Odyssey

What were the old biddies going to do? How did this get out of hand? They needed to stop this before it was too late. But how were they going to go about this?

Lewis made it over to Muriel’s house in an hour. All four biddies sat in the living room. No one spoke up at first. The farmer threw up her hands.

“I don’t know what I am supposed to do here,” she said.

“What happened to her last boyfriend? What was his name again?” Lily asked. Lewis threw up her hands in a shrug.

“Hell, if I know anymore,” she said. The leader gave her an uneasy look with her language use.

“So what do ya want to do with ‘er?” Clyde asked. Lewis leaned back on the couch and shook her head. Muriel could feel her pain. She didn’t know what she was doing either.

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It took work to put the hot chocolate machine together. Annie did most of the work. She set it up on the back counter. The café owner started looking around behind it.

“How do I plug this thing up?” she asked. Crusher gave her a curious look.

“Do you need help, auntie?” he asked. Annie looked up at her nephew staring at her.

“Sure,” she said. “Come over here and help me get this plugged up.”

“Okay,” the boy said. He came over to his aunt’s side and looked with her to find the cord. She felt along the back for the cord while he moved it from side to side.

“Be careful with it!” Annie said.

“Yes, ma’am,” the young man said. He kept turning the machine back and forth. His aunt did her best to keep it still as she looked.

“Excuse me,” a woman’s voice said at the counter. Annie turned to her nephew.

“Deal with the customer while I work with this,” she said. Crusher blinked at her.

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yes, yes, go deal with them,” Annie said waving him off.  The boy shrugged and walked over to the petite woman at the counter. The poor customer clenched her teeth as she had to deal with the oak tree of a mannish boy.

“How can I help you today?” Crusher asked. The woman shivered as she looked up at the boy.

“One tea… please?” she asked.

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Tre and Juliet poked their heads around the corner. Lewis lifted her head.

“Oh,” she said. Muriel turned her head. The other two old biddies looked just as confused.

“When did your children get here?” Lewis asked.

“Oh, we got here last night,” Juliet said. “He just tagged along from the train station.” Tre had a sheepish look on his face.

“Er…” he mumbled to himself.

“Why are you here, if you don’t mind me asking?” Lily spoke up. Tre turned his head away.

“Well, I came to say that Greg left me and I’m moving closer to Brit-Wales,” Jules admitted.

“And I just dumped,” Tre mumbled. Maybe he hoped that no one heard him. He had no such luck.

“What was that?” Clyde blurted out. Tre whipped his head around. All eyes were on him now.

“Who was it this time?” Lewis asked? Tre buried his head in his hands.

“Said her name’s Carla,” Muriel said with her hands on her hips. Her poor son wished that he could make himself vanish. At least it couldn’t get any worse, right?

Wrong.

End