Chapter Nineteen

Beatrice:

What I did to help Roger was stupid but I couldn't help it. I didn't want Roger to get hit on the head with bricks and get dunked into the Dip while he's unconscious. Now my arm, the one where Smarty shot me, hurts a lot more and I felt cuts getting stung by the air on my face.

When Greasy saw me, he went out of control.

"What happened to you?!" He exclaimed in shock and worry.

"Apparently, when you cut down those bricks," Tommy said. "You didn't stop to see that Beatrice was in the way."

Then, Greasy turns to Smarty.

"¿Por qué no me dijiste que la chica estaba en el camino! Ella podría haber muerto!" He shouted to Smarty.

"What is he saying?" I whispered to Tommy.

"He's wondering why Smarty didn't warn him and he was afraid that you were going to die." He replied.

Pause.

"You had your eyes on a 'fryer'!" Smarty shouted at Greasy. "She knew where the rabbit was-!"

"May I interject something?" I asked. "The word you're looking for is 'liar', not 'fryer'!"

"SHUT UP, YOU BROAD!"

"MEATHEAD!"

Now that Smarty was distracted, Greasy pounces on Smarty and fists began to fly. While the fight was covered by a dust cloud, Tommy and I heard random exclamations, punches, and Greasy saying something that I can't understand.

Judge Doom appeared out of nowhere and separates Greasy and Smarty. He tells them to focus on the job that he just told them to do, which was tying Roger and Jessica together. Greasy walked away from me and Tommy and focused on the job.

Tommy and I watched as Roger and Jessica getting tied together with 'escape-proof toon rope' and being guided to a giant cable hook that Doom was bringing down. Well, Stupid was guiding Jessica (with Roger tied to her) by pulling her dress and Wheezy harshly commands her and Roger to move. Smarty was pointing his pistol at Eddie, in order to prevent him from interfering and help Roger and Jessica escape. Greasy was pointing his switchblade at Jessica.

"Time to kill the rabbit! Hee hee!" Psycho giggled and aimed the water cannon at Jessica and Roger.

To be honest, I thought. I think Psycho is more eager to kill anyone without thinking twice.

Stupid, Wheezy, and Greasy walk away from Jessica and Roger as they're slowly getting lifted up.

"Oh, Roger, you were magnificent." Jessica said.

"Was I really?" Roger asked.

"Better than Goofy."

I'm no fan of romance. I thought. But I have to say, that was really beautiful.

Eddie watched me and Tommy getting our hands tied behind our backs by Wheezy and Stupid. After that was done, Tommy and I were lined up with Eddie. Since Doom didn't the weasels what they should do after Tommy and I were lined up with Eddie, the judge, himself, looked at me and Tommy.

"What are you planning to do with them, boss?" Greasy asked Doom.

"I think that, for now, the girl should carry on with the orders that we give her." Doom replied. "Since she doesn't talk, I think that she should cover us."

"Why make her cover for us?" Wheezy asked.

"Ever since I tried to talk and reason with the girl, she refused to say anything to me. Once we dispose of the rabbit, his wife, Valiant, and the girl's brother, we'll make her cover our tracks until everyone forgets about what happened and until the girl gets very bone-tired to do anything."

Doom aims his Medusa eyes at me and bends down a little bit.

"What do you say, little girl?" He asked me.

I want you to listen to this, Beatrice. I heard Roger's lecture in my head. The next time you're with Doom and if he says something to you, imagine that you're speaking to your mother. If Doom says anything bad or insulting, then I want you to SPEAK UP…

'Speak up' echoes a couple of times. I snapped myself out of my 'frozen in fear' state and I began to imagine my mom's angry face on Judge Doom's face.

You could've won all three of those matches if you listen to your coach…You're not watching this until you give me the rating…and you can't go join the church choir because you have a 'B' on your report card…I imagined.

"WELL?" Judge Doom and the weasels asked me.

Roger, this is for you. I thought.

I took a deep breath and spitted on Judge Doom's face, causing everyone to flinch and even Roger and Jessica gasped.

"You son of a bilge rat!" I exclaimed, angrily. "I RATHER DIE THAN COVER FOR YOU!"

