Gettysburg

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's got Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, and a few other people whose names I don't remember. Regardless, it's about one of the most important times in the Civil War, and I love it. The music and the acting are both incredible.

Having a Party

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzD0nd7tzNI
The things grown-ups will get up to when left unsupervised. Sorry, but this piece of junk computer won't let me open the link, so you will have to go to this spot to watch the video.

Papa Stalin?

For those of you who have heard of the Smurfs, you may also know that some people consider them to be Communists. I myself have never watched them, so I can't judge, but it seems a little odd to me that little blue people could be victims of Joe McCarthy judgment. I know Papa Smurf supposedly looks like Lenin, Brainy Smurf resembles Trotsky supposedly, or something like that. And they do share everything alike. But Communism? Isn't that taking things a little too far?

Freegans part 31

Matt
Kestrel said, "We need to keep moving. The Junkmen will probably send out more robots."
"Where do they get all of them?" asked Cara.
"They were prototypes the government created. However, they turned out to be defective, so they were thrown down in the basement, like everything else the government fails at. The Junkmen found them, and decided to reprogram them for their own use."
"How do you know all this?" I asked.
"I'll explain later. Come on."

I shot a glance at Lucy. She looked about to collapse...again. However, she caught me watching, and said, "I'm fine, Matt. Really." She gave a smile that didn't look very convincing. However, Ben gave me a note that said, "I'm helping her. It's no problem." As if reading my thoughts, Kestrel said, "We just need to go a little farther. There's a place where we can hide and rest."
Now reassured, we headed out.

As we crept down the tunnel, I noticed that Madiza was acting strange. Well, stranger. She was wringing her hands as she walked, rocking back and forth slightly. Her eyes didn't seem completely focused on anything, and she was muttering something under her breath. I cocked my head to the side, and managed to catch that she was saying, "...almost there. We're almost there."
"But what will we find?" she asked herself in a different voice. "They might try and take your soul again. In fact, I bet that's just what they'll do."
"Don't be ridiculous!" she said in her regular voice. "He's a good boy, isn't he? He won't hurt us!"
"HE won't. We don't know about the rest of them!"
"Do you think he'd be with trashy people?"
"You can't be too careful nowadays. Remember the Eiffel girl?"

I turned to Ben and raised an eyebrow. He grabbed out his pad and pencil, and scribbled for a long time. Then he handed me the pad.
'A few months before she went mad, a fellow inmate was placed in her cell with her. It was a consumerist girl named Paris, and they sort of became friends. She told Madiza that she wanted to escape and go to the Freegan hideout. However, it turned out that Paris was actually a spy trying to get information out of her. Madiza found out in time, and told her that she knew. Soon after they took Paris away. And a few months later, they did something that drove Madiza absolutely bonkers.'

"Were you there?" I asked. Ben shook his head no. He took back the paper, and wrote, 'She told me. In one of her more sane moments. It really shook her up. It's a wonder that she trusted me.'

Freegans part 30

Cara
"Cara, what's going on?" asked Lucy. I watched Ben, Matt, and Kestrel as they attacked the robots. Matt turned to us, and mouthed the word, 'Run'. "I believe that they mean to have us escape while they get killed," I said.
"What?! No!" Lucy looked shocked.
"My feelings exactly. You and Madiza stay here, and I'll go help." I clicked my heels, re-igniting my levitation boots. Lucy didn't protest. She seemed perfectly content to stay there where it was safe. I was about to head over, when I noticed that Madiza was digging around in my knapsack, which I had completely forgotten about.

"Madiza, what are you doing?!" I asked. She looked up and smiled.
"MacGyver!" she said. I had no idea what she was talking about, but to my surprise she pulled out several odds and ends, which she quickly began putting together. There was a vial of some weird liquid, though not the poison from earlier, a round glass ball, and a water bottle, none of which I remembered being in the knapsack earlier. I half wondered if she hadn't slipped the items in when I wasn't looking.
She poured the liquid into the ball, which had a cork stopper in one side, and handed it up to me, along with the water.
"Fly over, pour in the water, then drop the ball on the metal people! It'll make sure the performance ends with a bang!"

I wasn't sure if this was such a good idea, but Madiza had been right before. So I grabbed both things, and ran through the air until I was over the heads of the robots, though as far away from our friends as possible. I pulled out the cork, poured in the water, and quickly replaced the cork. The mixture began to hiss and smoke, which made me nervous. Down below, Kestrel saw what I was doing, and his eyes went wide. Grabbing Matt and Ben, he ran like heck to the rope, and began swinging them over the pit. I dropped the ball. At the same moment, it felt like something wrapped around my foot.

