And the Goo came out in torrents

[Peregrine Knight]

Perry was crouched in his room, his head down to the floor looking at the darkness under the bed. "Come oooon." he wheedled, reaching his hand under the bed cautiously.

[Sylvia Knight]

Sylvia crept into the room and stood behind her twin. "What are you doing?" she asked after a few seconds, raising an eyebrow.

[Peregrine Knight]

Perry jumped up to standing and turned round before breathing a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, it's you. Uh" he crossed to the door and looked both ways along the corridor before closing it, before sitting down on the bed and trying to look casual. "So, uh, what did you have for lunch today?"

[Sylvia Knight]

"PB&J sandwich and carrot sticks." Sylvia replied, leaning against the wall, eyes shifting down towards the space under Pippin's bed. "Why do you ask?"

[Peregrine Knight]

"Uh." Pippin followed his sister's eyeline and spoke quickly to try to distract her. "Me too. Didn't you think that- uh- the carrot tasted of strawberries?"

[Sylvia Knight]

Sylvia boggled at him. "What? No, I don't. Why are you acting so weird?"

[Peregrine Knight]

Pippin's eyes opened wide and he swung round to look behind him and either side. "What, me?" he asked incredulously. "I'm not acting weird. Nope, not me."

[Sylvia Knight]

Sylvia gave him a look. "Yeah. Right." She stooped down and peered under the bed.

[Checks And Balances]

A very timid Goolette quivered and quaked at being discovered, trying to both crawl away from Sylvia and towards Perry.

[Sylvia Knight]

Sylvia leapt back with an "Eeek!" and gaped at the Goolette. "What is that thing?"

[Peregrine Knight]

Perry slid off the bed with a sigh and scooped the goolette into his arms. "Erm." he looked at his twin. "This is, uh, well. It was at the diner."

[Sylvia Knight]

"It wasn't in the food, was it?" Sylvia asked, slowly edging towards them.

[Checks And Balances]

The goolette puffed up at Sylvia's shriek, trying to hide itself deeper in Perry's arms, and wrapped it's own arm's around the boy's neck, still shaking from fear.

[Peregrine Knight]

"Aw, don't worry little guy, she's okay." Perry tried to gently disconnect the goolette from his neck. "Erm, no. You see those bubbles? They sort of joined together to make this. Malcy's got one too."

[Sylvia Knight]

"Oh." Sylvia replied, pausing to think, then moving over to the bed. "So he's a Mister Bubbly Blob, is he?" she said in a cooing baby-talk tone, "Are you scared of me, Mister Bubbly Blob?" She gently held out a slightly nervous hand next to Perry's neck.

[Checks And Balances]

The goolette tentatively relaxed it's hold on Perry's neck and leaned in to carefully watch Sylvia's hand for a minute, before slapping her hand playfully.

[Peregrine Knight]

"It likes you!" Pippin smiled at his twin. "But be careful, it's really shy. And, uh, don't tell Mom. Or Dad."

[Sylvia Knight]

Sylvia grinned and slowly lowered her hand. "But it's cute! Why can't we tell them?"

[Checks And Balances]

The creature wiggled for a moment and leapt onto Sylvia's shoulder's, making a noise that sounded suspiciously like purring.

[Peregrine Knight]

Perry looked slightly put out by the creature's deferrence. "Well, ah, Mom saw it and didn't like it much. To put it lightly. And Dad." Perry shrugged. "Be careful with him, yeah?"

[Sylvia Knight]

The goolette startled Sylvia as it leapt onto her shoulder, but after a moment she relaxed and beamed at it. "You're such a cute little guy!" she cooed quietly, stroking it lightly with a finger. She looked up at Pippin and sighed. "Well, okay. I suppose you're right. Should we keep him a secret from Liam and Lenny too, do you think?"

[Peregrine Knight]

"Yeah. Liam'd just go tell Dad and Lenny probably couldn't keep his mouth shut." Perry watched the goo carefully. "It's pretty amazing, huh? I hope it stays."

[Sylvia Knight]

"Well, of course it will stay! All we have to do is keep it a secret, right?" Sylvia replied, looking again at the goolette. "We're not going to let the cute wittle bubbly blobby boo live out in the streets, are we? No, we're not!" She looked back at Perry. "Does he have somewhere warm to sleep? Does he need to eat anything? I don't see how it could though."

[Peregrine Knight]

Pippin scrunched his face up at his sister disapprovingly. "Bubbly blobby boo? Syl, you're such girl. Don't call it that. And, uh, I don't know yet. I only just got it back here."

[Sylvia Knight]

"Well, it should have some sort of name. Maybe Bubbles?" Sylvia replied, "And do you think a little basket with old baby blankets or rags or something would be good? And we could hide it under my bed at night or something, since I don't have to worry as much about brothers coming in."

[Checks And Balances]

The goolette, or Bubbles, nuzzled Sylvia's neck and seemed to grow a smidge larger, drooping over her shoulders like a green rubbery mink stole.

[Peregrine Knight]

Perry scowled. At Sylvia and at the goolette. "Bubbles is an awful name. We should call it something like... like... the goo of doom, or, erm, The Green Glob of Destruction." He watched the thing jealously. "Erm, did it just grow?"

[Sylvia Knight]

"But it came from those bubbles, did it not? Besides, it's not going to destroy stuff, is it? Those names are stupid." Sylvia stroked the goo-stole and smiled at it fondly, looking it over. "Maybe a bit. It's stretching a bit too, I think."

[Checks And Balances]

The goolette started to knead Sylvia's shoulders for a minute before stretching and apparently falling asleep.

[Peregrine Knight]

"They're better than what you said." Pippin argued. "I'm not calling it Bubbles. And it's mine anyway. It came to me first. And I brought it home."

[Sylvia Knight]

"Shh! It's sleeping." Sylvia said, being very careful to keep her shoulders still. "And I think it likes Bubbles. How about I call it what I want to call it and you can call it whatever you want to call it. We just need to think up a codename for it in case we need to talk about it in front of people. Something like toothpaste or homework or something."

[Peregrine Knight]

"But that's stupid." Pippin argued. "It has to have just one name." he paused. "How about Felix?" His eyes brightened at the thought of a code. "Yes! Toothpaste sounds best 'cos it's sort of goo-ey too."

[Sylvia Knight]

"Felix?" Sylvia repeated, musing over the name, smiling a bit. "Hmm, it does mean happy or lucky in Latin. And I like toothpaste best too."

[Peregrine Knight]

Perry shrugged. "Don't know don't care. Just thought it'd be a good name. What- er- what do you think that it is? There were about six of them or something at the diner- different people took them home too." His eyes widened. "Do you think it's an alien?"

[Checks And Balances]

The creature wiggled and tilted it's head at Perry, as if it could understand what was said.

[Sylvia Knight]

Sylvia began to shrug, but then remembered that Felix was resting there. "I'm not sure. Goo turned people colors, right? Maybe this morphed from it, or maybe it's a higher lifeform of it. Hmm. I guess there's some possibility of it being an alien. Or maybe it's been created by scientists, and the first goo didn't have time to develop or was lacking a chemical or something."

[Peregrine Knight]

Perry looked at Felix curiously. "It says that it isn't." He informed his twin. "I guess we just have to find out. I guess if it was an alien it wouldn't tell us."

[Checks And Balances]

Felix nestled back into it's more bloby form and appeared to go back sleep on the girl's shoulders.

[Sylvia Knight]

Sylvia looked at it. "True. I suppose we'll have to wait and watch. It does look a bit tired though. Help me find a bag or something so that I can smuggle it to my room." And she began to look through the closet for something inconspicuous.

((fade out))