This story was requested by the same user who requested The Fox and the Hunt Saboteur, though most of it is of my invention except the ending and Lola's involvement (and by extension, the Overnight Success references). Sorry if the story is too short. Enjoy!
It was a dark and stormy... day. You weren't really thinking I was gonna start on such a cliched line, were you? Well, anyway, it was a dark and stormy day. 4:30 PM on a Wednesday afternoon, to be presice, and, as to be expected in a storm, the Louds were all inside.
Lynn Sr. was down in the basement searching for a trophy he'd won in high school and planned to show Kotaro, Rita was upstairs vacuuming the hallway, Leni was on the easy-chair painting her nails, Luna was kneeling at the coffee table writing song lyrics, Luan was unicycling around the house, Lynn was standing in the living room seeing how many times she could kick her ball without dropping it, Lucy was sitting on the living room floor writing a poem, Lana was also sitting on the living room floor and reading one of her books to all the pets in the house, Lola and Lily were having a tea party, Lisa was also at the coffee table, eating fried shrimp and solving a logic puzzle, and finally Lincoln had invited Clyde over, and both boys were sitting on the couch reading Ace Savvy comics.
"Y'know that Marty Malach boy Liam told us about last year?"", said Clyde.
"No?", said Lincoln confused.
"Remember? We tried to end up in the yearbook so we weren't forgotten like him?"
"Oh, that guy!", said Lincoln.
"Well, does he exist?", said Clyde, "I mean, we've been to Liam's farm plenty of times and never seen any evidence of a boy living behind the barn."
"True," said Lincoln, "But why would Liam lie to us?"
"No, no, I'm not saying that he was lying," said Clyde, "But he might have been telling... y'know, like a campfire story... only without the campfire. Just a story to scare us."
"Good point," said Lincoln, "Well, how about tomorrow, we'll investigate? First at school, then at the farm. Deal?"
"Deal!", said Clyde, and they shook hands.
"Wait," said Lola, "I want to investigate too. I told Mom and Dad about that time I scared Liam away by dressing him in drag, and they grounded me until I said sorry, so I think this'd be a good opportunity for me to apologise."
"Sure thing, Lola," said Lincoln, "In fact, you could even investigate at school while we're investigating at our school."
"Perfect!", said Lola.
"Come to think of it," said Lynn, "I think I'd better apologise too, for tackling what's-his-name."
"His name's Theo," said Lincoln, "And I'll give you his number so you can call up."
"And I'll write Artie a letter, apologising for scaring him on that same night," said Lucy.
"I also owe Chad an apology for attempting to do tests on him without his permission," said Lisa, "Perhaps I shall show up in person since that was a serious one."
"And while I don't strictly need to apologise to... uh...", said Lana.
"Isiah," said Lincoln,
"Isiah since it was El Diablo who chased him, I still feel partially responsible since he's my snake and all, so I feel like maybe I could show up with El Diablo to show him that he's not so bad. Get the two off to a better start."
"Good idea," said Lincoln, "Now everyone is wiping their slates clean, but what about Lily?"
"Lily?", said Lily, "What Lily do?"
"You messed your diaper and scared away Dominic," said Lincoln, "But don't feel bad-- it was a year ago and you were just a baby."
"Maybe I'll bring Lily over to Dominic's house," said Luan, "And show him that Lily's actually a very sweet little girl."
"Good plan," said Lincoln, and he wrote down the details of the five boys and handed them to Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lisa, and Luan respectively.
The next day at school, during recess time, Lincoln and Clyde met up with Lynn in the schoolyard.
"Hey, Lynn," said Lincoln, "Is there anyone named Marty Malach in your class?".
"No," said Lynn.
"OK," said Lincoln, "Thanks anyway. Goodbye."
They walked back inside the building and decided to ask Principal Ramierez about Marty, but she was too busy to be of any use.
