1. The Act and the Dream

Joel Babbler, a 15 year-old son of a rich couple, glued the final piece of his model airplane together. “Perfect,” he whispered, “Now it is time for a snooze.” He sat on his bed for a minute, thinking. “If I sleep until five, I can still have dinner done in time for Mom and Dad,” he mused, “I’ll do that.” He stared at the painted ceiling, with all the curves, curliques, and stars. Doing this, he fell to sleep in a matter of a few minutes.

The window shattered as the famous evil “Mr. Ruthless” jumped through it. “I will steal from the rich Babbler family,” he laughed. “No one will stop me take my revenge!” He crept through the house to the main safe, unknowing that Joel was there. “I will try 162938 as the code,” Mr. Ruthless contemplated, “House number then street number, yes.” The safe popped open, and he was spellbound; there were enough hundred dollar bills in there for a millionaire!

Joel heard a crash through the window. He thought, “If it is a robber, then I am unknown to him. I will catch him doing the crime! Ah ha!” He heard the safe burst open, and the man gasp. He knew that voice! Who was it? He snapped out of deep thought. The time to act was near, so he knew he had to get ready. He grabbed his knife. “Well, the guns are in there!” he cried. A second later he ran. “He heard me! Run!” He ran, but he felt a painful sensation in his side, causing him to faint in the process of knocking him down. No one heard his cries or Mr. Ruthless’ running footsteps. Not even Joel.

~

Joel stirred, and saw that he was in a bed at the hospital. Father walked in, then he thought of who it might have been. “Ruthless Benjamin, my brother,” he yelled, “Why did you come back?” Father heard his cry, he repeated it several times even.

“What is it, dear Joel, what did you say son?” His father asked, “Why would you say Ruthless Benjamin?”

“Oh, my dear father, it was brother Benjamin! I heard him gasp, and say, ‘how are my old parents get so rich? Are they better without me?’ I wonder what we did to arouse such anger from him.”

“Oh son, no way!” Father said, “That makes no sense!”

“His voice was familiar. My ears do not lie.” Joel stated.

“Ok, son. Rest now,” Father replied. “You are in a rough condition. I do also wonder why Ben would do such a thing, but stories are for later.”

Their conversation ended, Joel thought. “It was him. Who else could it be, anyways?” His brain could not think. He soon gave up to sleep, and then he dreamed.

His brother pulled his hair. “Benji! Watch the hair!” Joel yelled, swatting away his little brother, “You little nuisance!”

“Stop calling me that, you what-do-you-call-it!” Joel’s little brother screamed, “You mean no good brother. I am not going to be like you!” Benjamin stomped to his room, slammed the door, and sat on his bed, plotting. “A thief, villain, yes, that is what I will be,” Benjamin concluded.

Joel woke. “What? That day I caused him to be like this? No!” He wept, “That is why he disappeared! Because of his no good what-do-you-call-it brother!” He cried himself to sleep, this time having no dreams.

2. The Two Conversations

Joel woke to his father talking and prodding. “Joel, my brave son. Wake up,” Father said. Joel smiled; he could not help it in Father’s presence.

“Hiya, Father! Good morning! I think I know what grudge Ben holds. Remember the day June fourth, eight years ago? He said, ‘ Stop calling me that, you what-do-you-call-it! You mean no good brother. I am not going to be like you!’ Later in the dream he said, ‘ A thief, villain, yes, that is what I will be.’ I remember what he said in front of me. I feel so bad, making a villain out of my own hands without meaning to.”

“Without meaning to, son, that is the game-changer. The ‘without meaning to’ makes it so it is not your fault. I understand that brother thing, but it going this far is very uncommon,” Father said without thinking. “Just to find the kid, that is the next on the to-do. Police next stopping place.” Father snapped back to the real world. “Sorry, son, I just babble like you older sister Brooke sometimes.”

“You hit it, Father, you hit the jackpot!” Joel yelled, “Brooke is an investigator. Call her, the number is…” Joel thought a minute. “806-232-3214!”

“How did you know,” Father asked, surprised. “Did you memorize everyone’s number or something?”

“Almost. Only missing a couple,” Joel chuckled. “Good memory is with me!”

“Who did you miss? Me?” Father joked.

“No sir. Only missing all of my doctors’ numbers. The most important information is forgotten, I will tell you in an instant,” Joel sighed. “I need to rest more. What did you need?”

Father was sad. “Ben, well, it turns out that he is only the most feared criminal in the state. He is that Mr. Ruthless that we hear about in the news.”

“What? I should have guessed. ‘Ruthless Benjamin’ to ‘Mr. Ruthless’. Killer.”

“Hopefully he is not literally a killer. Well, son, rest now. We better get in good shape as fast as possible, because we are on a brother criminal hunt, or whatever you want to call it.”

“Okay, but I just want to say that you really will knock the case to the ground; it has no chance,” Joel complimented, ending the conversation with a hand wave. “Okay, now to call Brooke.” Joel called, the phone rang, and she answered.

