Riverdale part 2
A long black late model limousine slowed to a stop just beyond the drive thru entrance to Pop's Cheeseburgers and Ice Cream Fountain. Reggie and Betty had stopped chowing down to check out the unusual scene. The kids didn't know anyone that owned or had even used a limousine. Once in a great while, Mayor Koch had been seen riding in a limo for special inaugurators events.
"Maybe they're lost?" Archie commented as he took a long sip of his soda. Outside the window, a white haired chauffeur got out of the driver's side door and opened the rear passenger door of the lengthy car. Out stepped a teenage girl with jet black straight shoulder length hair that framed her thin face. Her bangs dropped low over her forehead coming to a stop just above her black eyebrows.
The teen was wearing a red and black spaghetti strap dress, hemmed to just above her knees, which highlighted her long tan legs. The boys gawked as she stepped away from the limo. As they ogled the new arrival, Betty immediately scowled at them. "You'd think that they'd never seen a girl before." She grumbled quietly. "I'd say that they're definitely lost." The usually even tempered teen blonde remarked. "She doesn't have any visible baggage, though." Betty observed.
The girl's black high heels clacked on the cement sidewalk as she edged towards the chauffeur. "Roger, thanks much." The new girl said cordially. "Are you sure that you want me to drop you off here, Miss Lodge?" The driver asked worriedly. "Certainly, Roger, I have to get a good look around town. A girl needs to know where all of the important places of business are in this burg." She sighed.
"I bet this one cow town doesn't even have a decent shoe shop, let alone a good nail and spa place. It's like the town that Starbucks forgot. I don't know why daddy had to actually move here to the middle of the farm fields when he could've just bought them all." She grumbled. "Yes, Miss Lodge." The chauffer said as he closed the door behind her. "I guess that I'll start with this quaint old retro style hamburger stand." The heiress said as she placed her hands on her shapely hips.
"Where should I meet you, Miss?" The driver asked. "I don't know yet, Roger, I'll call you. Why don't you head back to daddy and see if he needs you? It's not as if I can get lost. This may take a while." Miss Lodge glanced around the dusty main street. "On second thought, Roger, I'm not convinced that there's much more to see around here. Are you quite sure that this patch of land passes for the business district?" The chauffer nodded. "Yes Miss. Your father and I have passed through a few times. Unfortunately, we haven't seen many pedestrians." He answered politely.
"Apparently, this town was bustling with activity in the middle of the last century. Throughout the 1960's and 1970's Riverdale and its sister town, Hillsdale, were part of a hub of agriculture with some outlying factory work. Of course that was before the computer age, and the development of the internet. With the advent of on line ordering, the area's decline increased." He informed her.
"By 1990, the major industries of agriculture and textiles left Riverdale and Hillsdale for other areas. The jobs were shipped overseas, and the agriculture was spread throughout the Midwest. Excuse me for being so chatty, Miss. I believe that I'm given to rambling." Roger apologized.
"Oh don't worry about it, Roger. My father and I consider you, Jarvis, and Jeeves as part of our extended family, as well as Mira." Miss Lodge praised as Roger nodded appreciatively. "Thank you for saying so." He added as she faced the hamburger shop. "Anyway I'll call you when I'm ready to be picked up. See you soon." Miss Lodge waved as the chauffer entered the limo and left, tracing the way back to Lodge Manor. "Holy crap!" Reggie exclaimed. "She's coming in!" Betty rested her head in her hand. "Terrific!" She groaned and glowered at the cafe entrance.
The girl opened the old creaky glass doors, and popped into the antique café. She stood at the diner's center, gazed at the fluorescent colored menus posted on the decades old walls. Her large eyes opened wide. "Nicely priced." She praised aloud as she glanced at the checkerboard style floor, red vinyl seats and stools near a galvanized gray steel countertop. The restaurant had a nice retro style 1950's feel to it, she observed silently.
Archie and Reggie's eyes followed the new arrival as she approached the ice cream soda counter. The old galvanized steel mixers were clearly visible a few feet beyond the counter. The antique ice cream soda machinery sparkled in the late afternoon sun. Even Jughead stopped eating his fifth cheeseburger to watch the new girl's approach. Miss Lodge elegantly seated herself on a red vinyl topped stool beside the counter. She spun it playfully, and leaned on the edge of the counter to glance at the kids briefly.
Betty gasped. As far as she could recall, Jughead had never even glanced at a girl before, let alone dated one. What on Earth does she have? The well brought up sixteen year old thought sourly. "Hello?" The Lodge girl smiled brightly at Pops who gawked at her like an adolescent. "Hello Miss. What can I get for you?" He asked pleasantly. Miss Lodge quickly recalled one of the menu items she'd seen.
