Part 3:

Calling All Kids

"So, what do you think?" said Kid.

"It's brilliant!" said Ryan.

"We're saved!" Robin cheered.

"And you thought you were sunk." Riley said smugly to Flip. "You don't know these kids. They don't take no for an answer when it comes to The P*lace."

"So, when do we get started?" asked Gloria.

"Right away. We don't have much time." The Kid said. "We gotta show City Council we mean business!"

Knee-deep in a sea of sleepaway camp brochures, Connie waded across her bed to the phone. "Hello? Devyn, hi! I'm fine. How's the band and everything? What? Oh, no! He did? Really? Yeah, of course I'll help! I'm coming right away!" The forgotten brochures fell to the floor as Connie leapt off the bed and tore down the stairs past her bewildered mother.

"Connie, where are you going? Dinner's almost ready."

"Sorry, Mom, I've got to get to The P*lace. It's a matter of life or death! I'll tell you later."

"But what about science camp?" her mother called after her.

"Science can wait!" she called back. "History is more important!"

Meanwhile, in London, the Brisbane house was filled with music, as it was nearly every evening. It took quite a bit of convincing, and even a little begging, but eventually, Samantha had consented to playing something other than classical music on the piano - British, of course, but her American cousins didn't mind. Elton John was better than Beethoven to Renee and Stacy any day. The girls put on an outstanding show, but Samantha didn't seem to get the joke about them becoming a lounge act. Just as they were finishing up, her father told them to pick up the phone.

"Another international call." he said. "Not surprising, what with three teenaged girls in the house."

"Well, don't look at me," Samantha frowned, "it's these two." Feigning distaste, she wrinkled her nose at the reciever - until her father left the room. "Who is it?" she said excitedly.

"One way to find out." said Renee. "Hello? Hi, Richie. Yeah, she's here, too."

Stacy grabbed the phone from Renee. "Hi, Richie." she said. "What's up? Huh? I don't know, we never thought about...an emergency?"

Renee stole the phone back and asked, "What emergency? You're kidding! Again? Never mind, it's a long story...oh, you've heard that story. From who? He is? Who else is...no, never mind, get back to the emergency. Ok..uh-huh...HEY!" she yelled as the phone left her hand.

"We'll be back as soon as possible." Stacy said once she'd wrestled the phone back from Renee. "What? Okay, even sooner! We'll leave tomorrow...tonight...we'll go right now! Bye, Richie." she handed the phone back to Renee and left.

"Bye, Richie." Renee said, handing the phone back to Samantha. She hurried to catch up to Stacy.

"But...But!" said Samantha. "H-Hello." she said into the phone. "How are you this evening? No, I don't know where they've gone, but it must be terribly important." When she realized what was happening, she understood immediately. "Ah, The P*lace, of course."

Back across the ocean, in another city, a row of freshly mowed lawns stood waiting for sprinklers to be set, dogs to be washed, and picnics to be held. The grass that had grown there was now stuck like glue to Mickey's jeans. He was beat, but $50 richer. He'd collapsed on the porch when he heard the phone ringing from inside. "Aw, I just sat down!" he grumbled to himself. He limped inside the house. "Look, the sun's setting, my lawn mower's broken, and I think I have sunstroke." he said to the caller. "What? Oh, Gloria! I didn't recognize your voice. Are you still in the band? What do you mean, 'sort of'? What? They can't do that, I thought we...a museum? No way! Oh, you bet I'll be there!"

"Mickey's coming." Gloria said as she hung up the phone.

"The girls are on their way, too." said Richie.

Connie came running in. "Is it true?" she asked. "Are they taking over The P*lace?"

"Not if we can help it." Ryan told her.

"They picked the wrong place to mess with." said Kenny. "Boy are they in for a shock!"

"All right. Tomorrow all thirteen of us will meet here and regroup." Riley suggested.

"Uh, I kinda can't. Gotta pack." Richie reminded him. "You know, moving day?"

"That's okay. You''ll be with us in spirit." Connie said to Richie.

"Thanks."

"What happened? I thought you weren't moving until next week." asked Devyn.

"Someone rented our house." Richie explained. "We have to clear everything out so they can come look at it. I'll be stuck in a hotel all week."

