Chapter 6
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Over the weeks that followed, the most enthusiastic doomsayers of the young people would remark, more than once, that this wasn't turning out nearly as bad as they had expected. Indeed, Mary was wont to say with more than a trace of disappointment, there was hardly anything out of the ordinary going on.
Gray, to cheer her up, would remind her consolingly that Mineral Town was generally a weird place; for something to be considered weird here, it might require the involvement of alien invasion.
This, Mary would later confide to Ann or Elli, as Karen and Popuri were too busy respectively plotting against and hanging out with Sakura, was not a big help.
Nevertheless, the old, splendidly tranquil dullness seemed to be returning to life in Mineral Town so entirely that, at times, Sakura would find herself laughing with the townsfolk over something that had happened long before her advent, or this or that villager would find themselves annoyed with the girl for failing to recall some long-standing town tradition that no one had remembered to mention to her.
Yes, it had been more than a little embarrassing, finding out the hard way that Topless Tuesday was not a universally recognized celebratory event.
Nevertheless, she had managed to make fast friends with the generally gruff and surly Gotz, who caught her by the back of her trousers as she went barrelling through Rose Square, and carried her thus unceremoniously back to her house. There, he dropped a horse blanket around her shoulders as well as possible with one hand held tightly over his eyes, and then finally managed, amid a round of soundless chuckles, that it had been years since he'd seen someone in this town do something so damn stupid.
And in this town, he had assured her, that was saying something.
Completely baffled but grateful that her tiresome correspondence with that cute carpenter boy from the city whose ego seemed to require more stroking than these damn cows was no longer necessary should she choose to expand her house to add another waterslide at a later date, Sakura had simply grinned and asked if he wanted to take another run through town.
This had led to the little blonde spending the afternoon re-hanging all her framed photos, when Gotz's considerable strength had made itself apparent in the bang of the door slamming shut, and a series of thunks and rattles as the room rapidly undecorated itself.
Nevertheless, she was learning. Gradually, she was picking up more and more of this place's strange rural customs (such as the proper use of a trash bin, the art of not giving people gifts they had no use for just to make space in her rucksack for "the good stuff", and the wisdom to realize when someone was hinting that it might be a good time for her to make a second use of the front door), and as she did, the occasional ripples in the comforting serenity of town life became more and more often due to…other members of the town's young adult population.
For long after Sakura had proved to the old folk, the middle-aged folk, and the wee folk of Mineral Town that she was to be trusted as a friend of years – or, at the very least, safely ignored – Karen remained convinced that something was Just Not Right. The way she was good at everything, the way everybody seemed to love her, the way she always looked fantastic in those horrible overalls and workboots…
This, in turn, quickly solidified Rick's suspicions that something was Just Not Right. Seriously; how could you possibly mistake Sakura's eternal bungling for godlike skill, the tolerance tinged slightly with pity that most of the town regarded her with for worship and adoration, and an unkempt cuteness on a good day for undying glorious beauty, unless you were so madly in love with her as to be blind to her – many – faults?
And so, they plotted.
The girls quickly fell into a routine: Mondays were out for Mary, because, well, those were her days off! And since she generally spent them working on her novel, it would be kind of a shame to cut herself off just when she was getting somewhere, to go to another one of these completely idiotic conferences at Doug's Place.
Being a tactful lass when she felt like it, Mary did not, of course, phrase it thus, but Ann and Elli both knew quite well what she meant. Karen, it has since been theorized, knew as well, but simply ignored the knowledge. Popuri just sort of sang happy songs.
Thursday was likewise undoable, Karen told the other girls uneasily, because that was her bar-night with Rick. And it would be pretty stupid to make the Succubus Sakura problem all the worse by neglecting him when he needed a drinking buddy most.
This struck both Mary and Popuri as so entirely sweet and romantic – for those two, anyway – that it was about three minutes before they had calmed their girlish giggles sufficiently to continue with the conversation.
Elli had dismissed Friday and Saturday nights out of hand, as they were strictly reserved for curling up in the little armchair she had managed to sneak into her room after pointing at a space behind the doctor's head and shouting, "Look! A medical emergency!"and working her way through as much of her housemate's bookshelf as she could before her mind simply broke down and began making noises.
After all, Karen had remarked with a sarcasm that had flown entirely over Elli's head, even if it had drawn snickers from Mary and Ann, the weekend's when you really live it up.