"Can I have a vanilla and strawberry ice cream sundae, with chocolate syrup, and cherries and nuts on top?" She ordered. "Sure, coming right up. It'll just be a few moments!" Pops gushed over the new customer. "Very good. Thank you." She said as she spun back to face the kids again. Let's see, she examined the other clientele. Two truck drivers, two farmers, an older couple, and yes! Kids my own age! She thought. With that, the visitor got up and walked right over to the still chewing teens.
"She's coming here, Arch!" Reggie announced excitedly. "So I see." Archie deadpanned. Miss Lodge's heels echoed loudly throughout the retro café'. "Hi!" She greeted the stunned teens with a cheery smile. The girl stood next to the teens' table. "Lodge, Veronica Lodge." She said with confidence and extended a petite hand to Jughead. He reluctantly took it without removing the cheeseburger from his mouth.
"Uh hi!" Reggie bit out. "Care to join us?" Archie offered courteously. Betty bit her lip. She wanted to tell the boys no! No way! But it was too late. Veronica slid onto the old retro style vinyl booth seat and ended up smack next to Archie. She unabashedly moved her small frame into the end of the seat, crowding Archie into Betty. "Uh, Archie Andrews." The young red-haired teen began and shook her hand. "Betty Cooper." The slim blonde stated loud enough for everyone to hear.
Betty had been used to all of the attention that the boys had given her. She wasn't too thrilled to have to share the limelight with the new girl. She sighed in resignation. The new girl still needs friends, she mused sourly.
"Reggie Mantle." He reached across the table to shake Veronica's hand. "Jughead Jones." The last boy said, his voice muffled by the last cheeseburger that he'd taken a bite out of. "Jughaid?" Veronica's eyebrows rose. "That's quite the unusual name." She commented. The normally even tempered teen seemed to be a bit embarrassed by the announcement of his name.
"It's more of a nickname." He defended weakly, taking another large sip on the straw of his Coke. "It's positively adorable." Veronica said smiling brightly in an attempt to charm the group. "Ah've just moved here from West Hamilton. I s'pose we'll be classmates at Riverdale High this fall." She quickly made herself the center of attention. Betty noted that the new girl had a slight accent, and she kicked that around for a second. Her best guess was that Miss Lodge was from the southern United States, likely Texas, Georgia, or Louisiana. To Betty's dismay, Veronica continued on with her introduction.
"Ah should explain that West Hamilton is nearest to St. Michael's Parish in New Orleans." Veronica continued to enthrall the boys, further depressing Betty. "Ah grew up in Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina. Mah daddy's work requires that we move around a lot." She informed the group.
"What does your dad do, Veronica?" Archie asked innocently. "He's like an investment consultant, so he basically looks for areas to invest in for his clients, like small businesses, real estate, or public works. Some companies he's invested in are…" Veronica and Archie's eyes met and suddenly the talkative newbie silenced in mid-sentence. Betty, Reggie, and even Jughead were stunned.
"Ah'm boring you aren't I?" Veronica said humbly. "No, not at all." Archie responded politely. Just then, Pops approached the table with Veronica's sundae, placing the huge dessert before her. Without thinking, she dug into it after thanking him. "Oh my! Where are my manners?" She suddenly realized her mistake. "Did you kids want something else?" Veronica asked as she plopped her expensive looking clutch purse on the table. "It's my treat." Everyone except Jughead politely declined.
Reggie gave Jughead a dirty look. "What?" The teen asked as he finished the last bite of his burger. "I was just gonna say that there's always room for Jello and ice cream." Jughead defended as Veronica laughed. "That there is, Juggie." She said without realizing that she'd just changed his nickname. After which, she plowed through her ice cream sundae.
Betty was reluctantly staring to warm up to their new friend. In this backwater town there were surprisingly a lot of boys to choose from. What were the chances that Veronica would stake her claim on Archie? She wondered silently. "Miss Lodge, what types of classes are you interested in?" Archie asked vaguely. "Ah don't have my schedule set up yet. We've been busy moving into our new house." She replied. "First of all, please call me Veronica or Ronnie, which is what my family calls me, since y'all seem to be into nicknames." She flashed a bright smile at everyone.
The raven haired beauty went back to slurping the last of her sundae. How does she do it? Betty grimaced, silently cursing the day. Ronnie turned her attention to Reggie. "What about you, Reginald?" She flirted. "Do you have a nickname that you like?" Reggie shrugged. "I never really gave it much thought." He admitted. "Can I call you Reggie kins?" She smirked. "Ah don't mean to be condescending, but back in North Carolina, we call our friends and family kin, hence the name Reggie-kins."
