EPISODE 5: OUT WITH A CLANG

“Piper, we’re here.” Piper came to slowly, as her uncle gently shook her.

“Mph.” She replied with as much dignity as she could muster.

“Yeah, yeah. Up’n out, kid.” Uncle Dare  laughed.

With a distinguished heave, she tumbled out of the front seat and onto the ground. After recovering her feet as gracefully as possible, she donned her backpack, went inside, and promptly fell asleep on the couch that her uncle pointed her to.

--

Her first thought when she awoke the next morning was that she was hungry. Luckily, her uncle was making food. The sweet smell of oatmeal wafted out of the kitchen, and she closed her eyes, smiling at the thought of food.

“Auntie Pip??” Her two younger cousins yelled as they slid down the hall on their socks. Ever since they’d been able to talk, they’d called her ‘Auntie Pip’, rather than just Piper or Pip. Another of her cousins had decided that because Piper was the oldest of the cousins, she should be called an aunt instead. Piper still had no idea how that logic worked.

“Hey, dudes!” She grinned, sitting up and shaking the messy purple and brown hair from her face.

Instantly, a flurry of questions from all angles hit her ears, barely making it to her groggy brain. After giving her mind a moment to remember that it was, in fact, part of a human and not a rock, she did her best to respond to each of the questions. “Yes, I’m going on an adventure, no, I’m not going to get into a car accident, yes, my hair is purple, and yes, I’m totally part robot-cyborg. Doesn’t the hair give it away?”

Standing to her feet, blinking a few times, then boosting the smaller of the boys onto her shoulders, she headed for the kitchen. Once the business of breakfast had been completed, she and Uncle Dare headed out to examine the Groovymobile.

The mint green bus-like contraption was much bigger than Pip had first expected. Climbing inside, she was slightly shocked to find a bed (without blankets, unfortunately. . .) and, table which was bolted to and folded against the wall. Pretty basic, but still way better than she had expected.

Whoa, this is real. Like, really real. Okay, it’ll be totally fine. Don’t even worry about it. This’ll be fun, right? Yeah, totally--

She flinched as she felt something cold and pokey being pressed into her hand. Looking down, she realized that her uncle was giving her the keys to her new moving home. Taking a shaky breath, she nodded firmly, pocketed the keys, and headed in to get her gear.

Once the van was packed, Piper turned to her uncle, a lopsided grin on her face. “Well, I guess this is it. . .”

“Yeah. Serious moment time: Take care of yourself. Got it?” He studied her face, then shifted his gaze to the van on their left.

“Aye aye, cap’n.” She affirmed.

After a round of hugs from the family, she waved goodbye and headed for the car. Unfortunately, she was still looking back towards her family and not watching where she was going. With a resounding clang, she smacked her head on the side of the bus.