As for Wednesday, Karen, Ann, and Popuri had simultaneously agreed that the meetings should not be held then. When Mary and Elli, after exchanging curious looks, had asked why, Karen had simply muttered something that sounded vaguely like "our show is on", refused to repeat it, and refused to discuss the matter any further.
And so it was that Sunday was decided upon for the designated meeting night.
Unfortunately, Sunday evening was quite popular, as times set aside for weekly plotting against an innocent, if criminally stupid, girl go.
When Rick had first gathered together the young men of the town – minus Kai, who had remained mysteriously absent for reasons that Rick, who seemed to develop the inexplicable urge to whistle innocently whenever the issue was brought up, had never bothered to disclose to anyone else – they had agreed solemnly that he was quite right to be worried about the simultaneous obsession of every girl in town with the local chicken-picker-upper-and-putter-over-there-er.
Equally unfortunately, it remains a fact not commonly known to most, but prevalent in sociological thought and research, that when two entirely separate and distinct groups of Young Folk are devising Plans on the same day each week, within the same time bracket, and at the same place, they will inevitably collide.
Especially unfortunate was the fact that this case was not to be the exception.
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"Mmm," Mary murmured happily, snuggling her pillow closer and burrowing cosily into her nest of blankets.
Through a half-awake haze, a shock of bright red hair drifts before her vision, bright blue eyes sparkling down at her.
"Gray?" she murmurs sleepily. "Why are you all the way over there?"
"Uh, wrong, and I guess you're not as innocent as you seem!"
At this statement, uttered in a voice far louder – and more female – than Gray generally got, Mary gave a startled shriek and leapt out of bed. She glared at Ann as she scrambled for her comforter to wrap tightly around her nightgown-clad self.
"What are you doing here!"
"Your mom let me in," Ann explained cheerfully. "She said you should be getting up now, anyway."
"Ann," Mary whined, "I could have slept for another hour and still had time to get dressed, have breakfast, and open the Library by ten. I'm tired! And it's your fault!"
"Hold on!" Ann protested hotly. "Why was it my fault!"
"Because you had us camped outside Sakura's house, and the Inn, and the Clinic, and the Poultry Farm all night!"
"Uh, I thought that was Karen," Ann said, scratching her head.
"Oh, right," Mary said thoughtfully. "Sorry, Ann; you two kind of look alike when I'm operating on three hours of sleep."
"Aww, poor baby," Ann crooned, cuddling Mary close and stroking her hair soothingly.
Wondering sleepily how on earth Ann's shoulder could be so nice and soft when Ann herself was so thin, Mary snuggled contentedly, and then lifted her head to glare at her friend.
"I still partially blame you."
"Come on, why would you blame me?"
Mary's glare deepened.
"Because, Ann, Karen probably wouldn't be acting like this if you didn't keep egging her on."
Ann grinned, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
"What can I say? Sometimes, you have to make your own fun in a small town." A pause. "Hey, speaking of that, Karen wants us all at the Inn tonight."
"Not another meeting," Mary groaned in despair.
Ann peered sternly at the bespectacled girl, hands on her hips.
"Mary! It's not that bad!"
"It will be," Mary predicted gloomily. "It's only going to be so long before almost a season and a half of sneaking around and spying and getting absolutely no sleep and breaking and entering and going through people's things in the middle of the night is going to blow up in our faces."
Ann laughed easily.
"Don't worry, Mary; I've got a plan."
"Ann," Mary growled warningly.
"Right, right, bad choice of words," Ann said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head again. "What I meant is, I know what we've got to do: we just keep playing along with Karen until she sees for herself that Sakura's not really after all the guys! I figure, it'll just sort of die down on its own after that."
"I don't know," Mary sighed, flopping back on the bed. "That seems needlessly optimistic to me."
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"Hey!"
Kai and Popuri turned from their perch at the edge of the dock, bare feet dangling into the water, to glance in the direction of this cry.
"Oh, great," the purple-headed lad sighed resignedly as he turned back to the water, already bracing himself for another stupid confrontation. "I thought it was too good to last that he hasn't been bugging us this summer. Geez, what's with him, anyway? He's got the second-hottest—" Here, he broke off and winked at Popuri, who failed utterly to look furious and kicked a playful splash of water at him. "—girl in town trying to get him in bed, but somehow, he doesn't have anything better to do than follow us around all day."
"Rick!" the pink-haired beauty at his side wailed, climbing to her feet and letting her skirt fall back into place. "How did you find us?"