"Hey, ask your parents if you can stay at my house!" said Kenny. "Then you won't miss anything!"

"Good thinking! We can stay up all night and strategize."

"Maybe you should sleep." Flip advised instead. "I hate to be the adult here, but you can't let this take over your lives."

"But The P*lace is our lives." Robin said. "We can just let it go."

"I just want you kids to know that I really appreciate everything you've done." Flip told them. "I won't forget it. But there comes a time when you have to let go." It was a harsh reality, one he felt they were too young to have to deal with, but they needed to know.

"No, Flip's got a point." Ryan said. "We may eventually lose. But we'll go down fighting."

"Then I insist you get some sleep." Flip put his foot down.

"You should too." Riley teased. "Before you go prematurely gray."

"Oh, ha ha. Real funny."

Flip went ahead and closed The P*lace down so they wouldn't be disturbed. He really needn't have bothered. Already the flow of customers was beginning to taper off as if it was already closed. After all the hugs and the compliments were doled out, the mood turned serious as the three alumni were brought up to speed.

"Okay, I'm confused." Mickey said. "We already stopped the city from closing down The P*lace once. Now they wanna turn it into a museum? What gives?"

"Well, according to City Council," explained Flip, "they were going over old files, and The P*lace came up. They thought, if The P*lace is valuable enough to be considered a landmark, then why is it open so just anyone can walk in?"

"And it took them all this time to realize that?" Renee asked.

"Yeah, they never told us we couldn't continue using The P*lace" said Stacy.

"What we have to do," Riley said, "is put our heads together and figure out a way to stop them."

"What do you have so far?" asked Mickey.

"We're gonna show them just how many people want The P*lace to stay as it is." answered Ryan.

Gloria counted them. "Thirteen." she said. "Not exactly a lucky number."

"Are we enough?" Connie wondered.

"We're plenty!" Flip said to her. "It's not numbers that count, it's heart! No more waiting around for other people to help us. We want our P*lace back, we're gonna have to do it ourselves."

"Let's start brainstorming." suggested Richie.

"No need." Mickey said confidently. "I've got the perfect plan. Listen; all we gotta do is..."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ryan interrupted. "Who put you in charge? I thought we were all in this together."

"Well, no one else has a plan." Mickey pointed out. "Do you?" he challenged Ryan.

"Hey, fighting's not gonna help matters here." Riley quickly said. "We've only just started. We'll think of something soon."

"Yeah, and meanwhile, The P*lace will be coming down around you! We have to act now! A bunch of unorganized kids are no match for a whole city." Mickey complained.

"For what it's worth, I think we've done pretty well for 'a bunch of unorganized kids'. Of course, we didn't have your outstanding organizational skills." Ryan said sarcastically.

"Aren't you the little punk who just walked up and demanded an audition?"

Ryan bristled at being called a punk. "Oh, you just can't stand the fact that your band went on without you!"

"Uh oh. This isn't gonna be pretty." Gloria observed.

"Which is why we're staying out of it. C'mon, Stacy." Renee said, heading for the door and expecting Stacy to follow her.

She didn't. "No!" Stacy said instead.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean, I'm sick of you dragging me around like I'm your little pull toy! You drag me to school, you drag me to The P*lace, you drag me to England!"

"Do you think I liked always having to take my little sister everywhere I went? You were always slowing me down, getting on my nerves, showing me up!"

"Well, if you were any good..."

"Well, if you weren't so loud!"

The Kid laughed at that one. "You did belt them out, Stace." he said.

"I had to get loud to be heard over you!" Stacy screamed at him. "You have no room to talk, Mr. Ego That Ate Cleveland!"

"Would you all just quit with the ego stuff? I was not the only one showing off up there." Kid said accusingly

"I know you're not looking at me!" Gloria shot back.

"Why not? You always thought you were such hot stuff. Don't deny it! Got too big to be in a little band, had to go off to some high-class school."

"What's the matter, Kid? Were you jealous?"

Now, while all this was going on, the younger Kids were just standing there, mouths agape, not knowing whether they should step in or not.

"Is that gonna happen to us in 6 years?" Robin worried.

"Boy, I hope not." Kenny said.

"Well, we can't just stand here and let them fight." said Connie.

"Connie, you shouldn't get involved." Devyn told her.