Brooke answered. “Hello,” she said in her angel voice, “my best brother. How are you?”

“Bad,” he said, holding tears back. “Really bad. Ruthless Ben tried to shoot me. I mean, my young brother even grazed me! I do not understand why he would do it. Do you need info now?”

“No,” she answered, with a tint of sadness in her voice. “I do not have any time to do a case. I was fired because I was not physically healthy enough for them. Where are you?”

“Covenant, emergency building, room 232,” Joel said, fainting before he could say another word.

No one noticed when, since he was on the first floor, Ruthless carried Joel out of the hospital through a cut up window and jump into a stolen car, a Mercedes-AMG Project 1. Like any rich person would not have done in that car, Benjamin swerved as he sped along the highway cruising at 175 MPH to his hideout. Who does that?

3. Three Happenings

Joel woke up sweating, laying on straw in a barn. “Ruthless’ hiding place is the abandoned barn out in the middle of nowhere,” he guessed as he thought. “He has a fast and expensive car the police can not miss. Why would he steal an expensive car, anyways?” He started hearing voices.

“Elijah, get that kid over there,” Benjamin said, pointing towards Joel. “He is my brother. I am going to get the transforming car ready for a ride.”

“Czech republic, okay,” Elijah said as he went towards Joel. This is the first time in a good while his senses were sharp. He let Elijah push and pull while prodding him in the process of getting him over to Benjamin.

“Hey brother, sorry about June fourth, the one eight years ago. I never meant it,” Joel threw the words at Benjamin with such a sharp and stunning edge that Benjamin gasped, then fainted. “He remembered,” Joel laughed. “I inherit this club, being his brother. Hand me a phone.” Elijah handed him one promptly. Joel then called the police. “Hello, this is Joel Babbler, and Ruthless Benjamin, or Mr. Ruthless as you know him, is waiting for your capture. We are in the big blue barn in the middle of nowhere. Clever hiding place in my opinion.”

“Well, we will send several officers to you immediately. How many in the gang?” The man who broadcasts the emergency officers (police, fire, etc.) to places asked quickly.

Joel asked Elijah, then told the man, “Fourteen here, twenty-two total. He stole a car also.

“Roger that. We are on the case,” the man purposefully said. “It will be fifteen minutes.”

“Roger that. We will be here,” Joel tried to say in an even voice like a police officer; all that came out was a croak. Then he felt a prick and a painful sensation, causing him to faint immediately.

“Ha ha ha, no one is a match for me!” Elijah laughed evilly, “I always fool them. Well, time to head out.” He headed to the transformable car and set it as a junk truck. “I am not the bad guy, I am a poor man now,” he whispered to himself, planning. He then drove away.

~

The sirens wailed loudly as the police drove into the barn. No other live person was there except Joel, who had just woken up. “Hi, you,” the policeman gruffly said while picking him up. “What are you doing here?”

“I was the caller,” Joel calmly asked.

“Oh son, it is you! Good, you are not dead yet. What happened?” Father said, overwhelmed by the events of this boy’s life. Yet no response came. Joel had fainted

again. “Oh son, why do you faint so much? Please talk to me.”

“Mr. Babbler, you are a babbler. Get in the car with him and take him to the hospital for a checkup now,” Father’s police chief told him.

“Sir, yes sir,” Father dutifully replied. Then he drove away with Joel.

4. Son and Father, Benjamin and Elijah

“Son, what happened over in the blue barn?” Father asked, amazed that Joel was alive after all he had been through.

Joel thought how to dictate the story for a minute, then he started. “Well, to Ben I said, ‘Hey brother, sorry about June fourth, the one eight years ago. I never meant it.’ He gaped at me then fainted. Then I started…”

“What, he fainted? He was not dead?” Father asked.

“Sir, yes sir,” Joel copied what his father had said earlier.

“Ok, we are going back,” Father said as the drove through the median. “Look, I caught a speeder in the process. Real lucky.” They had to do stuff with the speeder half an hour or so, then they went to the barn. The big doors were locked, probably police work. “Man, we have to go to base. We will just come back tomorrow.”

“Ok, Father. I need to get to a hospital bed anyways. Please do it by yourself,” Joel replied with a whimper of pain.

“Oh, good point, I will do by myself and then tell you how it goes. Bye,” Father replied, finishing the conversation.

~

Benjamin ran into Elijah. “Hello, Elijah. Nice lock down. I got out through a high window.”

“Well, at least you are alive.” Elijah pointed out, “I dumped the vehicle. It broke down.”

“They probably seized that junk by now. But you know we will just steal another vehicle, Elijah. Use you noodle!” Benjamin half yelled, “We are fine.”

“What noodle? I ate them all last night,” Elijah replied, confused.

“Your brains, head, whatever you call it, is your noodle. You are crazy.”

“I would be dead if I ate my brains and head.”

“It is a term, and not literal, you what-do-you-call-it!”

