The boys sat with their mouths dropped open, staring at their father who didn’t look like their father anymore. Nick groaned as he sat down in a chair he felt could support his newly accquired weight gain.
“Okay, where do I start?” Nick asked himself outloud and then looked at his sons. “I guess the beginning would be appropriate. About twenty or twenty-years ago, we were on a tour and at the time I collected Beanie Babies. Anyway, what I thought was a fan, threw a beanie toy onto the stage. Sometimes we took stuff with us after the show and I kept the beanie toy. Well, I didn’t know it at the time, but it had a magical spell on it. Anything you wished for was granted. Back then, I couldn’t go anywhere in public without a bodyguard or being recognized or mobbed by fans. I made the mistake of wishing I could go out in public for one day without being recognized. When I woke up in the morning, I had gained roughly 300 pounds and wound up looking like this, get it now?”
“So were you the only one that got zapped by the curse?” Shaun asked.
Nick shook his head. “All of us got affected by it at one time or another. Brian was the last because he was smarter than the rest of us.”
The boys stared at Nick, not saying anything.
Nick looked at them questionably. “What?”
“Well? What happened to the others?” Ryan asked.
“Oh that, well, AJ became a woman, Howie fell in love with himself, Kevin became graceful like a Russian dancer, only he could only read and write Russian and Brian well, he got pregnant.”
“So is Brian pregnant again?” Ryan asked with a laugh.
Nick threw them a stern look. “Hey this is damn serious!”
Ryan stiffened up. “Sorry. Well, is he?”
“He said he isn’t but I have my suspicions. I mean why would it affect me and not him or any of the other guys?”
Before anyone could add something more to the conversation, the phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Shaun stated as he jumped up off the floor and snatched the receiver from the cradle.
Coming back into the room, Shaun held the phone out towards his father. “It’s Howie.”
The boys hung on every word from Nick’s end of the conversation. They anxiously waited for him to get off the phone so they could piece their end of Nick’s conversation together.
“Howie was affected too, he’s coming over but he said he’ll try and call AJ. It’s happened again, oh god, what if this never goes away?” Nick sighed outloud.
Brian pulled into the parking lot of Valdosta High School. He wasn’t sure what he’d tell his youngest daughter, he just prayed she wouldn’t freak out at having a father that looked like he was only five years older than her.
Walking into the adminstrator’s office, Brian couldn’t help but notice that the woman sitting behind her desk looked at him in an odd way.
“Hayden Littrell? I thought you’d never come back to the school after graduation.”
‘Oh, god,’ Brian thought to himself, ‘I guess Hayden really does resemble me.’
“Ah, um, no, I’m not Hayden, I’m his cousin Brian, I need to speak with Holly Littrell, it’s a family emergency,” Brian lied.
“Oh, okay, hold on a minute,” the woman replied. She quickly keyed something into the computer and then dialed a number on her telephone. “If you’ll take a seat Holly should be down here in a minute,” she pointed towards a group of chairs with her pencil.
Brian nodded and stepped over to the chairs. He sat down and waited, shifting nervously in the plastic chair when he recognized some of his daughter’s friends walk into the office. After a few minutes of waiting, Holly finally entered the office and walked up to the desk. Brian stood up and started to approach her when she turned around. The smile that was on her face fell and then the expression on her face was a look of total confusion.
Brian grabbed her by the arm and ushered her out into the hallway, away from the prying eyes of the school secretary.
“Don’t scream,” he whispered tensely.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Holly whispered back. “What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn’t you be at State?”
“I’m not Hayden, it’s me,” Brian stated as calmly as he possibly could.
“Me? Me who? Are you changing your identity this week, Hayden?”
Brian whirled Holly around by the shoulders so that she was eye to eye with him. “It’s me, your father!”
He could tell that he must have gotten through to her this time when her eyes narrowed and a hint of recognition passed over them.
“Daddy?”