"They're my friends, Devyn." Connie insisted. "I'm already involved." She crossed the room to the older Kids.

"Some people just don't know when to quit." Devyn huffed, shaking her head at Connie's retreating back.

"But she's right. We're no help." said Richie. "This could go on for hours."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Kenny asked him.

"I don't know. Stop it, I guess."

"Oh, brilliant, Richie!" scoffed Devyn.

"Well, what do you want me to do? I'm not even supposed to be here!" Richie griped.

"Yeah, you're leaving, and we'll be the ones stuck without a P*lace!" said Kenny.

"Don't say that!" Robin cried. "We're not losing The P*lace! We're not! We gotta keep trying!"

"Let's hear your great idea then, Robin." said Richie.

"That's the problem!" she said. "Everyone thinks their idea is so great, but they don't want to listen to anyone else's, and everyone wants to be in charge. They all want to be the one person who saves The P*lace."

"And you don't?" asked Kenny.

"What difference does it make who saves The P*lace, as long as it gets saved?" Robin tried to point out to him.

Riley and Flip had been waiting silently for the arguments to subside. When it became clear that they wouldn't, they knew it was time to put an end to them.

"Is it just me, or is there a lot of unresolved hostility here?" Flip commented.

"I was afraid of this." said Riley. "These kids, they all have their differences, but they always worked them out in the end. Now, I'm not so sure."

"Well, a responsible adult would jump in before it got too far." Flip said haughtily.

"Well, I guess there haven't been any responsible adults here lately." replied Riley coolly.

"Hey, my kids handle things just fine! Looks like your kids are a little hot-headed!"

"Wh-you're just a kid yourself! What do you know? Oh, and as far as hot-headed goes..."

Everyone was arguing so intently, they didn't see the man in a suit coming up to the door. He saw a roomful of people screaming at each other, looked at the piece of paper in his hand, and shook his head. He stuck the paper on the door and knocked as hard as he could. Then he left.

The noise managed to bring everyone to a dead halt. They all forgot what they were doing and ran to the door.

"To All Patrons," Mickey read. "By order of City Council, this establishment has been closed. Any person or persons seen loitering in or around this building will be prosecuted and ordered to pay a fine no less than $100. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Well. I guess the council has spoken." said Flip.

"Maybe we should have been listening." Renee said.

With The P*lace now off-limits, everyone realized how unimportant their problems seemed now. They needed a new meeting place, so Richie suggested his old house, since it was now empty. Blessedly, they all agreed. Tempers had cooled, but so many hurtful things had been said that no one really felt comfortable with speaking to each other except to exchange empty pleasantries.

Renee and Stacy, both skilled in the fine art of the silent treatment, arrived at the same time but made it clear by their body language that it wasn't by choice. Every once in a while, though, one could be caught glancing wistfully at the other. Mickey and Ryan were each acting as if the other one was invisible. It was clearly having an effect on The Kid, who was literally sitting in between the two, afraid to speak to one and lose the other's friendship. Richie couldn't get anyone to talk to him, either.

When Robin came in and saw that things were still chilly, she sighed. "See, Ana?" she said to the girl who entered with her. "I told you."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." said Ana. "It's too bad. I was looking forward to meeting everybody. This band sounded like fun."

Richie saw his chance. He approached the girls cautiously. "Are you mad at me?" he asked Robin.

"Well..."she drawled. Then she laughed. "No."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you the other day. You were right about everyone wanting to be the hero. I didn't think you'd come today."

"I wanted you to meet Ana. Ana, meet Richie. This is - I mean this was his house." explained Robin.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"So, tell me more about The P*lace." said Ana. "The name doesn't exactly tell you anything."

When the others saw Ana, Robin, and Richie getting along, they, too, decided to try and get a conversation going - but not with the person they'd originally argued with. Kid noticed Richie wasn't up on his P*lace history, so he thought he'd join that discussion.

"...and the way I heard it," Richie was saying, "The Palace was even more popular than The P*lace."

"So, when did the A burn out?" asked Ana.

"I'm not sure. It's been like that since I've been here." he said.

"It's always been out." The Kid said. "Even in my day. But we never needed it. The Palace belonged to the past, but The P*lace was ours."

