She wasn't sure how it happened, or even when. But she was sure of one thing-It scared her.

The familiar burst of pain streaked through her wrist, reminding her that she wasn't yet fully healed. With a sigh she glanced at the purple cast that ran from her

hand to her elbow. The vibrant color was easy to spot and it definitely clashed with every piece of clothing in her wardrobe. Purple wasn't even close to her

favorite color, but Julie insisted. And who was Natalie to argue?

Julie had been put through a lot, waiting for what seemed like hours in halted rush hour traffic on the San Francisco freeway to find a bathroom. Thank goodness

for tour busses. The fake tattoo on Julie's leg aside, Natalie had to admit that the rock band Korn wasn't so bad. The moment Natalie told Julie that she approved

of the band's music (which was really her subtle way of saying that she was grateful to the band for letting Julie use their bathroom) that was it.

Natalie didn't know if she should be mad or grateful about the autographed Korn CD's that began arriving in the mail. But one thing was for sure; she had come

to know the songs by heart and had even caught herself singing a few of their songs on occasion.

It would have been nicer if her favorite eighties band Nu Shooz had been on the freeway that day and had offered Julie the use of their tour bus bathroom. But

the Korn CD's made Julie happy and therefore Natalie was happy too.

The phone rang, bringing her out of her thoughts. She knew before she even picked it up who was calling. It was the same person who had called the last four

times, and the last four times before that, precisely twenty two minutes apart.

"Mr. Monk, you don't have to keep calling!" Natalie said by way of answering the phone. "I'm fine, really!"

"Y-you didn't even say hello! How did you know it was me?"

"Lucky guess."

"That's a lot of lucky guesses. You've said that the last three times I called."

"Yeah, well, it's a gift."

"And a curse." He finished. "How's your wrist?"

"It's the same as it was twenty two minutes ago. It's fine."

"Good. Well I don't want to bother you. I'm just rearranging my spice rack."

"Again? Mr. Monk, we just did that yesterday!"

"The labels were off."

"What do you mean, the labels were off?"

"One of the labels wasn't stuck on straight so I threw the bottle away."

Natalie cringed, bracing herself for what was coming. "Which bottle was it?"

"The rosemary."

"Oh God, Mr. Monk, really? That stuff is three dollars a bottle! You can't just throw away stuff simply because the manufacturer didn't put the label on straight!

Where is the bottle now?"

"In the trash."

"Take it out."

There was a pause and then-

"Wh-what?"

"You heard me. Take it out of the trash!"

"Y-you want me to-."

"YES! That stuff is expensive and I can guarantee that you haven't opened the lid so it should still have the protective seal on it. It's perfectly good! Just reach in

and take it out of the trash!"

She could almost picture him staring at the glass bottle in horror; the bottle that was most likely sitting neatly on the top of the pile of trash, barely touching

anything.

"A-are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious! Now look, my wrist is starting to hurt again so if you really care about how I'm doing, you'll do this for me! I can't afford to keep going to the

store to buy rosemary every week! I wouldn't have any money left over for wipes!"

His audible gasp made her smile.

"Come on, Mr. Monk. You can do it! I know you can!"

"B-but the trash?"

"I can guarantee you that your trash is a thousand times cleaner than mine! Just reach in and grab it and then wash it off in the sink!"

"But the label will come off!"

"All right Mr. Monk. Do this for me, and I'll call the manufacturer and have them send you another label. And then we can use your ruler to make sure that it's on

straight. Deal?"

"A-Okay. I…. Just a minute."

She heard drawers opening and closing and she didn't have to ask him what he was doing. She knew. She could picture him donning his gloves, goggles and a

mask as though he were about to perform surgery. The image almost made her laugh.

"Natalie, are you there?"

His tinny voice floated from the phone, snapping her to attention. She'd been holding her cell phone for so long that her wrist had begun to throb like no one's

business. She was forced to switch it to speaker and lay it on the table while she waited for him to finish. And apparently she'd dozed off in the process.

"NATALIE!"

With a sigh she picked up the phone and switched off the speaker, pressing it to her ear. "What?"

"What happened?"

"Nothing, I just… are you through? What took you so long?"

"The-germs."

Natalie rolled her eyes, grateful that Mr. Monk couldn't see her. Sometimes he was the most exasperating human being on the planet.