Brian nodded yes in reply.
Holly put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god, it worked,” she gasped quietly.
Brian narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Come again?”
“Huh? Oh nothing, nevermind, I didn’t say anything Daddy,” Holly quickly replied.
“Holly Susan Littrell, don’t lie to me, you said something about it working?” Brian confronted her.
Holly shook her head acknowledging that she had heard him. “I’ll explain it to you, but not here. Shoot, I need a note to get out of school.”
Brian grinned slightly and held out his hand. “Paper and pen?”
She looked at him puzzled for a moment and then flipped open the textbook she was carrying and produced a slip of paper and a pen. Brian quickly penned a note and handed it back to Holly and told her to take into the office. She shook her head yes and walked quickly into the office.
“Mrs. Steele, I needed to get out of class today, here’s a note from my father,” Holly stated as she slid the white slip of paper to the secretary.
The woman looked down at the paper suspiciously, expecting it to be forged, she never really trusted any of the kids in highschool, she figured they were all out to get her. Pulling out the parent’s signature slips from the files, she was mildly surprized to see that it had been signed by Holly’s father. She quickly scribbled a pass and handed it back to her.
“Thanks,” Holly stated quickly as she scrunched the pink pass in her hand. She turned around on her heel and left the office, finding the new, younger Brian waiting for her next to the trophy case.
“Got the pass, let’s go outside to talk about this,” Holly directed as she started walking towards the doors. Brian had no other choice but to follow her. Holly led him to the front school lawn, beneath a giant, old oak tree. She sat down on the grass and Brian knelt down in front of her, suprised that his body didn’t protest at the awkward move.
“Okay, here’s the story,” Holly started out, tucking a portion of her long blonde hair behind her ear. “Um, me and Haley were getting worried about how you just sort of stay in the house, you know, go to work and then come home and then go to work the next day. Daddy, you looked so sad and lonely and we figured you know, Mom got on with her life after the divorce, you should too, screw the ‘til death do us part’ scenario.”
Brian could feel the anger well up inside of him. “That is my choice, not yours.” Suddenly, the reality of the situation hit him. “So, this,” he pointed to himself, “this, is your doing?”
Holly shook her head yes. “At first me and Haley figured it was a long shot, nothing would happen, but geeze, look at you! It did work!”
Brian just stared at his daughter, at a loss for words.
“Oh come on Dad, this is what you looked like at the prime of your life, you’ve got everything now!”
“Holly, you don’t realize the rammifications of your actions,” Brian started out.
She looked at him questionably. “What do you mean? You’re young, no harm done.”
“It goes a lot deeper than that Holly. You see, when someone messes with that beanie toy, which I thought was long gone after I got hexed with it, it effects everyone in the group, EVERYONE!” Brian explained.
“Oh that’s just a myth, Daddy,” Holly tried to brush it off, the nervousness in her voice was seeping through.
“I wished it was, I was stopping at the school to tell you I was flying to Florida to Uncle Nick’s. Do you remember what happened to Uncle Nick when he got the hex?” Brian gazed at his daughter, waiting for her reaction.
“Oh gosh, it couldn’t have done that, I... I mean, we specified only you Daddy, no one else,” Holly replied quietly.
“We’ve got to go back to the house, grab the beanie and you’re going with me to your Uncle Nick’s house to fix this. I don’t know if it’s just Nick that was affected by this, but you will have a lot of appologizing to do to him. His sons are there to be spending a small vacation with their father and it’s basically been ruined by your selfishness.”
Holly burst into tears.
“Don’t cry over this, what’s done is done, besides, we don’t have time for tears right now,” Brian remarked as he stood up and offered a hand to his daughter. “Come on, let’s go.”
The shrill chirping of the cell phone snatched Kevin out of his daydream. Without thinking or hesitating, he clicked it on.
“Hallo?”
