"Welcome to our home!" Peg cried cheerfully.
Cy-Croc didn't act very impressed with the house that Peg and Pistol lived in through her character of Awel Caddell; she really was impressed. It was a decent sized house with two floors. The outside was white with plenty of big and clean windows and the front door was chocolate brown. The front garden was beautiful with a shiny green lawn and had plenty of beautiful looking flowers of many types and tall striking trees, all surrounded by a beautiful white-painted wooden fence.
"This is very cool, Miss Peg," said Max as his character of Budlin Maskton.
"For sure," Cy-Croc said. "I love how the outside of your house and the front garden looks awesome."
"Well, thanks, you guys," Peg said. "Wait to you see what's inside."
"You're doing a great job of keeping this Budlin Maskton character up, Max," Cy-Croc said. "You're really convincing Peg and Pistol that you've never been here.
"Well, I haven't, even as Max Goof," Max replied.
"When was the last time you saw them?"
"When I graduated college along with PJ, who's been my very best friend since I was eleven and who's Peg's son and Pistol's older brother. They both came back to Spoonerville from Florida to see him graduate. So PJ's dad Pete, who divorced Peg. Pete and Peg couldn't still speak to each other or look them in the eye, not even on PJ's and my college graduation day."
"What made them want to divorce in the first place?" Cy-Croc asked.
But Max couldn't answer her because Peg had finished unlocking and opening the door.
"Well, come on in," Peg said to Max and Cy-Croc cheerily. "Don't be shy."
"I'll tell you later," Max said to Cy-Croc, as they went inside the house.
As awesome and beautiful as the outside of the house was, the inside was way better. Both Max and Cy-Croc were amazed at what they saw.
The hallway was beautiful with its cream paint and large paintings. Then Peg and Pistol showed them the huge posh dining room, the large grand sitting with the big fireplace and with so many bookcases full of books that it could be a big library, the vast kitchen that was big enough for a gourmet restaurant kitchen and the enormous gym, which looked like the kind of gym that a celebrity athlete would have.
"This is very cool, Miss Peg," Max said.
"Yeah, it's so lush," Cy-Croc said.
"Thanks, guys," Peg said. Then she took them out the back door.
Max and Cy-Croc were amazed at Peg's enormous back garden. It had a green lawn the size of a golf course with plenty of tall trees, bushes and flowers. It was like Peg and Pistol were having a park behind their house. It also had a swimming pool the size of an Olympic one and a massive tub.
"And here is where you'll be staying." Peg took them to the pool house. On the outside, it looked big enough to be a house in its right. Once they went inside, they were amazed at what the inside looked like. There were two single beds, a small kitchen, a couch in the corner with a TV and even a bathroom. It had everything anyone needed to live in the house.
"Thanks, Miss Peg," Max said. "This place will be great. I don't know how to say this, but there is one small problem."
"What's that, Bud?" Peg asked.
"Are you sure we're not interfering with anyone else living here?" Max gestured towards all the dirty clothes, dirty plates and cutlery and empty pizza boxes all over the pool house.
Peg frowned when she saw the whole mess. Then she turned to the house. "PISTOL!" she yelled. "THE POOL HOUSE! NOW!" Then she turned back to Max and Cy-Croc. "I am so sorry. No one is living in here, I promise. Pistol must have had a surprise party in here last time I was away and forgot to tidy it up.'
Pistol came into the pool house.
"You screamed, Mother?" Pistol asked.
"YES! It's bad enough you still have parties behind my back, but you not even tidying up afterwards is even worse! Now, get this place cleaned so our guests can have it!"
"Yes, Mother." Then Pistol went to her cleaning equipment.
"While she cleans up your place, let's get dinner, shall we?" Peg said.
"May I ask what's on the menu?" Max asked.
"When we get to the kitchen, Bud," Peg said to him, "I'll have a look and then I'll let you know."
"Will you take cash?" Cy-Croc asked.
Peg and Max looked at her.
"We just got our new jobs today," Cy-Croc said. "And neither of us can afford a place of our own yet. Not even together. So, how's this for a deal? If you let us stay in your pool house for as long as we need to, I'll pay you dollars per day, including days when we're not working. If you say yes, that would be thirty-five dollars per week. And that would one thousand, eight hundred and twenty dollars a year."
"And we promise we'll take good care of it," Max said.
"Well, for tonight," Peg said, "I'll let you eat and sleep here for free as you saved Pistol and her friends today. You can start paying from tomorrow and, yes, that's a very good idea about five dollars per day. Now, meet me in the kitchen in five minutes?
"No problem," Max and Cy-Croc said together.
As soon as Peg left, Cy-Croc got out a remote device and pressed the blue button on it. They looked in the mirror and saw they were no longer their characters and themselves again.
"It'll only take five minutes for our disguises to recharge," Cy-Croc said.
"How long do these disguises last, Cy-Croc?" Max asked. "And do you have a device that can tell me whether mine will be out of charge or not?"
"I'm afraid I don't," Cy-Croc said, "but when we do our jobs, I can warn you when I'm going to turn your disguise off for us to recharge. Even if I'm not with you – I give you this earpiece –" She put it under Max's right ear. "I'll let you know so you can hide and let it recharge and then I'll let you when it's safe to go out again."
"Do you think our disguises are working?" Max asked. "I mean we haven't seen any of our flaming friends since we left the forest, have we?"
"No, that's true," Cy-Croc said. "But we must be on the alert for them at all costs, because they are smarter than I'd like to give them credit for and they must never be underestimated."
There was a knock on the door.
Cy-Croc pressed the blue button on her remote device again. Then she and Max ran to the mirror and looked inside it to see that their disguises were back on and they were. Then they opened the door and found Pistol standing there.
"Mom says dinner is served," she said.
"We're coming," Max said. "Thanks, Pistol."
"Hey, Bud?"
"Yeah, Pistol?"
"Can I sit next to you?"
It looked like to Max that Pistol was flirting with him or rather his character Bud. "No problem."
"Great, thanks!" Then she took his hand.
Max didn't know what to say or do as he continued to hold Pistol's hand, except give a hard stare at Cy-Croc who sniggered quietly behind her green hands.