Chapter 6: Jerald's Story

"Listen, man," Bart said, turning to Jerald, "sorry your firstest day substituting heres didn't turn out so good."

Jerald smiled down at Bart, and rubbed his hair with his left hand. "It's okay little guy. Thanks for trying to catch those bad guys for us. But, you know, it's not the safest thing to do." He turned to face the babies. "You guys could've gotten hurt."

"That's true." Danny replied. "We probably should've told someone in the first place." He paused, then said, "I'm so going to be grounded for the rest of spring break."

Jerald grinned. "We'll see about that, kid. We'll see."

Danny smiled at him, frowned, then asked, "So, what did those bad guys have against you and Zack? I mean, why did they just stuff you in a closet like that?"

Jerald sighed deeply. "What don't they have against me?" he asked. "Mark and Jasper have been good friends for a long time. I never liked that Mark kid one bit."

"Wait!" Susie exclaimed. "You know those bad guys?"

"I do." Jerald replied calmly. "Jasper's my little brother."

The babies gasped.

"W-Why, did he become such a bad guy?" Bart asked. "I mean, you're so nice. How come he treated you this way?"

Jerald rubbed Bart's hair again. "I wasn't always a nice person, little guy. In fact," he paused, "I guess you could say I was kind of a jerk when I was a kid. When my parents would tell me to clean my room, I wouldn't do it. Whenever my Mom and Dad told me to do my homework, I would forget about it. Whenever my parents would tell me to watch or play with Jasper, I would refuse." He sighed. "But now I wish I go back in time, and change all that. I would do anything I could to make Jasper the good person that he used to be."

Bart nodded at him. Just like Jerald, he felt like he was the criminal. 'I don't mean to be mean to Lisa.' he thought. 'I just wanted some more attentions, that's all.' Bart sighed. He felt extremely guilty.

"Looks, man," Bart started, "I haven't been such a good big brother either. My new little sister is still in The Children's Art Center, and I guess you could say that I've been kind of a jerk to her too." He paused, then patted Jerald on the leg. "I'm sorry that happened to you and Jasper." Bart suddenly smiled. "But the good news is he hasn't changed completely! I mean, when Mark wanted to steals the painting when I was pretending to cry, Jasper wanted to helps me finds my Mom.

"Anyway, when the police comes to get him and Mark, please goes and visits Jasper in jail, and tries talking to him. Tells him we was trying to helps him. Tells him you're trying to helps him. I knows he'll probably ignore you at first. But, if you keeps trying, I knows he'll listen to you eventually and will become a good guy. I just knows it."

Jerald nodded. "I think you're right, little guy. I think you're right."

The police arrived soon enough. The babies had showed where Mark and Jasper were. They were soon handcuffed, and taken out to a police car. The two crooks would be taken to the police office for questioning.

"So, does this mean we're not getting any money?" Jasper asked Mark, while entering the police car.

"Shut up, Jasper." Mark replied.

While Jerald and Zack explained their side of the story, Danny turned to Bart and said, "I've gotta hand it to you, Bart. You really did learn a valuable lesson today about brothers and sisters getting along."

Bart nodded, glancing at his little sister in his arms. "I guess being a big brother isn't so bad after all!" he stated, simply.

Lisa giggled. "Bart!"

Bart gasped. "Did you guys hears that?" he asked incredulously. "She finally said my name right! Says it again Lisa!"

"Bart!"

Tommy laughed. "I guess Lisa calls you Tart when you're mad at her!"

Chuckie giggled. "Yeah! I guess she was just messing with you this whole time, Bart!"

Bart glanced at Chuckie, back at Lisa, and shrugged. "I guess so." he replied. He smiled. "This whole big brother thing is gonna be real interesting."

Soon, the cop asked Danny some questions (Of course, Danny had to lie about two or three times to keep the babies communication a secret.). Once that was done, Jerald and Zack approached the babies.

"We just wanted to thank you kids again for rescuing us from the closet." Jerald replied.

"And if there's anything you guys need, just let us know." Zack added.

Danny smiled up at the two substitute janitors. "Thanks you guys, but we don't really ne-," He paused. "Actually, I've got two things to ask you for. That is, if you can do them."

"Sure, kid! You name it!"

Danny pointed down the hall on his right. "All of my marbles are scattered down that hallway. Could at least one of you pick them up and put them in this brown paper bag?" He handed the bag to Jerald. "We need to get back to The Children's Art Center. My playmate's parents and Bart's dad will be back here any minute!"

Jerald nodded. "Sure! What's the other thing you want us to do?"

Danny took Chuckie's red folder from out of his hands and gave it to Zack. "This is Chuckie's artwork." he stated. "He's a really good artist! Do you think you could ask the lady behind the counter if we could hang at least one of his pictures out here so everyone can see it?"

Zack smiled at Danny. "I'll see what I can do!"

"Great, thanks!"

Chuckie smiled proudly.

When Stu and Didi came to pick up the babies ten minutes later, Bart and Lisa had already left The Children's Art Center with Homer. "Don't worry, you guys!" Bart had exclaimed before he left. "We'll see each other again!"

As the six of them exited the museum, Didi asked how their day went. Danny explained to Stu and Didi about the two criminals who tried to steal The Mona Lisa awhile ago, and how a police cop came to question them. The Pickles' were alarmed at first, but Danny assured them that besides coming in to pretend to be janitors, they had not harmed anyone in the Art Center.

"What did you say to the cop?" Stu asked.

Danny shrugged. "Nothing really. I just said they were pretending to be janitors, and were going to steal the copy of the Mona Lisa. I was the one who overheard the bad guys talking outside the Art Center while looking for my box of crayons I dropped, so I told someone to call the police."

Didi smiled at Danny. "Well, I'm very proud of you, Danny." she replied. "And I'm sure your parents will be too once they get back."

Stu nodded. "Did anything else happen while we were gone?"

Susie answered the question this time. "Chuckie got his polka dot picture put into the museum where everyone can sees it!"

Chuckie beamed.

"That's very nice!" Didi exclaimed. "Good job, Chuckie!"

"Did anything else happen?" Stu asked, still grinning at Chuckie.

Danny put his index finger and thumb underneath his chin and thought for a moment. Soon, he put his hand down, shook his head, and said, "Nope. That's basically all that happened."

TO BE CONTINUED…