Chapter two here. Thanks for the wonderful reviews. : ) I know it's unrealistic of Maya to accuse Pearl of such a thing but... hey, I needed a plot. Thanks for reading.
Did I believe Pearls had taken my wallet? Of course not. If I was going to push that crazy accusation out of Maya's head, there was one thing I needed to do: find my wallet. It's location (Larry's pocket, most likely) would surely prove Pearls' innocence, and um, I kind of needed it to buy dinner.
While Pearls sat, feet dangling, in a nearby chair, I pulled out my cell phone to call Larry.
Ring ring
"Do you think Mr. Laurice has your wallet, Mr. Nick?"
Ring ring
"I know he does, Pearls."
Ring ring
Larry picked up. "Hello?" His voice sounded meek, for some reason.
"Larry, it's me-"
"NICK! Oh Nick, why did this happen to me?!"
"What?"
"It's Lina, man! She left me! Oh, why?! WHY?!" I could picture Larry's face right now. Odds were his face was scrunched up; cheeks high, mouth grimacing, eyes brimming with tears. Luckily, I wasn't dealing with him face-to-face. "This is the end for me! Everything is going dark!" I heard a loud bang, followed by sobs, as if he had just slammed his head against a hard surface, which is probably what happened.
"Just calm down and explain to me what's going on, okay?" I hollered over his noise.
Larry sniffled. "I took Lina out to the movies, y'see? She wanted large popcorn. I pulled out my wallet to get the cash, but there wasn't enough. I couldn't afford it! So she left! SHE LEFT!" At this point, my feckless friend dissolved into a fit of incoherent moaning, to which I paid little attention. Instead, I waved to Pearls across the room, who smiled and waved back.
At last, Larry finished his explosion of whines. "You shouldn't have refused me the ten dollars I asked for!" he concluded.
"You shouldn't have dated such a shallow girl," I replied. Larry did not respond. "In any case, you haven't seen my wallet, have you?"
"Your wallet? No, why would I? You lose it or something?" Suddenly, Larry sounded cheerful.
"It went missing after you left my office."
Aaaaand cue the waterworks. "Don't accuse me Nick, I didn't take it!"
"Can I really believe that?"
"Of course you can!"
I had my doubts, but he sounded sincere. Maybe I hadn't searched hard enough in my office. "Alright. See you later, Larry." I hung up.
"Does Mr. Laurice have your wallet?" asked Pearls.
"I don't think so." She looked sad. "But maybe it's been in my office all along. Let's go take another look."
We walked into the other room. The first thing I noticed was that Maya was not longer there.
"Maybe Mystic Maya went to use the restroom," Pearls said quietly.
After setting Pearls to the task of searching my desk, I myself began searching by the TV. My wallet wasn't under the coffee table, nor behind the television stand, not on the bookcase, nor hidden in the leaves of Charley the plant.
Sitting on the couch, I tried to think of where else it could be. After a few minutes I realized the object I was looking for might be just underneath me- in the couch. After all, I had been sitting there all morning .Maybe my wallet fell out of my pocket and into the cushions, or something.
My hand plunged between the cushions and blindly felt around for what could have been my wallet, brushing against numerous food crumbs and sticky drink stains. Maybe I should stick a vacuum down there once in a while. My fingers touched something leathery. Upon pulling it out, I found that it was...
(drum roll please)
My wallet! Larry hadn't taken it after all. Neither had Pearls. Maya couldn't blame her any longer.
"Pearls, I found it!" I called to her. She was kneeling next to my desk, emptying the contents of the trash bin with rubber gloves on her hands. (Where did she get those, I wondered.) All the garbage from the bin laid in front of her, including crumpled papers, a dried out pen, an empty box of staples, and a hamburger wrapper.
Wait a minute... a hamburger wrapper?
"Congratulations, Mr. Nick!" She jumped up. "Now Mystic Maya will know I didn't steal it, right?"
"Wait a minute Pearls." My eyes were glued to the wrapper. "Hand me that, would you?"
The paper crinkled as she passed it over. It was colored yellow and green and was labeled with the logo of Maya and my favorite hamburger restaurant. We usually ate there once a week, but hadn't gone this week. Nor the last, because I had been so busy.
Then I understood. You could say it hit me like a ton of bricks, if you wanted to be cliché. The wallet hadn't fallen out of my pocket, but it had been Maya's.
So that's chpt. 2. One more to go!