What Happened on the Senior Trip?

A year ago in June, Ruby went on a Senior trip with Baby Rube and her three friends. Today she stumbled across this story in her E-mail...it sounded like what happened on her trip (well, almost) She decided she would share it with the rest of her friends.

"Ahhhh!"
Megan and Jaeyoun looked up sharply from their Cheerios at the
unearthly noise. It was coming from the bathroom. The door was flung
open so hard that it banged on the opposite wall and Laura ran out
into the kitchen/living room, the center of their rented condo. Her
long-brown hair was dripping wet. She sprang up onto a chair, looking
distrustfully at the ground. "Another bug!"
"What is it?" asked Jaeyoun.
"An ant!" Laura wailed.
"What?" Linda poked her head out of the bedroom.
"Not you Aunt Linda," said Laura. "A real, disgusting, black bug."
Linda grumbled about the pitiful state of the condo as she went back
into the bedroom.
"Smash it!" called Veronica viciously from the other bathroom.
"I'm not getting near that thing! You smash it!"
"I don't think so," said Veronica, retreating back into the bathroom.
"I'm not killing it. There's probably more anyway," Megan said,
going back to her cheerios.
"Why do you say things like that!" yelled Laura. She looked
pleadingly at Jaeyoun, who shook her head.
"I guess I'll call Bugboy," she offered.
"That's a great idea."
Jaeyoun picked up the phone and dialed the front desk. She'd only
been staying at the rented Anaheim condo for four days, but she
already knew the number for the front desk by heart. They all did.
"Hello. We have an ant in our room. Can you have Bugboy come smash
it? Thank you."
"Is he coming?" Megan asked.
"Yes," replied Jaeyoun.
Bugboy was the resident exterminator. They called him at least once
every day to kill bugs.
"I'll leave a note for him to fix the TV…" said Linda, emerging again
from the bedroom, dressed and ready to go to Disneyland. "…And the
refrigerator…and since he's coming anyway, he might as well fix the
closet and kill that cockroach on the ceiling above Laura's bed."
The girls all nodded in agreement.
"So is everybody ready?" asked Linda.
"Yes," said Jaeyoun, Megan, and Veronica.
"No," said Laura. "I still haven't brushed my hair."
"So braid your hair," said Veronica. She was the resident expert on hair.
"I said brush, not braid, and I can't," Laura snapped. "My brush is
in the bathroom, and I am so not going in there."
"Use my brush," said Veronica. "In fact, keep it."
"Thanks!" said Laura brightly, brushing her hair as they exited the
condo. They ran into bug boy on the way out. "It's in the
bathroom!" they told him as they passed.
When he was out of sight Laura asked: "Was he wearing a nametag?"
"Yes," said Linda.
"No," said Jaeyoun.
"No," said Veronica.
"Yes," said Megan. "I think it said 'June'."
"That's ridiculous!" Laura exclaimed. "His name couldn't be June!"
"What is his name?" asked Veronica
"Don't know," said a chorus of voices.
"We have to stop at the front desk to pick up our tickets" said
Jaeyoun. "We can ask them."
Veronica pushed Megan into the pool, but they made it to the front
desk safely. They picked up their tickets; one each for the bus ride
there, one each for admittance into Disneyland, one for admittance
into California adventure, two for the bus ride back, and one to get
out of Disneyland. That one cost twenty-dollars extra, but it was
worth it not to be trapped there all night and forced to join the cast
of "It's a Small World." They were all afraid that their tickets
would get stolen, so they stuffed them into Veronica's backpack. That
accomplished, only one thing remained.
"What is bug boy's name?" asked Veronica of the man at the front desk.
"Juan?" he queried.
"Juan?" repeated Veronica.
"Not Juan.' the man corrected.
"Not Juan?" repeated Veronica in puzzlement.
"Ivan," the man said, smiling.
"Ahh, Ivan," everyone chorused, nodding in agreement.
"The nightman?"
"Yes?" said Veronica.
"Ivan," the man said nodding.
"Ivan," everyone repeated.
