Whoops so I lied about that "new chapter tomorrow" comment. Well, here you are anyways, two new chapters. Thanks to EVERYONE who has reviewed my story. I love any type of reinforcement, so keep 'em comin. I'll try to get a chapter or two up by the end of the week, but no guarantees. And Arwen, if you wanna use the chicken cutlet part in your story go ahead. Thanks for asking. And now, enjoy!
Dear Anna,
Hola, Buenos dias? So far Mexico has been great, and I'm getting you and mom plenty of great souvenirs. Today was pretty exciting, although, I don't know if we'll be seeing Dawn for a while…
"What do you think?" I asked Jessi, holding up a silk Mexican print dress to my body. "Do you think Anna would like it?"
"Hmm," Jessi said thoughtfully, thumbing the material. "Well, I think…"
"Ewww do you guys know how they make silk!" Dawn shrieked from behind Jessi. She walked over and snatched the dress out of my hands.
"Hey!" I said, reaching back for the dress. "I don't care how silk is made; I think my sister would like it."
"Oh why don't you go eat a steak!" Dawn said pointedly, like that was an insult. She threw the dress back at me and stalked off.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked, looking at Jessi.
"You don't know Dawn like the rest of us do. She can get a little crazy when it comes to matters of animals and the environment", Jessi explained.
"Well whatever," I said. "I'm getting this dress!"
"Alright, I think I'm gonna buy some of these beads for my hair," Jessi said, holding up a gigantic bag of colorful beads.
"Beads?" I asked.
"You know, I need to represent for my people," Jessi replied, shoving the bag under her arm.
"New Jersey residents?" I asked her quizzically. I didn't know they wore beads in Jersey.
"Nooooo, you know, my strong African roots!" Jessi exclaimed, digging some money out of her pockets.
"Ohhhhhhhhh. Right. Hey I'm Jewish you know!" I said, reaching for my purse.
"Right, right, I know," Jessi said.
We both paid for our purchases and decided to keep looking around.
"You know, Mexico isn't as bad as I thought it would be," I said, as we strolled through the marked.
"Oh?" asked Jessi.
"Yeah, you always hear about how it's full of poor dirty people and everyone steals and all that," I explained.
"Hmm, I know what you mean," Jessi said thoughtfully. "People say the same thing about Jersey, but it's not true."
"Yeah, we all know that's not true about New Jersey," I said. Luckily Jessi didn't hear the sarcasm in my voice. "Hey! Theres Dawn!" I said, pointing ahead.
We looked up ahead to see Dawn in what seemed to be a heated argument. She was standing in front of a butcher's stand pointing angrily and stamping her feet.
"Uh oh," Jessi said as we approached. "Dawn's found a cause."
"End the evil! Stop killing animals!" I could hear Dawn shriek as we got closer. A crowd of people had formed around her, eying her quizzically.
Dawn got up on the vendor's stand and started jumping up and down. "Meat is murder! Meat is murder!" she yelled, pumping one fist in the air. She was obviously trying to get a rally going, but I don't think anyone was on her side here.
Noticing no one was supporting her, Dawn began to get angry. I watched as she grabbed a dead chicken from the meat rack and started clubbing the butcher with it.
"Oh…my… god…" Jessi said, her eyes wide with horror.
"Just pretend you don't know her," I said, ducking my head a little.
Poor, poor, passionately, environment-loving, ignorant Dawn. Four Mexican police officers soon appeared and toted her away. She kicked, flailed and screamed as they dragged her into the paddy wagon, "Viva la resistance!" she yelled before they shut the doors.
"So," I said, looking at Jessi. "How are we gonna explain this to the others?"
"They'll probably be happy they won't have to deal with her for the rest of the trip," Jessi said, nodding her head up and down.
"I know I am," I said, as the crowd began to break up. "Come on, lets get back to the hotel before someone finds out we know her."
When we got back to the hotel, the first person we saw was Mallory. She was sitting on the bench in a lobby looking miserable.
"Hey Mal, what's up," Jessi asked, as we approached her.
"Oh, Jessi? Is that tall brown blob you?" Mallory said, squinting at us.
"Yeah, Mal, where are your glasses?"
"I'll explain it all later. Right now I just want to lie down for a while, but I couldn't get up to our room because I couldn't read the buttons on the elevator", Mallory sheepishly explained.
"Well okay, you'll never believe the day we had either Mal," Jessi said, taking Mallory's arm and guiding her towards the elevator.
"Where are the others?" I asked. "We've got really big news, like emergency BSC meeting news."
"Oh, how the hell would I know?" Mallory said defensively. "Probably somewhere being horrible friends."
Jessi and I exchanged confused glances.
"Um, okay. Sorry I asked," I said. "Achoo!" I sneezed. "Ugh, allerdees," I said, wiping my nose on my arm.
"That's weird, what could've triggered it?" Jessi asked, looking around the elevator. It was pretty sterile, glass walls, linoleum floor.
"I dunno," I said, shrugging. "Achoo!" I sneezed again. "Hey Mal, you weren't petting any animals or anything today were you?"
Mallory turned bright red and turned towards me. "No, why would I do that? I hate dogs; I hope I never see another dog in my life!"
Jessi and I exchanged confused glances again. Mallory's family has a dog, his name is Pow. He and Mallory seemed to get along well; he even had a habit of sporadically humping her leg.
The elevator stopped and Mal and Jessi got out.
"I'll call you if anything comes up," I said before the door closed.
I wheezed and leaned against the wall of the elevator. It was only our second day in Mexico and things were already out of control!