A.J. stretched out on the sofa in Howie's house. He was wondering where Howie was. Howie had told him over an hour ago to relax while he ran to the store to get some soda.

The door swung open and A.J. jumped up to find out where Howie had been.

"Yo, D, where've ya been?" A.J. exclaimed.

"A.J., shuttup and move," Howie sternly commanded him.

Howie walked in with his back to the doorway. A.J. was even more confused and curious. Then he saw Brian. Brian was either unconscious or dead. His body was bruised and swollen, but limp. Howie had his head and Nick had his feet. Kevin was walking behind looking really concerned and ready to cry. They carried Brian the rest of the way in and placed him on the sofa, where A.J. had been two minutes ago. Kevin and Nick walked back out to the cars to get the soda from Howie's car and the food from Kevin's.

"Now, seriously, Howie, what happened?"

"Well, I was driving to the store when I saw Brian and this guy trying to take on a team of, like, seven really tall and tough guys at the court by the old school. So I decided to go over there. I turned into the lot and parked. I got of my car just in time to see the end of the game. Brian and the kid won! I, no offense to them, was surprised that they actually beat them. Well, you guys all know how he is: he's polite. So after they won, Brian tried to shake their hands and he plainly said, 'Nice game,' to each one of them. They thought he was mocking and taunting them so they beat him up. The kid just ran away. Then Brian was knocked unconscious and they left. I walked over to him and tried to get him up, but he wouldn't wake up. So I dragged him to my car. When I got here, Kevin and Nick had just pulled up. Kevin was too stunned to help, so Nick helped me carry him in here, and now we're up to the present. What should we do?" Howie said.

"Let's take him to the hospital," Nick said.

"No, they don't know him here in Orlando. And Brian hates hospitals. I promised him when he was eight and in the hospital with a broken leg that I would do anything I possibly could to keep him out of hospitals from then on. Plus, they might have to do something special because of his heart. We obviously can't take him to Lexington. Let's call Lou." Kevin said.

"Why? I really don't want to get involved that fat, old guy again!" Nick asked.

"Respect your elders, Nick. Besides, Lou can find that guy they put with Brian that watched him so he could save Brian if something happened to his heart when we were on tour. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah!"

A.J. grabbed his cell phone, and they all ran out the door. Kevin, A.J., and Howie all piled into Howie's car, waved to Nick who was going to watch Brian while they were gone, and sped off to "Big Poppa's" house. A.J. phoned Lou as they drove.

"Hey, Mr. LJP!. . .okay. . .because we have an emergency is why we called!. . .Brian's unconscious. . . .he got beat up!. . . .Where's the heart guy that toured with us? . . .uh-huh . . .you want us to call Conrad?. . .Okay. . . See ya." A.J. clicked the phone off.

A.J. dialed the number of their barely English-speaking, German bus driver. "Hello, Conrad. This is A.J. We want to talk to Brian's heart doctor that toured with us. . .Okay. Thanks. Bye." A.J. clicked the phone off.

"Here, Kevin, you talk to him," A.J. said as he finished dialing the number.

"Um, okay," Kevin said as he took the phone.

"Hi, this is Kevin Richardson. . .Yes . . .My cousin has fallen unconscious. Will you help him? . . .You will? . . .Okay. Where are you? . . .We'll pick you up . . .See you then . . . bye."

They continued down the road in silence.

Howie broke the silence and said, "Well, I need to know where to pick him up. Aren't you going to tell me?"

"Oh, yeah! He's at the hospital. He should be waiting in the lobby," Kevin said.

"Gotcha!" Howie said.

"What?!" A.J. exclaimed.

"What?" Howie asked, very confused.

"You said, 'Gotcha!' and you're, like, twenty-five!" A.J. tried to explain.

"So?" Howie asked.

"Well, Howard, the rest of the world stops saying that when they're in kindergarten," A.J. rudely commented.

"Get off my back," Howie whined.

"Why did we let a dork into our group?" A.J. asked Kevin.

"So that he could sing the high notes, okay? Now leave him alone. We have to get help to Brian. You two are ragging on each other twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and you never tire of it! Take your long awaited break from it!!"

A.J. hung his head. Howie was concentrating on the road. Finally they reached the hospital and A.J. got out and ran into the lobby.