"Here, I'll write it down," said the man, reaching for a slip of
paper. He hastily scribbled a name on the paper and handed it to
Veronica. "Juan," he said, smiling
Veronica looked at the paper. It clearly said: 'Ivan,' although the
"I" could have been a "J" and the "v" could have been a "u." She
looked from the paper from the rest of the group and frowned. "Ivan?"
They looked at the paper and agreed with a shrug. It didn't really
matter anyway. Jaeyoun, however, took a comment card and quickly
wrote that Ivan was very helpful. Then they were off to the bus stop
and then to Disneyland.
"We might miss our bus," said Megan, glancing at her watch as they
trotted to the bus stop.
"Why do you say things like that?" yelled Laura.
"Because we're ten minutes late," Megan retorted.
"Shut up, you infernal pessimist!"
Megan glared at Laura and an argument might have ensued if at that
moment the bus hadn't driven up. Unfortunately, it was already full
of tourists with loud, obnoxious children. They waited for another
bus, but that bus was also full. Time was of the essence, so they
decided to call a cab. The taxi arrived promptly; unfortunately, the
driver wasn't exactly sure where Disneyland was, so he took them the
long way, via Knott's Berry farm. After enduring the cramped taxi for
half an hour and paying an exorbitant rate, they finally arrived at
the gates of the happiest place on earth. They entered the park after
having their bags searched, walking through metal detectors, and being
frisked by security.
"Where to first?" asked Linda.
Megan looked around mournfully at all the people who had made it to
Disneyland before them. "The lines are going to be a mile long," she
lamented.
"Why do you say things like that?"
Fortunately, the lines were not a mile long. The average wait time
was about two hours, which was good for Disneyland. The first ride
they went on was Splash Mountain. They had a good time, except for in
the middle of the ride, when Laura screamed that she'd seen a giant
cockroach.
They decided to go to Indiana Jones next. The path into the ride ran
through an ancient temple, complete with crumbling walkways and
hieroglyphics on the walls. It was dark, and there were people
lurking around every corner waiting to jump out at innocent
line-waiters. Jaeyoun was very frightened. On the other hand, Megan,
who could read hieroglyphics, was fascinated by the ancient temple.
She leaned in closely to examine a wall and said in a low voice,
"Beware, humble traveler, of a deadly evil that lurks around every
corner, and follows your steps. Beware the six-legged fiend!
Proceed, and meet thy doom!"
Laura shrieked. "Why do you say things like that!"
"I didn't. It's on the wall. Of course there are differences in
translation. It either says that, or: 'Keep your hands and arms
inside the ride at all times and supervise your children.' But I
think my translation is more accurate."
They finally made it to the ride, and all climbed into large jeeps.
At the last minute, Laura changed her mind about going on the ride.
She got out of the jeep and a Puerto Rican tourist took her place.
The ride was very exciting. At the end of it, a giant boulder was
rolling toward the jeep, looking to crush it but the jeep suddenly
took a dip and went below the boulder. Everyone on the ride screamed
in delight. Then, without warning, the jeep stopped. It was
completely dark. There were whispers all around of "What's going on?"
"Did it break down?" "Where's my Mickey Mouse ears?"
"¡La comida aquí es muy cara!" yelled the Puerto Rican tourist desperately.
"Mommy, I want off the ride!" cried a little girl. Everyone began
talking at once, calling out for help.
"Let go! Let go!" someone shouted. It was Veronica. Megan
screamed, which startled Jaeyoun, who began to scream as well. "You
took my backpack!" Veronica screamed. She began beating Megan over
the head with her park map. "It wasn't me!" Megan protested.
There was a flash of light.
"Those tourists are always taking pictures; it's so annoying," said
Jaeyoun. But Veronica, Megan, and Linda weren't listening. Megan and
Veronica were too busy fighting, but Linda had spotted something when
the room was temporarily illuminated. "Did you see that?" she gasped.
"La cucaracha!" shrieked the Puerto Rican in horror.
