Chapter Twenty-Nine
A Welcome Sight
With a final, definitive chomp, Nibbler bit through enough bonds of the net to free the bound trio. Dog slobber and netting material went flying every which way, and Nibbler quickly squirmed free, wriggling his rump and wagging his tail as he went.
At the commotion, Lefty began to come around from his senseless condition. He groaned as he examined the debris that had fallen upon him, and he shook his head to clear the stars that had temporarily filled his vision. But upon seeing Nibbler’s handiwork, he smiled.
“Excellent work, Nibbler! See if you can make your way out of this net, too, Jack,” Lefty encouraged. “By the beard of Archimedes, I really got walloped, didn’t I?”
Jack was already squirming his way out, and he was soon able to return to his feet. He turned to help his uncle, but he found that the heavy, steel cabinet wouldn’t budge. Lefty’s arms were pinned by his side, and he could offer little assistance. Jack simply wasn’t strong enough to lift the cabinet on his own.
“It’s no use,” Lefty gasped. Sweat had accumulated on his nose, and his face had grown red from the exertion, although his eyeglasses had fortunately remained intact. He tilted his head to the side, and saw the inactive Noodles, sitting on the floor, with a net still partially draped over him. “Gears and sprockets! Has that dastardly duo gotten away? And with the power cell, no less?”
“I’m afraid so,” Jack said.
“That Ebenezer has turned into a real scoundrel, I must say. First he busts a big hole in my roof, and now this! And Jasper’s no better. Those two really are a pair of first-rate nincompoops, I tell you. We’ve got to go after them, m’boy.”
Jack was in full agreement, but he was wondering how he could possibly move the mountain of debris that had pinned Lefty to the floor. As much as he wanted to free his uncle, he simply didn’t have the strength. But he couldn’t just give up! He was about to give it another go, when he heard somebody calling his name.
“Uncle Lefty, do you hear that?” asked Jack.
“Why, yes, I do hear something! Is there somebody upstairs?”
Nibbler began barking, and he ran to the basement stairs, wagging his tail from side to side. There was a commotion of footfalls in the stairwell, and within moments, Jack saw the most welcome sight of his life: It was Neil, Sara, and Maria. Jack had never been so glad to see his friends, and he felt his heart swell with gratitude.
The Beans gathered at the bottom of the stairs and stood slack-jawed, as they beheld the carnage that lay before them. Among other things, they saw that the heavy vault door had been warped, smashed out of shape, and knocked clean from its hinges. Countless objects, both large and small, had been knocked over and scattered about the laboratory. Jack ran to his friends and embraced them, while Nibbler bounced about, licking at everybody’s hands.
“Gobstoppers!” Sara cried in alarm. “What did we miss, Jack?”
“Look at all this destruction! You’ve been having fun, and without us!” Neil accused.
“When you didn’t log in for our nightly game of Virtual Baseball, we feared the worst,” Maria explained. “After what happened this afternoon, we couldn’t just let you face whatever was in that vault by yourself, especially when you never made it online. We snuck out, met at the treehouse, and then we biked over here together. We came to help you... And it looks like it’s a good thing we did, I might add!”
“Of course, we sure wanted to see what was going on, too. We couldn’t let you have all the fun! And… whoa, whoa, what is that?” Neil asked, his eyes having suddenly fallen upon Noodles. “Is that… is that a robot?”
“Yes!” Jack answered. “It is! That’s Noodles. My uncle built him, and he’s a really great break-dancer, you wouldn’t believe the moves he can do. His full name is Noodles Von Crazy Legs, because he’s got these limbs that are like slinkies, and he… oh, I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s no time for that right now; we’ve got to help Uncle Lefty.”
“What kind of monkeyshines have been going on here?” Sara asked. “This place looks like a disaster zone! Did a tornado come through here?”
“Actually, when Noodles starts break-dancing, he’s remarkably similar to a tornado, now that you mention it,” Jack said thoughtfully. “I’d be happy to tell you all about it, but right at the moment, my uncle needs our help!”
He quickly led his friends to where Lefty was pinned down, while he waved his arms about in an animated fashion, trying to give a brief summary of the predicament. The Beans followed closely, though they were awfully distracted by the silent Noodles, who was a fascinating sight, even while he slept.
“Oh! Hello there, Beans. Forgive me if I don’t stand up to greet you,” Lefty chuckled.
“Gadzooks, you’ve been squished!” Maria shouted in alarm.
“Nah, I’m fine. It seems that the majority of the weight is being supported by this thing over here.” Lefty pointed to one side by nodding his head in the direction of a metal bracket, which was partially supporting all the junk that had fallen on him. “But there’s still enough on me to keep me from being able to wriggle out. However, I do need to get free at your earliest convenience, as a most urgent turn of events has arisen.”
“Your house is much the worse for wear,” Neil noted.
“Ah, yes… that was Ebenezer Widget-Bocker’s doing, I’m afraid,” Lefty explained. “He was flying about on his jetpack, lost control, and busted through my roof, smashed through the attic and second floor, and crash-landed in the middle of the parlor. He’s not exactly what you would call a master aviator, that one.”
“Oh, um… okay, then,” Neil said. He had never met anybody who had suffered the insult of having a jetpack-wearing fiend crash through their roof, and he wasn’t entirely sure what the appropriate response to such a calamity might be. “It sure fills me with sorrow to hear about that, sir.”
“You seem to be taking this turn of events remarkably well, Mr. O’Houlihan,” Maria pointed out.
“Well, setbacks are part of the scientific process, you know,” Lefty chuckled. “I’m just glad nobody was hurt. But if we don’t stop those two rattlebrained doorknobs, I’m afraid that may not remain true.”
“Now that you mention it, we saw a really peculiar thing on our way here,” Sara told Lefty and Jack. “As we were stashing our bikes in the woods, we saw Jasper and a tiny little man! I think he was wearing a cape, if I’m not mistaken. Was that the scoundrel in question?”
“Yep, that’s him, alright,” Lefty confirmed. “Jasper and Ebenezer are in cahoots, you see.”
“They were cackling like mad men, and Jasper even danced a little jig. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that big oaf in such a good mood,” Maria said. “They were so beside themselves with glee, they never noticed as we hid in the brush while they ran by.”
“A few moments passed, and then we heard Jasper’s horrifically loud pickup truck – I’d recognize that racket anywhere. He must have left it stashed nearby for a getaway vehicle,” Neil deduced.
“Unfortunately, they’ve gotten their hands on a very powerful piece of technology, which they have no business whatsoever possessing. I shudder to think what plans those buffoons might have for the power cell they’ve stolen. They’re up to no good, I can assure you of that,” Lefty said.
The Beans, having long been familiar with the villainy of Jasper, did not need to be convinced of his wrongdoing. To think that he was involved in yet another fiendish plot, so shortly after he had polluted the river of Hollow Oak, was downright appalling… yet not particularly surprising. They were sure that there must be a connection between what Lefty was telling them, and the warning that Titus had delivered the night before.
“Well, let’s get you out of here!” Neil declared.
“We need to go stop those maniacs, before they get it into their heads that they can simply do as they please,” Sara said. “Not in our town! Even as thick-headed as he is, Jasper should know bette
r by now.”
Jack once more felt his heart swell with gratitude for his friends. He grabbed a corner of the cabinet that had pinned Lefty to the floor, and Neil, Sara, and Maria all crowded near to lend a hand.
“Okay, Beans,” he said. “Heave!”
The Green Beans, Volume 2: The Strange Genius of Lefty O'Houlihan Page 29