Rick scratched his head as he slowed to a stop on the pier.
"Geez, Popuri, you come here every week. I didn't really think you were trying to hide."
"Okay, okay, let's get on with it," the other boy grumbled. "If you want, I can even do your part for you. How dare you toy with my sister, you cad; Popuri, he's trouble, now come back home; yadda yadda yadda."
"Uh…back off? She came to see me on her own?" Rick said hesitantly, blinking in puzzlement. "Sorry," he shrugged when the other two stared at him. "I thought that's what we were doing."
"I was just about to come home now, anyway," Popuri huffed, pouting pointedly at her brother before turning to Kai. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Hey, Popuri, I wasn't…oh, well, she's gone," Rick finished with a shrug. "Anyway, I came to talk to you about something."
"Is this going to involve someone bleeding?"
"Well, not one of us," Rick replied carefully.
"Okay, now I'm interested!" Kai proclaimed, rubbing his hands together. "What's up?"
"You know that there's a new girl in town, right?"
"Oh, yeah; Sakura, right? What a nutcase."
Rick nodded grimly.
"I know. But apparently, women like crazy people. Even crazy women. And apparently, this crazy woman has some kind of stake in bringing a halt to the population growth in Mineral Town."
"Uh…what?" Kai asked, scratching his bandana.
"The four of us – Gray and the new guy, Cliff, and the doctor and I – have noticed that, over the past two seasons, since she moved here, all the girls – Karen and Mary and Elli and Ann, and heck, even Popuri – have been talking about her constantly and following her around everywhere. It's like she's got them all bewitched," he finished with a mournful sigh.
Kai's eyes narrowed.
"Rick I'm gonna be honest with you; normally, I'm not big on telling people who they can and can't see. But turning every eligible girl in town into a lesbian is different. If it was only one or two, I could deal with it. Personally, I always thought that Mary and Elli were girlfriends, anyway. But every single girl? I don't know; that's a pretty serious allegation."
"It is, but it isn't unfounded. We've been meeting all summer already to discuss the matter, and the evidence is overwhelmingly against Miss Sakura's honour."
"Hey, wait a second!" Kai exclaimed. "You've been meeting all summer, and no one told me? Geez, Rick, summer's half over!"
"Don't blame me," Rick said emphatically. "I asked Gray to pass on the message."
"You mean, that night that you came up to our room, and said you had an important message for everyone but Kai?" the dark-haired boy asked, glaring resentfully.
Rick grinned sheepishly.
"What can I say? Old habits die hard. So, are you in or not?"
"Oh, I'm in," Kai replied immediately. "I want to see what kind of evidence you blockheads have for this crazy conspiracy theory of yours."
"You will," Rick called ominously over his shoulder, starting from the beach. "You will."
Once the sandy-haired boy had gone, Kai shook his head.
"Yup, everyone here's still nuts." Then he grinned. "It's good to be back."
Then he froze again, eyes growing wide with disbelief.
"Did Rick have a mustache?"
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"…and then he said that I should stop wearing red, because it clashed with my hair! So then I said that he could give me fashion advice when he stopped dressing like a circus clown threw up a pirate. So then he pretended to be really, really hurt, and said he was only trying to help. I asked what he thought I should wear then, and the jerk gave me this big, stupid grin and said he thought a black vinyl miniskirt would be nice!"
"Imagine that," Elli said with a longing gaze at the stack of work sitting on the edge of her desk, just waiting to be done.
"I told him he could take his own fashion advice, and he gave me this even bigger grin and said not to tempt him!"
Elli sighed.
"Popuri, if Kai is such a big, creepy jerk, why do you spend every Sunday with him all summer?"
Popuri rolled her eyes and made an impatient noise.
"C'mon, Elli, when a girl says mean things like that about a boy, it means she likes him!"
"Maybe when she's May's age."
"No! When she's my age, too! And what about Karen? She says horrible things about Rick sometimes, but she still calls me her future sister-in-law to strangers."
"Yes, but Karen is…special," Elli pointed out carefully. "But I'm glad you and Kai are having fun, anyway. In fact," she added hopefully, "maybe you should go see him right now – he probably misses you."
"I couldn't interrupt him now," Popuri said, aghast. "He told me he's going to spend the evening reinventing the menu for the Beach Cafe – he'd be furious if I broke his concentration! He might not seem like it, but Kai's a really hard worker."
