22. The Gang's All Here

CHAPTER 22 THE CANG'S ALL HERE Soon, everyone had gathered together in Old George's studio. Old George, his wife, and their kids, Meena and Nik, sat on the couch, while Old Harold, his husband, and their twins, Owen and Kei, plopped down in the giant beanbag chair. "Kids," said Mrs. Beard, "I'd like you to meet your fathers." "What's up?" said George. "We're your dads when they were kids," said Harold.

"Wow, Dad," said Meena. "You used to be cute!" "Whaddaya mean, used to be?!!?" said Old George. "We're here because we need to borrow your dads," said Harold. "They're the only adults we can trust!" "Yeah," said George. "It's a real emergency!"

"Wait a minute," said Old Harold. "I don't remember doing any of this when we were kids, do you, George?" "No," said Old George. "If this happened in our past, how come we have no memory of it?" "I don't know," said Harold. "Probably bad writing," said George.

"Well, if we're going to help you, we'd better get going," said Old George. "Let's boogie!" "But wait," said Harold. "We need to finish our pinball game." "Yeah," said George. "And we haven't even read your graphic novels yet." "I thought this was an emergency," said Old Harold. "How about just ONE chapter?" Harold begged. "Pleeeeeease?" "Well, alright," said Old Harold.

George and Harold grabbed a graphic novel from the bookshelf, flipped it open, and started reading from a random chapter.