Snow Day.v2 (Leslie, Mike, Alex, Jen)

Intro: 19 December 1985 Boulder City, Nevada. The day before Christmas break has all the kids in town glued to the TV, anxious for a snow day. Meanwhile, strange things are afoot around town. Pets and people are going missing, Mom says something weird is going on at The Loop, and Dad is worried about the pack of wolves rumored to be roaming around the outskirts of town. Can a rag-tag group of kids find out what's going on before it's too late?

Lisa, 13yo Bookworm (Leslie): latch-key kid, a bit of a Tomboy. Thirst to read - she'll read ANYTHING & everything.

Johnny, 13yo Rocker (Mike K): He's a rocker and always seeking a thrill. His parent run a bookstore called ‘Talking Leaves’.

Alvin, 13yo Computer Geek (Alex): Always smiling. Daydreams a lot and is easily distracted except when he is concentrating on his technology.

Charlene Logan, 14yo Troublemaker (Jen): Does whatever she can to not be home with her abusive alcoholic dad and useless mom.

The Boostore/Talking Leaves: Their favorite hangout to play D&D. Each taking turns to GM. They’d just completed playing “The Secret of Bone Hill” and now needed to pool their money to buy another module.

Friday, 19 Dec, 7am: The kids woke early, anxious to hear the news:

• Alvin sat by the radio listening intently for the announcement. He tried listen over his dad’s grumblings about work at the Loop. Bleary eyed from long hours. Near exhaustion from overtime, “We’re stuck dealing with a power outage that fried the motherboard on our robot project.”
• Charlene sat quiet on her bed listening to her father bellow to mom in the other room about his long hours at the Loop. “I get saddled covering for that no-show Mike Reed. Hell if they try to send me out in the snow and cold. Maybe I should call in sick.” Charlene panicked at the thought. Relief when she heard his boots tramp out the door. She rushed out the door in case he came back…no desire for more facial bruises from one of his drunken tirades.
• Johnny’s parents had already left for work at the bookstore. He sat in front of the TV with a book in hand eating his cereal. He listened intently for a weather report but caught the morning news instead, “We caution local residents around Boulder City about a potential pack of wolves. Several pets have gone missing.”
• Lisa helped around the house stuffing newspaper and towels in drafty window and door seams. She overheard mom on the phone, “Now Dotty, you know there’s no bears around here. Probably a skunk or deer your dogs smell.” Dotty and Bill Jackson were regular store customers from a farm to the north. As a last chore, Lisa helped put snow-chains on dad’s car before riding into town on her bike.
• It wasn’t long before they each heard the radio and TV announce a “snow day.”   

Charlene ran into Alvin as they rode their bikes thru town headed for the bookstore. Charlene bristled at the site of Randy and his fellow bullies gathered round a telephone pole. Them drawn to a posted flier. Alvin tried to get her to sneak away with him. Distracted, he bumped into a trashcan drawing their attention, “Look, it’s the chipmunk Alvin. Where’s Theodore and Simon?” Charlene made fists in anger, “Hey dumbasses, back off!” If dad taught her anything, it was how to throw punches. Fortunately, Johnny and Lisa arrived to improve the numbers: 4 versus the 3 bullies. Randy oh so confident his boys meaner, till Charlene threatened to punch his nose. And Lisa added, “To heck with your lackies, it'll be the 4 of us against you Randy!” Randy reconsidered. And grabbed a tab off the flier, “We got what we need boys. Leave those losers and let’s go earn a reward.”

The kids read the “Lost Dog” flier themselves. Johnny spoke up, “I know Mr. Evans. He comes into the bookstore often with his dog Juneau.” Alvin smiled, “Let’s find the dog before Randy’s gang so we can rub it in their faces.” Lisa pondered, “None of us have dogs of our own. Think we can find a bloodhound to help track her?” As Johnny led them into the nicer neighborhood, the others recognized the 2-story house, “He gives out full-sized candy bars for Halloween!”

Missing Dog: 70yo Nickolas Evans answered the doorbell, leaning on a crutch with a cast on his leg, “Johnny my boy, good to see you. My leg? I was taking Juneau for a walk along the north road. Suddenly starts barking crazy like and breaks free of the leash. I lose my balance and slip on the ice.” The kids offered their services, “What’s the easiest way to befriend her?” Mr. Evans dug out her favorite squeaky toy, milkbones, and her cuddle blanket. “Poor thing, she’s been gone now 10 days. I hope you find her but take care of yourselves first.” Alvin hooped on his bike with excitement as they headed north out of town, “This’ll be like an artic expedition.” Charlene grumbled, “Great, frostbite. I think I’ll carry Juneau’s blanket.”

