Chapter 10: Out on the Town

It was now Sunday. Noelle met up with Ran and picked him up with her motorcycle, as they cruised around in Kowloon. The two were having the time of their lives as they cruised down the streets and made their way to some nearby shopping districts in Kowloon.

“When is the movie going to start?” Ran asked as Noelle looked at her wrist watch.

“It will start at 5:15 PM.” Noelle replied as she looked at the time. “It's now 2:49. We have plenty of time.”

Ran's stomach started to growl. “Oooh, I'm hungry! Know of any good food to get around here?”

Noelle puts her fingers on her chin as she thinks of some food courts to take her friend to. There is so much good food, but where to start? Then, an idea popped into Noelle's mind. “What are you craving? I feel like having ice cream, since it's such a hot day today.”

“Sounds good to me.” Ran replied as he wiped sweat from his forehead. “A nice cold bowl of ice cream will do my body good.”

---

Ran and Noelle decided to hang out at Holly Brown's Coffee and Gelato parlor. Both Ran and Noelle ordered gelato and waffles with iced coffee drinks. Noelle ordered a strawberry lovers combination, while Ran ordered a “sunset on the beach” combination featuring mangoes, kiwis and passion fruit.

“Yum! This gelato stuff tastes wonderful!” Ran sighed as he started to gulp down the gelato and waffles.

Noelle noticed that Ran was gulping down his gelato a little too fast for his own good. “Umm..you might want to slow down Ran...you might get an ice cream headache.”

Then, before he knew it, his head started to feel numb a little. “Oh man, now I remember why I shouldn't eat frozen treats so fast...ugh!”

“It's okay Ran...” Noelle said as she blushed. “I sometimes make that mistake too.”

Ran started to laugh a little. “Heh heh! I guess we're on the same boat then.”

Fifteen minutes later, Noelle and Ran finally finished off their gelato and waffles and put their dishes inside a dirty dishes container. The women working in the store smiled at them and asked, “How did you like your meal?”

“Like it? I love it!” Ran exclaims as he waves over at the employees.

“Thank you for the wonderful treat.” Noelle added as she waved at the women.

“Thank you.” The woman at the counter cheered. “Have a nice day you two!”

---

To kill some time before the movie, Ran and Noelle decided to play some games at the Namco Wonder Park arcade. They played arcade games, from Mario Kart to Soul Calibur. Ran seems pretty impressed with how skilled Noelle was at these sort of games. Sure, they had similar type of games in other various realms, but these were a wee bit different. Both friends were on the edge of their seats, competing for first place in the games they were playing. Both had their equal shares of wins and losses in these games they played together.

“That was fun.” Ran said as he got done winning against Noelle in Tekken 6.

“Yeah.” Noelle sighed, trying to hide her frustration from losing a game with her friend.

Ran looked over at the stuffed toy vending machines and an idea sprung into his head. “I'm going over to those claw cranes. Care to join me?”

“Okay. I can do that.” Noelle said in a cheerful tone of voice. “I'm getting a little worn out with some of these games.”

Ran and Noelle head over to a claw crane machine dubbed the “Soyuzmult toy crane”, which featured plush dolls of characters from various Russian and former Soviet cartoons of yesterday and today. Noelle eyed these dolls and smiled. “These dolls look rather cute.”

“Yes they are.” Ran said, smiling.

But just as Ran and Noelle were reaching for some money to feed the machine, a few Cheburashka and Gena the alligator plushies mysteriously flew out of the machine. “Hmmm... the hell....?”

Then, as Noelle looked down at the shoot, she saw a couple hands of a young girl sticking out. “Hey, ummmm...little help here...”

“Oooh boy...” Ran groaned as heard the girl talking from inside the vending machine. The girl stuck inside was no one other than Wei Wei Chow. “Now how did you get stuck in there Wei Wei?”

Wei Wei peaked her head out of the stuffed toys and wore a crafty grin on her face. “Hi there Ran! Whatcha doin' here?”

“I kind of wonder what are you doing in there?” Noelle asked, feeling perplexed at the whole situation. “I mean, this is a little odd for a girl your age to slip down a toy crane shoot.”

“Well...heh heh....” Wei Wei laughed nervously. “My friends and I were playing a game of truth, dare or double dare.....and well...they quadruple dog dared me to see if I could fit inside a toy claw crane. But thank goodness you showed up Ran. Now, will you be a handsome prince and get me out of here?”

“MMMMMGH!” Noelle grunted in disgust.

“Well...ummmm...” Ran tried everything he can to hold back his laughter. But right behind him, there was an arcade employee looking over his keys. “Oh, hi ummm...do you work here?”

