Chapter twelve: Job Not done yet
Rita and Alison arrive at the Louds' house late in the evening. Both are tired of watching Liz and Victoria.
"I'm happy when I'm lying in my bed." said Rita.
"Good for you. I still have a way to go home," Alison said.
As the two entered the house, they saw Constance sleeping on the couch with Lily on her chest. The two thought it was cute. Alison went to her mother, and shook her shoulder gently. Constance woke up and looked around. When she saw Lily, she put her head back on the armrest.
"There she is. My god that was a great night." Constance whispered.
"I'll put her in her crib." Rita said, gently picking Lily up.
"We have to go Mom." Alison said.
"I know." Constance got up and Gently stroked Lily's forehead.
"Bye Lily. Bye Rita."
Rita waved them both, and Constance and Alison left. The two walked through the dark streets of Royal Woods. In front of the house where the Jugde family lived stood Richard, Alison's father. Constance walked towards him with Alison
"Been a long time since I saw you." Constance said.
"I know. How are you?"
"Alison is fine. Me too. How are you?"
"Fine."
Then they both fell silent. After a few seconds of awkward silence, they both said something on impulse at the same time.
"I miss you."
The two looked at each other again.
"The divorce thing isn't a good idea Constance."
"I feel the same way."
"Can we sit down tomorrow?"
"Yes. Good night Richie."
"Good night Constance.
"Good night Alison."
"Good night dad." replied Alison.
Richie walked slowly onto the street and waved at the two. Constance and Alison waved back. Then the two went into the house and went to sleep. After Rita put Lily to bed, her phone vibrated. She looked at it. It was a push notification from the calendar app. The very next evening she is to take over a babysitting job with Alison again. Rita sighed.
"Again? I'll text Alison in the morning."
Rita turned to Lily and kissed her forehead.
"Good night Lily. Have a nice dream."
Then Rita left the room, leaving the door ajar. The next morning, just before noon, Rita called Alison and told her about the job that evening.
"Yes tonight. Believe me, this is the last time we do something like this." said Rita.
"I hope so. The twins from last time were two great girls but pretty messed up."
"Yes. But believe me, Darcy is a pretty nice person. That's why Lisa became friends with her."
"Yes. But I still have concerns."
"Don't worry. Darcy, like I said, is a pleasant person."
"We'll see. I'll see you at 4:00 p.m. Bye."
"Bye."
Rita hung up and started setting the table. At noon the rest of the family arrived. As they entered, tell Rita how exhausted everyone looked.
"How was it at Aunt Ruth's?"
"Terrible." said everyone.
"Ruth is pretty gross." said Lincoln.
"Don't say that about a family member!" said Rita sternly.
"Its the truth. I mean, she had food that was well past its sell-by date and said it was edible."
"I can't argue with that, Ruth is, well, she is Ruth."
"I hope there's something real to eat here." said Lori.
"Yes. I reheated the leftovers from Friday."
"Thank God." Said Luna.
The family ran into the dining room. The afternoon passed and around 4:00 pm Alison rang the doorbell. Rita answered, ready to go.
"Hi Rita. I really don't feel like it." said Alison.
"It's the last time."
Rita turned and called into the kitchen.
"Lynn, Lily is playing upstairs in her room, please take care of her."
"I'll do it." Lynn Senior called from the kitchen.
"Good." Let's go." Rita said.
She closed the door and walked down Franklin Avenue with Alison. When the two reached Darcy's house, they rang the bell and waited. Then Darcy's mother opened the door.
"Hello Rita. And Alison, right?"
"Hi, how are you?" asked Rita.
"She's in her room. Follow me."
The two followed Darcy's mother to Darcy's room, where they saw Darcy playing with her stuffed giraffe.
"Hi Darcy." said Rita.
"Hello Mrs. Loud. Who is that girl?" Darcy asked curiously.
"I'm Alison. A friend of Rita's."
"Oh. I thought you were one of Lisa's sisters."
"No. She's just a friend."
"Friends like me and Lisa?"
"No. Different."
"If you don't mind, I have to go. Bye darcy."
Darcy's mother left.
"What do we want to do?" asked Darcy.
Rita and Alison considered.
"Oh, let's get some fresh air." said Rita.
"Good idea." said Darcy.
The three walked out and just walked through Royal Woods. At the river Darcy jumped stones. Alison also jumped stones. After a short while, Rita let the child in her out. She jumped stones extremely far, so that they came over the middle of the river.
"It's no fun when you keep hitting us." said Alison.
"If I want, I can meet the other side of the river."
Rita grabbed a stone and threw it over the river with full force. The stone jumped twelve times over the water, and then hit a bush on the other bank. A flock of ducks flew away.
"That is unbelievable." said Darcy enthusiastically.
"That's it. We have to move on."