"Well said, Kid." Richie replied. "Meet Robin's cousin. Ana, this is The Kid."

"That's your name?" said Ana. Both boys laughed.

"Well, no, my name's Rahsaan, but everyone calls me Kid." Kid explained. "Sounds funny now that I haven't heard it for so long."

"You were there when The P*lace was declared a landmark, weren't you? You guys must've said something pretty powerful." said Robin. "You think it'll work twice?"

"Probably not." answered Kid. "It's the same argument they're using for the museum. I'd hate to think we went through all that for nothing."

With Kid out of his seat, there was now a direct line of fire between Ryan and Mickey. Realizing this at the same time, and annoyed that even while fighting, they still thought alike, two sisters moved into position.

"Hi, Mickey." Renee said shyly. When Mickey didn't respond, she poked him and gave him a little smile.

"What am I doing here?" he asked her.

"Feeling a little lost? Don't worry, I don't really know half these kids that well, either."

"That's my point, Renee! They're the kids!" He stood up to illustrate. "I'm the big, bad grownup we're all supposed to hate. When did that happen?" He sat back down. "This little crusade was all right when I was younger, but now people expect more of me because my position's changed. No wonder they didn't want to listen to me. I feel like..."

"An outsider?" finished Renee. "Like you have something to prove?"

Mickey knew what she was getting at. "You mean like that Ryan guy."

"If it helps," she said, "we weren't all that sold on him at first, either."

"Listen to you. I still can't get over how mature you and Stacy and Kid are. You three were so small when I moved away. You've probably gotten married by now or something."

"Not quite."

"How 'bout Stacy? What's going on with her?"

"She's fine." Renee said crisply, and Mickey figured that was the end of that conversation.

"Would you just stop staring and go over there and apologize?" Ryan said to Stacy.

"I'm not staring!" insisted Stacy. "The clock's over there." she muttered. "I wanted to know what time it was."

"Five minutes since the last time you weren't staring at Renee." Ryan said.

"How would you know? You've been staring at the ceiling the whole time!"

"Yeah, what do I know? I'm a punk."

"No, you're not."

"But you didn't think that at first, did you?"

Stacy sighed. "Okay, so you were different. I'd certainly never met anyone like you. But you did us some good, you know, shook things up a little. We needed that."

"I know what I said to Mickey yesterday," Ryan began, "but I do know where he's coming from. I didn't want to believe the band wouldn't crash and burn the second I left, either. But you guys didn't just wipe me from your memories and start fresh, and I'm sure the other kids respected that. They'd never accuse me of being insulted that the band went on without me. I shouldn't have said that."

"So, why don't you go over there and apologize?" Stacy asked him.

"Why don't we go over there?" Ryan corrected.

"Oh, no!" protested Stacy. She tried to leave, but Ryan took her arm and redirected her, nearly colliding with Mickey dragging an equally stubborn Renee towards them.

"I should have known. You two haven't changed a bit!" said Mickey. "How long are you going to go on not speaking to each other this time?"

"Beats them yelling at each other." Ryan told him. "One of them gets loud, the other has to get even louder to drown her out. Pretty soon, it starts affecting the whole band."

"Oh, that's nothing!" Mickey replied. "You should have been there the time they almost destroyed the whole band!" Now that they'd stumbled onto common ground, both guys were laughing and joking like they were old friends.

For the first time that day, the two girls looked directly at each other and shared a frown. "I think we've been insulted." said Renee

"Yeah, I'm glad they can get along so well by trashing us!" added Stacy.

"You know, I've never noticed before, but they're almost the exact same person."

"And both of them make it sound like we argue all the time."

"Yet neither of them knows what it's like to have a sister."

"Are we agreeing?" Stacy realized suddenly.

"Yeah, I guess we are!" laughed Renee. She started to say "I'm sorry that-" at the same time Stacy blurted out "I didn't mean to-"

"Maybe we're the same person, too." Stacy joked. "Like that 2-headed monster on Sesame Street."

"And here we are," Renee giggled, "fighting amongst ourselves!" They laughed about that for a while until Renee realized something else. "They always went everywhere together."

"Do you think one head got tired of dragging the other one around?" Stacy asked her.