"YOU CAN TALK!" Doom exclaimed.

"Frankly, Doom, it's very obvious. You're not the rightful ruler of Toon Town! You're the GRIM REAPER! YOU DON'T GIVE TOONS FAIR TRIALS AND YOU ARE THE MOST SADISTIC, IMMATURE, STINK BRAIN THAT I'VE EVER SPOKEN TO!"

I'm so glad that I got that out of my system. It felt like a long time since I talked like that to anyone. Everyone, Doom, Eddie, Tommy, the weasels, Roger, ad Jessica, looks at me with shock and surprise.

"Beatrice," Eddie whispered.

I turned my head.

"Run."

I gave him a blank look.

"Run for your life. Just go!" Eddie said again.

I nodded my head and took off. I wasn't sure where the exit was and I just ran in a random direction.

"STOP! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Judge called to me. "Sergeant, stop her."

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Smarty shouted. "I WANT YOU TO SEE THIS COMING!" I heard the clicking sound from his pistol. "I SAID 'STOP'!"

I immediately fell to the floor and I heard a BANG! And another. Then, another BANG, and that last bang…grazed my cheek.

"BEATRICE!" Tommy called.

"MUCHACHA!" Greasy exclaimed.

I heard running footsteps and I slowly got back on my feet. I'm relieved that I'm not shot in the arm or something more vital than that but I don't know what else to think about, other my cheek that was scraped by a speeding bullet.

Smarty approached me and Wheezy put me in a head lock. Judge Doom walked over to me and tilted my chin up.

"You're in for a lot of trouble, little girl." Doom said to me in a low voice.

"Should I dispose of the broad right now, judge?" Smarty asked.

"Not now. Start up the vehicle and prepare the Dip. It's time to start clearing for the freeway."

…..

Tommy:

It took a lot of guts for Beatrice to speak out but the awe doesn't last very long. Beatrice is in really big trouble…and so was I.

Before Greasy started Judge Doom's vehicle of…doom, he grabbed Beatrice by her wrists and led her to the side doors of the vehicle. He grabbed me by the wrists, too, and he made us climb inside the vehicle.

"You're really a feisty girl, you know." Greasy said to Beatrice. "I thought that you weren't going to talk to the judge at all. That took a lot of coraje."

That meant 'courage' and Greasy pats Beatrice on her shoulder.

She doesn't say anything to him. I can tell that even though Beatrice spoke to Doom, just like Roger told her to do (I suddenly remembered our lecture from the movie theater.), her confidence has hit rock bottom.

Finally, Greasy starts up Doom's vehicle of…doom and I watched Roger and Jessica holding each other's hands and Eddie just stands by himself, wondering what he should do next.

I'm not deaf but I can read lips, thanks to the many years of Beatrice mouthing words to me whenever she didn't want to say anything out loud. I looked at Jessica's lips and I watched her say,

"Roger, darling…I want you to know that I love you. I love you more than any woman has ever loved a rabbit."

Roger smiles.

Like Beatrice, I am not a fan of romance but I thought that those words that Jessica said were really something that tugged on my heart strings.

Beatrice looks at me and says out loud,

"Tommy, if we die tonight, I want to tell you something that I should've told you three years ago."

"About Kaitlin? Beatrice, there's really no need to be too sad over Kaitlin moving away." I replied.

"No, Tommy. Kaitlin didn't move away. She was under a lot of pressure and killed herself in the park."

I looked at Beatrice in shock.

"Really?" I asked.

Beatrice nodded her head and a teardrop ran down from her black eye.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you." She said. "I didn't know what to do and I couldn't say anything to anyone. I was afraid that you were going to think that I'm out of my mind."

"It's okay, Beatrice." I replied. "We'll discuss this later, okay?"

Beatrice nods her head.

When I looked back at Eddie, I thought that I saw a teardrop running down Greasy's eye…possibly after hearing the conversation that Beatrice and I had. Then, I looked at Doom's lips. He says to Eddie,

"It's over, Mr. Valiant."

Then, Eddie, with a face of disappointment, anger, confusion, watches Doom walk away from him. I don't know what else to think…other than…a hopeless 'Oh, man'.