More Cups of Tea
By: The Glorious Cheshire Cat
Disclaimer: Okay, you lot know the drill. I own nothing. This is a response to the other one sentence plots of Charlotte A. Cavatica. This time there will be at least one plot of my own. The one shots are in random order as they are in my Little Book of Plots in which I have written them all down. You can stick them in wherever you feel they belong in my other story Cups of Tea. Ta. –Ches.
#1
Ring
She looked around sneakily, not fully understanding why she was looking around to make sure no one was looking.
It's not like what she was about to do was illegal; it was just a little uncomfortable to be watched as she did it.
The beggar was dozing in his spot on the corner, his cup resting between his knobby knees.
She glanced around once more before walking by and letting it fall from her fingers with a few quarters.
Her pace picked up and she rounded the corner on her way home for the day.
Ari stuck her head out of the kitchen when Alice entered. "You look lighter. Have you finally gotten rid of that hateful reminder of the past and spineless lizard?"
Alice hung up her coat. She sighed. "I did. But I didn't sell it or anything like that."
Ari wiped her hands on the hand towel she had hung from her belt. "Of course you didn't, Alice. You've no need for money, and if you did, I'd like to think you'd come to me or Zeek before selling anything off."
"You know I would. Is there anything I can help with to make dinner?" Alice questioned.
Ari waved Alice towards the living room. "No, no. I've got it. You go read more of that book. Jervis wanted you to read it after all, and we both know that you enjoy it."
Alice smiled and went to do as told.
Ari just smiled, shook her head, and went back to making dinner.
Later that week, Ari sat in the Visiting Room of Arkham Asylum across from Jervis Tetch.
"Alice didn't keep Billy's ring, but she couldn't bear to sell it or pawn it –eventually, she secretly slipped it into the cup of a beggar on Dodo Avenue. She's lighter for it now." Ari told him.
"It's finally over then?" Jervis asked.
Ari nodded. "All we have to suffer through is his trial."
"You'll let me know what his punishment is won't you?"
"Absolutely. Don't worry; he'll be taken care of should anything go awry. Zeek and I won't let anything happen to Alice."
"When is the trial?"
Ari fiddled with the small container of tarts before her before sliding them over to Jervis. "Two days. I'll drop by the day after to let you know."
Jervis paused in lifting a tart to his mouth. "Will the doctors let you?"
"I have special dispensation to do so. It's a quick message, but it'll also depend upon how long the trial goes on. He's got a defense lawyer that's hard to beat I hear, and he wants to charge me with assault and say that everything that slug did was in self-defense."
Jervis swallowed what was in his mouth. "Your witnesses should blow that story to shreds."
Ari shrugged. "We can hope, just depends on how his lawyer twists words." She glanced up at the clock. "I have to go. I'll see you as soon as I can." She got up and left, leaving the container of tarts.
Jervis stared at it, wondering at Arianna, her strange habits and quirks, and just how she, Alice, Zeek, and he somehow became part of a select group.