Put In Place©

By: Michelle Waelti

Written on:  1-6-09

Last Edited At: 3:25pm (CST)

 

“Sssshhhh!  They might hear us!”  Vinny seethed.

“Oh, no they won’t, just relax, will you?  They’re sleeping now.”  Donna replied in a calm tone.

“Yeah Dad, It’s night time, we can go out and play now!  Can I Dad?  Can I Mom?”  Chuck asked, beginning to jump up and down excitedly.

“Only if you do it quietly … and leave Ellie alone, she needs her rest until her leg is fixed.”  Vinny responded.

“Go on dear; I need to talk to your father anyway.”  Donna responded, giving Chuck a little push.

 

“OK, so what is it we need to talk about?”  Vinny asked as soon as Chuck was occupied. 

“Well, I’m worried about Tina; it’s as if she never gets a break.  She’s always got so much to carry.”  Donna confided in her husband.

“Donna, it’s what she was made for.”  Vinny replied.

“I know, but she wasn’t made to become a resting place for Lenny.  He’s always on her now.”  Donna said.

“Well, I do agree with you there.  It’s like he’s just settled himself in with no worries of Tina’s feelings.  She’s so new to us that I doubt she’ll even say anything about it and before you know it Lenny will be thinking he can take over.”  Vinny agreed.

“What can we do about it though?  I mean there isn’t anyplace else for him to go here either.”  Donna said fretfully.

“I’ll think of something … just give me some time.”  Vinny said and nestled further back, getting comfortable while enjoying watching Chuck, who was now playing with Patty. 

 

“Patty, do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”  Chuck asked Patty as they took a break from chasing each other.

“It could happen.  I mean, we just moved from that other place a couple of days ago … why wouldn’t we get out of here?”  Patty replied.

“No, I mean … farther than that, maybe someplace where we can see new faces too.”  Chuck elaborated.

“Oh, well I don’t know.  I don’t think I would want to.  I’ve got it pretty good here ever since I came from the orphanage.  I don’t want to go anywhere else.”  Patty replied.  She had been adopted about three years ago and felt that she finally was properly taken care of and really was appreciated.  It helped her to stop feeling so sad about not being able to remember her parents.  When they had to give her up for adoption she was too little to be able to remember them, and they felt it was better that way.

“Well I do.  I’m already bored here.”  Chuck replied.

“Oh, get over it!”  Patty responded and playfully shoved Chuck.

 

“So, you suppose those two will ever grow up?”  Rick asked Sam as they sat together watching everybody’s interactions.

“You know, probably not … but they’re so much fun, what would it hurt anyway?”  Sam chuckled.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.  So how are you feeling today Ellie?”  Rick changed the direction of conversation.

“Ohhh, not too bad today I guess.  Not a lot of moving around through the day so it wasn’t too bad.  How are you two gentlemen?”  Ellie responded politely.

“Oh just fine.”

“Marvelous.” 

“Glad to hear it.  So Tom, have you got any entertainment for us tonight?”  Ellie asked.

“Sorry Ellie, really wish I could, but I worked a triple shift today, I think I’m all wore out for the day.”  Tom replied tiredly.

“Oh sorry dear, just go on and get your rest then.  We’ll keep it quiet.”  Ellie said quietly.  Tom gave a small mumble of agreement and then was out for the count, finally able to rest.

“So Ellie, what do you think of Lenny over here moving on in?”  Sam asked, trying to keep somewhat quiet so Lenny wouldn’t hear.

“I think it’s a big load of hooey and he needs to go back where he came from!”  Ellie said, growing increasingly louder, realizing it at the end of her sentence and covering her mouth with a squeak and widened eyes.

“Don’t worry about it, he’s sleeping heavy.”  Rick assured her.

“What about Tina though?”  Ellie whispered.

“I think she’s down for the count as well.  She got switched to day shifts for Lenny, although it seems like she works around the clock really.”  Sam answered her question.

“Oh my, that's not good at all.  I’m sorry but he has got to go!”  Ellie responded.

“You’re right there ma’am.  It’s time to do something about this.”  Sam agreed.

 

“Donna, let’s go over and talk to the neighbors, see what they think.”  Vinny said, gathering his things and preparing to head out.

“Oh, ok.  I’ve wanted to go visit Ellie for some time now.”  Donna said cheerfully.  The two of them headed across the way and soon were forming a cozy little huddle with Rick, Sam and Ellie.  They tried to huddle tightly so that Tina and Lenny wouldn’t hear anything, lest they hurt Tina’s feelings or anger Lenny. 