As they rode their bikes thru town, they were drawn to a crowd gathered at the gas station. Beside the pumps was a Loop truck pulling a trailer with 2 large robots strapped in place. Each at least 15 ft tall, with spherical glass heads filled with wiring and gears. But what was most impressive: each robot had large hunting rifles instead of arms! Lisa pulled out her polaroid camera and snapped a picture. They ignored Randy’s gang also gathered round as they inched closer. Alvin whistled with excitement when he recognized their stenciled number, “VOSACA-SCR71 models! Dad told me about them created after the last war. But the War Council deemed them inhuman and banned them just like they banned chemical weapons. They’re now mostly used to patrol game preserves or as guards around rich folks’ homes.”

And that’s when the truck driver appeared, “Impressive, aren’t they kids? You heard about the wolves killing livestock in the area? Well, these babies will take care of them. We just feed them a picture of their foe and they’re on the hunt like a bloodhound.” Lisa nudged Johnny with concern, “Juneau could be mistaken as a wolf!” But Johnny was busy remembering, “Just like that old cartoon where Elmer Fudd orders a pest-control robot and feeds it a picture of Bugs Bunny.”

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5jm9f6  (starting at 2:30)

Lisa overheard the driver’s destination, “The burnt down warehouse north of town. If we take shortcuts, we can beat them there.” They arrived in time to see a 4-door sedan parked beside the truck where suited men plugged cables into the robots. As they powered up, the men fed them pictures retrieved from a folder. Lisa took a picture before the kids approached and began asking questions. Lisa expressed her concerns about Juneau. One man smiled, “Trust me kids, these robots are sophisticated and precise. They won’t mistake your dog for their target. Now you kids need to get out of here.” Their tone only pissed Charlene off. Lisa wasn’t convinced, “Sure wish I could have seen the pictures they were feeding those things.”

They rode their bikes north to the road where Mr. Evans lost Juneau. Along the way, they came upon the shredded carcass of a deer. Johnny and Charlene recoiled in disgust. Lisa questioned, “I saw an episode of Mutual-Of-Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Wolves don’t kill like this. They pull their prey down by the haunches then feast. These are just ripped to shreds.” Johnny pointed out claw marks high up on a tree trunk. “Could it be cats instead? A leopard or mountain lion?” Lisa took another picture. They searched and found tracks, “These are more reptilian. A set of medium and a larger set.” Alvin couldn’t help but consider, “They sure look like dinosaur tracks shown in our science books. Wouldn’t that be neat… dinosaurs versus robots?!” Charlene scoffed, “What, now Godzilla?” Johnny offered, “My dad could beat up a dinosaur.” Someone snickered.

They continued north and passed another deer kill. And a dog. Lisa cried till Johnny showed her Juneau’s picture, “Wrong color coat and size. This was probably a stray.” Ahead, they came upon a snowmobile dumped on its side. Human tracks led east toward a hunting cabin about 50 yards away. The door swung open when they knocked. An inch layer of snow covered the floor per a sidewall knocked down and the backdoor open. Red splots in the snow…a blood trail out the backdoor. They inspected a backpack set on a table: tape recorder, hand-cranked radio, cigarettes and lighter.

Johnny turned on the recorder, “Mike Reed, maintenance log, 17 Dec… [static]… I’ve narrowed it down to stations 21-24. Must be 23. I saw a husky, but it ran away. I found tampering at station 23… [more static] … Thing is keeping pace with me. One jumped at me, but I swerved away as it crashed into a tree. Now hiding in this cabin’s bathroom. Waiting for them to lose interest and leave. I’d swear them dinosaurs. 5ft tall, blue body with purple spots and red strip. Been hours and no sign of them. I’ll make for the truck… [background crashing noise] … Oh God! [crash]”

The kids gasped, “Reed? The missing Loopman. He didn’t make it to the truck.” Alvin hushed them, “We should keep quiet. They may still be around. But he did see Juneau.” Johnny added, “Forget tracking the blood. I don’t need to see his body to know him dead. Besides, maybe they are still out there feasting. We should sneak away NOW.” But not before Lisa took another picture.

They rode west along the road till they came upon an abandoned Loop truck near substation 23 out in the field. They paused to consider their next move. Johnny cranked the radio to report in till Lisa stopped him, “Let’s find Juneau first. For all we know the Loop is responsible for the dinosaurs and may try to hustle us out of here.” They approached the substation (what the kids refer to as ‘Penguins’), “That’s strange. The hatch is open and there’s a cable snaking out.” They saw 3-toed dinosaur prints at the same time they realized the cable had claw marks peeling back some insulation.