“Kev, it’s me Howie,” Howie rushed into the conversation. “Something’s happened to me, Nick and AJ, are you okay?”
“Jeg lave nej forsta,” Kevin stated into the phone. He sighed realizing that if he couldn’t understand Howie then Howie couldn’t understand that he just said ‘I do no understand.’ He reluctantly handed the phone over to Sarah. “Howie, snakke.”
Setting the spoon back into the bowl, Sarah grasped the cell phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi Sarah, this is your Uncle Howie, is daddy talking funny?” Howie asked in a casual voice hoping that the little girl wasn’t scared.
“Uh-huh,” she replied, nodding as she spoke. “I can’t understand Daddy at all. He keeps talking funny.”
Howie tried to think of a way to get Sarah to have Kevin fly to Florida to Nick’s where they were all planning on meeting. “Okay, Sarah, you need to have your dad get plane tickets and fly back to Florida to Uncle Nick’s. How do you think we can do this?”
Sarah looked at her father as she listened to Howie. “Oh, I have an idea! Since Daddy is being funny, how about I draw a picture of a plane! We can play pictonary!”
Relief washed over Howie. “Good idea Sarah, do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?”
Kevin stared as he watched his daughter talk to Howie on the phone. She quietly laid the phone down and hopped off the chair, her dark colored curls bounced as she trotted off into the other room and came back as quickly as she left, a slip of paper and a pen in her hand.
“Okay, I have it Uncle Howie, I will draw the plane now, I will talk when I’m done,” Sarah replied and then set the phone down as she drew the picture.
Kevin watched his daughter draw a crude drawing of an airplane, complete with birds flying near it. He nodded his head, indicating that he understood at least the plane part of it.
“Okay, he’s nodding yes so he knows what I drew,” she replied after she picked the phone up.
“Sarah, I need you to tell him he has to go to Uncle Nick’s, can you tell him that?” Howie begged.
“Uh-huh. Daddy we have to go to Uncle Nick’s,” Sarah stated.
Kevin stared at his daughter, all her words were jibberish except for the word Nick. Suddenly he put two and two together. Howie wanted them to fly into Florida to Nick’s house. That must mean that they were affected by the beanie hex again.
He furiously shook his head yes. “Ja! Ja! Nick, ja!”
“I think he understands,” Sarah replied quickly.
“Okay sweetie, see you as soon as you get here, okay?” Howie stated. “Don’t be afraid. Call Uncle Nick’s house when you get to the airport ticket counter, he will tell the person what ticket you guys need, okay?”
“Okay, bye Uncle Howie,” Sarah said quitely into the phone. She waited for Howie to answer back and then hung the phone up.
Kevin stood up, easing his tall frame from the chair quickly. “Pakke,” he directed as he walked into the bedroom. Sarah followed him quietly and then understood what he had said when she saw him setting a suitcase on the bed.
“Okay, pakke,” she giggled before skipping out of the room towards her bedroom.
Holly was nervous the entire drive back home. Brian was driving faster than usual and it really struck her just how bad this situation was.
“Daddy, could you slow down a little?”
Brian seemed to ignore her, he was busy weaving in and out of traffic on the interstate. He was growing more and more upset when he thought about the hex coming back on all of them. He thought this whole beanie mess was over and done with years ago. As he roared into the driveway, he barked a command at Holly.
“You need to just pack a few overnight things and grab the beanie, you do remember where you put the beanie, don’t you?” Brian asked as he looked at his daughter over the top of his sunglasses.
“Yes,” she squeaked out a reply.
“Try not to get worked up over this, just find the beanie, pack a change of clothes and stuff and hurry,” Brian called out after his daughter.
’I wasn’t worried until you started getting worked up again,’ Holly mumbled under her breath. As she blew into the house, she quickly grabbed a small bag from her bedroom closet and threw some things into it. Walking into Haley’s room, she grabbed the mysterious beanie from the hanging net in the corner and shoved it into the bag. ’Thanks to you, I’m in one heck of a mess,’ Holly scolded the toy as she shoved it into the suitcase.
