Taylor was still lounging in his beloved tree house, lying quietly with his eyes shut, slowly drifting off to sleep. The tranquility and peacefulness surrounding him were helping him relax and fall asleep. However, Taylor was about to find out that the serenity was ephemeral.
Meanwhile, Zac and Isaac reached the tree where the tree house was perched on, and they stepped up onto the ladder and began making their way up, with one thing on their mind: to get Taylor out of the tree house.
"Why can't Taylor just come out of the tree house and get down here by himself?" Isaac grumbled, as he climbed up the ladder after Zac. "Why do we have to get him to come down?"
"Because he doesn't wanna come down," Zac answered simply. He reached the top of the ladder, and hoisted himself up onto the floorboards of the tree house. Isaac lifted himself up into the tree house after him.
"Taaaaayyyy," Zac murmured, as he slowly approached Taylor. "Ohh Taaaayyy...."
Taylor stirred a little, but did not wake up.
Zac brought his head down next to Taylor's right ear and yelled, "Taylor!!" However, this did not wake Taylor up, either.
Isaac shook Taylor. "Taylor, get up."
"Mmmmmmm," Taylor mumbled, but still did not open his eyes.
"Man, this guy's like a zombie or something!" Zac exclaimed.
"Why isn't he waking up?" Isaac asked. He tried shaking Taylor again. "Come on, Tay; you've gotta get up now." But Taylor still did not come around.
Zac rolled his eyes and sighed impatiently. "Okay, that's it. No more Mr. Nice guy," he muttered. With that, he reached over, grabbed a lock of Taylor's silky blond hair, and gave it a hard yank.
"OWW!!!" Taylor screamed. He jumped up and rubbed his aching head.
"Took ya long enough to wake up!" Zac snapped, crossing his arms across his chest.
Taylor glared at Zac. "What, you again? I thought I told you to go away."
Zac made a face at him. "Sorry, no can do. You've gotta wake up and get down from here."
Taylor glared at him again. "I told you already. I don't want to go out to lunch. I'm not hungry."
Zac threw his hands up in the air. "Here we go again! See what I mean, Ike?"
"Ike?" Taylor turned and saw Isaac kneeling at his left side. "Oh, hi Ike."
"Taylor, come on, man. We're gonna leave for lunch in like...." Isaac glanced at his watch. "Ten minutes."
"So you guys go on ahead," Taylor said. "I'm not going. Don't let me keep you."
Zac groaned. "Tay, we went over this already! You have to go! You don't have a choice here!"
Taylor sighed. "Just tell mom that I'm not in the mood to go, and that I'm not hungry. That's all. She'll understand."
Zac rolled his eyes. "Umm, no Tay, she won't."
Isaac frowned. "Taylor, seriously. I'm running out of patience here. Just get up already."
"Yeah." Zac nodded in agreement. "Ike's right. Get up now or else."
Taylor looked at his younger brother. "Okay, humor me. Or else what??"
Zac looked speechless. "Ummm...." he stammered. "Or else, uhh....Ike, help me out here." He gave Isaac a pleading look.
"Or else we'll throw you out of the tree house," Isaac answered.
"Yeah!" Zac agreed. "That's it! That's what we're gonna do. We'll....huh? Wait a sec, we're gonna throw him outta the tree house??!" He stared at Isaac in disbelief.
Isaac nodded. "Yeah, that's what we'll do. Did you hear that, Taylor?"
Zac looked at Isaac uncertainly. "Hey, wait a second, Ike...."
Taylor rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. You're just bluffing. You're not gonna really throw me out of the tree house, and you guys know it."
"Ummmm....I don't...." Zac stuttered.
"And look at Zac," Taylor went on. "He looks so scared right now. He's not gonna really do it. He doesn't have the guts to."
Zac stopped, and glared at Taylor. "What's that supposed to mean??" he demanded. "Are you saying I'm some kind of a scaredy-cat or something??!"
"If the shoe fits, wear it," Taylor replied, with a shrug.
Zac was seething now, obviously offended by Taylor's blunt remarks. He turned to Isaac.
"Ike, you still up for throwing Tay outta the tree house?" he asked, glowering at Taylor as he spoke.
"Uh-huh," Isaac said. "You?"
"Yep," Zac answered, still glaring at Taylor. "Wanna throw him out now?"
"Well....now I'm not so sure, but...." Isaac started.
Now Taylor finally started looking worried. He stared at Issac and Zac with a look of panic in his blue eyes.
"Hey guys, wait a minute...." Taylor began.