Alvin peered inside the open hatch and noticed a laptop connected to the command console, “That’s not normal. Dad’s shown me the insides before.” He read the screen, “Hatch closed. System normal.” When he unplugged the laptop, the screen updated, “Hatch open, power at 50%.” Charlene was the first to express, “Someone has been stealing power, syphoning this penguin!” Now Johnny began to wonder, “What if they are robot dinosaurs powered by the cable? You sure we want to follow the cable?!”

And that’s when they heard shouting, “Ahhh, help, HELP!” Sure sounded like Randy. They rushed to come upon the scene: Randy up a tree with a velociraptor at the base, while Joey cowered behind a pack of dogs barking at 2 more raptors, as Darrel just stood frozen-in-fear in the driveway of the Jackson’s farm. Johnny snuck off to the side where he placed his boombox on the ground and cranked up the volume as he played “Iron Maiden”. The raptors paused at the sound and soon rushed to investigate. Charlene used the opportunity to rescue Randy who had already pissed his pants. Johnny joined in to help, "And to think I'm helping you after that wedgie last week." Alvin led Darrel as Lisa corralled Joey, "Let’s get out of here. Just remember we saved your asses. Wouldn’t want us to show off pictures of you treed and pants peed.”

But that’s when Mr. Jackson stepped onto his porch with a shotgun, “You kids get inside where it’s safe. Dotty can make you hot chocolate to warm you up.” Alvin thought out loud, “Maybe we should give a photo of the raptors to the Loop men so they can load it as a new target for the hunter-robots.” Johnny wondered, “What if the Loop is doing some time machine thing?!” Lisa interrupted to ask Dotty, “Are any of your dogs’ trackers we could borrow to find Mr. Evan’s dog Juneau?”

Dotty offered up Daisy as she worried, “Poor Ms. Peterson. She could be under attack too. Crazy science woman lives northeast of here, a recluse at her farm. Strange to call it a farm considering she never worked the fields. Anyway, once you get warmed up, we’ll take you into town in our station-wagon.” But the kids declined, “You can take Randy and his friends, but we need to find the dog. We’ll check in on Ms. Peterson if you’ll call the police and report Mr. Reeds body at the cabin and call the Loop to tell them it’s not wolves but dinosaurs and we have proof.”

Using Daisy as their ‘early-warning’ of raptors, they swung by station 23 to follow the cable. Which led past a grounded hover-tractor on the Peterson farm just outside a large red barn. Lights shone from an adjacent house. Daisy tugged on her chain wanting to go towards the house, but they peeked into the barn first. Their jaws dropped at the sight of a huge, suspended ring [think Stargate]. Realization struck as they saw a jungle scene centered on the gate, “Johnny was right! It’s a time machine!” They were drawn into the barn. Lisa recognized the 8 magnetrine disks surrounding the rings, “Ms. Peterson cannibalized those from the tractor outside!” Alvin marveled at the technology as he checked out the command console. He questioned the child’s piano wired into the keyboard. Charlene suggested, “Used to tune the time machine channel?” Alvin countered, “Or password device.”

They concocted their plan: Johnny and Charlene would hide as Lisa and Alvin knocked on her house door. Act like they don’t know anything about raptors. See what she confessed to before taking action.

Their knocks unanswered. Charlene snuck around back as the others entered. But she was drawn back to the front when Daisy began barking and another dog inside answered. Juneau came barreling down the stairs panting and lapping at the kids in excitement. Charlene pulled out the milkbones and toy and became best friends. “We’re inside; might as well look around.” Johnny hesitated, “Isn’t that illegal?” Lisa brushed past him, “So is letting dinosaurs loose. Are you going to help?”

Diane Peterson’s journal lay on the kitchen table along with a diagram of her machine. Alvin picked up a Walkman also on the table, plugged in the headset, and listened to A-Ha’s “Take on Me”. The piano password. They found a crockpot set on low in the kitchen. “Still on. She must be nearby and coming back for dinner.” Johnny’s grumbling stomach got the best of him as he lifted the lid to smell “what’s for dinner?” He found 2 ostrich-size eggs! “SHE’S INCUBATING DINO EGGS!” Lisa took a picture. They climbed the stairs and noticed a glow under the bathroom door. Inside, they found an electric blanket wadded in the tub. They opened it expecting an egg. Instead, they found broke shell scattered around a sleeping baby Trex. Just hatched. “Oh My God!” Lisa took a picture. Charlene cautioned, “No one wake the baby! That must be her mama’s scratchings we saw high up in the trees.”

They were just about to head to the barn when they heard stomping outside. “Hush. Trex?” They peeked out the curtains and saw a triceratops lumbering in the yard. “Herbivore. He's safe." Johnny grabbed a head of lettuce from the refrig and walked out to offer it. Now close enough to see, “It has barbwire wrapped around its tail.” He tried to keep it calm [Empathy] as Charlene used her multitool pocketknife to remove the wire. Now calm, the beast followed Johnny into the barn. Lisa announced her journal readings, “Diane built the machine as suspected. Mentions her paino password security and incubating eggs. The machine takes one charge to open and another to close the gate. And from her records, I’m guessing there are 2 charges available.”

