Quondam

Blossom looked to the side, trying to get her sisters attention so she could read what they wanted her to do. It wasn't everyday that three usual villains of Townsville, much less the Rowdyruff Boys, came to your doorstep and told you that they didn't want to be bad guys anymore.

If that wasn't weird enough, Brick and his brothers looked terrible. They were wearing tattered clothes and had enormous purple bags under their eyes – like they hadn't slept for days.

"So…" Blossom started, at more of a loss for words than she realized, "That's it?"

Boomer and Butch were looking away from the current conversation with The Powerpuff Girls. They didn't like admitting to this in the least. As a matter of fact, the sooner the girls told them 'no', the better.

Brick was the one left alone to make eye-contact with the girls and do all the talking. So it was when everyone expected you to be the leader.

"How do we know," Buttercup cut in, "That this isn't some stupid trick?"

Brick shrugged, tired of this already, "You don't."

"So then get out!" Buttercup shouted.

"Buttercup, we should listen to them." Blossom said.

"Why!?" Buttercup continued, standing up this time, "What's that going to do Blossom?"

Bubbles felt the need to finally speak up, "But what if they're really in trouble?"

"You expect us to believe – that the villains of Townsville are targeting you now?" Buttercup prodded.

Brick nodded. Why waste his breath?

"Because," Blossom confirmed, "Because you don't want to fight anymore?"

Brick nodded again.

"Why?" Blossom asked – half interrogating, half genuinely curious.

"We figure…" Boomer said, making the girls jump at the first words he'd said since they'd appeared on the doorstep, "What's the point anymore?"

"It doesn't bother you at all," Brick said, "That there has been a dramatic decrease in crime here? Didn't you wonder why?"

"Most no one cares anymore, kids." Boomer said, "The only one's who are trying to rectify this are old losers like Mojo and Him – but they're failing miserably."

"Hell," Brick said, "Word on the street is the Gangreen Gang is actually talking about enrolling in community college."

Blossom's jaw dropped, "College?"

"Hey," Brick said, holding his hands up, "I was as surprised as you. That's all hearsay – but they have stopped breaking the law."

"I don't know what happened," Boomer said, "How does a town's crime just… stop overnight?"

"So we did our job." Buttercup said, "Thanks for tellin' us. You can leave now."

"Alright." Butch finally spoke up, hopping off of the couch, "To hell with this. I didn't even want to come here."

"Why are you here?" Bubbles asked.

"Your stupid Professor told us to," Butch said, walking towards the door, opening it and getting ready to slam it harder than he'd slammed any door in his life.

"Liars!" Buttercup said, laughing coldly halfway through the word, "Do you really expect us to believe that?"

"We expect jack from you three idiots." Butch called back.

Blossom and Bubbles braced themselves for Buttercups reaction, ready to spring onto their sister before she started an all-out superpower battle against Butch in their own home.

But Before anyone could say or do anything, the Professor's voice came into earshot.

"Girls," He said calmly

All six of the super-powered children, even Buttercup and Butch now had their attention turned on the resident father figure, who seemed to have had materialized leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.

"Boys," The Professor then said to the Rowdyruff Boys warmly. "Now is not the time for fighting."

"Did you really tell these three dirtbags to come to our house, Professor?!" Buttercup spat out, running the calm of the moment.

"That's quite enough Buttercup." The Professor said sharply, with just enough calm in his voice. "I did tell them to come over. But I had more faith that you would act more respectful and ladylike."

At the word ladylike, Bubbles stifled a giggle – 'causing Buttercup to throw a glare her way.

"What!?" Bubbles said defensively.

Buttercup sighed and crossed her arms, "Sorry, Professor."

"But why, Professor?" asked Blossom, "I don't have a problem helping them if you trust them but… I just don't get it."

"It's been almost eight months since the last villain or monster attacked our town," The Professor said, "I think the worst of Townsville's dark hours are over."

He walked over across the room to the giant window in the front of the room – the one that out looked the front yard and, consequently, the cityscape of Townsville.

"Do you girls remember that on Thursday night, I went into town to get groceries?" The Professor asked.

"Yea!" Bubbles squealed, "Breakfast for dinner night!"

The Professor chuckled and looked lovingly at his most bubbly daughter, whose personality had landed her a name, "That's right Bubbles."