"I haven't - it wasn't always a chore taking you with me!" Renee explained. "Sometimes, I actually wanted to. I just didn't realize you felt like you were being dragged against your will. I just got so used to doing it."

"I did want to go with you most of the time." said Stacy. "It always meant a lot to me that you were willing to take me with you. But you don't have to anymore."

"Well, can you let me know when you don't want to follow me?"

"Yeah. Like right now, I have to go take care of something." She turned to go. "But you can come with me - if you want."

"Hey, look!" said Robin. "Everyone's making up."

"Not everyone." The Kid said, thinking of his part in the fight. Suddenly, Stacy walked up to him.

"Hi." she said. "What are you guys talking about?"

"The P*lace. " he answered. "Don't worry, I'm not rewriting history to make myself look good."

"That's not what I was going to say. I actually came over here to apologize. But, if you don't want to hear it, okay. C'mon, Renee." Stacy said as she turned to go.

"You know what? I'm gonna let that go because I guess you had it coming to you." mumbled Renee, following in her sister's wake.

"No, wait, Stacy!" pleaded Kid. "It was my fault for getting into your argument. Hey...did I just hear you order Renee around?"

"Yeah, I'm the head monster now." said Stacy, and Renee began giggling uncontrollably.

"Huh?"

"Forget it, I forgive you. Anyway, I shouldn't have brought you into it. You were right, the ego jokes are getting old."

"And I shouldn't have brought Gloria into it, either." said Kid. "Have you seen her?"

"She's over there with Connie." Stacy pointed.

"I hope she's all right." said Renee. "Did you see how she came to stop us yesterday? I heard her arguing with the others, and I don't even think they knew what they were fighting about."

"What have we done?" her sister asked.

Flip had been on Richie's phone for nearly an hour trying to get answers. The Muzak was like a drill whirring through his eardrum. He hadn't said a word to Riley, but he had noticed how most of the Kids seemed to flock to him. Maybe he'd been right about letting them work out their problems on their own. The P*lace's previous owner had nothing but high praise for Riley and the work that he did. You had to hand it to a guy who did 6 jobs in one and still found time, according to the Kids, for his own hobbies. So Flip gave up on the phone and swallowed his pride.

"Look, I know I haven't been one so far," he said to Riley, "but I'm going to be a responsible adult and own up to what I said. You've been great to these kids. I can only hope that someday, they'll come to me the way they do to you."

"Don't worry about it. I haven't exactly been very mature myself." Riley admitted."I mean, look at us! We're supposed to be setting an example for these kids, and they're putting us to shame. We could learn a thing or two from them."

"Do they know anything about getting off hold?" Flip joked.

"Well, let me have a shot at it."

"Sure, be my guest."

Finally, the worst was over. They were all friends again, and ready to fight for a much better cause. At the moment, they seemed to be in conference, which left Flip wondering if he should be relieved or worried. When it broke up, they sent Ana over to him.

"Um, excuse me, Flip?"

"Hi, there. I see you've been elected spokesperson. What's up?"

"Well, all us kids have been talking, and we've formulated a plan." Ana told him. "We're going to get arrested."

"WHAT?!?!?!?!?"

"Actually, we're hoping it doesn't come to that, but we're willing to take that chance." said Gloria.

"You think you can dig deep in your pockets and come up with $1200 just in case?" asked Ryan.

"No, kids, I can't let you do this!" Flip protested.

"Why not? It's all we've got left." said Richie. "Maybe this will make them pay attention."

"What're you going to do? Handcuff yourselves to the doors?" asked Flip sarcastically.

"That's not a bad idea!" Devyn said. "Know where we can find that many handcuffs?"

Flip was sure he felt a migraine coming on. "You guys..." he started to say, but realized it was useless to try and dissuade them now.

"We all do know how dangerous this is." Mickey assured him. "And we realize that we could go to jail, but this is our last resort. We just want them to understand how much we care about The P*lace."

"I'm beginning to understand now." said Flip.

Behind them, Riley had finally gotten through. "Yes, sir, that's right...uh-huh...one chance to plead our case, that's all I ask....Yeah, send him down, we'll be there....Okay...yeah, we're serious! Okay, thank you." He hung up.

"Should I be hitting the bank right about now?" Flip asked.