AJ bit his tongue as he watched the police officer scribble one ticket after another. The officer handed the tickets back to AJ, and he received them clumisly with his long manicured fingernails.
“You have a court hearing in two weeks, Miss McLean, I strongly suggest you go to it or you will have more problems than just these few tickets,” the officer stated in a stern voice.
“Thank you, I will,” AJ replied as pleasantly as he could, wincing at the soft feminine sound that came from his mouth.
AJ pulled immediately into the first Walgreen’s he came to. Grabbing his wallet and taking the cell phone along with him, he strode quickly into the store. As his incredible luck would have it, the cell phone started ringing as he was walking down the feminine hygene aisle.
“Dammit,” AJ cursed quitely as he flipped the cell phone open. “Yeah,” he managed to mumble gruffly into the phone.
“AJ?” the suprised voice came over the phone.
“Dumbass, yeah it’s me, who the hell else would answer AJ’s cell?” AJ hissed into the receiver.
“So it’s happened to you too,” Howie quietly remarked. “You need to get to Nick’s ASAP, it’s hexed all of us again.”
“Shit, I figured that much out, who the hell did this and why is this happening again?” AJ demanded.
“I dunno, we’ll figure that out when we meet at Nick’s. See you when you get there,” Howie stated quickly.
“Okay, I have to get a few provisions and I’ll be there,” AJ replied.
“Provisions?”
“NEVERMIND, I’ll be there when you see me,” AJ shouted into the phone before he closed it.
The boys stared at Nick, dumbfounded.
“So what are you going to do now?” Jack questioned.
“Sit and wait,” Nick replied. “I really can’t do much of anything at the moment looking like this now can I?”
“Well, how long does the curse last you?” one of the boys asked hesitantly.
“Geeze, the last one was about four months I think, it was the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life, well, that and marrying your mom,” Nick replied.
Jack gave his father a disapproving look. “Not funny Dad.”
“Okay, okay, I’m just trying to break the ice here, give me some credit,” Nick stated quickly.
“So what’s all going on then?” Shaun asked.
“Well, all of the guys are going to be meeting here. All of them, that is if Howie gets ahold of all of them.”
“Why here, Dad?” Ryan asked.
“Because it’s too hard for me to travel,” Nick replied.
Ryan looked his father up and down. “Yeah I guess you probably can’t fit behind a steering wheel,” he laughed.
“That is so not funny,” Nick glared.
Once again the phone rang and Nick picked it up.
“Hello, sir?” a pleasant female voice on the other end of the phone questioned.
“Yes?”
“My name is Janice from Northwest Airlines. I have a little girl that says her name is Sarah Richardson and she said she is with her father but he is having trouble telling me what I need to know to book a flight, she told me that you could help her.”
Nick nodded before speaking into the phone. “Okay, yeah, um, they need a one way ticket to Tampa Florida. He has a credit card, charge it on that. Can I talk to the little girl while you do that?”
“Sure, hold on,” the woman replied.
“Hello?” Sarah spoke into the phone, her voice was barely audible. Nick could tell that she was scared.
“Hey Sarah honey, this is Uncle Nick, we’re gonna have you and your dad flown into Tampa to come to see me at my house, everything’s gonna be okay,” Nick said in a soothing voice.
“Okay Uncle Nick. The lady is done now I guess we hafta go,” Sarah replied.
“Wait, do you know how---”
Nick stopped in midsentance, Sarah shut the phone off before he could ask her to call when they got to the airport in Tampa to get a cab. He was sure she wouldn’t know the address and he didn’t know if Kevin had it written down anywhere on him.
“God, I hope Brian gets here soon,” Nick said softly as he hung the phone up.