They asked Meryl, but she wasn't too sure about whether a boy with that name attended the school, although she did have a vague memory of a girl named Mindy Malach attending the school two years ago.
Meanwhile, at Royal Woods Elementary, Lola was doing some investigating of her own.
It was recess time, and the school faculty were all eating and drinking in the teachers' lounge.
Lola saw this opportunity to run into Principal Huggins's office and search through the files.
Last year, she'd had trouble reading, but now, she was an average reader for her age, thanks in part to Lincoln's teachings during the library incident.
Therefore, she had no difficulty searching through the various student files.
"Now," Lola thought, "If he was brought up last year, but had graduated the year before, that means he was a student two years ago."
So she looked under the section for students from two years prior, and looked under M., and she did indeed find an entry for the name Malach, but the first name had a tea stain on it.
"Dang it!", she said.
She then looked through the photos of students from two years ago, specifically the fifth-grade class, and did indeed see a photo of a boy, albeit a small one, with the caption Marty M., but there was no telling what that last initial stood for.
"Well, at least we got both names," quipped Lola, then she made a dash for it before Principal Huggins caught her snooping around in his office.
After school, the three amateur detectives met at Liam's barn.
Lola had taken off her gloves and tiara and changed into the blue jumpsuit and white sneakers she'd worn that time she took the fall for all her siblings' misdeeds to apologise for blackmailing them. The outfit was a bit snug on her, since she hadn't worn it for a year, but it still fit.
"What have you found," she asked.
"Well," said Clyde, "Not much."
"Yeah, there was a Malach at our school a while back, but she was a girl named Mindy."
"There was a Marty and a Malach at our school," said Lola, "But I couldn't quite tell if they were the same person. In his student file, the first name had a tea stain on it, and on the portrait, it said, Marty M., but I didn't know what the M stood for."
"Well, you did a good job anyway," said Lincoln, and they went behind the barn.
They searched, but they couldn't find any houses there, though there was a property line, behind which was another farm, and a sign saying, "No Tresspassers".
Perhaps this was Marty's place?
They sat on the fence, watching for any sign of activity, and eventually saw a boy that looked very similar to the one in the photo Lola saw.
"That's him!", she said excitedly.
"What?", said the boy, surprised, "Who?!".
He was lanky and Caucasian, with scruffy brown hair, glasses, a green T-shirt, and baggy blue jeans.
"Marty Malach!", said Lola.
"Yes, that is my name," said Marty, "But what are you doing?".
"Oh," said Lincoln, "Our friend told me about you but he said it in an ambiguous way, so we were trying to find out if you existed. I hope you're not offended."
"No, not at all," said Marty with a chuckle, "And who might you be?"
"I'm Lincoln," said Lincoln, "And this is my friend Clyde and my sister Lola."
"Don't worry," said Lola, "I normally never wear this drab outfit: I just didn't want to get my gown dirty."
"Well," said Marty, "How about you pop 'round and meet my family. You can bring Liam too."
"We'd love to," said Lincoln.
And so, they all went into the house, with Liam accompanying them.
As it turned out, Mindy was Marty's older sister, a tubby girl with blonde hair and a blue sundress.
He also had a father named Matty and an uncle named Manny who had Marty's dark hair and glasses and were identical twins but you could tell them apart becuase Matty wore a grey shirt and Manny a white one.
Marty and Mindy's mother was named Marla, and she was a skinny blonde who looked rather like an older version of Lana.
And finally, they had a pet Border Collie, whose name was Marshall.
"So, why weren't you in the yearbook?", said Clyde.
"I was homeschooled a lot," said Marty, "To help on the farm."
"That makes sense," said Lincoln.
"And Liam," said Lola, "So sorry about giving you a princess makeover."
"No worries," said Liam, "It was actually pretty funny looking back."
"Now, who's up for hot chocolate?", said Matty.
"YES!!", said everyone else in unison.
And so they all had hot chocolate.
The end