“Indeed I do.” The pudgy looking man with hair stubble on his face said as he was going through his keys. “Need help with anything? It's kind of a slow day for me today...”

“Ahhh....well...you see...” Noelle stuttered as she tried to hold in her laughter. She pointed at the Soyuzmult crane and stifled a giggle. “This girl here....”

The employee face-palmed as he saw Wei Wei inside the machine, waving to the pudgy man. “Oh my...really? REALLY?”

The employee grabbed his keys and tried to find a match for the Soyuzmult crane. As he finally found the key, he opened up the machine and Wei Wei was freed. “Hey young lady, how old are you?”

“I'm eleven years old.” Wei Wei replied.

The employee couldn't believe what he heard. “You know, I'd expect some toddlers or kindergarteners to slip into claw crane shoots, but a tween girl like you should know better than to do something so childish. I mean, what were you thinking?”

“I was playing a game of truth or dare...” Wei Wei started to explain. “My friends quadruple dog dared me to see if I could fit into a claw crane machine....and well....”

“Now you should know better than to slide into toy cranes young lady.” The employee said back. “If I catch you trying something childish like this again, we will have to...”

“Hey Wei Wei!” One of Wei Wei's bespectacled female friends cheered out. “Did you really fit inside a toy crane machine?”

“Lulu, you're such a butt breath!” Wei Wei pouted as she wrapped Lulu upside the head. “What were you thinking?”

“Okay okay girls...” Ran said as he tried to reason with the tweens. “This is not the place to play truth or dare.”

“If I catch you girls acting childish like that again...” The employee started to explain with authority. “You will be banned from the arcades until you both eighteen years old or older. Got that?”

“Yes sir!” The tweens said as they bowed to the employee and went about their business.”

As the employee left the area and back to his office, Ran and Noelle shared some laughter together. “Ah ha ha ha....Wow...just wow...”

“Wei Wei is really...ummm.... 'special'. Isn't she?” Ran giggled.

“Yes indeed...Oh ho ho!” Noelle chortled as they continued to laugh at what they just witnessed today.

When the laughter finally died down, Noelle looked down at her watch. “Well, it's 4:45. Want to make it to the movie theaters before we miss out?”

Ran nodded his head. “Okay. I'll buy the tickets for you.”

“You don't have to Ran...”

“It's okay. Since you paid for the ice cream, it's only fair that I pay for the movie tickets. Deal Noelle?”

“It's a deal Ran. Now, let's be on our way!”

---

At the movies, Noelle and Ran decided to go see the movie “Stinksville, USA”. It's about the Austin family taking a vacation to the amusement park of Billy Bob's Bungalow, which is a poor man's Disney world located in the so-called “picturesque” town of Stinksville, Arkansas. Noelle has seen this movie before with her friends in America, and she wanted to see it again with her friend Ran.

After a while, while Noelle and Ran were munching on popcorn and slurping down their slushy drinks, they reached the part where the enormous matriarch of the Cooter family is about to break loose from her home on a savage feeding frenzy outside the amusement park. The scene started with the Austin kids sitting in the backseat, eating chicken nuggets, cheese burgers, and fries their cheapskate dad, Herb Austin, bought from the MacNoggins' fast food joint nearby. It was raining outside, and some thunder and lightning start to crack and boom in the sky.

“Humph! Here we are, another Austin vacation...” The daughter Katie Austin grumbled as she munches on some chicken nuggets and burgers in their dad's 1982 Plymouth Reliant station wagon with her younger brother, Beck. She brushes her red hair out of her face and pouted. “We could have gone to Disney World, Six Flags, Universal Studios, or hell, even Wonderland Park. But noooooooooo! We ended up going to Hee Haw World.”

“Aw come on Kate. Inbred freaks have feelings too.” Beck said sarcastically as he munched on some fries. “Well, at least this food is edible.”

“Yeah, it's better than eating mouse fritters and Austin trail mix back at home.” Katie said as she munched on some chicken nuggets.

Suddenly, out of the blue, they felt the ground shake on and off, their soda beverages vibrating as the thumping continue onwards. Both Beck and Katie's eyes widen in horror and bemusement as the thumps and shakes continued onwards..

“Hey, where did the chickens go?” Beck pondered as he noticed the empty chicken coops. Then, right there, a pile of bloody chicken feathers and bones fell on the wind shield of their car. “The hell...?”