"This is no time to sing!" Megan snapped. Suddenly the lights came
back on and the ride began to move again. When the jeep came back to
its docking bay, Laura rejoined the others, but she was surprised to
discover a very different group than the one that had gone into the
ride. Megan was angry and not speaking to anyone, Jaeyoun was shaking
with fear, and Veronica was crying because her backpack was stolen and
Megan had ripped up her park map. Linda's face was very pale. When
they exited the temple and stepped into the sunshine, Linda took them
all aside. "I saw something on that ride…it was so fast…it's hard to
say exactly…but it had Veronica's backpack. And it was big and brown
and it had legs—"
"La cucaracha," Megan whispered in amazement.
"I told you so!" Laura shouted, jumping up and down. "I told you I
saw a cockroach on Splash Mountain."
"That's ridiculous," Veronica said.
"Yeah!" Megan chimed in, coming out of her reverie. "There's no such
thing as a giant cockroach."
"You Fergusons are crazy!" said Jaeyoun.
"I know what I saw!" retorted Laura.
It was Linda's job to keep the girls from fighting, so she said
quickly. "It doesn't matter, but we need to report the theft to park
security."
After navigating crowds for an hour, they finally located park
security. Veronica reported the theft while the rest of the women
flirted with Jeff, the cute security guard.
"I'll be on the lookout for your bag," said Jeff with a smile, as they
were leaving. "And be sure to let me know if you need anything else."
The girls headed off towards the Matterhorn, chatting about how nice
Jeff had been. When they got into the line, Laura turned around and
said,
"You wanna ride with me, Aunt Linda?"
But Linda was gone. "Where is she?" Laura asked in alarm.
They immediately began looking around and calling her name, but she
was no where to be found. "I know she was with us when we left
security," Megan said.
Normally Linda's disappearance wouldn't be so alarming, but with odd
things happening like giant cockroaches and bags being stolen, the
girls were understandable worried. "Let's split up to look for her,"
Laura suggested. "We'll meet back here in an hour."
They all went in different directions and searched the park. They
searched Fantasy Land. They searched the gift shops and Sleeping
Beauty's Castle. They searched the teacups and the Dumbo ride. They
searched Mickey's Toontown. Everywhere they looked they called for
Linda, but they couldn't find her. They met back at the Matterhorn,
discouraged. By that time it was getting dark.
"No one found her?" asked Jaeyoun.
"No," they all said sadly.
"How am I going to tell my family that I lost Aunt Linda?" Laura
wailed. Suddenly they heard an odd sound coming from Laura's pants!
"Ah!" she yelped. "What is that?"
"It's the two-way radio," said Veronica. "I forgot you had it."
"So did I," said Laura, pulling it out of her pocket. "Who had the other one?"
"It was in my backpack," said Veronica.
"Laura? Laura?" said the radio.
"Aunt Linda???"
"It's me."
"Where are you???"
"He grabbed me…It's dark…there's music playing incessantly. It's so
annoying…oh no! He's coming back…"
"Aunt Linda!" Laura shrieked. But there was no more sound from the
radio. "Where is she?" asked Veronica.
"Somewhere dark…" said Megan. "With annoying music…"
They all looked at each other. "It's A Small World," they exclaimed in unison.
"Hold on Aunt Linda! We're coming!" Laura yelled.
They ran to It's a Small World, but there was a long line that they
had no choice but to stand in.
"Hey," Jaeyoun said as they were waiting. "What language do you think
they're speaking?" She motioned to some Asian tourists in front of
them.
"Not Korean," said Laura. "You wouldn't have asked us if it was Korean."
"Or maybe it is Korean and she's trying to trick us!" suggested Veronica.
"I know, I know," said Megan, who was an expert in many languages.
"They're speaking Lebanese!"
"Lebanese?" Jaeyoun said, looking puzzled. "What is that?"
"Yeah, yeah," chimed in Laura. "That's what they speak in Leban!"
Jaeyoun looked at her friends like they were crazy.
"Right, right," agreed Veronica snapping her fingers.
At that point the Asian man in front of them turned around. "It's not
"Leban" it's "Lebanon" and they don't speak "Lebanese," they speak
Arabic. And for the record, we were speaking Mandarin." With that he
turned around and got in the boat for the ride.
