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More Naughties and an Unwelcome Customer

The dawn sunlight crept into the window slowly and Bea opened one eye. Mae was curled up in a fetal position, her back against Bea's stomach and she realized that - technically speaking - they were spooning. But she just smiled as she gingerly wriggled down to the foot of the bed and drew the window closed. It was pretty chilly.

"Nice view!" Mae said from behind her.

"Mae! Don't look at me like that!"

"Only part I could see! Say, can we take a bath together like the old days?"

"Jeeze Mae, I think we're a bit too old for that by now, don't you?"

Mae shrugged. "Well, it's either that or be late to work I expect. Or I could give myself a tongue bath. Maybe you'd like to watch?"

"Mae! Don't... well. Okay, I guess. But I'm not washing your ass or anything weird like that. Don't get any ideas."

"Already have em. But don't worry. I promise i won't rape you."

The bath was, frankly, awkward as hell for Bea. Appendages found themselves in unaccustomed places and the bath was far too small for two fully grown women. But Mae seemed to have a good time, and it was nice to see her smiling again. Like she used to. So Bea just swallowed her pride and tried not to stare too much.

"Hi Mr. Santello!" Mae said cheerily to her dad as they came into the little kitchenette and sat at the small table a while later.

"Mae! I thought I heard a familiar voice in the bathroom. A sleepover?"

"Yeah. I had a bad dream last night and Bea kept me company."

"Well, I'd better put a couple more eggs on!"

"Thanks Mr. Santello."

"Got some mulch coming in today, Dad. Mae and Germ are going to help me set up the display."

"Ah. Yeah, it's time for mulch for sure. You want me to come in?"

"Thanks, but no. We can handle it."

"Okay. I'll clean up around the place later."

"I put a bunch of towels around the bathroom floor. We kinda made a mess. Don't want it leaking down to Mrs. Jamerson's apartment downstairs."

"No problem. I'll get them dried later with the other laundry."

A few minutes later, Mae and Bea had plates set before them and they both set about devouring them eagerly. Mr. Santello sat in the other chair with them, looking back and forth.

"Oh, it does me good to see you two together again. I remember when Mae used to stay over all the time. Back in the old house of course."

"It was nice," Mae agreed between bites. "But this is good too!"

"Free food always tastes best," Bea noted with a little sarcasm, but if Mae picked up on it, she didn't show it and just nodded agreement.

"Free food I don't have to cook!"

"Ah, it's our pleasure, right Bea?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"How are the flower sales going? Seems like they should be getting really popular now."

"Pretty good, but some of the petunias are dying already," Bea replied with a dark look on her face. "I'm not sure we got a very good delivery from the nursery on those."

"You want me to have a talk with them? There's plenty of other suppliers you know."

"Na, I'll talk to them."

The two Santellos talked on for a bit about the Pickaxe, and then Bea stood up.

"Well, we've got to get going Dad. See you tonight," she said as she hugged her father and he kissed her.

Mae took Bea's hand as they left the apartment and began the short walk to the pickaxe.

"Mae! Jeeze, we just slept together and took a bath together! You want a fucking ring?"

"Hold my hand or I'll take to the high wires."

"That's extortion."

"Yup!"

Bea held Mae's hand all the way. Germ was waiting at the door.

"Good morning, Bea," said the little bird.

"Morning Germ!" Mae said cheerfully.

"Hey Germ. Sorry we're late. Mae slept over last night."

"No problem. Nobody here yet."

The day passed pretty uneventfully, all things considered with Mae in the Pickaxe. A bag of mulch got ripped and spilled on the floor, but she cleaned it up without having to be told and even bagged it so Bea could still sell it at a bit of a discount. Her apology was immediate and sincere.

"It happens," Bea said, trying her level best not to even imply the thought that immediately finished the sentence, "especially with you around."

"Hey Bea," Mae said later in a quiet tone a little before closing time.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to ask Gregg and Angus about going back into the mine. Tomorrow night at practice."

Bea closed her eyes. Her Adult Responsibility Alarm was going off like crazy, but on the other hand, she knew this needed to happen. If they found nothing, at least knew they had tried. If they found... something... well, the police would certainly believe that Gregg and Mae had talked them into it. And somebody sure as hell had better be responsible. It was dangerous, but in another sense it was the right thing to do. For Casey.