 

“Look Tina, they’re at it again.  See how they never include us?  That’s why we need to get on out of here.  Move on to bigger and better things, you know?  You’ve got the brawn, I’ve got all the brains … we could do it.”  Lenny sneered.

“But I just got here Lenny.  I haven’t even gotten to know anybody.  It’s probably just because I’m so new.”  Tina replied.

“Do you really think so?  I think it’s because they know you’re old.  They already don’t like you.”  Lenny said in a nasty tone.

“Really?  Is it that easy to tell I’m that old?  I try to take care of myself.”  Tina said, sounding unsure now of whether she wanted to get to know anybody else.

“Of course.  Look at those age spots.  They didn’t happen by accident.”  Lenny answered.

“I’ll work double hard to get rid of them!”  Tina resolved, feeling hurt.

“No, why should you have to fix yourself up for them?  Do it for me!  We’ll go away then … find our own place together, without the rest of the community constantly watching us.  Just the two of us.”  Lenny manipulated her some more.

“Really?  T-t-together?”  Tina shuddered from exhaustion.

“Yup, you and me babe.  All I have to do is run a few searches for some better real estate and we’re out of here.”  Lenny replied.

“Oh I’d like that.  Maybe we could find someplace with LOTS of space?”  Tina said, growing excited.

“Sure, why not.  The best for you babe.”  Lenny said, rolling his eyes. 

“Oh Lenny, thank you!”  Tina gushed and settled back down, “If it’s ok, I’m gonna get some sleep now before morning rolls around.” 

“Go for it.  Good night.”  Lenny responded to her and then thought to himself, ‘Good, nit wit will be out of my hair for a couple hours so I can do what I got to do.’

 

“What can we do to send him a message, or send THEM a message, so that he gets the heck back out of here?  It’s got to be something good … and maybe they’ll take him back to the other place.”  Vinny said.

“Right, but what?  I mean we got to do something with Lenny himself … but we got to make it so that he can’t talk.  We’ve got to shut him up.”  Sam agreed.

“Well, we could tie him up.”  Rick suggested.

“Oh, yes, that’s a very good idea!”  Ellie said enthusiastically.

“Yes, oh and what if we put him in something too!  A bag, or a big box, or something like that!  They’ll really think somebody was trying to get rid of him.”  Donna suggested.

“I like where you’re going with this.  If we do that stuff though, he’ll eventually wake up and think that we did, even if it’s logical enough to think that THEY did it.”  Rick said.

“Well what if we disconnected him from the rest of the world for a little while, if you know what I mean?  That should shut him up and keep him shut up.”  Sam said.

“Sam!  I’m shocked … but I think it would work too!”  Ellie exclaimed.

“Let’s do it.  Find something to put him in.”  Rick said; ready to get the plan in action.  They all scurried around, finding what they would need.  Finally it was time to get Lenny. 

 

“Vinny, don’t you think we should put the kids to bed first?”  Donna asked; concerned that they could get hurt in the events that would soon occur.

“You’re right, go ahead and tuck Chuck and Patty in, then come back over here.”  Vinny responded.  Donna quickly went and gathered up Chuck and Patty, sending them to their respective resting places. 

“Moooom, what’s going on?  Why can’t we stay up and play a little longer?”  Chuck whined as he was settling in.

“Because I said so.  We adults have something to take care of and I don’t want you children getting in the way.  It’s past your bedtime already young man.”  Donna responded warmly.

“Okaaayyy.  G’night Mom.”  Chuck said and settled in.

 

“All right, Vinny, you ready?”  Rick asked.  Vinny nodded and took his position behind Lenny.

“What are you doin’ back there Vinny?”  Lenny piped up, realizing that he was slowly being surrounded.

“Saw something weird back there and since Vinny is the most qualified to know about it we asked him to take a look for you.  Didn’t want to freak you out if it was nothing’ Lenny.”  Sam responded.

“Oh … well, what was it?”  Lenny asked, starting to get worried.

“Just … I think … Lenny, you’ve got something strange looking on your back, let me just get it for you, you’ll never reach it, its right in the middle.”  Vinny responded as if he was taking a hard look at Lenny’s back.

“Yeah, whatever, just get it already, I’m tired.”  Lenny said impatiently.  Vinny looked at Sam, Rick and Donna and nodded.

“All right, time to pull the plug on you sucker!”  Vinny exclaimed.