Butch heaved an inaudible annoyed sigh. Waffles for dinner weren't exactly the most exciting thing in the world, and he also felt that the professor standing in the sunlight of the window was a bit melodramatic.

"After I was done at the store, when I got back out to my car, the boys were standing right by it." The Professor said, "And I immediately was on the defensive. It seemed like they were there to ambush me."

Buttercup locked eyes with Brick "But they weren't, right?"

Brick rolled his eyes.

"On the contrary, Buttercup," Said the Professor, "I asked them to move and they quietly apologized; moving away without incident."

"Apologized?" Bubbles asked, incredulous.

"Yeah," Butch said, "Regrettin' it already."

"I was so curious as to why they didn't attack me, so I asked. That's when Brick told me about Him kicking them out for refusing to wreak havoc on Townsville." Professor said, "So, I asked them to come and talk to us whenever they felt ready."

"Talk about what?" Blossom asked, "Being allies? Joining forces?"

The Professor chuckled, "No, I think the town is safe and sound. At least, it sure seems like the world at large has forgotten about us."

"Then what?" Blossom raised an eyebrow, not sure where this was going.

"I think that the boys should move in here."

And with that, even without the advantage of super-eardrums, you could hear a pin drop.

"The town has very little crime besides petty criminals, and the boys are all alone." The Professor finished, "I think we should embrace that shift."

"Yeah, you got that right." Buttercup said bitterly, taking another glance at the three color-coded boys sitting in her living room – the ones who had just a year prior tried to kill her and her sisters on more than one occasion, "Times are a-changing."

Nonplus

Walking out of the video store in a huff, Butch already had an introduction to the schpeel he was going to give in his head. The stupidity of customers cheesed him off so often that he didn't realize how they themselves thought they still deserved to breathe. How can people be so retarded? It was almost as if any kind of service in the modern world – video rental or otherwise – made them turn off their brain and expect the clerk to do all the work for them.

Well Butch only was being paid $6.25 and hour. And he sure as hell wasn't going to shine anyone's boots for such slave wages.

Passing Mitch and Silent Mike, he continued to look forward; ignoring them. Of all the people in the world he didn't want to talk to after encountering a brain-dead customer, it was Mitch. He wasn't in the mood to lose any more faith in the human race today.

"Yo, Butcho!" Mitch yelled.

"Not now, loser." Butch said, not looking at him and continuing to walk.

"Man," Mitch said as he watched Butch proceed to the Stop n' Go, "Why does everyone assume we're out to start trouble."

Mike shrugged.

"I think," Mitch said, "You need to stop being so stand-offish. That's what does it."

Mike tilted is head. Was it?

Butch flung open the door to the store, so fast in fact that the bell connected to it (signifying someone walking into the store) didn't even have time to ring.

"What I don't get." Butch said angrily, an octave higher than his usual voice, "Is…"

He stopped short, finding his brother Boomer slumped over the counter. It was way past the morning hours – almost 11:00am now. He'd had more than enough time to catch up with sleep.

"Boomer!" Butch yelled.

Boomer's head shot up, the back of his blonde hair standing on end once again. "Whum?..."

"I'm glad you got a nap in," Butch said, "While I was in the video store dealing with Townsville's mental patients!"

"What?" Boomer looked around lazily, "I fell asleep?"

Boomer slumped forward on the counter, mentally noting that this was the second time today one of his brothers had interrupted his beauty sleep. No one liked him to be rested, apparently. He looked at the clock across the store, he'd only been napping for fifteen minutes.

"I had a weird dream." Boomer said.

"Another one about Bubbles finally kissing you?" Butch smirked, "Brick came by the video store earlier – told me about your smooching adventure with him this morning."

"No," Boomer said – annoyed that news traveled so fast. Not surprised, however.

"If only what just happened to me had been a dream," Butch said, "Bunch of savages in this town."

"What happened?" Boomer asked off-hand, not really caring.

"Some guy game in refusing to pay his late fees." Butch said, "He said the store was closed for two hours yesterday. I tore up his membership."

Boomer rubbed his eyes, "Shocking abuse of authority."

"I just don't get where his logic stands," Butch said, "The drop-box was invented for the convenience of me to go wherever the heck I want during working hours. It's not my fault he was some paranoid idiot who needed to leave his movies with a living thing."

"Maybe he wanted to rent more movies too," Boomer said.

