Time: Monday, 16 August
Place: Nunkies Addicts' Shrine; streets of Toronto; The Fiendish Glow
Follows: Pest Panic
Cousin Sukh is real and is used with permission.
[The Shrine, Monday, 16 August, approximately 0300 Eastern Daylight Time]
Sukh tossed and turned and opened bloodshot eyes at the sounds of the ongoing construction.
MacCousin Heather was grinding her teeth in near-sleep. Suddenly she jumped up and began a rather uncharacteristic Scot-Irish red-head temper-tantrum. The strange thing about it was the fact MacCousin had not had red hair in years.
"I canna take it anymore!!!! " she wailed. "Bang! Zap! Boom! I can't sleep!"
Sukh stared at MacCousin, waiting for her to settle down.
Lucius yawned, fluffed out his tail and went over to nibble on MacCousin's feet.
"Ow!" Heather whined, like a fussy bride-to-be. She was crankier than usual.
Lucius purred, oblivious to the pain he caused.
"I think we need to find another place to sleep," MacCousin grumbled.
"I need a drink." Sukh picked up her pillow. She had to deal with Heather worrying about wedding arrangements.
Ten minutes later, the noisy addicts were packed and ready to find night lodgings.
"Should we take the Destroyer of Pencils and Pens?" MacCousin stared at the black cat that had so generously helped them pack, by jumping into their suitcases and shedding black hair amply over their clean togas.
"Why not?" said Sukh.
Lucius walked into his kitty carrier and meowed.
Sukh and MacCousin walked out of the shrine and into the streets of the city.
"I guess I should have called a cab," grumbled MacCousin under a barrage of suitcases and a kitty carrier.
"Whew," began Sukh moving her bag from one hand to the other, "after so many escapades over the last few years you'd think running around town would get easier."
"Every escapade leads us to better understand ourselves," replied the MacCousin in an oddly philosophical tone. Ever since she had been engaged, MacCousin Heather would once in awhile murmur a wise statement or two. However these were usually interspersed with drool, wedding worries and nonsensical crossover tales about a certain spyboy on TV, a certain British agent and his arch nemesis, so whatever wise statement was said was usually lost. At any rate it was better than listening to her whine.
Sukh stared at her cohort a moment. "You're scared!" she exulted.
"Am not! Am not!" replied MacCousin, with renewed zeal in a brogue she claimed to be Scottish, but actually could also be Irish. The MacCousin used the same brogue regardless.
"You're scared of getting married."
"I am not," replied MacCousin Heather, she shrugged for a moment and continued in a small voice. "I'm just kind of worried about certain things, like uhm...the shrine as well as the other place we hang out."
Sukh looked at the renegade addict. "Have you even told Chris about your activities?"
"Uhmmm...no," replied Heather in a tiny voice. "He just thinks I belong to some secret societies."
"Argh!" grumbled Sukh, shaking her head. "He has met the Keeper/Destroyer of Pens, right?"
"Yes, he likes Lucius," replied MacCousin Heather.
"Well, you'd better tell him about NA," said Sukh, "soon!" she emphasized.
"I know," grumbled Heather. "I'm meeting up with him at the Glow later. I'll tell him then."
"Speaking of the Glow," Sukh's eyes danced a moment. "I need a drink! Let's go and annoy them!"
MacHeather grinned. "Sounds good to me, I can figure out how to explain the Shrine to Chris there!"
The two plaid-toga'ed, blue-faced women headed up the street.
"What does Nunkies think?" asked Sukh.
"I'm not sure," MacCousin made another face.
"He does know right???" Sukh asked. She and MacCousin had irked LaCroix and incurred the HP's wrath on several occasions. If Heather left LaCroix out of that knowledge loop, well..."that would be trouble."
"Yeah, I told him I was getting married," MacCousin Heather assured Sukh. "He kind of gave me that look. Sort of like when he caught us watching that show that time".
Sukh stared at Heather as she continued.
"Nunkies asked if that was what I wanted and I said more than anything. He nodded and kind of mumbled something about how almost all of his original not so vestals had abandoned the shrine and he left me there. He didn't say goodbye or anything. In fact it was worse than the time he caught us watching... well you know."
MacCousin looked sad for a moment, contemplating the loss of being single in the shrine.
Lucius meowed his concerns, luckily the glowing sign came into view.
"You did bring the spyboy tapes right?" giggled Heather.
"Wouldn't leave home without them!" Sukh grabbed the tapes from her large backpack.
*******************************
NEXT STORY: LOOK WHAT I FOUND
IN THE STREETS
*******************************