"Hmff," said Megan, slightly offended.
"Hey, wasn't that Jackie Chan?" asked Jaeyoun.
"No," said Veronica. "I think it was Ozzie Osborne." They didn't
have time to discuss it further because it was their turn to get on
the ride.
"It's a world of laugher a world of cheer…" rang through the air in
various languages. At the point where they thought it would be least
conspicuous, they jumped off the boat and hid behind some of the
singing children. "What do we do now?" asked Megan. "Where do we
look?"
"How about over there?" suggested Jaeyoun, pointing to an especially
dark corner. Sure enough, they rounded the corner, and there was
Linda up against a wall with her hands and feet tied up.
"Aunt Linda!" Laura exclaimed, running to her.
"My backpack!" Veronica cried, running to it and hugging it tightly to
her chest. They quickly untied Linda. "Make it stop! Make it
stop!" she yelled.
"What?"
"The muuuuuusic."
"Come on, let's get out of here," said Megan. They were about to
leave when they heard other-worldly laughter coming from behind them.
It was the cockroach! Jaeyoun and Megan screamed and all five began
to run. They nearly tripped over some little dutch-robot-girls, but
made it to the emergency exit. They ran back out into the park and to
the nearest payphone, where Veronica tried to dial 911.
"Why is the phone yellow?" asked Jaeyoun.
"I don't know," snapped Veronica, trying to dial the number.
"That's weird," Laura said. "Payphones in Longview aren't yellow."
"Shut up," said Veronica, still trying to dial the number.
"Yellow is an unnatural color for a payphone," Linda agreed.
"Maybe they do it because it's such a cheerful color," Megan
suggested. "What do you think Vern?"
"It's so blind people can see it!" she snapped.
"Oooooh," said everyone.
"The phone's not working."
"He's coming," Jaeyoun screamed, pointing over Laura's shoulder. The
huge bug was moving towards them with surprising speed and agility.
"Run!" Megan yelled. "Park security is right over there!" They ran
faster than they'd ever run before with the cockroach in hot pursuit.
They reached the door to park security and began pounding on it,
screaming for help. Jeff opened the door, looked from the girls to
the cockroach, calmly took out his stun-gun, and shot the offensive
bug. It fell flat on the cement, all six legs in the air. By now
quite a crowd of tourists had gathered to see the spectacle.
"You did it, Jeff!" Megan exclaimed.
"Ew!" Laura said. "How did a cockroach get so big?"
"This is no cockroach," said Jeff, walking over to the helpless
insect. He unzipped the creature's abdomen to reveal:
"Bugboy!" Veronica exclaimed as the crowd let out a gasp.
"Yes, it is I," he said stepping out of the cockroach suit.
"Say it ain't so," Megan moaned.
"Why'd you do it Bugboy?" asked Laura.
"Every day I kill bugs for you," he said spitefully. "I fix your VCR
in the middle of the night. I set out ant bait. I even chase
annoying boys with squirt guns out of the hot tub for you. And do I
get anything in return? Do I get any thanks? No!"
Jeff snapped handcuffs on him and began to lead him away.
"We tried to thank you!" Jaeyoun called after him. "I wrote a comment
card! It said "Ivan was very helpful.""
"Ivan?" Bugboy said disdainfully. "That is not my name. You morons!"
"What is your name?" Megan asked desperately, but they were already
leading him away.
"Bug boy! NO!" Veronica cried in anguish.
"Juan?" Megan called.
"Who's going to kill our cockroaches now?" asked Laura.
"I wrote a comment card," Jaeyoun said, in a daze.
"Who will fix our closets?" asked Linda.
"I-Juan?"
"How will I sleep knowing that there is no one to kill bugs?"
"Say it ain't so!"
"June?"
"I WROTE A COMMENT CARD."
Bugboy was out of sight and Disneyland was a safe place once again.
The girls looked at each other and finally Veronica said,
"So, anyone up for synchronized swimming once we get back to the condo?"

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