"So… why didn't he just leave the other movies to avoid the late fee? People don't think." Butch shook his head, "What was your dream about?"

"Oh," Boomer remembered morbidly, "It was the day we showed up to the house."

"What," Butch said, "The house we live in now? When the professor decided we could live there?"

"Yeah."

"Why the heck would you be having a dream like that?" Butch said, then laughed, "Remember when Buttercup got all upset at me?"

"Yeah, that part was in the dream too."

"Totally could have beat the crap out of her," He chuckled.

"We owe so much to the girls and Professor Utonium," Boomer said, thinking as he did so.

"Dude," Butch said awkwardly, "Why the appreciative mush all of a sudden?"

Boomer braced, more for himself than anything, and said what he'd been thinking out loud, "I'm going to break up with Bubbles."

"Damn," Butch said, "More drama for the Utonium house, huh?"

"I just don't know how they'll take it as a whole," Boomer said, "They took us in, put a roof over our head, fed us when we were homeless – and what do I do?"

"Break the cute ones heart," Butch shook his head, picking up a newspaper from the stand next to him, "You heartless monster."

"Seriously, though," Boomer said, "Where do I get off? All they do for us and this is how I repay them?"

Butch dove into the newspaper, "You really need to stop having a conscience, bro. It's creepier than you realize."

"It's not that I don't care about Bubbles," Boomer said, "It's just that Princess actually treated me like a boyfriend. Bubbles is just kind of emotionally cut off because…"

"Because she's a toddler?" Butch said flipping over the newspaper to see the front page – the headlining story amusing him to no end.

"Well, so am I," Boomer said, annoyed, "But even as young as we are, there's some dimension of like and love isn't there?"

Butch read and re-read the front page headline before he jumped to any conclusions, "Apparently."

"And anyway," Boomer continued, not aware at how little attention Butch was paying, "I think the arguments Bubbles and I are having are some kind of manifestation of a subconscious desire to break away from her so that I can pursue the possibility of a more meaningful relationship with Princess."

"And Princess is on the same wavelength?" Butch asked.

"She calls me most nights and tells me how much she misses me," Boomer said, "I think it's safe to say yes."

"Well," Butch said, "Then I think all four of you had better sit down and talk it over."

Boomer processed what was just said, "All four?"

"Yeah," Butch finished, "You, Bubbles, Princess…"

Butch threw down the newspaper he was reading in front of Boomer – the front page of which bore a huge headline that read: MOREBUCKS TO WED ARABIAN PRINCE.

Butch finished, "And Princess's fiancée."'

Outside the Stop n' Go, Elmer was in a heated debate with Mitch – who wasn't necessarily talking to Elmer because he wanted to, but because today there was absolutely nothing else to do.

"I'm just saying," Elmer said, "That family is very very important."

Mitch blinked, confused as to where this was going, "I guess so."

"I mean, friends are going to come and go – but you're more or less stuck with your family, right? They're not getting rid of you." Elmer continued.

Mitch nodded, "I guess that makes sense. Sort of, kind of. Can you please leave?"

Ignoring him, Elmer said, "And, like, you should never take that for granted. Because some people don't even have a family."

Mitch stood there, hoping that staying completely still would get Elmer to go away. He'd heard somewhere that annoying paste-eaters couldn't see you if you stood completely still.

Or maybe that was a dinosaur or something.

"Right, Mike?" Elmer turned to Silent Mike, pleading for attention.

Silent Mike, who had been happily zoned out turned to Elmer in surprise, then looked to Mitch for some help.

Mitch shrugged, "I don't know man. Something about family."

"I was saying," Elmer sniffled, wiping his nose – which was covered in glue, "That family is really important."

Silent Mike, making the mouth motion of, Ooh – patted Elmer on the shoulder. He had a good point and as a matter of fact, that was something that Mike held true to himself. As a matter of fact he had family coming into town today.

"If it wasn't for my big brother," Elmer said sadly, "I probably wouldn't have a friend in the world."

Mitch, much to Elmer's dismay, exploded into laughter.

"That's why…" Elmer tried to finish, "Family is so important to me, anyway."

Mitch fell to his knees, continuing to laugh, "That's the most… pathetic thing," He took a deep breath before laughing more, "I've ever heard!"

Silent Mike frowned. He had to admit that it was pretty obvious why Elmer didn't have a friend besides his big brother, but Mitch was trudging between mischievous and cold-hearted a little too closely.

