Francine leaned against the ovens with her arms folded in front of her, looking down. Good Bird and Carla had come over to try to offer support, and they were sitting in one of the booths. Guido had gone over to see Lucielle, and Speedy had gone to "see Polly". Francine was getting more and more scared. It seemed all Speedy wanted to do nowadays was visit the grave…that was the only thing that let him come out of his room. She gazed around the room….around the silent, dark room of the pizza parlor. Around this place that used to be filled with joy and laughter…at the place at the counter where her dear friend used to be. She recalled happy times, when Polly would handle cooking and taking orders with a happy smile and cheerful ways. Without her the place seemed deserted, ghost-like. Francine looked at one of the ovens and cringed as another memory came back to her…this one not pleasant at all! A memory that happened not that long ago..in fact, just a few days before Polly died.

Polly raced into the restaurant with buldging shopping bags, nearly running into Francine. "Polly, where have you been?" Francine asked. "Ya took off without even telling me!"

"Francine, I told you, I was going out early to get what I needed for tonight! Speedy and I are having a special date tonight..and it's very meaningful for me, cause I'm gonna cook the entire dinner myself!" with trembling hands she took out a bright red dress from one of the bags. "How's this? Do you think this is nice? Not too fancy?" Francine looked at her incredulously. " I know I'm pretty nervous, I just want this to go over well. This is one of the turning points in our relationship, after all. This is the first time I'm cooking the whole dinner." She took out a package of dinner rolls and put them on a baking sheet, turning on the oven.

"when did you get this desire to be a housewife?" Francine asked.

"Shut up," Polly snapped. She walked over to the fridge and opened it, glancing inside. "Francine, what's all this meat doing in the fridge?"

"In case you've forgotten, this is a pizza place! I need that meat!" Francine turned the oven up, finished making a roll of dough into a pizza crust, added sauce and lots of cheese.

"Francine, please, I can't get through to my vegetables!"

"OK, OK, don't get so upset, I got things to do as well!" Francine took out the meat and set it on a nearby table.

"well, I need them to finish my salad…Francine, where's my tomato?"

"Huh?"

"I had 2 tomatoes in here to use for my salad, now there's only one."

'Oh, I'm sorry, I must have used it for the tomato sauce!"

"Francine, how could you do that, I was saving that tomato special for Speedy!"

"I said I was sorry, it looked to me like an ordinary tomato! Didn't have a name on it or anything!" Polly sighed and set the table outside with a white tablecloth and put candles in the silver holders. She returned to the kitchen and Francine sniffed the air. "Something smells."

"OH, MY ROLLS!" Polly cried, getting a potholder and taking them out. "Look at them, they're all burned! How did the oven get up to 500?!"

"I did that, I was getting it ready for my pizzas! Excuse me," Francine pushed her way to the oven

"well, didn't you see my rolls?"

"I don't think so, I was getting my pizzas ready."

"well ya just went and ruined my whole dinner!"

"Not the whole dinner, just the rolls!"

wEll, with Speedy the rolls are the best part of the chicken teriaki!"
Huh?"
"well, how do you expect him to sop up the sauce?!"

"what do you want me to do?!"

"I don't know, all I know is ya ruined my dinner!!"

Francine looked at her. "who are you?!" she asked.

"Someone who's wondering what she's gonna serve her boyfriend now!"

"God, I don't believe this! A few months ago you 2 were fighting over this and that, battling, arguing, now you're falling all over yourself to make him dinner! Look at you, all tiptoeing through the tulips, 'la dee da', so in love with this same guy who you threw that cash register at!"

Polly was enraged at that and stormed off. "excuse me for LIVING!!!"
"Just serve sushi!" Francine called out.

Francine stood pained at that fight they had had. The worst part as that she had not even had a chance to apologise at all before Polly was so tragically killed. Sobs once again overtook her and she covered her face. She felt a hand rub her back and looked up to see Guido. She leaned against Guido's chest crying against his chest. "Shh…it's OK, let it out, let it out.." Guido comforted her.

"Oh, Guido," she whispered. "I'm so sorry for everything! It's…it's just been so hard for me!!"

"I know, I know, it's hard for all of us, Francine. I understand. Go ahead, it's alright, let it out."

Francine pulled away and stared at the ground. "You ever say things that you really honestly wish you could take back?"

Guido sat down near Good Bird. "Yep, I do. when Lucielle and I first started going out, she mentioned that when Speedy broke up with her he spoke about me in glowing terms and said I was the best one for her. I wished right then I could take back all the stuff I said to him all those times when we fought."

Francine sat down next to him and buried her head in her hands. "Polly and I….we had a huge fight a few days before….before…and I never got a chance to tell her..I was sorry…" Carla put her arm around Francine as she cried even harder.

"There, there," Carla said. "Polly must know you didn't mean it. She knows you love her, it's OK."

"Oh, God, Polly, I'm so sorry!!!" Francine sobbed.

"well, gentlemen, are all systems go?" Cheese said, looking at the newest robot with pride.

"You betcha, Cheesy! Taking out these Cats is gonna be a piece of cake!"

"especially with Speedy in the state he's in, he won't care if we do a dance on the Palace's doorstep!! He don't care about anything!" They all laughed. "it's gonna be wonderful!"

"I wonder, are you incurably deranged or is it temporary?"

"Ha,ha,ha!! I'm in such a good moud I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that! Now, shall we begin?" and he began to climb into the robot.

Al appeared on the monitor. "Hello?" He called. Francine whiped her eyes and went to answer it. "Francine, are Guido, Good Bird, and Speedy there with you?"

"Good Bird and Guido, but not Speedy."

"well, this is a dire emergency, Big Cheese has been spotted again!"

"I'll get him!" Guido said, taking off. '

Speedy as sitting by the entrance to the tomb with his head down into his lap. Guido ran over. "Speedy!"

Speedy looked up. "what?"

"Big Al's on the phone, he needs ya back at the pizza parlor right away!"

"what for?"

"It's Big Cheese, he's finally crawled out of hiding and he's at it again!"

Speedy slowly stood up. "Big Cheese is finally back here?"
His glassy, unfocused eyes slowly grew with firey determination. "That unfeeling, cold-hearted, nasty son of a bitch killer is BACK?!?! He made a fist with his hand. "That killer..that murderer!!! If he thinks he's getting away with murdering the girl I loved, he's got another think coming!!!"