“You mean no good brother. I am not going to be like you!” Elijah sarcastically said.

“Fine Elijah. You do not have to understand. How did you know I said that?”

“Golly, well, you told me. That is why I said it, period.”

“Oh.”

They continued on their way not speaking a word to each other. They then passed a police station; Mr. Babbler’s police station.

5. The Chase and the Letters

Mr. Babbler looked out the window. He saw two ragged young men, and one of them looked familiar. “Benjamin? Is that you?” He ran outside and started following. The duo started going faster, and Mr. Babbler sped up too. Then he saw the men do a desperate move; one purposely ran into girl, stole the keys to her Audi, unlocked the car and start driving away with the other guy. Mr. Babbler called for backup and started shooting at the car tires. One popped, but the driver, Benjamin in this case, swerved, jumped out, stole another person’s car keys, and drove away in the stolen Toyota Supra. This left a good case on Mr. Babbler’s hands. He did not knock the case to the floor as Joel thought he would. “I will write a letter to the state police about this immediately,” he decided.

Dear Texas State Police, March 5, 2021

We need help please come immediately. Lubbock Police

When he finished writing the letter, he put all the necessary things on it and had it sent. It was not intercepted, thanks to the security put with the letter. Several times people tried, and each time they failed.

Dear Policemen of Lubbock, March 10, 2021

We got your letter. We will be there within a week from when you get this letter. Thank you for letting us know. We are here to help. Texas Police

The State Police were there in Lubbock 5 days after the letter was received. That made it an exact week since it was sent.

6. The Police Meet

“So, you need us to catch this ring-leader. What is his name?” The state policeman Danny asked.

“His name is,” Mr. Babbler swallowed, “Benjamin Babbler. His nicknames are Reckless Benjamin, Mr. Reckless, and just Reckless. I still can not believe the he, my son, turned wild like this.”

“Do you know much about him now?” Danny questioned.

“Well, he is about your height, skinnier, and uses stolen cars as transportation. He is fourteen years old.”

“Young kid. Have you had much experience in his wrongdoings?”

“My son Joel has had most of it. All I know is that he is bold in showing you who he is in the aspect of robber and is killer good at it, sadly. He might kill too. I do not know.”

Danny jotted down some notes. “Ok, can we meet with Joel?”

“Yes, he is mostly recovered from a skirmish with Reckless. How about a visit to the house now?”

“Sure, Mr. Babbler, sure. Please permit me to take notes, though.”

“Of course. I just ask that you concede to me driving us to meet Joel.”

“I concede to you, my babbler buddy.”

~

Joel heard the lock of the door click, and two pairs of footsteps walking on the floor. “Hello, son. Here is a Texas Policeman wanting to ask about Ben.”

“Welcome, sir. What does your name happen to be?” Joel asked as politely as possible.

“My name is Danny. Will you permit me to ask about this, who is it, Reckless?”

“Ben. Oh, brother Benjamin. Yes, about him. Well, I will tell you about my encounters with him.” Joel started telling about his encounters with Benjamin, telling Danny every detail he could remember.

7. The Transformation and the New Start

Benjamin crept towards the safe in the Babbler’s house. “They will be poor when they get home! Not a cent will be left in the safe,” he whispered to himself. The door ruptured open as Joel and Father pressed forward, driven by the anger that Benjamin was here on a malicious mission again.

“Benjamin, my son! I yearn for a hug from you, my unforgotten son!” Father sorrowfully cried out from his grief-stricken heart.

“Father! Why did you say that? You know I dislike my last name for how you hated me. Joel! What you said in the barn that day, about June fourth eight years ago. That is what caused me to scorn you. I want to say, I am sorry. Take me where you must, my loving father,” Benjamin said. “I just want reckless to be gone from my name permanently.”

“Well, now to decide what to do with you. Jail would be sad, but avoiding it is illegal. Explaining this to Danny is the next thing I need to do.” The three joined together in an embrace, this time each loved the other two; no hate remained.

~

“Joel, I have a great idea for our future life. We could open a detective agency called The Babbler Brothers’ Detective Agency. What do you think?” Benjamin inquired.

“Well, Ben, I think that is a great idea. Hey, Father, what do you think of us two opening up a detective agency?” Joel tossed the idea at Father.

“I want to be in the middle of it with you two crazy ones. The Babbler Detectives sounds perfect, in fact,” Father chuckled. “I was about to open one myself. Great idea.”

“Yes, it does sound good. Let us call that done. Now we just have to start being detectives,” Joel replied.

“Yes, just to start being detectives and make a business,” Benjamin remarked. “You skipped the hard part of the process.”

“Oh, we did that on purpose. I can do it easier then you think anyhow. Sorry about the forgetfulness of your family,” Father retorted sarcastically. “You still do not trust us, do you, Baby Ben?”

“Benjamin. No baby goes with the name,” snapped Benjamin, scowling.

“What, you can not take a joke well?” Joel teased. Benjamin just glanced at Joel with a mad look, ending the three way conversation.

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