Later that night, Tippy sat up from her makeshift bed in the corner of Fuzzy’s living room.
She was having trouble sleeping…again.
The tour of Kempen had been wonderful, but exhausting.
Visiting all of the little shops in the downtown area had been fun, and courtesy of the little money she had, Tippy was able to purchase an international phone card at one of the shops.
Reaching for her jeans and pulling the card out of the back pocket, she carefully tiptoed past the sleeping Nancy on the couch, past the guestroom where Micky and Peter rested, and into the kitchen.
The light in the corner directed her to the cordless phone on the counter.
Picking it up, she followed the directions on the card and dialed a number she knew better than her own.
“Hello.”
“Mom,” Tippy exclaimed, trying not to cry.
“Tippy,” her mother, Joy, exclaimed back in return, “what’s the matter?”
“Mom,” Tippy began, “you’ll never believe this, but…”
Tippy then proceeded to spill the entire story out to her mother.
“Well,” Joy said, after digesting the information, “do you need some help getting plane tickets home? I can wire you some money.”
“Mom,” Tippy said exasperatedly, “I can’t leave without knowing where the rest of my friends are.”
“I think it’s important that you get home, hon,” Joy said.
“I know,” Tippy said, “but Micky and Peter are with Nancy and I too. It’s not just me we’re talking about here.”
“I know that,” Joy said, “bring them along.”
“Thanks Mom,” Tippy said with a sniffle, “but I have a feeling there’s some kind of purpose in all of this. Plus, you know how I feel about flying…”
“How else did you expect to get back to the US,” Joy asked.
“The way things are going, who knows,” Tippy said. “I might end up there when I least expect it.”
“I’ll be praying for you, hon,” Joy said, after a few more minutes of conversation, just before hanging up.
“Thanks, Mom,” Tippy said, thinking about the conflicts she felt inside. “I’m definitely going to need it.”
“Auh,” she cried, slamming down a screwdriver. “A Batman tube?!?”
Leaning her head on her head, she finally realized she could do no more.
Suddenly, the phone rang.
“Hello,” Metty said into the receiver of Tippy’s blue, cordless phone.
“It’s me! It’s me,” Tippy sang into the phone, trying to invoke some humor into the situation.
“Hey,” Metty said with a chuckle, “I’m about to go crazy here with this dirty commie…”
“Yeah,” Tippy filled in half-heartedly.
“…of a robot,” Metty continued.
“Hmm,” Tippy said quietly.
“What’s the matter,” Metty asked.
“What’s the matter,” Tippy repeated.
“Well, besides the obvious,” she answered.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Tippy said with a sigh.
“Hey, you’ve got it pretty good as far as I’m concerned,” Metty began. “You’re in another country away from tubes and robots, and you’re with your two favorite Monkees. Now, besides being somewhere totally foreign to you, what’s the problem?”
Tippy then began to explain what happened between Peter and her.
“Tippy,” Metty said when she had finished the story, “remember Homecoming ’98?”
“Yeah.”
“Remember your date?”
“Yeah.”
“Remember how you didn’t really like him that way, and how you spent the entire night trying to get that message across instead of letting go and allowing yourself to have some fun?”
“Yes,” Tippy said with a sigh, realizing what her friend was getting at.
“But Metty,” Tippy complained, “I do like him that way. The hard part is not giving in.”
“I know,” Metty sympathized, “but you’re doing the right thing.”
“It’s hard.”
“I know.”
“Is that what you called about,” Metty asked.
“Well, I also have an idea too.”
“What’s that?”
“I think you should call Andrea and Nick,” Tippy suggested.
“Oh,” Metty exclaimed, “why didn’t I think of that?!”
“Well, Nick built my computer, and he knows a ton about that kinda stuff. Maybe he could work on the robot.”
“Just five more minutes Mom,” Nancy groaned, rolling over on the couch.
“Nancy,” the voice whispered again.
“Oh, I can’t go to work today. I have a headache,” she mumbled.
“Nance!”
“Wha, huh,” Nancy said, sitting up quickly to see Micky knelt down beside the couch.
“I’ve gotta talk to you,” Micky whispered.
“Oh, um, hi Micky,” Nancy said, quickly trying to finger brush her hair back into place.
“What time is it,” she asked with a yawn.
“It’s about 3:45 am,” Micky said, glancing at a digital clock. “These things are pretty cool. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know something.”
“Hmm,” Nancy asked, leaning her head on her palm and batting her eyelashes jokingly.
As they spent more time together, Nancy found herself growing more and more at ease with Micky. She only very rarely felt faint and she loved joking around with him. He was such a good sport.
