Hat Kid spent the next few hours in the attic, setting up the dollhouse for her temporary home. Placing her sewing equipment on a table, her grape, half a sugar cube and bread chunk on a counter in the kitchen, making it more homey.
Someone was making noise outside. Climbing to a window, she saw a little bean outside, playing in the grass. "A Child Bean!" she gasped, pressing her face into the pane.
The Child Bean had a red cape on, hiding most of her features. But Hat Kid could see blonde hair sticking out of her hood. She was holding a strange object in her hand, pointing it at an anthill.
She watched the Child Bean in fascination; she had never seen a young Human Bean before. It looked like her...but, larger.
She could hear steps coming up to the attic. Snatcher opened the attic door, holding...something in his mouth as he clambered inside. Angrily sighing, he closed the door with his foot and plopped down on the desk chair. He took the object out of his mouth, placing it on the desk. "Hey kid," he said, finally noticing her. "Want to try some pizza?"
"Who's that outside?" she wasn't very interested in whatever 'pizza' is, mostly because part of it was in his mouth. He frowned, taking a bite from the pizza before walking to the window.
"Oh." he said, his tone clearly upset at seeing the child. "That's Mu. Our neighbor. She's currently living with her uncle, and if you think Conductor gets loud, ho boy. Sometimes you can hear the two argue from in here."
"Mu?"
"I...hm...I'd stay away from her, kid." he had a small, nervous smile. "She's certainly a trouble maker. She...likes to burn things. And find little animals and bugs and takes them home as pets. But they never last long."
Hat Kid gulped. Stay away from the Child Bean. Got it.
"Oh, we have some bad news. Conductor is getting suspicious, and is out buying rat poison." he said, nonchalantly as he returned to his pizza. "So, we might have to do something about that."
"Rat poison?!" she fearfully squeaked. That didn't sound good.
"Now, he doesn't let me into his apartment anymore." Snatcher's grin widened. "After I put pink paint in his shampoo, he doesn't exactly trust me. So, here's my plan. You sneak into his apartment after he buys it, and get rid of it. Dump it down the sink, spill it on the floor, something."
"Y-You want me to sneak into his apartment? What if he sees me?!" she shoved her hat further down her head, as if to hide inside it.
"That's where I come in!" he finished eating his pizza, then returned to his plan. "I'll keep Conductor out of his apartment and busy. I'm great at it!" noticing her fear, he leaned closer and gingerly pat her head with a finger. "Don't worry kid, I'm not going to let anything happen to you."
Hat Kid and Snatcher waited for the Conductor to return home several hours later with a paper bag full of pest control products. As she crawled through the walls, he knocked on the old director's door. He opened the door, sneering at the young man. "What do ye want-"
Snatcher held up a finger as he pulled out a silver flask from his vest pocket. Conductor's eyes went wide. That was his flask! Before he could interject, Snatcher opened the flask and proceeded to chug the alcohol right in front of him. He hiccuped, then grinned. "I just drank all your booze."
She had to cover her ears as Conductor went on the loudest tirade she's heard yet. She heard Snatcher howling with laughter as he ran off, the old man chasing after him. Cookie and Grooves tried to chime in, but most everything was drowned out by the furious screeching.
Assuming this is the distraction Snatcher was talking about, she snuck inside. This was the first time she's seen the Angry Bean's apartment. She's seen Cookie's kitchen, and saw Snatcher's attic, but she wasn't sure what to expect from Conductor.
His apartment wasn't that big, and it seemed...unfinished. There were boxes and luggage sprawled about, with large, cardboard items mimicking real objects. Like cardboard cacti. On a shelf nearby were three bright, shiny, golden trophies. But he did have normal furniture, like a simple couch and TV in the living room.
But she wasn't here to marvel at how Bean's lived. Hat Kid found the paper bag in the kitchen, on a counter.
Climbing up, Hat Kid found a bottle with a dead rat on it outside the bag, next to the sink. That must be it! Scaling the large bottle, she grunted as she screwed open the cap. The liquid inside stank like death, causing her to cover her mouth and nose with her sleeve. Climbing back down, she started to push the bottle towards the sink, causing the bottle to fall inside and spill all of its contents down the drain.
"I don't have time for this! Ye'll regret this!" Oh no, he was coming back! Gasping, her eyes darted around for some sort of escape. She heard the door open. Her gaze finally landed on a red, cone-shaped object with a handle on the side. It'll have to do.
Ducking behind it, Conductor entered the kitchen. Grumbling angrily to himself about Snatcher, he slammed the empty flask on the counter. Noticing the bottle in the sink, he gasped and rushed towards it. "Whadda what?! Who did this?!" pulling the bottle out, he found it empty. "It wasn't the lad, or the lass, and Grooves wouldn't do this…"
She gulped. He had to leave the kitchen so she could leave. He continued to mutter darkly to himself about who could have done this. "Oh well, Ah got other means…" he started pulling out mouse traps and flypaper from the bag.
Whistling, he grabbed a few of the traps and moved to the living room. Seeing an opportunity, she sprinted as quietly as she could to a crack in the wall, squeezing inside and out of sight.
"So you got rid of the - *hic!* Sorry - you got rid of the poison, but he had traps?" Snatcher was sitting on his bed in the attic, Hat Kid sitting on his pillow. Human pillows were amazing! So big and soft.
But no matter how soft, she was still worried about the Conductor. "Yeah...he had traps. And uh, are you OK?"
He hummed in thought. "Kiddo I'm assuming you know how to avoid traps. I'm having a difficult time thinking too hard. I just chugged half a flask of scotch on an empty stomach and my head is killing me. I was going to...sleep. For...a while. *Hic!*"
She left Snatcher alone to sleep off the booze he chugged, opting to visit Cookie. Hat Kid hadn't properly introduced herself, and the Bean seemed trustworthy. She should at least thank her for the grape.
