Chapter 9: "Getting Things Done"
As the day passed, business in Bikini Bottom flowed on as usual. A cool breeze swept through the open window of the Krusty Krab, and reminded Meg that fall was on her way. She wrapped her hoodie closer to her body, and finished up the last of the dishes.
"It's awful quiet with the boy not around." Mr. Krabs was commenting to Squidward.
"It's kinda nice, though, admit it." Squidward said back. By the tone of his voice, he was relaxed and ready to go home and make himself some supper. Meg could do with a meal, herself.
She emerged from the kitchen. "All done with the dishes, Mr. K." She said.
"Three more minutes, and we can all go home." Squidward sighed, looking at the clock.
"It's been a busy day, actually." Meg said, sounding more surprised than she'd intended.
"You're telling me!" Squidward replied. "You were in the kitchen all day!"
"And I mopped floors and washed dishes and cleaned windows!" Meg retorted, playfully.
"Alright you two crazy kids, skedaddle on outta here and get yerselves some shut eye. I'll see ya in the mornin'!" Mr. Krabs was halfway to the door.
"'Night, Mr. Krabs!" Meg called as she left the restaurant.
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"You really didn't have to find such a...a nice place, Sharon!" Sandy commented, as the group of four took seats in a pretty diner across town.
"Of course I did!" Sharon replied, smiling, and handing a menu to Michael. "A friend that you haven't seen in ten years shows up at your doorstep, and you're just supposed to order pizza?"
"Wow, really been that long?" Sandy asked, throwing a glance at SpongeBob.
"And she talks about you all the time." Michael teased. He looked at Sharon's menu. "What you gonna have, babe? I can't decide."
"Mmm, this." Sharon pointed to an item on her menu, and SpongeBob started to look his own over.
----
Quiet. Peace and quiet.
It was the worst kind of quiet in the world. Meg watched Gary and Carly playing, and smiled. At least they were enjoying themselves. But after dinner...Meg hadn't found anything to do to entertain herself. At least...she couldn't sit still long enough to make up her mind. She'd tried listening to music, drawing, reading, talking to her plants...she was going to have to admit it; she was bored. Even now, flipping through TV channels, she couldn't stay on any once channel for any amount of time. Normally she could flip the Sci-fi channel on, and just leave it playing all day. But nothing that she recognized was on, and that was quite unusual. She glanced at the clock, and finally decided on a hot bath. That couldn't hurt anything.