“Well,” Micky began with a chuckle, “I just want to let you know that I…umm…”
“What?”
“I like you.”
“You do,” Nancy asked, feeling that old fainting feeling reoccur slightly.
“Yea,” Micky said with a smile, “I think it’s really groovy how you act around me. I’ve never had a girl sincerely act like she likes me more than a friend. And you’re different too. You’re a lot of fun. You’ve got brains too.”
“Yea, brains,” Nancy said mechanically. Inside, she could hardly believe this was happening.
“I just thought I should let you know,” Micky said. “And thanks.”
“Okay,” Nancy said, not quite knowing what to say.
“Well, goodnight,” Micky said with a smile.
“Nite,” Nancy said as Micky got up.
Kissing her quickly on the cheek, he left the room.
“I’ll never wash my face again,” Nancy said, putting a hand to the side of her face.
Suddenly Fuzzy’s dog came up and licked Nancy on the other side of her face.
“Blah,” she said, wiping off the doggie drool, “or maybe at least this side.”
Walking through Fuzzy’s garage, she saw a small battery operated radio.
Tippy smiled, picked it up, and headed into the back yard.
She didn’t think Fuzzy would mind. After all, she had lent them clothes, gave them a place to stay, and never even made a fuss when Micky experimented with her microwave.
Sitting down at a picnic table in the back yard under a tree, Tippy turned the radio on and searched for a station.
All this time she had really missed having a radio. She always had to have some kind of background noise.
Sighing, she discovered mostly German stations with German songs. Then, towards the end of the dial, she came across something familiar.
And I only have eyes for youuuuuuu….
Shu bop shu bop
Whooooo
Shu bop shu bop
“That was ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’,” the British sounding announcer said.
“Wow, this little thing is pretty powerful,” Tippy said with a smile.
“And now, another golden oldie from America by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart!”
The beginnings of “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight” began to play.
If I had told her that I loved her
She would have stayed ‘till who knows when
But I guess she couldn’t understand it
When I said I wanna be your friend
Carefully getting up, Tippy began to sing and dance as the song played.
Oh yes I wonder what she’s doing tonight
I wonder what she’s doing toniiiiiiight
Spinning around, her eyes still closed…
Because a friend would never doubt you
Or ever put you uptight
And now I wonder
“Ooops,” Tippy said, her light complexion blushing into several shades of red. “Sorry, I was just…um.”
“Singing and dancing,” Peter asked with a smile.
“Yeah,” Tippy said with a gulp. Her throat suddenly felt dry as dust.
Hadn’t she been in this situation before?
They both just stood there for a moment.
Tippy in a T-shirt and shorts Fuzzy had lent her, and Peter in a pair of sweat pants and the only other extra T-shirt their host had, which happened to have the Monkees logo printed across the front.
She had to suppress a giggle at the absurdity of it all.
“I see you found a radio,” Peter said at the same time Tippy asked, “What are you doing up?”
“It was in the garage,” Tippy answered first. “Micky got up to talk to Nancy I guess,” Peter said, “He can’t do anything quietly.”
“Oh, yeah,” Tippy agreed with a giggle.
“Let’s sit down,” Peter said, “there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
“Okay,” Tippy said, sitting down as the song “Run Away From Life” began to play in her head. It was a good thing Peter couldn’t hear it.
“You know,” Peter began as they sat on the bench, “I’ve been doing some thinking about what you said while we were in the box.”
“Really,” Tippy asked, all silly thoughts of running away flying out the window.
The soft piano sound of a Billy Joel song began to play on the radio.
“That’s not bad,” Peter said, nodding towards the music. “I bet I could play that. I really miss my keyboards.”
“Yeah,” Tippy said. “You were saying?”
“Oh, well,” Peter said, “I guess it really made me evaluate own beliefs.”
“Really,” Tippy said quietly.
She takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She’s ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind
“Sure,” Tippy answered brightly, “I’d love to help, if we ever get home.”
Peter sighed and looked far away.
“Well, to our perspective homes, that is,” Tippy corrected herself.
“This isn’t so bad,” Peter said half-heartedly as another song came on the radio.
“You miss Mike and Davy, don’t you,” Tippy asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah, I do,” Peter answered.
“Well, there was one thing I was going to do while I was out here,” Tippy began to say.
“Besides singing and dancing,” Peter asked with a chuckle. “Yes,” Tippy said, laughing, “I was going to pray. I’m worried about everybody. About Mike, Davy, Jean, Desy, and Rose. About Metty, Connie, Linds, Alex, and Tiff. I’m worried about us too.”