Elmer hung his head in shame as Mitch continued to laugh.

Silent Mike looked over to Elmer worriedly. He had seen Elmer get this kind of treatment from the kids at school year round. It couldn't be that easy to pretend to be calloused all the time.

Silent Mike sighed, and walked over to where Mitch was pounding the concrete, laughing and overdoing it for anyone's tastes. He bent down on one knee so that he was on Mitch's eye-level.

Mitch looked up at Mike, tears flowing from laughing so much. "Did you hear that stuff, Silent Mike?"

And Mike Believe, with all of the might his small body would give him – punched Mitch Mitchelson in the face as hard as he could, square on the nose.

Mitch got up immediately covering his newly bleeding nose and letting out a croaky wail, "Silent Miiiiiike! WHAT THE…."

Mike grabbed him by the shoulder so that he was facing him head-on and with his hand made the motion of zipping his lips.

Mitch closed his mouth and nodded whilst Elmer looked at the two in astonishment, even more confused now by their new-founded friendship.

"I think I'll need some tissue or… toilet paper or something." Mitch said.

Silent Mike nodded and pulled another Dum-Dum lollipop out of his pocket, and unwrapped it, popping it into his mouth and heading towards the entrance to the Stop n' Go.

Mitch and Elmer stood there in silence for a second before Mitch finally said, "He's lucky I'm feeling merciful today."

Praetorian

Boomer paced back and forth between the two ends of the counter, still trying to process the story Brick had found in the paper.

It didn't make any sense that Princess would get married to an Arabian prince. Despite the fact that he was pretty sure she had never been anywhere near Arabia, why in the world would anyone be thinking of marriage at her age? She wasn't even in first grade yet.

Butch entered the store once again, hands in pockets, "Hello sunshine."

"You know what I just figured out?" Boomer said incredulous, "Princess really IS getting married!"

"Well of course," Butch said, "It was in the newspaper. When has the press ever lied?"

"I called her house, pretending like I was calling to congratulate her," Boomer said, "And she said, oh, thank you! We're so happy."

"You called pretending to be someone else?" Butch raised an eyebrow, "Stalker much?"

"I just really needed to know," Boomer said, "And now I know for sure: I'm going to be unhappy forever."

Butch ignored him, "You know what I just watched? Superman Returns."

"Ah," Boomer said, "Did you watch it just for the neo-homo Superman costume or were you really just craving a bad movie?"

"Could have been worse," Butch said. "But I noticed something about it."

"That the girl who played Lois had no butt whatsoever?" Boomer said, "I mean, I'm not a womanizer, but it looked like she put a wooden plank or something in her pants, where her butt should have been."

"That," Butch said, "And the fact that Superman is kind of a creepy angel-type figure in the movie."

"Like a Christ figure." Boomer nodded, "You know, this isn't the first time anyone's used that imagery for Superman. He is the savior of Metropolis after all."

"I was wondering if that's the way everyone saw Blossom and her sisters," Butch said, "Like... little angelic figures that are all good and infallible."

"Like the Powerpuff Girls can do no wrong," Boomer said.

"That's what I figure," Butch leaned against the counter, "That would explain why they have such big heads – figuratively, not literally."

"Maybe," Boomer said, "When the crime rate was really bad, they were sort of saviors. They cleansed the world when bad was around. All that jazz."

"Do you think that's called for though?" Butch said, finally coming around the counter, "Who are they to think so highly of themselves?"

"Well let's see," Boomer said, "They've stopped more than one disaster and saved hundreds – thousands of lives. Don't you think they've earned the room to be as overzealous about their righteousness as they see fit?"

"Well yeah, I do." Butch admitted, "But let's look at my credentials: I'm a roughhousing six year old with super powers. I've committed crimes – I've damn near killed people."

"But thanks to the girls, you didn't," Boomer added.

"Let me finish," Butch snapped, "The point is, it's expected of me because I'm an imperfect person and happy to admit it. But if the girls are imperfect but people continue to see them as perfect, and we embrace the hypocrisy of them being egocentric and selfish about their standing in society – where the hells the justice in that?"

"I think," Boomer said, "You've thought way too much into this."

"Have I?" Butch said, "You never hear anything come from Metropolis about Superman being the embodiment of sweetness and right. But here in Townsville the Powerpuff Girls are always at the top of the totem poll. They never get accused of anything. Even by the tabloids."