Riley didn't get it. "The bank? No, we need to get to The P*lace! That was the head of the museum committee. He wants to talk to you about your part in the Kids' anti-museum movement. He'll be there in half an hour."

"Well, then so will we. Let's go, guys." said The Kid.

"All right! Showdown at The KI Korral!" Kenny said, and everybody laughed.

As they were heading out the door, a car pulled into the driveway, and a couple got out. "There are children in this neighborhood!" the woman exclaimed.

"Looks like this is their hangout." her husband replied dryly.

"Can we...help you?" Richie asked.

"We're renting this house from these nice people and...oh, you must be their son! They mentioned they had a boy about Eric's age." She rapped on the car's rear window. "Eric! Take those headphones off and come say hello!" she ordered.

Eric stepped out of the car. "Hey." was all he said.

"We don't normally all hang out here." Robin told Eric's dad. "This is a special occasion, and actually, we're leaving."

"Where do you hang out?" asked Eric, suddenly interested.

"Normally, The P*lace, but it's about to be closed." answered Devyn.

"We're on our way to try and stop that from happening right now." added Ryan.

"Mom, can I go?" Eric said to his mother. "Please? If we're gonna live here, I need to learn how to get around."

"Well, all right," she said, "but don't get into any trouble." She watched as Eric joined the kids. "They seem nice," she told her husband, "but I'm not so sure about this 'place' they talked about."

"What kind of place doesn't have a name?" he wondered.

It wasn't a long walk from Richie's (or Eric's) house, but everyone still hurried. If the head of the museum committee had been there, he just might have been intimidated by the army of kids heading his way.

"Fifteen minutes to spare." said Flip. "You know, maybe it would be better if you guys weren't here. He's already mad at you. This could get ugly."

"We can't leave now." Connie said. "This is our fight, too. We have to be here."

"All right, but let me do the talking." said Flip. "And no more talking about getting arrested!"

So they waited. The longer they waited, the more nervous they got. The lack of people out on the street added an eerie silence. They were so keyed up that when a little girl walked up and asked, "Am I too late?", they all jumped.

"Where'd you come from?" asked Flip.

"I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering."

"Too late for what?" asked Ana.

"To help save The P*lace! I heard you on the radio. And I've waited, like, my whole life to be in Kids Incorporated."

"What took you so long?" Richie asked.

"I was worried you'd think I was too young."

"Never stopped me!" Stacy said from the doorway.

"Your whole life, huh?" chuckled Flip. "What's your name?"

"Haylie."

"Well, Haylie, we're all waiting on the guy who wants to turn The P*lace into a museum. We're hoping he'll reconsider, but it's not looking too good."

"You're welcome to wait here with us." added Riley.

"Uh, not trying to be rude here, but what'll we do when he shows up?" asked Eric.

"Well, we...don't really know." Flip admitted. "It depends on the committee head. If we can reason with him, then we're in luck. If not..."

"Are you prepared to get arrested?" Kenny asked Eric.

"Cool!" Eric replied.

"No one is getting arrested!" Flip insisted. "There's gotta be a way to get through to these people. We just haven't stumbled across it yet." He and Riley began discussing options.

"This place means a lot to you, doesn't it?" Ana asked Robin.

"Kids Incorporated would be nothing without it." Robin said.

"I'll say!" Haylie piped up. "You made The P*lace famous again."

Flip whirled around. "What did you just say?"

"You made The P*lace famous again?" Haylie repeated, puzzled.

"That's it"! said Flip, beginning to get excited. "Listen to what we've been saying: Kids Inc. can no longer perform at The P*lace, because it's been made a landmark because of people that played at The P*lace." They didn't follow at first.

"So...why can't you just keep using it the way they did?" Eric said.

"Exactly!" exclaimed Flip. "You're not endangering The P*lace by performing in it! That's what it's for!"

Now they all got it."Well, then, what are we all doing standing out here?" asked Mickey."You've still got your keys, don't you, Flip?"

Flip waved his keys in the air. "Sure do."

"The committee head'll be here in about 3 minutes." Riley reminded him.

"So, now you want us to get arrested?" Devyn asked.

"Devyn, by the time we're finished," Flip told her, "it'll be against the law to keep us out." He unlocked the doors. "You guys with me?" he asked everyone.

"YEAH!" they answered.