CHAPTER 41 - SUCH A PICKLING AND SCHICKELING SITUATION

EOHOPS HOUSE - TWO DAYS LATER

KITCHEN

EDNA

Now that Lindsay has moved in with Lynette, which to be honest is the best place for her, we are getting another tenant. Matthias told us last night. Whilst Carlton is at school, I have cleaned the house and prepared lunch. When the doorbell rings, I look out the window, but before I can move towards the door, he is running back down the path. “Shit!” I exclaim, but in my haste fumble the keys, losing valuable seconds! 

Now I may be of an age, but I didn’t spend my time doing nothing in jail. I can get quite a lick on if I need to! “Get back here!” I bellow, as I close in on him. I almost grab his flapping jacket, so launching myself I knock him to the ground. 

“Ooof! What the…” He grunts.

“Not a fucking word!” I snarl, before managing to grab an arm and pin it high behind his back. “I will break it!” He goes still immediately. “There’s a good felon.” I shift myself until I know I can get the both of us up without him getting out of my grasp. Whilst I am standing, he is on his knees. “Name!”

“Edna?” My head shoots up at Slick’s voice. “What is going on?”

“Our tenant was trying to escape!” I push his arm higher, and he hisses. “You won’t be doing that again, will you?!”

“Darling Edna, let him up!” Slick tugs on mine. Whilst frowning, I do lower his a bit. “This is Hiram Pickles. The reason he was trying to ‘escape’ was to give me, as his sponsor, a hug.”

“Spon...oh, I am so sorry! Reflex!” I quickly release him. He edges closer to Slick before standing up and gingerly rotating his arm. “Shall we go get some coffee?”

“Yeah, let’s do that!” Slick laughs. “And you, Hiram, can tell us first hand how miserable you made him after they left!”

HONEYCUTT’S HOUSE OF FOOD - EARLY AFTERNOON

TWINKLE

“Why can’t I move like he does?” I sigh as I watch Snook glide effortlessly from one side of the room to the other. 

“Now don’t pout.” Grimm chides. “It’s just a matter of practice. Besides, he’s a trained gymnast, remember?” I nod. “Tell you what, why not serve me a plate?” 

I head to the table and get him some nibbles. We’ve been going through the running order and doing more tastings for the fundraiser. Lindsay and Aunt Sandy are going over the placings, and I’m glad that people are forgiving her, even though Aunt Sandy was surprised to get a letter. I head back to Grimm, but he’s disappeared. Putting the plate down, I decide to get a drink for him too.

“Who prepared this?” Lindsay asks; scrutinising it.

“I did. Why, what’s wrong with it?” I return.

“Nothing, it’s perfect!” She beams, before taking a picture of it. “Need to send this to Emmett.”

“How many times must I tell you, it’s Ems!” He states as he comes in, hand in hand with George. “Now what do you want to show me?” 

“This.” She points at the plate. “Twinkle did it.” 

“You did, sweetie?! Right, servers gather around! Chop-chop! Twinkle, show them how it’s done!” 

I am about to start when my phone vibrates. I take it out and grin. it’s from Grimm...whilst he glides, you finesse perfectly. Love you xxx

BRITIN

BACK GARAGE

JUSTIN

Shaking my head, I sigh as I take in the sight in front of me. The RV was at Slick’s emporium, as usual, but we’re going on a road trip this weekend, so Brian wants to pack it in advance. It was so great to fix it up together, but our first road trip was a disaster. There wasn’t enough storage for all the things he wanted to bring, so we ended up mostly arguing and bumping into the three cases he insisted on bringing. We argued so much that we ended up coming back early. Slick was so unimpressed by our mithering, that she took it off us! And no amount of pleading and begging would get it back until three weeks later, when we discovered that she had gotten us a caboose to hook onto it. 

“Brian?” I call out.  Although I can hear him, I can’t see him.

“In here!” He yells, then sticks his head out of the caboose. “Bring that first pile, please!”

The first pile is a load of toiletries, which would be fine, if we didn’t already have toiletries in the main RV. “Brian, why have…”

“Do you want to run buck naked to shower off if we have fun in here?” He cocks his head.

“Okay, fair point, but we don’t need all of these. Can we cut it down a bit?” He steps out, then looks at what he’s taken out for our trip. “Darling…” He winces. “...okay, Stud. It’s three days, I fully intend for you to be naked for most of it. At best, you need one extra pair of jeans, a couple of tops, and a dinner outfit. Wait, let me finish, that way we can pack extra blankets, as the temperature is going to drop markedly at night.”

“Markedly, you say?” He looks again at the piles. “Said it before, and will say it again, smart and beautiful.”

EOHOPS HOUSE - SAME TIME

KITCHEN

EDNA

I am still chortling over what Hiram did to the idiot, which was to render him mute. He never said a word in the lead up to his release. Hiram would just look at him, and whatever he was going to say, would not come out. He made sure that he was always close to him in the showers, served his food every time; just kept psychologically busting his nuts! 

“How can I help?” Hiram asks, having been napping.

“You all settled in?” He nods. “As for the help, help yourself to some food. There’s roast chicken, veg and potatoes in the warmer, salad in the fridge.” 

“Thanks. Did you and Slick eat before?” He asks. I shake my head. “Can I set you up a plate?”

“That would be great, thanks. Just some chicken, veg and potatoes. I could never understand the appeal of salad!”

“Me neither.” He laughs. Once he sets down the plates, I take out glasses for the juice, smiling as I pour and watch him dig in with relish. “Been a long time since I had some good chicken. Veg and potatoes, they gave us, but the protein was what I really missed. A nice big juicy dripping with fat burger with cheese and bacon. And triple cooked fries.”

“Done.” I declare, wiping my mouth.

“What’s done?” He frowns.

“Dinner tomorrow night. Let me see here, your meeting with the board is at 1100, so we could meet after that and do some shopping.”

“Are you serious?!” He exclaims.

“Yes. That’s my shopping day. Matthias, that’s Slick’s brother, has put me in charge of the house.” He leaps off the seat and opens the fridge. “You need a pen and paper?”

“Yes!” 

EMMETT’S BRITIN COTTAGE - EARLY EVENING

LOUNGE

EMMETT

“Oh...oh...oh! Yep-yep!” I shriek as he sucks me to heaven, I slump back on the sofa to get my breath back. “Exquisite, your turn!”

“Nope, an old man like me could not possibly take that!” Georgie smiles as he gently cleans me up. “Red or white?”

“A cuddle, please.” I shuffle towards the edge of the sofa and he squeezes in behind me, then covers us with a blanket. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“You’re going back to California?” He whispers.

“Would you miss me?” I keep my tone neutral...but my hopes high.

“Every day.” He sighs into my neck.

“You could always visit at the weekends, or…”

“Or you could visit?” 

“Not quite. I was thinking more along the lines of moving back.”

“Where would you live though?” He sits up and I turn to face him.

“Here until I find a permanent place, but that takes time, and with everything that we’ve got coming up I don’t know when I will find it.”

“First things first, where do you want to live?” 

“As much as I love the hustle-bustle of Liberty Avenue and Cali, I just want quiet when I finish my day. The cabin is lovely, but too far away. I love this place, but feel like I am intruding. I don’t know anywhere else that well.”

“I can help you to look. And in the meantime, why not test an area to see if it really suits you?”

“Where?” I lament.

“My house?”

“Your house?” I repeat.

“Yes, mine.” He strokes my chin, my starting-to-wobble chin. “Would you like that?”

“Yes I would, very much.” I sniff, before disasbusing him of the notion that he couldn’t take a blow job like that!