a movie - whatever you want."
"Alan, relax, you're starting to sound like a tampon commercial," Charlie chimed in, receiving a glare from his brother.
Judith patted her son. "Go finish organizing your room, Jake." After her son left, she turned to her husband.
"Alan, I'm very concerned. There are three children here. Are you sure you can handle this?"
Daniel and Charlie looked at each other. "That's fair!" Neither of them disagreed.
Dani and Penny kept Jake company, playing video games and a few other casual games, until they handed things over to Alan and were able to enjoy their Friday together.
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That night, Alan was eating a yogurt while fiddling with his laptop at the table. The other two brothers also showed up in the living room.
"Charlie? That strange lady from down the beach is back," Alan remarked, watching Rose wave through the glass door.
Charlie adjusted the collar of his shirt. "Yeah, she's here to babysit."
"Come again?"
"I thought we'd go out and have a drink."
"Yeah, bro," Daniel chimed in, also adjusting his beach shirt. "Penny and I are going to a party here in Malibu. So you need to be Charlie's wingman today!"
Alan stared at both brothers in disbelief. "You want me to leave my son with the whack job who's been stalking Charlie since his one‑night stand?"
"Yeah..."
"Pretty much!"
"It's okay, Alan," Rose called out loudly from outside. "Charlie and I talked, and I understand that we're just friends, and that it's not okay for me to sneak into his house and lick all his silverware."
Alan stopped eating his yogurt and dropped the spoon, his face twisting in disgust. "As reassuring as that sounds, we can't go out tonight. We're getting up early to go to Disneyland."
"We?"
"Yeah. I thought that maybe you'd want to come with us."
"Alan, I'm not thrilled about having one small rodent in my house." Charlie spread his arms. "Why would I drive fifty miles to see their kingdom?"
"I'll go!" Rose invited herself.
"Maybe some other time, Rose. It turns out we're not gonna need a babysitter tonight," Charlie dismissed the crazy chick.
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