“Wwhhhaaa….”  Lenny exclaimed and faded out.  Quickly Donna, Sam and Rick moved in and began helping Vinny tie Lenny up.  Within minutes they were finished and sat looking at their handy work.

 

“Now it’s time to get him over there in that big box before they start moving around.”  Ellie said, keeping check of the time.

“Right …” Donna said.

“Hey, wait, what … what are you guys doing?  What’s going on?  Where’s Lenny?”  Tina suddenly exclaimed.

“Tina, don’t worry.  He won’t be able to take advantage of you anymore.”  Ellie said in a soothing voice.

“Take advantage of me?  What are you talking about?”  Tina asked, confused.

“Well, he was wasn’t he?  It didn’t seem like he was very nice to you.”  Ellie said with a kindly smile.

“Well… I mean he was settling in with me a lot.  He said that he wanted us to go away though.  Just the two of us.  I’d be the brawn and he’d be the brains.  Besides, what do you guys care?  You don’t even know me.  You never even talk to me.”  Tina said, getting defensive.

“Honey, we do care.  We just couldn’t get close or else Lenny would have blown our cover.”  Ellie said.

“Cover for what?”  Tina asked.

“He always tries to take everything over … we just wanted to get them to take him away from here and not bring him back.  He latched on to you so quickly we didn’t have a chance to warn you about him.”  Ellie explained.

“Lenny told me you guys wouldn’t talk to me because I looked old and had age spots.”  Tina said, beginning to see things a little more clearly.

“You look great no matter how old you happen to be.  We had no clue, and we all wanted to get to know you, but Lenny was latching on to you too tightly.  We couldn’t take the risk.”  Ellie said.

“What a jerk.  He told me that I should work harder at getting rid of my age spots for him and not you guys.  He’s the one that was worried about it!”  Tina began to get emotional.

“Don’t get upset, it’s over with now.  We’re gonna take care of him once and for all.”  Donna said.

“Speaking of which, we have about ten minutes.”  Ellie added.

“Oh, let me help.  Where are we putting him?  I’ll gladly be the brawn for this.”  Tina said, perking up a little.

“Right over there in that big box if you don’t mind.”  Rick said.

“Consider it done.”  Tina said and hefted Lenny up.  She then shuffled over to the box and heaved him into the box.

 

“Oh I’m so glad that’s done with now.  Time to settle in everybody, it’s almost time for them to wake up!”  Ellie cried hurriedly.  All of them made a mad dash and found their resting places just in time as the door opened.

 

“What in the world?  I could have sworn I left it in here!”  Monica said.

“What?”  Randy asked, following her into the room.

“My laptop.  I KNOW I left it on the table over there.”  Monica said, scratching her head.

“Did you look in the desk to make sure it’s not over there?”  Randy asked.  Monica shook her head and then went into the other room to look in the desk.  No laptop was to be found there though.

“Ok, I know nobody could have broken into the house and stolen it and then put everything else back right.”  Monica said, growing frustrated.

“Wait, what is this?  Did you put it in here … and did you tie it closed or something?”  Randy asked, pointing to a big box in the corner of the room.

“How did it get in there?  I know I didn’t do that.  There’s no way.”  Monica said, confused.

“Well, it’s in there.”  Randy responded and plopped down on the sofa to watch the TV.

“This is too weird.  Would you set these papers over in the easy chair?”  Monica handed a stack of papers to Randy.  She then removed the laptop from the box, untied its cord from around it and placed it in the desk in the next room.

“Do you have the remote?”  Randy asked her once she sat down in the recliner.

“Umm … which one … there’s kind of a DVD player remote, a TV remote, a VCR remote and that new Converter Box remote.”  Monica asked.

“Converter Box remote.”  Randy replied.  Monica looked around and soon enough found it on top of the converter box … where they never left it.

“That’s weird too; we don’t put that thing there.”  Monica said, shaking her head and sat back down in the recliner, taking a drink of milk and setting the glass back down on the table.

 

“Told you it would work.”  Ellie whispered to Sam before drifting off to sleep.

 

Oh yes, did I forget to introduce the cast of characters?  Let me introduce them now then, in no necessary order:

 

Chuck the Converter Box

Vinny the VCR

Donna the DVD Player

Patty the PS2

Rick the Recliner

Sam the Sofa

Ellie the Easy Chair

Tina the Table

And yes …

Lenny the Laptop

 

Oh, and of course Monica and Randy.

I should also explain that this was inspired by the new den ... just while I was sitting around looking at everything.  It was pretty fun to just sit here and roll with it all.