25 Waffle Haus Routine Again

The next morning at the Waffle Haus booth Rube was in a good mood. Roxy wasn't here, but she had given him his share and the details.

"You guys did good yesterday. Well done. George, I like your little red car, but Roxy..."

"I know. I got it."

"Great."

She thought he might hand out the postits about now, but no. Bad sign. No one said anything about the postits. George could already feel hers was going to be another mall girl out at the cabin. Daisy was looking like she was dreading hers, too. Mason looked uneasy and kept looking to Daisy for reassurance, and she would give it with her usual smile or nod. More likely Mason was picking up on Daisy's bad premonition, than anything bad coming his way.

After Kiffany cleared the table and brought more coffee Rube pulled out his book. "OK, we got a full load today and no opportunities in sight."

She hoped that was it, the no opportunities, but she suspected he was just diverting their attention. She could sense something about her reap and it wasn't going to be pretty, the cabin never was, and she knew the others could sense something of their own before Rube said anything. He put a postit in front of Mason. Mason looked relieved. First up likely meant no complications. "You know that Goth club about a mile from here? I did a reap there a few years ago."

"Yeah, Rube. I know that place. I know it well. I do..." He caught a look on Daisy's face, she pulled on his leash, and he corrected himself. "...used to do a lot of business there."

"You'd think we'd get more of our business there. The reap I had was some kid. They were doing some perverted stuff in the back of the stage area, and he ended up dead. They hid the body, I didn't bother following, and the kid wasn't angry. Said it was an accident. Something is going to happen there tonight and the reap is yours. Goes down 9:33 sharp. Daisy I want you to go with him and give him some cover as needed."

Daisy smiled at Mason. "No problem, Rube. We'll take care of it."

The runner up is... "Peanut."

"Really, Rube, we can drop that name. Really."

He ignored her protests. He always did. "My girl has got a mall reap."

Both Mason and Daisy looked relieved. George could ghost without any problem and neither of them could as easily and these mall reaps were complicated on the move type reaps.

"OK, as before, you get a time and location for your reap at the mall and..."

"I know the routine, Rube. How much time between?"

"Let's see. You rendezvous with the girl, about 2:20 PM this afternoon at the mall, and she checks out at that cabin at 2:10 AM."

Daisy looked glum. "That's a long time with that sadistic bastard."

The sadistic bastard took a long time to kill his victims so someone had to reap before his torture routine began and wait around until the actual death occurred. His early reaps they went out and ghosted on site, but soon they hit upon the early rendezvous at the mall so they didn't have to be close to it. Even reapers have limits. Still someone had to ghost up close to the cabin and George knew she was the best choice for that.

"I'll go with you, Peanut."

Daisy looked shocked. "To the mall?" Rube got irritated at the mall.

Rube looked to Daisy and said, "No, you're going to go with her to the mall. I'll ride shotgun out to the cabin area, to pick up the soul."

George knew after they died these souls did not want see a man anywhere. "Rube, maybe Daisy, or Roxy, would be better." The last few were not sane after their time in the cabin and it took some time to get them calmed and in a frame of mind to cross over.

"Daisy will be doing the Goth gig with Mason till late. Roxy's not so flexible, and I would rather she not be anywhere near that cabin. Eventually he'll get caught. I hear the FBI has been brought in."

George said, "And they'll track all the police cars and phones and there might be questions down the road."

"Exactly, Peanut. So I'll go with you and keep to the back. She doesn't have to ever see me." Rube looked around. "Any questions?" It was all a routine now. Rube picked up his last postit. "Good. Daisy." George could see her tense up. Daisy likely could feel something bad coming. Mason was picking up on her stress levels and it showed on his face. They were all worried. "Daisy." Rube put a postit down in front of her and kept his finger on it as he sought eye contact. She looked at it and her eyebrows rose a bit. George could see she was trying to look like she was in control. Rube and George exchanged a long glance, and then Rube returned his focus to Daisy. "It's at the hospital."

Daisy smiled. "I can see that, Rube. Fine. It's at the hospital. I won't have any trouble finding them, will I? And it's this morning at…9:20 AM. That's great. I'll have plenty of time to meet George at the mall after and we can do some shopping before we reap the girl. Perfect."

"Daisy, George is going with you."

"Rube, I'm OK. I can do this by myself."

George rarely heard this gentle tone in Rube's voice, but here he brought it out now. Firm, but kind. "Yes, Daisy. I know you could do it alone, but you aren't going to be alone. George will be with you."

"OK, Rube. Really, I'm OK." She fussed with her hair and tried to look together, which was when she was most off, and likely would pull out her compact in the next moment.

"It's going to be a child in the terminal wing. You might have to do some ghosting to avoid showing up on the cameras."

Oh shit. Why in the fuck do they give these to her? She was an emotional wreck for days after the last one. Now Daisy looked like she was minutes from her own execution.

Rube said, "OK. Any questions? Good. Keep me posted."

Daisy got up first and headed for the door looking carefully straight ahead, and she didn't even hear Kiffany's goodbye. Mason followed close behind.

Rube motioned to George. "George, stay close to her. The last time..."

"I understand." George hurried to catch up to Daisy. She would do her best. Something had broken Daisy a long time ago and the pieces had never really been put back together. She was a great actress and no matter how George ever approached this thing with kids, the smaller they were, the worse the reaction. Daisy acted as if nothing was wrong when they could all see something was in turmoil below the smiles and make-up. George figured it was something from when she was alive, and that was a long time ago, and yet it still ate at her bursting out into self-destructive drinking binges. Why did she get these kids? Why now?