Boomer yawned.

"Supes actually has people attacking him constantly – claiming he thinks he's so much higher than the rest of the world," Butch went on – his temper rising more and more as he continued to talk, "But here, our superheroes are actually the ones who need to be kicked off of their high horse."

Just then a customer walked up to the counter, much to the surprise of Butch and Boomer who had not even realized that someone had entered the store – he had a bag of chips and a soda.

"Just this?" Boomer asked, ringing up the items.

"Yeah," The customer said, "And a pack of cigarettes."

Since he didn't specify which kind, Boomer simply reached up towards the cigarettes and picked one for him. Customers did that often – expecting him to read their minds. Though interestingly enough, very rarely did anyone correct him. Townsville wasn't picky about their nicotine habits, he just figured they needed the fix and the actual kind of cigarette could be damned for all they cared.

"I'm sorry," The customer said as he reached for his wallet, "But what were you just talking about?"

"My friend here is trying to convince me that The Powerpuff Girls are actually corrupt superheroes and Superman is constantly getting the flack that they deserve." Boomer said dully, eyeing Butch who pretended to ignore him.

"Well," The customer cleared his throat, "If you don't mind my opinion – I'm Adam Eastbrook, I used to be a roofer in Metropolis." He produced a business card.

Boomer took the business card and read it – handing it to Butch, who didn't give it one look and threw it to the side.

"You have something to add?" Butch said.

"Well," Adam started, "I don't know too much about nothin' – but I did see some interesting things in my days in Metropolis. Big city, big secrets – you know?"

Boomer and Butch nodded.

"One day," Adam said, "I was working the on a termite problem in the roof of a big bright red building in downtown Metropolis – right next to the Premium Outlet stores."

Butch said, "You were on top of the roof of the Buzz Cola building?"

"Buzz Cola building?" Boomer asked, confused.

"Yeah dude," Butch said, eyes lit up, "It's this gigantic skyscraper in downtown Metropolis – it's bright red, like blindingly. They do taste testing for new flavors of Buzz Cola there daily and that's where their corporate offices are located. I also hear they give away a years supply of the drink to a random visitor every day."

"Really?" Boomer said, "I've never heard of it."

"Well you've never been to downtown Metropolis, have you?" Butch smirked, crossing his arms.

"And when did you go!?" Boomer shot back, annoyed his brother was trying to look cooler than him in front of a total stranger.

"Long story," Butch sniffed.

"Anyway," Adam continued, "I was working on that roof – inside the vent systems basically, trying to clear this termite problem to do a complete overhaul on their roof. Big corporate job, ya know? When I hear these shouts, really violent shouts coming from one of the rooms straight below me. I look down to see our boy in blue Superman – yelling at the top of his lungs at this kid in a suit. Saying things like, you expect me to accept this? Do you want me to spit in your face? Really dirty. Not like the Supes we see on the TV."

"Wow," Butch said leaning in, a lot more intrigued than he had planned to be originally, "What was it about?"

"They was trying to buy him! Make him drink their Buzz Cola on television or something. But their offer was too low so he told them they were idiots for thinking he would accept so low and offer and," Adam made a flying notion with his hand, complete with whoosh sound, "Flew out their window. Didn't even open it – broke the glass. Cost them $3,000 to replace that window."

"Wow," Boomer said, awed.

"Now, I'm sure some superheroes get big heads about savin' people," Adam said, "That's just human nature. Everyone has it – no matter what, you start to become sure of yourself sooner or later. Some call it ego, I call it self confidence."

Boomer glanced over at Butch who crossed his arms stubbornly.

"But I'd be willing to bet good money," Adam said, "That the Powerpuffs aren't taking money under the table from big corporations. They live in a little house with their professor guy or something, right?"

Boomer and Butch looked at each other.

"Yeah," Butch said, "So we hear."

"But at least they haven't lost touch with the fact that the people are the ones who matter," Adam said, "Am I right? They haven't been corrupted by money."

"Eh…" Butch said.

Boomer smiled at Butch's discomfort, "I agree completely."

"A superhero listens to this," Adam gestured to his heart, "Not his wallet."

And with that, Adam exited the Stop n' Go.

