The Ghost and the McGee Twins

All Systems No

One Saturday morning, I decided to catch up on some reading simply because I was bored and needed some juicy reading lore. "Aw, yeah. That's some good stuff." I chuckled. Molly had just come back from downstairs. "Hey, Moll." "Morning, sis. Aww, he's so cute when he's sleeping." Molly whispered, peeking into Scratch's house. "That's not creepy at all." I said sarcastically. "Wake up, Scratch!" Molly shouted, summoning Scratch. "What's going on?" Scratch asked. "It's Saturday!" Molly exclaimed. "And not just any Saturday. I have no plans! No chores! No homework! No responsibilities! And you know what that means..." "You're giving me my space?" I asked. "Don't care." Scratch replied. "...we're going to have the most Awesome Best Friends' Day that Brighton has ever seen!" Molly continued. "Just chime in when you hear something you wanna do."

"No to all of that." Scratch replied. "'No?'" Molly asked. "You can't say 'no' to everything like Amber!" "To be fair, I always say 'no' because something bad always happens to me when I don't." I chimed in. "I absolutely can. Just did." Scratch said. "That's a terrible way to go through life! Or death!" Molly exclaimed. "We can't all be so positive constantly saying 'yes' like you all the time." I pointed out. "Took the words right out of my mouth, Amber." Scratch said. "It's what I do." I commented. "Well, that's different, okay? Because yes is good!" Molly stated. "Oh, is it?" Scratch asked. "It's good?" "Yeah." Molly replied. "Well, I guess you'd like it if you could only say yes?" Scratch asked. "Yes! I would love it!" Molly replied. "Would you and Amber hate it if you could only say no?" "Don't bring me into this." I groaned. "No, I would not." Scratch replied. "I bet you would, too." Molly said. "Alright, you want to put your money where your mouth is?" Scratch asked. Molly nodded. "Great, then I am gonna set a curse on us, McGee twins." Scratch said, casting his curse. "Until midnight tonight, two of us can only say no!" Scratch pauses to point at me and him. "What part of 'Don't bring me into this' did you not understand?" I sighed. "And one of us can only say yes!" Scratch finished, pointing at Molly. "Okay, okay! Let's test this out." Molly said. "Amber, Scratch, do you want to... do nothing today?" "Y-No." I replied. "What did you do to me, Scratch?!" "Yes!" Molly exclaimed, very excited that Scratch's curse worked.

We headed downstairs, only to see Dad swinging a broom around the kitchen. "Whoa, Dad! What's going on?" I asked. "You almost hit me!" "Molly, Amber, get back! It's not safe!" Dad warned. "We've got a bee in our home!" "Uh, so you're antagonizing it with a broom?" Scratch wondered. "You got a better..." Dad shouted as the bee protected itself inside of Scratch. "Wait... Scratch! You caught the bee! Can you please release him outside?" "Can I release the bee outside?" Scratch repeated, knowing well what his answer would be. "No! So far, I'm loving this curse." "I'm not." I grunted.

Molly, Scratch, and I went to town to walk around the area. So far, this curse is a pain. "Ooh! Next, we can go to the library, get some new books, enter a literary world of pure imagination." Molly said, but stopped when she saw the worst thing known to man, according to her. A magician. Molly's eye twitched and she turned to the opposite direction. "Uh, hello, the library is that a-way?" Scratch questioned. "Just, uh, taking the scenic route." Molly lied. ""Scenic route?"" Scratch asked. "Weird. Almost as if you hate close-up magic or something. Which is absurd, because it is delightful." "You would think." I replied. "Obviously, I love real magic. Wizards and unicorns and stuff." Molly explained. "But magicians are just con artists who trick people! And I don't like being bamboozled, Scratch! And I will not be hurt again!" The people around us looked at Molly suspiciously, but then minded their own business. "Molly, wanna go watch street magic?" Scratch asked, snickering. "Oh, you're rotten to the core." I mumbled. "Pfft! That is a hard n..." Molly tried to decline the offer, but remembered the curse. "What was it?" Scratch asked. "Fine! Yes!" Molly grumbled. "I can't believe you used this curse against me." "Meh, I can believe it." I said, walking over to the magician, who was shuffling his deck of cards. "Abracadabra!" Scratch teased. "Hey there, passerbys." The magician greeted. "Would you like to see some magic?" "Yes." Molly grumbled. "Nope." I replied. "Of course you do!" He said, doing that coin trick with Molly. "Presto! Are you impressed? Oh?" "That didn't come from my ear. You were holding that coin in your hand the whole time." Molly groaned, clinging to his tie. "I know your game, presti-digi-faker." "Molly, down!" I exclaimed, spraying her with a water bottle like a bad dog. "Oh! Patty! Over here!" Molly shouted to Patty, who was carrying groceries. "Quick, before he asks me to pick a card!" "Molly! Amber! Perfect timing!" Patty said. "I just finished whipping up some gumbo, but my tastebuds don't work so well anymore. Will you be my taste testers?" Dang it! I LOVE spicy food! "Yes! We would be happy to." Molly replied.