Isaac shook his head. "On second thought, yeah, I'm ready." He stood up. "Let's say we throw him out now, Zac?"
"Okay!" Zac agreed, nodding. He jumped to his feet and grabbed a hold of Taylor's feet, lifting them up by the ankles of Taylor's Doc Martens boots. Isaac picked Taylor up from under his arms and hoisted him up as well. Taylor was now in the air in Isaac's and Zac's grasps.
"You guys!" Taylor cried. "You can't be serious! Put me down!"
"That's what we're gonna do," Zac told him. "Put you down....down there." He gestured down to the ground below with the thumb of his left hand.
"This isn't funny!" Taylor yelled.
Zac shrugged. "Who said it was funny?"
"Zac, let's get him over to the doorframe," Isaac ordered.
Zac nodded. "Okay."
Isaac and Zac slowly stepped toward the doorframe of the tree house, with Taylor still in their grasps. Taylor was now hovering in the air next to the doorframe of the tree house.
Taylor took a quick glance down at the distance below them to the ground. "Oh, shoot," he muttered. "You guys! This really isn't funny!" he yelled. "Let me go!" Then, Taylor's eyes grew wide, as he realized what he just said.
"No!" Taylor said quickly. "I take that back! I take that back!"
Isaac looked at him closely. "Are you sure you want us to do that, Tay?" he asked. "Let you go?"
"No! I said I take it back!" Taylor cried. "I take it back! Don't let me go!"
"Well, I hate to break it to ya, Tay, but we're gonna let you go, eventually," Zac said wryly.
"Yeah, we're running out of time, actually," Isaac pointed out. "So I guess we'd better get going; we're wasting time stalling like this. Zac, let's throw Taylor out now."
"No! Don't!" Taylor cried.
Zac gave Taylor a devilish grin. "No time like the present!"
"No! You guys! Can't we talk about this or something?" Taylor pleaded desperately.
"Nah. I'm not in the mood to talk," Isaac replied. "How about you, Zac?
Zac shook his head. "Not really."
"Come on, you guys," Taylor begged. "Let's work something out here...."
Zac sighed. "Ike, let's hurry up and throw Tay out already. My arms are getting tired. This boy weighs a ton."
Taylor's face brightened. "Right! There, you see? I weigh too much! I'm too heavy for you guys to throw me out! So why don't you guys just put me down on the floor now and we'll save the trouble, huh?" He looked from Isaac to Zac with a hopeful expression on his face.
Zac made a face. "Fat chance."
"Nice try, Taylor," Isaac said. "But we're not gonna do that. Besides, you're not that heavy, anyway."
"Well, apparently I'm too heavy for Zac," Taylor muttered.
"But not heavy enough," Isaac replied. "So bombs away."
Zac grinned. "Geronimo, Tay!"
"No!" Taylor screamed.
All of a sudden, the boys heard a yell. It sounded like someone was calling their names.
"Uh, did you hear something?" Zac asked, turning around.
"I'm not sure," Isaac said. "I--"
"Yes, I definitely heard something!" Taylor said immediately, nodding vigorously. "I heard something!"
Zac twisted back around to look at Taylor. "Oh, sure. Right," he said sarcastically. "You would just say anything to turn ya loose, wouldn't ya?"
"No, seriously!" Taylor protested. "I really heard something! Listen!"
The three boys listened quietly for a moment. Finally, they heard the faint call of their mother.
"Boys??" Diana yelled faintly from the house window.
"Yeah, we're up here, mom!" Zac yelled back.
"Will you come down from there already??!" Diana called. "We're leaving in less than five minutes!" With that, she slammed the window shut.
Zac turned back to Isaac. "Okay, Ike; you heard mom. We're running outta time. So I say we throw Tay out now. On three...."
"No, wait!" Taylor cried. "I'll go, okay? I'll get out of the tree house and go out to lunch with the rest of you guys, okay?? Just don't throw me out of the tree house!!"
Zac raised an eyebrow. "Changed your mind, huh?" he said. "Thought so." He dropped Taylor's feet to the ground, and hopped down the tree house ladder.
Isaac put Taylor down as well, and patted him on the shoulder. "You made the right choice there, buddy." With that, Isaac stepped over Taylor, and climbed down the tree house ladder after Zac.
Taylor sat in the tree house alone and sighed. I just HAD to agree, didn't I ? Taylor thought grimly, as he climbed to his feet and started to crawl down the tree house ladder after his brothers.
^v^ Chapter 4 ^v^
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