Vendee

Butch was back manning his post at Townsville Video right next door to the Stop n' Go – as much as he didn't want to. Sitting behind this counter was probably one of the most boring things he could even consider thinking about, but every once in awhile Boomer got annoyed to the point where he kicked him out of the store, and this was the only other place to go.

Mitch and Silent Mike were outside, rambling about something with Elmer and some other person who was out there. Butch could see another silhouette shadowed on the sidewalk, and if he craned his neck far enough he could theoretically actually see who the fourth person was outside.

He didn't care enough to put forth that much effort and just leaned back against the wall, hovering instead of using a chair.

Just then, the door to the video store flung open, setting off the automatic small beep when someone entered the store. The old woman who entered the store was all in a flutter and had a look of mixed disgust-awe-frustration on her face. Butch was intrigued by this.

"Afternoon, sunshine," Butch said.

"Who in the world," The old woman said, her breath bitter and shallow, "Do you think you are?"

Butch cocked an eyebrow and said, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together," He waited for a reaction but got none, "I am the eggman."

The old lady looked like her head was going to explode, "WHAT?!"

Butch shrugged. How could someone so old not get a Beatles reference?

"Smart-alec little punk," The old woman spat, "I could put this place out of business, put you out of a job."

"Wait," Butch said, "What's going on again?"

"I came in here earlier today asking for a good family film," She said.

Butch blinked. He couldn't remember her for the life of him – then again, he couldn't remember the last time he helped anyone in the video store. He tried to block those kinds of things out.

"Okay," Butch allowed. He had to assume she was telling the truth.

"And you paid me absolutely no attention!" She threw her arms above her head dramatically.

"Well," Butch said, "I don't think that's entirely true. I give the utmost first class service to my customers here at Townsville Video." He suppressed a laugh; she didn't seem to notice.

"I asked for a family film," She threw a DVD on the counter, "And you gave me this."

Butch picked up the DVD case cautiously and turned to the spine so that he could read the film he had given her. The DVD title on the spine read: Clever Trevor - XXX.

Butch read it again and said confused, "It says here he's clever."

"Do you know what the film is even about?" The old lady tried to say angrily, but her voice was too frail, "It's about a man named Trevor, who's life goal is to sleep with every girl he comes in contact with!"

"Sleep? Like in the same bed?" Butch said innocently, "That's silly,"

"Don't play stupid with me!" The old lady said, "Was this some kind of sick joke? I sat down and watched this with my grandchildren!"

"Oh," Butch said, "Well look at it this way – at least I gave you porn with a storyline. Could have been just straight-up naughty scenes. I went with production value and class."

"Did you even pay attention to what you were giving me?" The old lady asked.

Butch shrugged.

"So, see?" She sounded somewhat triumphant, for what Butch couldn't understand why, "You weren't paying any attention!"

Butch folded his arms and nodded, "And I hope it feels good."

"You hope what feels good?"

"I hope it feels so good to be right." Butch said, "There is nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?"

"Well!" The old woman exasperated, "This is the last time I ever rent here!"

She turned his back on him and began to walk out the door.

Butch threw her a faux-salute, "You will be missed."

"SCREW YOU!" She slammed the door to the store.

Finally, Butch got up from behind the counter and slowly hovered down to the ground, running to the door, pushing it open with all his might – and consequently, scaring the bejeesus out of Mitch and Silent Mike.

"HEY!" Butch called after the old woman, "You're not allowed to rent here anymore!"

"Yeah!" Mitch called after the old lady, watching her as she got into her car.

Butch continued to stand outside, not being able to process what was so wrong about his film choice. He was rarely able to grasp the concept of him being wrong.

"Screw me?," He said incredulously.

"Wow," A small girlish voice said behind him, "Another satisfied customer, Butch."

Butch turned to see Robin from next door standing with Mitch and Silent Mike outside the video store. It registered for a split second that she was the extra silhouette he had seen on the sidewalk. Butch had never liked Robin – too holier-than-thou for her own good.

"What are you doing here?" Butch asked, not trying at all to mask his annoyance.

"Mike asked me to come down here," Robin said, "He has a cousin coming from out of town, but didn't want Mitch to be the only friend she met."

"Don't know why," Mitch protested, "I'm the best welcome wagon there ever was."

Butch ignored them and marched towards the Stop n' Go, ready to complain Boomer's ear off once again.

(Chapter 3 - Coming Soon)