Veronica daintily wiped her mouth with the napkin. "Whatever makes you happy, Ronnie." Reggie downplayed her attention. Jughead allowed a quick smirk to cross his normally placid, unreadable face. He had never seen the usually overconfident Reggie Mantle put off and out of sorts by a girl.
Betty fumed as both alpha males had already seemingly been charmed by this new arrival. In the course of an hour her life had been completely overturned. Why did this new girl have to show up here in calm, cool, and collected, backwards Riverdale? She thought sourly.
"How about you, Archie kins?" Veronica continued to flirt, asserting her dominance over the group. "Is that a little too familiar for you?" Archie waved his hand and dismissed her flirtation. "That's fine, Ronnie." He said with some level of disinterest. "So we have Juggie, Reggie kins, and Archie kins." She was relentless. "What about you, Betty? Do you have a nickname that you like?"
Betty bit back her lip, smearing the bright red lipstick shade that she'd purposely worn to meet with the boys. Her heart pounded, and she did her best to stifle a scream. "No, Betty will be fine." She finally answered after forcing her temper to cool down. "Fair enough." Ronnie said as she backed off.
"Do you live nearby, Ronnie?" Reggie fished, turning the new girl's attention back to him. "We moved about forty-five miles northwest of Riverdale Center. It's about halfway between here and Hillsdale." She informed them. "Is that near the old Caleb and Mary Swanson house?" Betty asked the boys in an attempt to turn the conversation back to her. She was mildly successful.
Jughead shrugged, but Archie and Reggie stopped eating and drinking to give it some thought. Before they could answer, Ronnie jumped back into the discussion. "Ah believe that daddy said he'd purchased an old property from a realty company called Swanson and Silverton. That would be our new home." Betty sighed as Ronnie thwarted her attempt at garnering the boys' attention.
"Hey that's a pretty pricey piece of property." Reggie commented as his mischievous side kicked in. This girl must be loaded, he silently guessed. "I s'pose so." Ronnie downplayed. "Daddy did say that he'd gotten a great deal on a recently abandoned property, and had been getting it rehabbed."
Archie's detective like instincts kicked in. "I recall that a few years ago, Caleb Swanson's wife, Mary, had died in a car accident." Veronica's cheery disposition faltered. "How sad. How old was she?" Reggie chimed in next. "Mary was no more than thirty or thirty two years old." He contributed. Finally, this was right up Betty's alley. She'd always been the one to keep on top of things.
"I remember that the papers said that Mary's car accident was suspicious. The weather was fine, she hadn't been drinking, and the car had recently been tuned up." Betty grabbed everyone's attention. "The car had spun out of control and crashed into a tree at the base of a gully. Mary had been killed instantly and soon after, Caleb Swanson moved away, leaving his realty business to his brother, Carl. Everyone assumed that Caleb couldn't bear to live in their house any longer."
"Oh my!" Ronnie commented. "That is a very depressing story." Archie rubbed his thin dimpled chin. "It is, but I suppose Mary could've swerved to avoid a person or an animal and lost control of the car."
"What about the murder of Jason Blossom?" Reggie added the story out of nowhere. "A murder?" Ronnie seemed horrified. "Last year, Jason Blossom was murdered, right here outside of Riverdale." Archie followed the lead. "We only have two or three murders per year around here." Betty said, and for some reason she wanted to keep Veronica from being intimidated. She hadn't thought it through. She could've really emphasized the murder story, and possibly frightened the new girl away.
"That's good." Ronnie remarked uncomfortably. "Ah mean that you only have a few murders per year. Ah take it that Jason Blossom was someone y'all knew?" Reggie nodded. "He was our classmate, a year older than us. He would've graduated next year. The dude was smart, and aced most of his tests. His younger sister, Cheryl, lives near the old Swanson Place. She got a small apartment on her own. She's to be in our graduating class, if she lasts that long given the terrible situation."
"Oddly enough, we've had three murders over the last three years. Three kids from Riverdale High, Freddie Baker, Glen Benton, and last year, Jason Blossom." Archie informed her. "They were killed in three different ways, a shotgun blast, a knifing, and a strangling. They were all killed during the three months that we're off from school." He added darkly. The group was completely silent.
"Bad things come in threes." Betty quoted into the awkward silence. "I didn't mean to bring everybody down." Reggie said sheepishly. "Yeah Reg, my creep factor just went up in multiples of ten." Jughead criticized. "Still, we can't ignore what happened." Archie concluded. "No that's okay. I'm glad that y'all told me. Ah mean ah've lived near big cities before, where the murders are in the dozens if not hundreds, so ah'm no Sorority Susie. Ah'm thankful that nothing really bad happened to our family."