We went with Patty back to the nursing home to taste her gumbo, but when Patty gave each of us a bowl, it didn't look edible. "Is this gumbo?" I asked. "Not bad for a beginner, huh?" Patty wondered, walking away as Scratch reappeared. "Well, c'mon, girls. Aren't you gonna eat it?" Scratch asked. "I'd rather not." I replied, pushing the bowl away from me. "Yes, I will eat this now. Here I go." Molly said, scooping whatever that was with her spoon. I could tell she wasn't enjoying this. "Make sure to eat it all, Molly." Scratch reminds her. "Can you taste how the freezer burn mingles with the actual burn?" "Yes." Molly muttered.

She was chowing down on that bowl for nearly an hour. I'll be surprised if she doesn't end up getting food poisoning. "Oh, already finished?" Patty asked. "Do you want some more?" "What's your answer?" Scratch wondered. "She's asking you if you want more." "Yes." Molly moaned in disgust. Poor thing.

After leaving Patty's place, we walked into town again. I could tell that the curse was taking a toll on Molly. All of a sudden, a skunk began running wild in the streets. "Was that a skunk?" I asked. "Gross!" "Help!" I heard someone shout. "Oh! It's Weird Larry!" Molly pointed out. "Quick, cross the street." "Are you avoiding people or something?" Scratch wondered. "How very un-Molly-McGee-ish of you." "Help! Help my baby Vera! She got out!" Weird Larry shouted. "She's black and white and got a cute little fluffy tail! And a powerful stench only a father could love." "Oh, is Vera a skunk?" Molly asked, hesitantly. "Can ya help me wrangle her?" He asked. "Oh, Molly, you've been asked a question. You have to answer." Scratch chuckled. "Don't leave the guy hanging. I can see the word working its way up! Come on! You know you want to..." "Yes!" Molly shouted, running after the skunk. "I'm gonna pass." I said, pulling out my phone to play a game of solitaire.

After a little while, I rejoined Molly, who was still trying to catch that skunk inside of a broken dryer. "Come on, Vera!" Molly exclaimed. "Come back here, you little stinker!" "Still haven't caught her yet?" I asked. "No. There, I said it for you, Moll." "This is very frustrating!" Molly groaned, just as Scratch returned from the Ghost World. "Well, my eternity is ruined." Scratch sighed. "Welcome to the club." I replied. "I'm really starting to regret this whole curse." Scratch continued as Molly caught the skunk, only for it to spray her face. Molly tossed the skunk back into the dryer. "Same." Molly agreed. "It sure would be nice to say, "the opposite of yes" right now." "And I want nothing to do with this." I added. "Oh, Molly! Let's switch!" Scratch exclaimed. "You mean, reverse the curse to the inverse?" Molly wondered. "Do it." "I decree you are no, I am yes, and Amber has no part in this!" Scratch declared, reversing the curse. "Okay, real quick, Moll. Do you want a pet skunk?" "No." Molly replied, giving me a high five. "Ha! It worked!" "Yeah!" I exclaimed. "Hey, it looks like it worked for me too! Wait! No! Yeah, I'm good." Weird Larry came up to us from behind to check on Molly's progress. "Mr Weird, or is it Larry?" Molly asked. "I don't know. But I did find your skunk." "That ain't Vera." He explained. "Looks feral." All of a sudden, the skunk jumped on my face, scratching me and spraying me at the same time. "Get this thing off my face!" I shouted as it ran off. "Okay, well, I tried." Molly said. "Wait! Aren't you gonna help me find my Vera?" Weird Larry asked. "No!" Molly and I replied in unison. "Ha! That feels good!" Molly exclaimed. "What do you say, guys? Should we go home? Hide until the curse wears off?" "I'll give that a big yes." Scratch agreed. "Let's do it!" I agreed. "But, I need to get tested for rabies first."

I went to the doctor to get tested quickly. Good news is that I didn't have rabies, so I headed home to see that the house was infested with bees. "Sweet baby corn!" I shouted. "Where did all these bees come from?" "Outside." Darryl replied. "Yeah, I figured that, Darryl." I sighed, just as Molly and Scratch got home. "Oh, wow. This really escalated while we were gone." Molly said. "Come on. We have to help!" I exclaimed as one of the bees landed inside of Scratch's nose. Molly and I had a twin moment. "Hey, Scratch? Buddy? Will you please eat all the bees?" Molly asked. ""Eat all the..."" Scratch sighed, knowing he couldn't say no. "I guess I had this coming. Okay, but if I'm suffering, so are you! Hey, Molly, can you not herd the bees together for me?" "A double negative, huh?" Molly wondered. "Then, no." "Perfect. Finally, we've figured out a good use for this curse!" Scratch exclaimed. "Not happy about eating bees, though." "You eat out of the trash all the time." I recalled. "I'll go get some extension cords."

After plugging in the extension cords to the hairdryers, we were able to round up the bees and Scratch released them all outside, surprisingly getting stung in the process. "We did it, guys!" Molly exclaimed as our family hugged us all tight. "You saved us!" Dad cheered. "How can we ever repay you?" "Don't ask us any questions until tomorrow!" Molly shouted, dashing upstairs with Scratch.