Brian was still trying to calm down after the encounter at Tampa Airport when he tried to rent a car. The clerk at the desk asked for the major credit card and his driver’s license, which he produced immediately but then ran into trouble when the face on the license wasn’t the 26 year old Brian Littrell that was standing before her. Defeated, he and Holly ended up hailing a cab out in the front of the airport.
“Take a left here,” Brian directed the driver.
“Daddy, we never meant any of this to happen,” Holly said softly as the tears rolled down her cheeks. “We only wanted you to be happy again.”
Brian sighed and put his arm around his 17 year old daughter. He noticed the driver’s dark eyes in the rearview mirror. He leaned close to Holly.
“You better just call me Brian, right now I look a little too young to be a father to a 17 year old.”
Holly gasped when she realized her mistake, causing the tears to come harder.
“Holly, calm down, it’s going to be okay,” Brian soothed. “Go into this subdivision,” Brian called out to the driver.
The driver turned where Brian indicated and soon they were driving down the street where Nick lived. Holly stared out the window at all the manicured lawns and stately brick homes. When they pulled into the driveway, she tensed up. This was something she didn’t want to have to deal with. She watched as Brian paid and adequately tipped the driver of Cuban desent.
“Come on Holly, it’s time to fact the music,” Brian stated as he got out of the cab.
Holly managed a thin smile as she exited the vehicle. She hadn’t seen Uncle Nick and his sons in over two years. She wanted to stay outside and not face any of them.
As they walked up the steps towards the front door, suitcases in hand, Brian coached his daughter.
“Okay, Nick is really going to look bad, but just remember it’s only temporary, it’s not really him.”
Holly bit her lip to try and prevent the tears from falling again. Brian gave her a quick squeeze and pressed the doorbell. After some insistant and non-threatening barks from a couple of the dogs, the door was opened and Brian was face to face with Shaun.
“God, it’s so damn amazing how much you look like Nick,” Brian smiled as he held out his hand for Shaun to shake.
Shaun raised his eyebrows as he looked at Brian. He had seen all the concert pictures and mementos of his father’s journey down Boy Band lane, but was still stunned to see Brian standing there looking as if he had walked out of a page of Tiger Beat Magazine. He quickly composed himself and took Brian’s hand and pumped it up and down vigorously.
“Uncle Brian, it’s good to see you,” Shaun replied. He glanced over at Holly standing on the porch beside her father. “Hi Holly.”
Holly blushed. “Hi Shaun, how ya doin’?”
Shaun didn’t bother a reply, he stood back and held the door open for the two to walk into the house. A loud muffler coming from the driveway made them stop in their steps.
“Judging by the wild driving, I bet that’s going to be Uncle AJ,” Shaun stated with a smile.
Brian leaned around Shaun in time to see a thin, red headed woman with hair that hung down to her waist. She was pretty well built and Brian was thinking that had to be someone else besides AJ until she turned around and her mouth opened up.
“Okay who the fuck did this! I want answers!” AJ sputtered as he stormed up the sidewalk. He stopped quickly as he saw a youthful Brian standing in the doorway.
“Holy fuck. Littrell I figured as much,” he rasped.
Holly burst into tears. “Don’t blame my daddy, it’s all my fault.”
Brian tossed a look of disapproval at AJ. AJ cowered down a little and then quickly pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his front shirt pocket and fumbled with the manicured fingernails for a moment and finally pulled a cigarette out while he cursed under his breath.
“Sorry sweetheart, I get worked up easily.”
Not even bothering to ask, AJ walked into the house with the cigarette, glaring at the pug that was growling at the new visitor. Holly saw AJ stick his middle finger out at the small dog. Amazingly, the dog retreated quickly into the living room where Nick and his sons were waiting.
“Oh yeah Nicky!” AJ beamed as he entered the livingroom. “You didn’t get the hex did you?”
“AJ quit being an ass,” Nick snapped back.
“Guys... guys! Knock it off,” Brian interevened.
