Fan: Five nights with Freddie

''This is the story of Freddie. He is a good dinosaur, and only attacks people sometimes. The Acachallas had to get used to him, though. Fortunately, they had some friends to help them:''

When Sally Acachalla came home from the camping trip, she was carrying a small baby dinosaur named Freddie.

“Aww, he's so cute”, she squealed in delight, ”He's got his baby teeth!” She went upstairs to play with Freddie. He was adorable in her eyes, but Papa Acachalla thought otherwise.

“That thing is deadly,” he told Gertrude, “She can't be allowed to keep it,”

“Oh Papa,” she replied, “One night won't harm her, right?”

“I suppose not…”, he mumbled.

***

That night was spent running around and keeping Freddie out of things. Sue stood on his bed, not daring to touch the floor. Billy hid under the covers. Papa chased Freddie around the house with a broom, while Gertrude got out the video camera to “make more family memories". Sally just laughed the whole time, while Spencer ignored them all.

“Freddie, you’re so funny!”, Sally giggled. She jumped up and down with delight. Neighbors began screaming when they saw the allosaurus stomp out into the streets. It ate seven people and made poor Mr. Sviggles’s mother’s house fall down. His tail began twitching. Some of the neighbors tried to stop Freddie with grenades, but they were bad shots, and missed, causing explosions everywhere. Fortunately for the Acachallas, the police never found out that it was all their fault for causing the ruckus. They presumed that it was an accident. No one got any sleep.

***

The next morning, everyone was tired, bruised, and very annoyed except for Sally. She, while being very exhausted, was still as cheerful as ever.

“Mommy, can I have my waffles with chocolate chips on them?”, she begged, but Gertrude refused.

“You've had enough sugar for one morning.” Sally had eaten an entire box of cookies earlier that day. Sally pouted, but she refrained from throwing a temper tantrum. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

“Paranormal investigator here!”, came a voice from the screen.

“Why hello, Johnny! What brings you here?”, asked Gertrude as she opened the door.

“Hello Mrs. Acachalla. I just came over to check on you guys,” said Johnny Ghost, “The neighbors said there was some commotion that kept them up all night. They were talking about explosives being set off, some giant reptilian creature running around, and the power going out. So I wanted to make sure you guys were okay.”

“Oh, it was fine, Ghostie. We were just playing with Freddie.”, Sally smiled adorably. Johnny raised an eyebrow.

“She got herself a dinosaur,” Papa filled him in. Johnny face palmed, and muttered something that sounded like “Oh crap”.

“You have no idea,” said Papa. Johnny took out his phone.

“I'm going to have to call my partner,” he explained as he dialed Toast’s number. The phone hummed as Johnny put it to his ear.

“Hello, Johnny Toast here. Who is disturbing me while I'm trying to make pancakes?”, came a British accent from the other line.

“Johnny! I'm so glad you answered, unlike that time when you ignored me while I was trying to run from Amiee because you were trying to polish the silverware. It's me, Johnny Ghost!”

“Oh, hello sir. What's the problem?”

“Well, you see, Sally got a dinosaur.”

“Sir?”

“Yeah, it's named Freddie, and it just caused the neighborhood to become full of chaos last night. I am currently looking across the street at the remains of a house that most likely fell down.”

“That doesn't seem too good, sir.”

“It's not. Listen, can you come over and help me take Freddie to our lab? He may be a little...difficult to transport.”

“I'll be right over, sir.”

“Good. See you there.” Ghost hung up.

“What?! No!”, cried Sally, “Freddie isn't going anywhere!” She hugged the dinosaur as hard as she could without being chomped.

“I'm sorry, but he isn't a pet,” reasoned Gertrude.

“Yeah he is!”, Sally began screaming.

“Now you settle down, young lady, or I'm gonna ground you for a week.”, said Papa. Sally bit Ghost on the finger.

“Well, I'd better go, um, get my equipment.”, said Ghost, as he tried to stop the blood flowing.

“No!”, Sally’s eyes turned black, and her pupils began to glow. She bared fangs, and lunged....

***

Ghost was tied up and gagged in the basement. He was worried about what would happen to Toast when he showed up, but he couldn't warn him. He looked over at Spencer, who was playing World of Warcraft, and trying to ignore him. Ghost sighed. Suddenly, he heard thumping.

“What?! Stop! Let me go!”, Toast’s voice could be heard.

“Sally, you've got to stop torturing Johnny. Freddie isn't a pet.”, said Papa.

“He's my friend!”, wailed Sally. The door opened, and Johnny Toast was shoved down the stairs. He was bound by the hands and feet, but his mouth was uncovered. His forehead was bleeding.

“Sir!”, he cried,”They got you too?”

“Mmm hng,” Ghost did his best to answer.

“Ugh. Now I'm stuck here with two absolute nerds!”, Spencer grumbled.

“Well, I suppose we're going to be here for a while, sir,” said Toast.

***

That night, the two Johnnys were still sitting on the cold, hard floor of the basement. Papa Acachalla would have rather let them go, but he didn't want to risk it with Sally’s temper. Freddie was doing much better, for a young dinosaur. He preferred to stay in the backyard. Papa sighed. He wondered how they were going to get rid of this thing. Gertrude put her crowbar free arm around him. She didn't say anything.