Right before their eyes, Mrs. Cooter showed up in front of the Austin kids, her enormous mouth dripping with blood, feathers and booze. Mrs. Cooter was just as gigantic in height as she was in girth. She had her graying brown hair wrapped in pink curlers, and she wore tacky blue eye shadow and bright red lipstick that showed her gnarled yellow teeth whenever her mouth opened. Her skin was warty and oily, full of wrinkles, veins and folds. Her eyes were huge yellow bloodshot eyes that would strike fear into normal people visiting Stinksville. She wore an enormous pink and blue floral mu-mu that had obvious blood, chewing tobacco, and alcohol stains on it, and carried a giant pitchfork as if it was a giant eating utensil.

“I'm hungry! I smell food!” Mrs. Cooter bellowed as she was looking around the backwoods forest of Stinksville, searching around for the source of the scent she picked up.

“Oh crapola!” Beck muttered in fear as he hid his fast food from the giant hillbilly hag. “Hide your food Kate!”

“Aw come on Pimple King.” Katie sighed. “I'm hungry, plus, that old inbred hag already ate up some chickens from the chicken coop nearby.”

“Please Raggedy Ann!” Beck groaned as he rolled his eyes at his sister.”Just hide your food. Sheesh!”

“Okay, fine.” Katie grumbled as she hidden her food. “Happy now Pizza the Hutt?”

But it was too late. Mrs. Cooter already spotted the kids in the 1982 Plymouth Reliant station wagon hiding their food from her. Her mouth dripped saliva as she licked her huge red lips and approached the station wagon. “I smell Foooooooooooood! Gimme food!”

“See, now look what you done, you red headed ditz!” Beck shrieked as he wrapped his ditsy sister upside the head with the palm of his hand.

“Silence virgin!” Katie spat. Then, at the backseat windows, Mrs. Cooter pressed her greasy face and hands up against the window, making Beck and Katie freeze in terror.

“Gimme food you little monsters!” Mrs. Cooter slobbered as she started to rock the station wagon back and forth. “Gimme...gimme....GIMMEEEEEE!”

“I say Mrs. Cooter that you had enough to eat for today!” Katie protested as she threw some garbage at the window.

“I mean, you ate all those chickens in that coop in one sitting.” Beck added. “Isn't that enough?”

Mrs. Cooter lets out one loud blood curdling roar as she picked up her pitchfork and screeched, “Okay you little crotch drippins'....you wanna play tough damn it?”

She then, stabbed the front part of the station wagon with her huge pitchfork as she hoists the car up side down in the air, shaking it and yelling at it. “Gimme gimme gimme GIMEEEEEE!”

“Noooooo!” The Austin kids cried out in horror.

---

Almost everyone in the audience started to scream and cover their eyes in horror as the strobe light effects and Mrs. Cooter's assault on the Austin's 1982 station wagon continued, with the Austin kids screaming and protesting while the hillbilly hag started to fling the car around with her pitchfork like a hackey-sack. The only ones not freaking out in the audience were Ran and Noelle, who were grinning and giggling hysterically at this scene.

---

After the movie, Ran and Noelle took off on the motorcycle Noelle's dad gave to her. They zipped through the streets of Kowloon, as Noelle was driving herself and her friend home. Ran seemed to be enjoy riding on the back seat of the motorcycle. “Yeeeeeeeeh! Yippie!”

“You mean you never rode on a motorcycle before Ran?” Noelle asked as Ran held on as tightly as he can to her.

“No way!” Ran cheered out loud. “Cars and buses yes...motorcycles...this is my first time!”

“Well...” Noelle explains loudly as she zips through the streets of Kowloon. “I'm glad you're enjoying this! Maybe we can do this again sometime.”

“Oh awesome! Thank you!” Ran cheered as they left the city limits and made their way into the outskirts. “Noelle...?”

“Ran?” Noelle asked back as she driven into the woods near her home.

“Can you drop me off here?”

“But Ran...where do you live?”

“Ummm...” Ran stuttered nervously. “It's kind of far away from here, I don't want to wear you out or anything....”

“How far?” Noelle asked.

“Farther than you think.” Ran replied with a sheepish grin on his face.

“Ah, I see.” Noelle sighed as she shook Ran's hand. “Well, anyways, I hope we can do this again.”

“Don't worry, we will do stuff like this again in the future.” Ran said as he shook her hand back. “I hope you have a good night's rest, and, take it easy.”

“You too.” Noelle said as she made her way back to her motorcycle. “Goodnight! Take care!”

As Noelle turned back and made her way back to her motorcycle, she looked in the rear view mirror. She noticed that Ran vanished within site. “Hmmm...that's odd...he's gone already. He's one fast moving guy.”

When Noelle made her way into the driveway and inside her house, Amirani flew over the house and made his way back to Gen-Dei. “I hope I can be with her again outside of school. I had a lot of fun today.”