They concocted their wild plan: “We need to get the dinosaurs back to their jungle home. Can’t let the Loop people experiment on them. Especially the baby Trex. We can get the Triceratops to enter the gate using more lettuce. We set the crockpot with eggs inside. And use a trail of meat to lure the baby inside once we know mama is nearby. She should follow. As for the raptors, too dangerous. Leave them for the robots.”

Satisfied they set their plan in motion:

CLIMAX: need 8 successes

Alvin (5) sat at the computer screen and entered the “OPEN” command. The portal powered up with flashing lights and a low hum. He plugged the Walkman into the kid’s piano and keyed ‘play’ to submit the password. The portal disks spun with a loud reverberation.

Lisa (2) stood over his shoulder, reading from the diagram and journal as she assisted with the proper sequence of events. She gasped when she happened to look at the portal scene and recognized a hut just inside. Where Diane Peterson stood, leaning on a tree branch crutch used for her leg injured. Lisa screamed, “Don’t just stand there. Come out! You’ve got dinosaurs inbound.”

Charlene (1) and Johnny (2) worked as a team to lead the dinosaurs into the gate. The Triceratops was easy as it followed the offered lettuce tossed inside. Johnny hustled back with the crockpot he gently set just inside the portal. He backed up as Charlene laid out warmed meat chunks to entice the baby Trex down the stairs and toward the barn. All according to plan.

Till the baby began its pitiful whine. “Shush, shush. Not yet.” Loud enough for mama to hear. The ground trembled as something large approached. The baby stood at the throat of the portal when mama appeared at the open barn door. Everyone stood still. Hoping. And praying. Charlene had moved behind the portal and called from the backside, “Come on baby, just one more step. One more step, PLEASE!”

Alvin’s heart was pounding ready to close the gate as soon as mama entered. Lisa pleaded, “Give us time to get Diane out.” Charlene found rope and waited. Finally, the baby entered but mama stayed, transfixed on the kids around her. Charlene inched around the portal edge to toss Juneau’s squeaky toy inside, but the Trex only roared. Alvin unplugged the Walkman, cranked the volume up, and threw it into the portal still blaring “Take On Me”. It worked. Mama Trex crossed the portal threshold. Charlene rushed forward and tossed the rope into the jungle scene to Diane. “Grab it!” Johnny joined in. Together they helped put the woman back thru the portal.

Diane was pissed and annoyed. “I worked so hard to get those eggs! I was going to raise them as pets. How dare you!” Johnny shot back, “How dare YOU! Do you realize your actions caused the death of numerous animals and Mr. Reed?” But Diane easily reasoned, “My actions were for the advancement of science. So, a few sacrifices are required. For the good of humanity.”

Alvin held out his personal computer, “This Tandy Model 200 is heavy and built like a brick.” He used it as such to whack her side the head to shut her up.

They left Diane tied up as they rode back to the Jackson farm to return Daisy. Along the way, they witnessed the robots actually attacking the 3 raptors. Rifle shots won over claws. Charlene realized, “Son of a bitch. The Loop people know them dinosaurs all along and feed them pictures of such.” They called the police from the farm and reported Diane tied up in her barn.

EPILOGUE

Juneau jumped into Mr. Evans’ waiting arms. “She’s a little malnourished but she looks great! I can’t thank you enough. Is $50 enough reward?” The kids beamed with pride and thoughts of how each would spend their hard-earned cash. “You know, this will buy that D&D expansion we were looking at. And more minis.”

Alvin returned home and began working on his drone. His dad arrived, “Well, the power problem was solved. I’m back to regular hours. How about you and I using this weekend to do something together? Says, how was your day?” Alvin smiled, “Nothing special.”

Lisa entered the library in search of a computer programming book, “I better read up on this in case Alvin isn’t around.”

Johnny walked into the family bookstore where he told dad everything. “We found the dog and collected the reward. They weren’t wolves roaming the town, it was dinosaurs. We have pictures!” And that’s when Lisa entered. “Show him the pictures.” Mr. Fire held up the pictures. “Lisa, you amaze me how you’ve learned to photo-edit. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear them original.”

Charlene refused to go home. Instead, she entered the pizzeria and its arcade room where she settled in front of ‘Space Invaders’. She gathered a crowd of gawkers. Randy among them, “Logan, you’re not so bad…for a chick.” Charlene blushed. She elbowed Randy. Only then did she recognize the rest of her team gathered around her.