The dinosaur roared and screamed all night long. None of the Acachallas got any sleep that night. Billy even tried to put on earplugs, but it didn't work. Sally slept in the tree house that night. She was the only one who fell asleep because she thought Freddie was singing her a lullaby. Even the P.I.E team was kept awake, though Papa made sure to hand them a blanket before turning in. He also untied them, but told them they couldn't leave because Sally might actually start the apocalypse in a rage if they did.

“You know, Johnny, I've been thinking,” whispered Ghost as the dinosaur raged on.

“Do you have any ideas, sir?”, replied Toast.

“Yes, actually.”

“Sir?”

“We're not going to have much luck with persuading Sally to get rid of Freddie, but maybe we could have him live in another dimension.”

“But Sally would still get mad, sir.”

“Not of we gave her the ability to summon Freddie at will.”

“Freddie is an allosaurus, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I can fix up some summoning device if we can get back to the lab.”

“Good idea, Johnny. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Thank you, sir.”

***

The next morning, they told the Acachalla family their ideas. Both Gertrude and Papa agreed.

“We can keep this Freddie business under control!”, exclaimed Papa, “Now, how long will this take you to ‘fix up’ this here device?”

“If you give us about three more days, we’ll have it,” replied Toast.

“Good,” said Papa, “If I don’t hear from you in three days, I’ll call ya.” The two investigators waved goodbye, and took off in the Ghostmobile.

“Now, Sally,” said Papa,”Johnny Toast was nice enough to make you a little whistle so you can call Freddie at any time.-”

“Oh wow! I can call him and he’ll come?”, interrupted Sally.

“Yes,” Papa tried again,”But we’re gonna have to set up a few rules. You may not call Freddie at any time of night. As soon as it’s your bedtime, Freddie has to go to bed too.”

“And you may not take Freddie to school or shopping,” continued Gertrude.

“Fine!”, grumped Sally. She stalked off to go play with her barbies.

Meanwhile, Ghost and Toast were having a bit of trouble. While they had been using Freddie’s DNA, which they had recovered earlier that morning, they received a phone call from a man named Venturian. When they got to his house, they discovered that Amiee was wandering through the house just to get on everyone’s nerves. It took all day to banish her from the house, which involved Ghost raging and turning into Jimmy Casket for a few seconds. Toast also ended up falling down the stairs and badly spraining his ankle. They came home very weary and sleep deprived.

Back at the Acachalla home, Freddie’s tail was out of control. Gertrude suggested calling a vet, but Papa declined, stating that the vet would have no idea what an allosaurus’s nerve system would look like.

“He’ll get over it,” stated Papa,”It’s just dinosaur hiccups.” The night was also spent listening to Freddie’s roars. Billy got a migraine from the noise, and looking at Freddie’s tail, so he had no choice but to spend the night with Maddie. Sally slept soundly, ignoring Freddie’s tail, and dreaming of waffles. Sue tried to quiet Freddie, but only barely made it out of his sight without getting his leg bit off. It was a long night.

***

The night after that was horrible. The Acachallas had to tie Freddie down with strong rope to keep him from going on a rampage and killing everyone. He was noisy, his entire body was twitching, and the backyard fence fell over, due to his lashing tail. Even Sally stayed inside that night. A fire started next door, which caused Freddie to freak out, and Papa had to call Officer Maloney.

“What’s all this?!”, asked a surprised Maloney. Papa explained the details of their situation.

“Well, okay,” shrugged the officer, “As long as you get the device tomorrow night...” He took to his bird form, and flew into the night.

***

After yet another sleepless night, Papa began to worry. They had had no info from the investigators, and they needed none, but Papa still was scratching his bald head all day with anxiety. Tonight was the night. If the P.I.E team didn’t get here on time, Papa would get in big trouble with the police.

Back in the P.I.E HQ lab, Toast was putting the finishing touches on a small wristwatch with a red button that would call to Freddie. Ghost was studying “Toast’s Guide to Paranormal Entities”, a book his partner had written all about ghosts and catching them.

“Done,” Toast stated.

“Good work, Toast. Let’s get it back,” Ghost did a thumbs up.

“Should I fire up the Ghostmobile?”

“Yes, let’s go.” They climbed into the vehicle, and drove off. When they arrived at the Acachalla house, Sally answered the door.

“Hi, Ghostie. Hi, Toastie,” she said, “Papa’s out back with Billy.”

When they got to the backyard, Papa was teaching Billy how to avoid Freddie’s bite.

“As long as you sit in that chair, that dinosaur will be your friend,” said Papa. Billy sat in an office chair, which was balanced on one wheel.

“Hey, Ghost! Check out my balancing!”, exclaimed Billy. Ghost just stood there, eyes wide, staring at Billy.

“How the heck are you doing that?!”, he finally questioned. Billy shrugged.

“Here’s the device you asked for,”, Toast said to Papa. He showed him how to use it. Now, Freddie lives in the 6th dimension and Sally and him can play any time. Freddie has been gaining more and more trusting towards her, and his attacks are more subdued. Sally says she wants to be an allosaurus trainer when she grows up. Freddie is the beloved family pet of the Acachallas, and will always fight for them (and then eat them).

The End