Nick stared at Brian in disbelief. “Figures you would get the better end of the whole deal.”
“Yeah, this damn thing gave me a period.... again!” AJ sputtered and took a deep drag from the cigarette.
“You haven’t gone through menopause yet?” Nick snickered.
“Shut the hell up,” AJ snapped back.
“Guys, quiet down,” Brian interrupted. “This hex, we have to work on getting this hex off.”
“Dad, Uncle Howie and Willie are here,” Jack remarked as he peered out the front window.
“Oh shit, quick, cover the mirrors in the entrance and in here before they come in,” Nick directed.
updated: 3/30/01
Although Kevin was familiar with Tampa Airport, he knew it was going to be difficult to convey his wishes to anyone he came across. Sarah wasn’t able to tell people where she needed to go, only the city in which Nick lived and that alone wouldn’t be enough to go on.
They grabbed their luggage and after the short tram ride, headed out the front doors. Kevin got a cab on his first try and the driver didn’t ask any questions until their luggage was loaded into the trunk.
“Where to?”
“My daddy is talking funny, but I know we’re going to my Uncle Nick’s house in Apollo Beach,” Sarah explained.
“Do you know how to get to your Uncle Nick’s?” the cabbie asked in broken English.
“Tady jsou navod,” Kevin stated quickly as he pulled out his planner and flipped over to where Nick’s home name and address was located.
“Prekazit rozumet,” the cabbie replied as he looked at the planner.
‘Oh my god, he understood me,’ Kevin thought to himself. “Plechvoka muzes?”
The cab driver nodded. “I can take you there without a problem. Do not worry.”
“Can you stick with me to be a translator?” Kevin asked the driver in his new language. He wasn’t sure if this beanie hex would be cured quickly or not and he wanted to be able to be understood once he met with the rest of the guys.
“I do not know, I would lost at least a day’s pay,” the cabbie replied.
“I will pay you double what you make in a day - cash. In fact, I will rent your cab for the day also,” Kevin offered.
Sarah fidgeted nervously in her seat. Listening to her father and this cab driver talking back and forth in a foreign language.
The cab driver agreed and they headed towards Nick’s.
“Oh my god, AJ! I forgot what an ugly girl you made, now you make such an ugly looking middle aged woman,” Howie stated as he entered the room.
AJ’s only reply was sticking his middle, manicured fingernail up into the air.
“Oh, smooth reply, Ace,” Howie laughed.
“Hey at least that beanie don’t mess with your looks,” AJ replied in a feminine voice, causing Howie to start laughing.
“God as if---”
“Guys, knock it off, okay? We don’t need to start fighting,” Brian intervened. “Geesh, some things never change do they?”
“So what do we do now? Sit and wait?” AJ stated with a soft voice as he squashed his cigarette into the green crystal ashtray.
Nick stared at the ashtray, watching the cigarette smolder. “I dunno about you, but I say we order in, I’m starving.”
“Dad, do you really think you need to eat right now?” Jack asked in a scolding tone.
“I can’t help it, I’m hungry,” Nick replied as he grabbed the phone and hit the speed dial number to Pizza Hut. “Yeah, I need 6 extra large pepperoni pizzas delivered ASAP.”
“Good lord,” Brian exclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air.
Nick held up a chubby middle finger at Brian in reply.
“Okay, I can see where the mentality of this group is going,” Shaun observed.
The cab driver pulled into the drive at Nick’s house. It had been several years since Sarah had been to Nick’s so she didn’t recognize the house.
“Nazori se lisi Stryc Nickoli dynastie,” Kevin stated calmly to Sarah. When she shook her head no, the cabbie interpreted for her.
“We’re at your Uncle Nick’s house,” he translated.
Kevin could tell by the cars that sat in the drive that the rest of the guys had already arrived. He was anxious to find out how this all happened again and to whom it had happened to.
”Follow me,” he gestured to his daughter and the cab driver.