“Pray,” Peter asked, “like meditate?” “Well,” Tippy said, thoughtfully, “in a sense, but it’s basically talking to God. He’s the best psychiatrist. For me at least. The Bible says ‘Cast your cares on Christ because he cares for you.’ I’ve always had a tough time with that, but this time, there’s just so much…”
“I’m not sure what to do,” Peter offered, “but I’ll pray with you.”
“Thanks,” Tippy said quietly.
She then began to pour out all her worries to God in prayer, all the while Peter held her hand in his own for encouragement and support.
When she finished, she felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
“Thanks, Peter,” Tippy said, her eyes shining with tears of relief.
Grinning a huge dimpled grin, he leaned over and hugged her.
“You know,” Tippy said after they broke, “they don’t make ‘em like you anymore.”
“What do you mean,” Peter asked.
“Nice guys,” Tippy answered, “in my time, they seem to be few and far between.”
“Oh, thanks,” Peter said, nodding and smiling.
“I’m really gonna miss you when this is all over,” Tippy confessed.
Wish you didn’t have to go
Oh, no no no
And when the rain
Beats against my window pane
I’ll think of summer days again
And dream of you
“Me too.”
And dream of you.
“I like the ‘Newsies’ tube myself,” Metty said, picking up another tube. “Good swing music.”
“I don’t think we saw that one while we were tinkering with it,” Linds said.
“It was towards the bottom,” Nick said, unscrewing some other tubes.
“I guess the truth tube is hopelessly lost,” Tiff said, looking in the cupboards for a snack.
“Nah,” Nick answered. “You see, if we get all this other stuff out and enable the truth tube, once we find it, we’ll get the answers.”
“Is it going to be much longer,” Metty asked.
“Shouldn’t be,” he said. “These aliens don’t seem to be all that advanced. Each tube has an ‘able’ and ‘disable’ function. Like this one,” he said, holding up a small tube that read “Dance Tube”.
“ ‘Disabled,” Andrea said, looking at the microchip, “hmm.”
“I found it,” Nick exclaimed after a few more minutes. “Just as I suspected.”
“What did you suspect,” Alex asked.
“Well,” Nick began, “these aliens must have learned their lesson from making the truth tube too obvious last time.”
` “Makes sense,” Tiff agreed, opening a bag of chips.
“They hid it so far back, they must have figured whoever might try to find it would eventually give up,” Nick said.
“I guess they didn’t count on us,” Linds mused.
“Now,” Nick said, “all I have to do is change this chip to able it, put it back in, and see what happens next.”
“I am awake,” she whispered. “How am I supposed to sleep after what just happened?”
“What just happened,” Tippy asked as Nancy moved over to make room.
“Well,” Nancy began to explain as Tippy sat down, “Micky came in, woke me up, told me he liked me, and kissed me!”
“He kissed you,” Tippy asked.
“Well, yeah,” Nancy said with a shrug, “on the cheek.”
“Ohhhhh,” Tippy said with a chuckle. “Nancy and Micky sittin’ in a tree k-I-s-s-I-n-g…”
Nancy grabbed a pillow and smacked Tippy on the head.
“Hey,” Tippy sang in a deep voice, “love is a many splendored thing.”
“Whoa,” Nancy said, “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Voices,” Tippy asked, “Yeah, it’s about one of the few talents I have.”
“No, I meant spell,” Nancy said with a laugh.
“Ha ha.”
“So,” Nancy asked, “why do you think we’re here?”
“Ever see that show ‘Quantum Leap’,” Tippy asked.
“You’re asking me,” Nancy asked.
“Sorry, I forgot for a minute what a TV fan you are,” Tippy answered.
“Yes ma’am,” Nancy laughed.
“Well, maybe we’re in something like that,” Tippy said thoughtfully. “Maybe we’re here for a purpose. To put things right that once went wrong. And hoping that the next leap…”
“Will be the leap home,” Nancy joined in saying.
“This could be some kind of holding place,” Tippy said. “Maybe the others are in a place where we’re not really needed or couldn’t have been any use.”
“Just where couldn’t we have been used?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay, if that’s the case, then why are we being held here, of all places?”
“I don’t know,” Tippy said. “Maybe it was so Fuzzy could meet some of the Monkees.”
“Yeah, I saw how she was making goo-goo eyes at Petrov,” Nancy said, clasping her hands together.
“Hmm, yeah,” Tippy said, rolling her eyes, “it’s been pretty nice here. It’s not a bad place to be keeping us out of the way at.”
“I’m not so sure about this theory,” Nancy said skeptically. “That means that whenever the others finished, we’ll be outta here.”
“Yep,” Tippy nodded.
“Like, all of a sudden, we’re just going to end up back in that box, off to a new place and ti….”
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