The resulting explosion sent me flying through the air. I was temporarily deafened by the blast, and had no control. However, just before I could slam into the wall, I felt a sharp jerk on my leg, and was steered out of the way. I saw my friends running out of the cavern, and down a branching off tunnel. Madiza and the others were holding on to a long rope, the other end of which was wrapped around my ankle. That was the only thing keeping me safe. Thankfully, it was very sturdy. Looking down, I saw that there was a new hole in the ground, and most of the robots had either been blown to bits, or fallen down the new hole. Finally I was able to right myself, and I floated down towards the others. Almost as soon as I was back on solid ground, if not sooner, I was enveloped in rib-crushing hugs by my friends.
"That was INSANE, Cara!" said Matt. "How did you do that?!"
"Madiza made a bomb, and told me how to use it," I said. Speak of the devil, she smiled, and sang softly,
"All around the underground,
The robots chased the children!
The robots all fell down a deep well,
Oh, it was bewild'ren!"

Freegans part 29

Ben
Next I went to get Madiza. She wouldn't want to leave the fight, but what was important at the moment was that she be safe. Oh, and the others, too. She was zapping her tazer like a crazy person (Yes, I know she is), hitting a robot with every shot. However, more and more kept coming. I hoped Kestrel had a lot of plasma shots. I grabbed her arm. She turned to me.
"Hi, Ben-ben! Isn't this fun?!" she asked delightedly. I pointed to the rope swinging over the pit, which Lucy had now been freed from, then to Madiza. She got the hint almost immediately.

"But Ben, I'm having fun!" she protested. I paused quickly to kick the legs out from under one of the robots, then smashed the dome open with my hand, and pulled out some of the circuits. I pointed to it in a way that said, "It's too dangerous."
"Tell that to him!" Madiza pointed to Kestrel. I looked at her firmly, determined to make her go where it was safe. She glared stubbornly back. Suddenly I got an idea. I made big Bambi eyes, and made my best pleading look at her. Sighing, Madiza nodded. Turning away, she suddenly ran to the edge of the pit, grabbed the rope, and swung across with a loud Tarzan yell. She jumped off at exactly the right moment, and landed just behind Lucy, who was curled up in a fetal position, and Cara, who was trying to calm her down without actually touching her. I whistled to Matt, and waved him over to me. Now we would need to give Kestrel backup. Hopefully we would give the girls a chance to get away, even if it meant losing our own lives.

By now Kestrel had run out of plasma shots, and was instead smashing the robots with his rifle and other fighting skills. We went to join him. This looked like the end. However, I planned to use all my strength to the last.

Freegans part 28

Lucy
I felt a little nervous, but figured anyone was better than the Junkmen or the Vice President. Our new friend said, "It's best if we take this way out, so there will be less bloodshed. Come on." We were about to follow, when Madiza walked right up to him, a slightly suspicious look on her face, and stared him right in the eyes. She stood like that for several seconds, as if she were looking for something. Suddenly she smiled and said, "You're a good boy." Then she stood up on tiptoe and patted him on the head.

The man, who quickly introduced himself as Kestrel, led us down a tunnel, his plasma rifle cocked and ready. Madiza skipped along, a wide grin plastered on her face, as if we were going on a picnic. Cara and Matt were slinking as quietly as you please. Seeing how well they could adjust to the situation made me feel loud and clumsy, and as stealthy as a water buffalo. Which, in fact, I probably was. And Ben? Thankfully, he stayed by me, to help me along. I felt a wave of gratitude towards him. He was so nice all the time.

Of course, our escape was slightly ruined by the fact that somehow the Junkmen found out we had escaped, and sent out robots after us. Thankfully, we now had Kestrel, so we had better chances. Instantly he fired off another round of plasma, blasting most of them into pulp. He waved us behind him, so that he wouldn't accidentally hit any of us. However, more and more robots just kept coming. We backed up slowly, moving down the tunnel. Suddenly, we couldn't go any farther. With a touch of deja vu, I saw that we had another giant pit behind us. Without wasting time, Cara clicked her heels and blasted into the air. Then she got one of the grappling hooks out of her pack, and attached it to a pipe in the ceiling.

"Come on, guys! You can swing over!" she called. While she was saying this, she walked on the air to the other side. Instantly I got a wave of vertigo. The idea of swinging over what looked like a bottomless pit made my legs go weak. However, the next thing I knew, Ben had grabbed the rope and was tying it around my waist.
"What are you doing?! I'll die! Or fall! Or something!" I shrilled, feeling terrified out of my wits.
"Relax, Luce," said Matt. "Cara will catch you. There's nothing to be afraid of." Ben reached out a hand and pushed my eyelids closed, which I interpreted as telling me to do that. I nodded, squeezing them shut. The next thing I knew, I was whooshing through the air, and suddenly Cara had me, and was untying the rope.
"See, silly?" she asked. "I knew you could do it."