"You're all doomed!" he shouted at them as he pedaled down the same road Dorf had taken moments ago, "You're all doomed!"

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They debated calling the police about Ralph, but it was a very short debate. Ned pointed out that they'd probably just send out Dorf again. And if was a case of putting up with Ralph or Dorf, they'd probably be better off with Dorf. In any case, 'the mad prophet of Crystal Lake,' as Ned had christened him, seemed to have vacated the premises and they had decided to forget about it. Jack especially wasn't anxious to give Dorf any reason to search through their belongings. He decided he should probably give some serious thought to finding a safe place for his stash, just in case.

They started dinner with Brenda tossing a salad and Jack frying hamburgers. It had been a long day and they were all starved. The clouds started rolling in as Steve had predicted and it looked as if it was going to storm.

"Who likes 'em rare?" Jack called from the grill.

"Me!" said Marcie.

Brenda made a face and shuddered.

"How can you guys eat that stuff?" she said, "It looks like dead animals."

"Dead animals?" Ned looked her in mock disgust, "That's old counselors. You cannibals!"

"Well," said Brenda, serving the salad, "if you would mix all this stuff right, you get all the protein you need."

"Too bad Annie never showed up," said Bill, raising the top half of his bun and peering dubiously at his hamburger, "She was supposed to be quite a good cook."

"Yeah, but don't expect me to play chef to you guys," said Marcie.

"Uh oh," groaned Ned, "The squaws are revolting."

Marcie threw a bun at him. It was starting to get dark as the storm approached and Alice reached up to pull the string attached to the light fixture. The light didn't come one. She pulled the string several times with no result.

"Trouble?" Bill said.

"Yeah," said Alice, "Either a bad bulb or no power. Seems a little gloomy in here."

"Steve taught me how to use the emergency generator," said Jack, "The town power lines are supposed to be real lousy."

"God, don't you love that macho talk?" Joked Ned. He lowered his voice. "Emergency generator."

Jack wished he'd give it a rest. The more he was around Brenda, the sillier Ned got. It had become obvious to everyone that Ned really liked her but he was acting like a little kid. If Brenda had pigtails, Ned would probably be following her around with an inkpot.

"You want to give me a hand?" Jack asked Bill, shaking his head in resignation.

"yeah, let's go." Bill rose from the table.

"Wait for me," said Brenda.

"Neddie, can you watch the burgers?" Jack said.

"Sure."

"Burn 'em." Brenda grimaced.

Alice handed Ned some buns.

"You want to heat these?"