GETTING THE SHIVERS

                                   Getting the Shivers 
   "On Harold! On Jerry! On Stu and Dipsy! On Georganne! On Geraldine! On Reba
and Tipsy!"
   "Murdock," Amy admonished, from behind the wheel, "I got you animal
crackers at the store because you promised to behave on the ride home, not so
you could make a mess out of the upholstery. Do you want me to take those
away?"
   "No ma'am," Murdock said, quickly tucking his giraffe and tiger sled team
back into the box.
   "OK. Do me a favor and check to see if we got everything. Videos?"
   "Check."
   "Frozen pizza?"
   "Check."
   "Duster to replace the one 'Billy' devoured?"
   "Check."
   "Soda?"
   "That's a big ten-four."
   "All right, good," She nodded, even as she pulled into the driveway at the
condo where the Team was currently holed up.
   It was a nice place; one of the best Face had ever scammed. And since Amy's
coverage of their latest mission had gotten her a front page spot, she'd
decided to throw a little party at her expense.
   Face met Murdock and Amy at the car and tagged them all the way to the
house. "Did you get another duster? We've got to be out of here in two days
and the people who live here are total neat freaks, believe me they will miss
that duster. And it wasn't one of the cheap kinds Billy got to either, I hope
you didn't buy one of those 99 centers at the market because..."
   "Thanks for holding the door for me, Face" Amy grumbled, pushing past him
and into the kitchen.
   "Yes, but what about.."
   "I got your damn, $29.95, duster!" She exclaimed, pulling it out of the
bag. "What in God's name is wrong with you? You sound like you're on speed."
   "We had a Decker alert. Turned out to be nothing. But Face decided to pop
some
headache medication anyway," Hannibal said, helping Amy put stuff in the
fridge.
   "I think he had a little too much."
   "Well it wasn't so much the ibuprofen as it was the wine he drank it down
with."

   That night they sat back, relaxed and popped in The Tingler; a 50's horror
flick starring Vincent Price, albeit without the Percepto vision that had made
it so popular in theaters. 
   Murdock came into the living room, bearing beverages just as the 'bloody
bath' scene finished up. "Who wants soda?" he sang.
   "What kind?" Face asked, looking a little pale.
   "Strawberry."
   "I...I think I'll go check on the pizzas now," he said making a dash for
the kitchen, closely followed by Hannibal, who was looking a little green.
   Murdock flopped down on the plush couch next to Amy. "Sheesh, you'd think
people who dealt with violence on a regular basis could handle a little scary
movie, right B.A? B.A?"
   B.A's eyes were quite wide and he looked rather sick.
   They were just reaching the part where Price's character had extracted the
centipede-like Tingler from a corpse and promptly let it escape.
   Amy was on the edge of her seat, biting intensely on a fingernail.
   "'The Tingler is loose in the theater,'" Price gasped from on-screen, "'The
only way to get him out of you is to scream! Scream for your life! If you
don't scream the Tingler will kill you!'" 
    Face and Hannibal were in the kitchen area, slicing up the pizzas, when
they heard a blood-curdling shriek. They ran into the living room where they
saw Amy angrily beating Murdock with a decorative pillow.
   "What the heck is going on here?"
   "He put ice down my shirt!" she pointed an accusing finger at the pilot.
   "I had to-Ow!-or the Tingler-Ow!-would have gotten her! Ow! Amy cut it out!
Tell 'em
B.A! Didn't I have to?" He begged his friend for support, even as he fended
off angry whacks.
   But all B.A did was giggle.