"Is that all?" the brunette whimpered, peeking at the gap in the curtain and praying for an angry boss to come storming out, commanding her to stop slacking off and earn her pay for once.
"Oh, no," Popuri replied very seriously. "He's also cute, and funny, and sweet, and smart, and cool, and a really, really good cook. And he throws the best parties!"
"Ow!" the girls heard Jeff yelp from the street as the sarcasm thick in Elli's voice sailed easily over Popuri's head and out the window. "Sasha! I think I'm bleeding! Oh, no! I'm going to die! Oh, the humanity!"
Elli flopped facedown onto her desk.
"What do you think the odds are that these stupid gags will stop sometime soon?" she asked, the words muffled by a fairly hefty stack of papers.
"You ask for the impossible, little nurse," Popuri replied solemnly. Then she giggled. "That's what Kai always says when I ask him if Rick will ever stop pestering us. Except he doesn't say 'little nurse', because, y'know, I'm not a nurse. He usually says little chicken-farmer."
The 'little nurse' in question sighed again, giving her head a quick shake to clear it after the stream of chatter that her friend was energetically using to befuddle her into a more pliant and receptive mental state in preparation of a sales pitch for the town's latest cult, or something. Then she smiled up at the pretty pink-haired girl.
"How's your mother feeling today, Popuri?"
"Mom's fine," Popuri replied, frowning confusedly. "Why?"
"I thought you were here to pick up her medication for her," Elli said edgily, nudging a little brown paper parcel toward her friend.
"Oh, that!" Popuri giggled. Then she leaned closer, motioning for the brunette to do the same. "Actually," she whispered conspiratorially, "that was just a clever ruse. I have an important message from Karen. We're all meeting tonight at…You-Know-Where, to discuss…You-Know-Who."
"I've been fearing this day ever since the last meeting," Elli said curiously, "and now that it's happening, it feels strangely anticlimactic."
The younger girl shook her head.
"You say such weird things, Elli. I think hanging around the doctor all the time is having a bad effect."
Elli brightened as this perfectly acceptable, perfectly convenient ticket out of any further conversation on the many wonders of Kai was unexpectedly dropped in her lap.
"Um, speaking of the doctor," she said, carefully shouting the last two words toward the gap in the curtain, "I don't think he would like me to spend the entire day neglecting my job to chat with my friends. You know he's still a little grouchy about the mustache."
"Elli?" Tim called, poking his head into the Clinic's main room. "Did you call me?"
"Oh, dear," the girl behind the desk sighed theatrically. "He's caught us." She smiled sheepishly at the dark-haired man. "I'm sorry, Doctor. Popuri was just picking up her mother's medicine – she's on her way now. I'll get back to work immediately."
The doctor laughed.
"It's alright, Elli; I know you're young, and every young girl needs some time to visit with her friends."
"No!" She blushed at the curious stares of her boss and her long-time friend. "Um, what I meant is, we all have to make sacrifices for our work, right? I can't neglect all the work we have to do, just because it would be more fun to talk to Popuri and hear all about Kai."
She cast a meaningful look at the doctor, carefully drawing out the 'all'. He simply laughed again.
"Elli, you know it's been dead around here lately. Alright," he amended with a sigh as both girls giggled. "Bad choice of words. Anyway, I really doubt that Mineral Town will fall into instant chaos if you talk with your friends a while longer."
"Hi!" a cheerful voice called from the doorway.
"Oh, hi, Sakura!" Elli greeted happily, peeking around Popuri at the blonde skipping across the Clinic.
The doctor tensed.
"Alright, everybody out!" he barked. "Elli has a lot of work to do, and her sociable nature has already cost us enough in lost time."
Popuri blinked.
"But…I thought you just said—"
"Out!"
"But I just wanted some more Bodigizers…" Sakura whimpered sadly, gazing longingly in Elli's direction.
Ah, when her eyes gazed upon the pretty nurse's sweet smile, she could fairly taste the energizing goodness of the wondrous elixir that could be found lurking somewhere around that desk. The force that had dominated her thoughts for the better part of the summer.
And the spring.
At least, for every second that they hadn't dwelt firmly on toast. And Toast!
The doctor, who saw only a sunburned little blonde playboy (who just happened to be female) staring lustily at his assistant, bristled.
"Rrr!" he observed casually. "Mine!"
Sakura pouted.
"Share the wealth, man! I'm sure you get plenty, working here everyday!"