Entering the kitchen, she found the candle and small plate again. She made a mental note to grab a little treat before she left.
"Um, hello? Miss Cookie?" she called out into the empty kitchen.
"Oh? Is someone in here?" she came into the kitchen wearing loose, comfortable clothing. She looked at Hat Kid, and smiled. "Oh! Hello there cutie! You were in here earlier!"
Nodding, she replied. "Yup! I'm Hat Kid! Thanks for the grape!"
Pulling up a chair, Cookie sat down. "You're very welcome! I'm Cookie, but you already knew that. Now, are you truly a Borrower?"
"Yup! Through and through!" Hat Kid sat on the counter, leaning over to grab a sugar cube. "And, I want to thank you again. I was afraid the Angry Bean - er, Conductor - would see me. I was hiding behind the candle."
Cookie snickered. "Angry Bean? Well, I'm glad I can help. I understand that Conductor can be a bit...much."
"That's putting it mildly." she muttered, nibbling on the sugar cube.
"Now, does your family live here? Under the floorboards, or in the walls, behind some furniture? That's where my mama would tell me they lived." Cookie started a kettle of water. "Tea?"
"No thanks m'am." Timmy was really into drinking tea, but she never got into it. "And, I'm staying here until I find my family. We got separated in the rainstorm. We were moving out of our old home...the human beans there bought a cat."
"Oh no! I'm so sorry sweetie! You can stay in my apartment if you want to!" Hat Kid felt a warm aura from Cookie, and she enjoyed it immensely. A sort of...motherly aura.
"Oh no, that's OK! I'm staying in the attic with Snatcher! He said I could, and even pulled out a dollhouse for me to stay in."
Her face darkened. "That Snatcher hasn't tried anything, has he? If he lays a finger on you I'll throw him out the window!"
"No no! He's been nothing but nice!"
Cookie settled down, pouring a cup of tea. "That's good. I understand that Borrowers don't usually speak to humans. But it seems that you've met me and Snatcher."
"I've always been fascinated by humans...and you two seem very nice. I'm not sure about Conductor, and I have no idea about this 'Grooves' but, let's keep it between you two for now."
The human smiled at her. She reminded Hat Kid of a cat, but a friendly one. "Well sweetie, if you ever need a nice, hot meal; I'm your 'bean'!"
After having a pleasant conversation with Cookie, she grew curious about the other tenant she hadn't met yet. Grooves. She knew from the Cookie Bean that he and Conductor moved in together for work (they were in the same industry) and that Conductor hated him.
An enemy of Conductor was a friend of hers.
His room was across the hallway from Conductor according to Cookie. Traveling through the walls, she peeked into Grooves' room.
It was the opposite of Conductor's. Grooves' room was bright and colorful, fully decorated and furnished. There were also cardboard props, but they were of strange shapes she had never seen before. Unlike Conductors, Grooves had no trophies.
The Borrower cautiously moved closer inside. She didn't see or hear any sign of him. Then, the front door knob started rattling. Darting behind a cardboard prop, she watched in anticipation.
He was older, but didn't look as old as the Angry Bean. He had darker skin and black hair styled in an afro, with gold streaks. He had a white shirt and a massive red coat with gold buttons. He had a pair of sunglasses shaped like stars, hiding his eyes.
Grooves sighed as he entered his apartment, and she soon found out why. Conductor was hot on his heels. "I'm telling ye! There's something malicious at work!" he screeched.
"Conductor darling," the sparkly bean sighed, rubbing his eyes behind his shades. "There is nothing 'malicious' going on. You put the bottle too close to the sink, it fell, and spilled."
"The cap was on! How could it have spilled?!" Conductor was pacing now, and Grooves seemed anxious to get him out.
"Listen, I think you should cut back on the Scotch-" but he was quickly silenced by a finger in his face.
"DON'T YE LECTURE ME ABOUT MY SCOTCH, DJ GRRRROOVES." the shorter human hissed, jabbing his finger in Grooves' face.
"Conductor, get out of my apartment. I have work to do!" Grooves started pushing Conductor out the door, slamming it quickly.
Judging the two purely on that conversation, Grooves definitely seemed more calm than Conductor. He didn't seem like the type of bean to hear something and immediately buy traps, poison or a cat. But, surely there had to be a reason for Conductor to hate the human so much, right?
Hat Kid frowned. Already two human beans knew of her existence, and that seemed like plenty for right now.
She continued to observe the human for a moment, watching him recite lines from a thick stack of paper. Curiosity satisfied, for now, she crept to the crack in the wall.
As she left, Grooves paused. Being an actor, he had excellent knowledge of when he was being observed. Call it, Actor's Intuition. Feeling eyes on him, he spun around.
But he found no one.
It was raining again. Rain pounded on the roof of the attic, threatening to seep inside the walls. Thunder boomed far away, rattling the boxes and the little amount of furniture.
Hat Kid couldn't sleep.
She sat in the windowsill, watching the droplets as big as her roll down the window. Snatcher was snoring loudly on a cot nearby. Perhaps when you're larger in size, the rain wasn't so loud.
Continuing to stare out the window, she thought about the Beans in the house. Were they having problems sleeping as well? Did Human Beans think about the same thing as Borrowers? Did they worry about being eaten by cats, or being squashed like bugs?
Did they worry about their families?
Despite her best efforts, the young borrower couldn't help but think of her family. Bow, and Timmy; she hoped they were OK.
In his bed, the Human Bean snorted loudly, rolling onto his side and snapping Hat Kid out of her thoughts. She glanced at him for a moment, before turning back to the window.
Maybe, she had found a new family here.
But they couldn't replace the hole left by her old one.