Chapter Six part two

Beatrice:

After the Toon Patrol threw their handfuls of leaves in the air as soon as the song was over (it was catchy but the choreography needed a lot of work), I crossed my arms and left my eyes half-opened/half-closed. I'm giving them the face of irritation.

"Say, why aren't you scared?" Smarty exclaimed angrily.

I turned to him.

"First of all," I began, "you probably just heard that song from another movie. Second of all, if you were trying to scare me, I have to say that it takes more than a song to get me scared. Third of all, you want to discuss business with me and I would like to know what you wanted to discuss. And…"

I stopped talking and I began to think of another reason.

"Fourth of all…" Smarty said.

"I know what comes after three!" I said. "I was about to say that I'm here for my cousin and I'm taking her back home…fourth of all."

As soon as I mentioned Lexi, I watched all of the weasels, except Stupid (who is just staring at me), look at me with shock and anxiety.

"Duh, did you say 'cousin'?" Stupid asked me.

"Yeah." I replied.

Every member of the Toon Patrol began to exchange frightened, confused, and shocked glances at each other.

"You know what I'm talking about." I said. "I'm talking about a little girl who you kidnapped and probably stuffed her in a burlap sack."

"Oh, yeah." Smarty said and smirked. "I told the little pipsqueak to wait behind that tree over there."

I was about to walk to the tree that stood just fifteen feet behind Wheezy but I had a feeling that something was going to jump out and scare the living lights out of me.

"Well, go ahead." Smarty insisted.

I walked over to the tree with caution and I said,

Lexi, are you there?

When I was five feet away from the tree, I heard a hissing sound.

Lexi, be careful where you're stepping. I said. I just heard a snake.

As I approached to the tree, I heard two Toon Patrol members snicker. I knew that something was up. I heard the hissing again and I turned on my flashlight. I aimed it at the trunk and I saw four green, both dark and light, strips running horizontally on a slithering legless body.

I heard Smarty snicker evilly.

Carefully, I picked up a harmless little garter snake and I walked backed to the Toon Patrol (with Greasy not present) while the snake slithered in between my fingers.

"Really, Smarty?" I exclaimed. "Is that the best you can do?"

Smarty stopped snickering and looked at me with shock.

"What the-? You're not scared of 'stakes'?" Smarty exclaimed.

"I'm not afraid of snakes and it takes more than a snake to scare me." I said and put the snake into a pile of leaves. "I don't have time for this. Where is my little cousin?"

"Your cousin is right here. I just brought her over." Greasy said while he walked with his hand behind…Lexi. "Go on, niña inocente. Here's your cousin."

Lexi's face goes from terror to joy. She ran towards me and hugged me like I just came back from a war.

I got down on my knees and asked Lexi,

Are you all right? Did they hurt you? I'm sorry that I didn't believe you about the Toon Patrol.

Lexi replied,

I'm okay but I have a big rash on my left arm. It's itchy.

While I took out Lexi's medicine and started spreading the medicine on her rash, Smarty exclaimed,

"How can you understand the little pipsqueak if she can't even talk?!"

I looked at him with a serious look on my face and said,

"It's because Lexi can only communicate with her hands and head. If she wants to have a conversation, then Lexi uses her hands to talk. If you ask her a yes or no question, then she'll shake or nod her head."

"What kind of language is that?"

"It's called 'sign language', you meathead." I snapped.

"And why are you even rubbing that stuff on her arm?" Smarty asked.

"Lexi has an allergy to poison oak. It seems that you weren't being smart enough to look out for her and you let her run around in a patch of poison oak."

"See, boss?" Wheezy asked with a cigarette burning in his mouth. "I told you that there was something wrong when I found that rash on the pipsqueak."

After I stopped rubbing the medicine on Lexi's arm, I turned to Smarty.

"Since there's no specific business to discuss, I'll be taking Lexi back home." I said and began to walk away.

"Stop right there, you broad." Smarty said and then, he takes Lexi away from me and puts his hands on her shoulders. "Your cousin is not going back with you to your home. She's coming with us to Toon Town."

"What?! Why?!" I exclaimed.

"She 'flailed' to communicate 'gerbil-ly' with us and didn't accept to do a challenge."

"What challenge? Is that the reason why you kidnapped Lexi?!"

"Well, *cough, cough!* we were actually going to kidnap you," Wheezy said while smoking on more cigarettes, "but when we found your cousin, we figured that she'll do."

"And the challenge was that your little cousin was going to spend one whole day and night in that house without backing out." Greasy jumped in.

"But what are you planning to do with Lexi once you take her to Toon Town?" I asked.

"We haven't decided yet." Smarty replied. "Like the 'tot' of kidnapping you, we 'tot' that if you didn't accept or lose the challenge, then we would take you to Toon Town and make you pay back for what we had to go through after you 'cleft' the hospital. But since we got your cousin, we'll make her do the paying back."

I just couldn't believe this. It sounds really, really wrong.

"Smarty, that sounds like the dumbest scheme that I've ever heard." I said. "And if Lexi didn't want to do the challenge, then she has a very good reason."

Smarty looked at me with a mixture of suspicion and surprise.

"So, are you saying that-?" He asked.

"Yes, I'll take Lexi's place in the challenge." I said.

If I were Katniss Everdeen, then I would've said "I volunteer as Tribute" to Smarty.

"I don't know about this, boss." Wheezy coughed.

"How about this?" I asked. "I'll take Lexi's place in the challenge and I'll do it without backing out. If I win, then I will take Lexi back home and you don't show yourselves around these parts again and never bother us. How does that sound?"

Smarty looked at me, then the other members of the Toon Patrol, and at Lexi. He began to think over my suggestion and then, he smiled an evil smile.

"That sounds good but what would you do if you LOST the challenge?" Smarty asked.

I looked at Lexi and she, in fear and concern, shakes her head no. I aim my eyes back at Smarty and I sighed.

"If I lose…" I began. "…then you take Lexi back home and you can take me back to Toon Town. Punch me, hit me, torture me, do whatever you want…but I'm not letting you hurt Lexi."

"Hmm…that sounds good." Smarty said.

"Do we have a deal?" I asked and held out my hand.

Smarty looks at my hand with a frown on his face and then, he looks at me. Reluctantly, Smarty held out his own hand and said,

"It's a deal."

And we shook on it.