Happy Birthday Corey Feldman!
The family finally made their way up to the cabin house where they would be living with their grandfather. Stacy loved her grandpa, but she still thought he was a little weird. Michael, who had followed them on his bike, got off, and looked around. Sam was the first one to get out of the car, followed by Stacy, who then put Gracie down on the ground so her cat could explore their new home.
"Come on, Nanook," Sam said to his Alaskan Malamute. Nanook barked, and then got out.
Everywhere they looked there were carvings or dead animals. Stacy knew that their grandpa was into taxidermy, mostly for as a hobby, but seeing so many dead animals made her feel sad. They then saw someone lying down on the porch. When they slowly made their way to the porch, they saw it was Grandpa lying on the ground.
Lucy walked over and knelt down next to him. "Dad? Dad?"
"Looks like he's dead," Michael said.
"No, he's just a deep sleeper." Their mom placed her hand on Grandpa's chest and the other one on his head.
"If he's dead, can we go back to Phoenix?" Sam asked.
Stacy stuck her tongue out and pouted, "Mean."
Lucy sent Sam her warning look.
Their grandpa sat up. "Playing dead," he replied, "And from what I heard, doing a damn good job of it too." He then began laughing.
"Dad. Oh, Dad," Mom said, as they hugged. Sam, Michael and Stacy just looked at each other.
They walked inside carrying some stuff, and took a look around the house as they headed to the kitchen.
"This is a pretty cool place," Michael said.
"Yeah, for the Texas Chain Saw Massacre," Sam said.
"Come on Sam, give Mom a break," Michael told him.
"What's wrong with this picture?" Sam asked. He sat some stuff down. "There's no TV. Have you seen a TV? I haven't seen a TV Mike." He then set Nanook's dog bowl and something else, that he was hauling on his head, down. "You know what it means when there's no TV? No MTV."
"What's the problem?" Stacy asked confused, she only watched TV when there was nothing else to do, and to her it didn't look like that would be a problem with where they moved to.
Sam looked at Stacy, "I gotta have my MTV!"
"Sammy, we're flat broke," Michael said, lifting his weights.
Stacy set her backpack and Gracie's food and water bowls and blanket down on the floor to unzip her backpack and she took out a stuffed fox and hugged it to her. "I'm sorry you had to stay in my backpack for the whole ride here Tod, but Mom says that she didn't want me to lose you on the trip here," she said to her stuffed animal before kissing it. Tod was a 3rd birthday present to Stacy from her dad before the fighting and divorce.
Stacy then heard Nanook barking outside and when she looked out the window she saw the Alaskan Malamute was chasing after a few horses, she also her grandpa helping her mom with unloading and it looked like they were talking . She then heard a meow and felt something furry against her legs and when she looked down she saw Gracie purring and rubbing against her legs. Stacy smiled and stroked her cat's head.
"You know Gracie I think Mom is right, that we will like living here," Stacy said to her tabby cat. Gracie meowed in response.
Stacy remembered how they used to visit Santa Carla in the summer while they still lived in Phoenix. It wasn't that she hated living Phoenix, she just didn't fit in with any kids her own age and there was hardly anyone for her to play with.
Stacy then turned to see Sam walked upstairs to choose his room, Michael soon followed. "Come on Gracie, we better go claim our room before Sammy and Mikey do," Stacy said grabbing Gracie's bowls and blanket, still clutching onto Tod before Stacy ran up the stairs with Gracie at her heels.
When Stacy found the room she wanted she set Gracie's food and water dishes close to the door and put Tod and Gracie's blanket on the bed. Gracie just jumped on the bed and did a little stretch.
Soon Stacy heard Sam laughing, and saw him running with Michael chasing him down the stairs. Stacy then ran downstairs as well.
"Mom. Mom, you've gotta help me." Sam said, running past her.
"Soon." Lucy said. She then saw Sam and Michael were running around. "Hey, guys, no running in the house," she scolded.
Sam opened some doors revealing Grandpa's taxidermy office. Stacy whimpered at the sight of all the dead animals. Michael wrapped an arm around his little sister and pulled her to him so she wouldn't have to look at the sight of the dead animals.
"Talk about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." Michael said. Sam laughed and leaned his head into Michael.
"Rules." Grandpa said, making all three siblings turn to look at him. He was looking at his three grandchildren with a suspicious look. "We've got some rules around here."
Grandpa led them into the kitchen, and opened the fridge door. There was a cover on the second shelf that said, OLD FART. Sam was leaning on the fridge door as Michael looked out the window.
"Second shelf is mine." Grandpa said. "That's where I keep my Root Beers and my double-thick Oreo cookies." Grandpa let go of the cover, took the fridge door and closed it, making Sam get off. "Nobody touches the second shelf but me," he said pointing to himself. "Now, there's another rule around here, and I want you to pay close attention. Don't touch anything." Grandpa walked off.
Stacy opened the fridge and took a bottle of Root Beer and then hid it in her backpack. Root Beer was always Stacy's favorite drink. Michael snapped his fingers, and pointed to a plant outside the house, and acted like he was smoking. Sam pointed to Grandpa, and Michael nodded. Stacy had a look of confusion on her face as she wasn't sure what her brothers were doing. Sam and Michael laughed as Grandpa headed out of the kitchen. "Everything is exactly where I want it to be." Grandpa continued. Michael had one arm around Sam and the other around Stacy, and Sam had his arm around him as the three of them walked out of the kitchen.
"Hey, Grandpa, is it true that Santa Carla's the murder capital of the world?" Michael asked.
"Well, there are some bad elements around here." Grandpa said. They stopped walking as their mom walked in, holding some clothes, and two hats on her head.
"So is that a yes?" Stacy asked scooping up Gracie in her arms.
"Wait a second. Let me get this straight." Sam said. "Are you telling me we moved to the murder capital of the world? Are you serious, Grandpa?"
"Well, now, let me put it this way." Grandpa said. "If all the corpses buried around here were to stand up all at once, we'd have one hell of a population problem."
Sam and Michael looked at each other, and Michael had his mouth form into an 'o' shape. Stacy let out a nervous whimper and held Gracie close to her, stroking her fur. Whenever Stacy felt nervous, scared or even lonely, her tabby cat, Gracie, was always a great comfort to her.
"Great, Dad." Mom said, sarcastically, and then left the room. The three siblings neared Grandpa's taxidermy office.
"Now, on Wednesdays, when the mailman beings the TV Guide, sometimes the address label is curled up just a little like that." Grandpa explained. As he was speaking, Sam and Michael were doing things to annoy each other, Stacy made an eww face when Michael stuck his fingers up Sam's nose. Grandpa continued. "Now you'll be tempted to tear it off. Don't. You'll only wind up ripping the cover, and I don't like that." He then walked into his office. "And stay out of here." Grandpa began to close the doors, but Sam held them open.
"Wait, wait." Sam said. "You have a TV?"
"No. I just like to read the TV Guide. Read the TV Guide, you don't need a TV." Grandpa explained his strange logic. Sam removed his hands, and then Grandpa shut the door.
Stacy looked at Sam with confusion, "Sammy, why do you care so much about TV?"
"I already told you my reason Stacy," Sam responds.
"Are we still going to the amusement park tonight?" Stacy's eyes filled with curiosity.
"Yeah of course," Sam assures her.
"Okay, good," Stacy smiled.