"Yeah. But let's tell Germ too. He's got lots of stuff... like, ropes and stuff. We will probably need it. Plus we should probably go in by the well near his house."

"Okay. I wasn't sure how much you wanted him involved."

Bea shrugged. "Mae, to be honest, I trust him more than you and Gregg. I like you, but you're a little..."

"Unstable?"

"Yeah. Especially the last time we were down there."

"I'll be better this time. I promise."

"Okay then, yeah. We'll tell them tomorrow at practice.'

"Don't you mean ask?"

"Mae, this isn't only about you. We all knew Casey. It was just a matter of time before we had to do this. We all thought the police or somebody would find him... and the others. But they haven't, and nobody seems to care anymore. We know what happened to them. We have to go. I think we all know that. If we're not going to tell anybody, then we're responsible."

The door opened. A late customer. Mae and Bea broke up and Bea went back behind the counter while Mae went through the door in back to the warehouse with Germ.

Bea watched the customer going up and down the aisles out of the corner of her eye. She didn't want to pry, but he seemed odd. Like he wasn't looking for anything in particular. Then she saw the phone he was trying to conceal in one hand. He was taking a video, and by the way he was traversing the floor, it seemed he intended to capture her entire inventory. Strange.

She got up from behind the counter and approached the man.

"Can I help you?"

His eyes looked up. He was a gator too - she'd noticed the tail when he'd come in - but he was a lot older than she'd first thought. And close up she noticed the quality of his clothes. Certainly not a local with clothes like that. City Slicker, the residents of Possum Springs would have called him.

"Sorry, are you Beatrice Santello?"

"I am. And you are...?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not at liberty to say just yet. You could say I'm a researcher though."

"A researcher?"

"Yes. I assure you, as soon as I'm at liberty to explain, you'll be glad to know me!"

Bea's eyes narrowed. She was far from certain she liked this guy. The jovial smile looked a little too contrived, even in the aged reptilian face.

"Well, tell you what, Mr. Researcher. How about you research your way right out of my store? How about that? You want to get a video of me kicking you out? Because if you don't stop that damn thing and get the fuck out of my store, you're going to get it!"

"Hold on Ms. Santello! Please, just give me a few more minutes and I'll be leaving!"

"So you can get ALL of my inventory on that damn video. I don't know what you're game is, mister, but until you want to tell me what this is all about, it's not going to happen. Now get out please. I don't want to be known as someone who kicks the elderly in the ass..."

"Elderly?"

"Old fart? Is that better? Let me put this in a way you might understand... GET OFF MY LAWN!"

With that, the old man left in a huff. Mae and Germ were just coming in from the warehouse and she looked at the clock. 5 till closing. Close enough for Possum Springs. She locked the door.

"What was that all about? Shouting at the customers again?" Germ chuckled.

"Weird ass guy taking videos of all the shelves. No idea what the hell that was all about!"

"Oh shit," Bea suddenly thought. Her eyes grew wide and she ran out of the door, looking both ways down the street, but the old gator was nowhere in sight.

"What?" Mae and Germ asked as she went back in.

"He might have been from the government. State or Federal or something. And I just called him an Old Fart!"

Germ - always ready for a conspiracy - took a militant stance of course. "We'll blockade the windows! I'll go get my guns!"

"Germ. No."

"A pistol?"

"No Germ. We're not going to try and fight off the government."

"Why do you think he was... somebody like that?" Mae asked.

"Nice threads. Older guy, and he smelled of cologne. Who puts on cologne in Possum Springs?"

"I wear Old Spice," Germ said proudly.

"Germ, it wasn't Old Spice."

"Well, I suppose if it was somebody important, you'll know soon enough."

Bea sat down behind the counter as Germ began turning off the lights, leaving just the overnight lights on.

"Maybe you should lawyer up," Mae suggested.

Bea looked at her, but her worried face hadn't budged. "Mae, you can't fight city hall. Or whoever that guy was. Damn. I might have just fucked up big time!"

"Well, nothing to be done about it now," Mae said. "How about we go get some pizza?"