Hangers On

Diego drops them on the street where Maricruz lives.

Thank you, Diego, says Kong. Enjoy your whistle class.

I hope you find your spiders, says Diego. If you do, please send me a photo.

Certainly, says Kong. What's your number?

They exchange numbers, and Diego drives off to his whistle class.

Now, Baby Pierre, says Gaius. Which house is it?

That one, with pink curtains, says Baby Pierre. I should go first.

Why? says Terence.

Because she knows me, says Baby Pierre. She doesn't know any of you.

He marches up to the the front door of Maricruz's house, and starts knocking.

Nina opens the door.

Baby Pierre! cries Nina. Come in! We're having hot chocolate with churros.

Baby Pierre goes inside, and doesn't come out again.

Now what? says Kong.

We can't wait forever, says Gaius. It's getting dark. I say we go round the back and see if Daniel O'Connell has found his relatives.

Yes, they may be in the garden shed, says Kong. Quietly does it.

They tiptoe round the back, but Terence is not being quiet.

Crunch crunch!

An upstairs window opens and a child's head appears. It's Feebee.

Gaius and Kong are obscured by the garden shed, but Feebee spots Terence.

Bebe-jesús! ! cries Feebee. Stay there, Bebe-jesús! I'm coming!

No way, mutters Terence.

There are sounds of gaiety emitting from under the door cracks and window gaps of the garden shed.

Irish gaiety.

Tara-diddley dee!

Gaius peers in through an ivy-covered window.

Look at this, Kong, says Gaius. Tell me that they're not related.

It's not PROOF though, says Kong.

Let's go in, says Gaius. He pushes the door. Squeak-squoo!

The music stops. The Lola Montezes stop dancing.

So do the James Joyces.

And then Feebee appears, in pyjamas.

I'm not allowed down here, says Feebee.

And this is WHY! says a stern woman's voice.

Sorry, Grandma, says Feebee. I saw a Bebe-jesús.

You didn't, says Terence.

Feebee looks at her Grandma.

This will be Baby Pierre's parrot-obsessed friend, Terence, says Maricruz, and you gentlemen will be the ungrateful hangers-on he was telling us about. Have you found Daniel O'Connell? I hear he's been having a romantic adventure.

She shines a torch round the garden shed.

It lights up Daniel O'Connell and White Slits, their fifteen legs romantically entangled.