Elli gave a startled, vaguely excited yelp of pain as her boss's hands clamped down tightly on her shoulders, mussing up her little shoulder frills horribly, as she would later lament to everyone who would listen.
"I. Don't. Share," the doctor was meanwhile growling at the little farmer.
"Greedy," Sakura muttered. "Well, congratulations, mister! You've just lost yourself a customer! Just see if I ever get sick in this town again! C'mon Popuri; let's go to the Supermarket and eat chocolate until we explode. I'll buy this time."
"Really!" Popuri squealed delightedly.
"That's right," Tim muttered, eyes narrowed, as the girls started for the door. "Keep walking."
Then, the instant the door closed behind the two happily chattering girls, his glare lifted and relaxed. He looked down at the brunette whose eyes had become mysteriously glassy, and her breathing mysteriously short.
"Let's get back to work, then, shall we?"
Elli blinked.
"But…um…you just told me there was no more work to do."
The doctor blinked.
"Oh, right," he said sadly. Then he brightened. "Are you any good at poker?"
"I don't know," Elli confessed. "I've never tried."
"My favourite kind of opponent," Tim said with a fond smile, swatting away the vague notion that this might be a good time to suggest that they make it strip.
The little nurse frowned.
"Why?"
"Never mind," Tim said innocently.
Elli looked shyly up at him through her lashes, and then recovered her courage sufficiently to send him a beaming smile.
"Well, anyway, Doctor, thank-you for getting Popuri out of here. I love her dearly, but I thought I was going to go insane if I had to listen to any more of her silly, dopey fawning over Kai. I hate when girls do that."
"I can understand that," he admitted with what she had come to think of as his thoughtful look.
She gave an internal giddy, giggly squeal of delight, inwardly making shiny-eyes up at the tall man and inwardly clasping her hands under her chin in a pose of girlish adoration.
He's so dreamy…
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Sasha sighed as she settled an ice pack carefully over the quickly forming lump on the back of her husband's head.
It just figured, didn't it, that she had been trying to get him outside for a nice walk for weeks now, and when he finally did step outside for longer than it took to get to the Clinic or the Church, he'd get hit in the head by someone's rampant sarcasm.
Rampant, but clearly not very subtle, if it had managed to leave poor Jeff with such a bump. This author ought to be ashamed of herself.
"Do—do you think I should go to the Clinic?" Jeff asked around a gulping sob and several sniffles. "The doctor might not have an appointment free, but I could always have little Elli look at it."
She cuddled him carefully, wrapping one arm around him and pulling him back against her chest, brushing dark hair gently off his forehead.
"Oh, honey, I don't think you need to bother them over at the Clinic, when they've been so busy lately. It's only a little sarcasm. Sticks and stones, you know."
"But it did hurt!"
"I'll take your mind off of it," Sasha assured him with an inverted wink.
Jeff grinned.
"Okay! After all, you're never too sick for…"
"Chocolate cookies!" his wife finished jubilantly.
The grocer sighed, disappointed.
"Oh, well. I guess it's better than nothing."
Sasha was on the verge of inquiring, confused and a little hurt, exactly what was wrong with her chocolate cookies, when a shout that sounded distinctly Karenesque drew her attention toward the window. Followed quickly by her husband, she hurried to the front room of the grocery store, and then to the front door.
Upon throwing open the door, she and Jeff, peeking timidly around her, were treated to the curious sight of Karen and Rick each attempting, simultaneously, to drag the other down the street, away from a monumentally confused-looking Sakura, and an equally confused-looking Popuri.
"Um...why is everyone shouting?" Jeff asked vaguely, rather distracted by his wife's firm, stoft posterior beneath his hand, resting there allegedly to steady himself, because after all, he was still feeling a little dizzy with that bump and all.
Sasha sighed again as Karen and Rick exchanged very similar sounding, very irate exclamations along the lines of I-can't-believe-she's-got-you-too and you-gullible-moron-you're-just-part-of-her-collection and I'll-rip-her-ears-off-if-you-don't-stop-mooning-over-her.
"Who knows?" the lovely blonde finally sighed despairingly. "It's always something, with those two."
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End Notes: D'oh! I'd planned to do the guys' meeting this chapter, but the word count just sort of ran away with me. I guess it's harder than I thought to give everyone attention, while focusing obsessively on Elli and the doctor like the good little psychotic fangirl that I am. :o)
Oh, well. Thanks for reading! As always, comments, suggestions, criticism, etc. are greatly appreciated.