The three continued down the river. Then they saw the nuclear power plant which was on the other side of the river. As always, Alison felt sick to her stomach. But Darcy went on as if nothing happened. During that time there wasn't much going on in the Loud House. Lori was playing with Lily again. The game was called Airplane. Lori was lying on the sofa, balancing Lily on her feet. Lily had great fun.
"You've gotten heavier. You're getting a big girl." said Lori.
Lily giggled. Lucy suddenly appeared in the living room.
"Where's Mom?" asked Lucy.
"Out with a friend."
"Understand."
Lucy sat down in front of the sofa and took out her poetry book and began scribbling poems in it.
"I hope they're both doing well." said Lori.
"I'm sure."
"Oh, I'll call them both."
Lori took Lily and sat up. She pulled out her phone and dialed Rita's number. It rang and Rita answered the call.
"Yes?" asked Rita.
"Hi Mom. Are you alright?"
"Yes. I'm taking care of Darcy with Alison right now. We're in the center of Royal Woods now."
"You also have children here at home to take care of."
"We'll be back soon. And look at Lily."
"All right. Bye."
Right after Rita hung up, Alison tapped her shoulder.
"Look what's out on Amira's YouTube channel." said Alison.
"Amira has a YouTube channel?" asked Rita.
"May I see too?" Darcy asked curiously.
The video played and Amira was seen playing a ship-related game. The voice of one of Amira's colleagues could be heard.
"Push into the area. You have a battleship."
Then Amira answers with a slight grin.
"It is not a battleship. The Graf Spee is not a battleship."
"It's a battleship."
"No. It's a Panzerkreuzer!"
There was laughter, and then Amira looked away in surprise.
"Oh man. King-shortcurcuit thanks for your two hundred dollar donation. "All the best to you, and the money for the child." Thanks man."
Amira wiped her eyes laughing.
"I know I said I'd support them financially, but please don't donate so much."
Now the clip was over and Rita was extremely surprised.
"Have I understood that correctly?"
"Of course you have." said Alison.
Alison took a deep breath.
"I'll kill her."
"Please don't say things like that. Besides, she makes money for both of you."
"I don't care! When we're done here, I'll talk to her!"
The two walked towards Darcy's home. Meanwhile, Lori was still thinking about them both. "I'm sure they're fine." Lori said.
"Why are you still thinking about that? "
"So. The two hang out together. And you know how turbulent it is for Alison."
"Yes. But that's none of our business."
"You're right. Lori turned on the television and switched to channel seven. Kate Mulligan was featured. Lori leaned against the back of the sofa.
"Let's see what's coming."
Meanwhile, Rita, Alison and Darcy were back at Darcy's home. Darcy had expressed a desire to play Go fishing. That was a good idea for Rita and Alison. But for Rita it wasn't so great. Darcy was number one. And then Alison became number two. Rita dropped her cards on the table.
"That's such a stupid game." said Rita in frustration.
"Pace yourself." said Alison.
"Fine."
"Can we play again?" asked Darcy.
"Yes." said Rita.
But then things went differently. Rita was running well and Darcy was just behind her. Rita jumped up and cheered.
"Yeah! Finally!"
Then the three continued to play. When Darcy's mother got home, they were already on round seven.
"That's great." she said.
"I won three times." said Darcy.
"That's wonderful." Rita and Alison got up.
"It was a lot of fun." said Alison.
"That's right. I would actually like to do that again." said Rita.
"I believe you. Here."
Darcy's mother gave each of them a twenty dollar bill.
"Say goodbye Darcy."
"Bye Mrs Loud. Bye Alison."
The two waved to Darcy and said goodbye. On the street, Rita and Alison said goodbye to each other and went their own way home. But Alison went to her second home. Patrick and Amira's home. Alison had a key, and entered the house. She closed the door and went to the door of Amira's room. Alison opened the door so suddenly that it almost fell off its hinges. Amiras sat on the bed and looked at Alison who approached her. Alison took a deep breath and yelled at Amira so loud that both of their ears started ringing.
"What the fucking hell got into your head telling the internet I'm pregnant?! Yes I saw your video! I follow you on YouTube! I follow you on Twitch! I follow you on Instagram! I even follow you on Twitter! I admire you so much! And then you do something like that!"
"That's yours you stupid girl!"
Amira threw an envelope at Alison. Alison picked this one up. And she was shocked when she pulled 1500 from the envelope.
"That's all my community donated to you. My parents earn a lot of money as pilots. But I also want to do my part!"
Alison had to process all of this first. Only now did she notice that Amira looked sad. It was the first time she saw her like that.
"Are you okay, Amira?"
Alison asked cautiously.
"Yes, everything is alright!" said Amira, turning away from Alison.
"Please tell the truth."
That had triggered something in Amira. She got up and arched in front of Alison.
"I'm jealous that you have a boyfriend! I've never had a boyfriend! I was always the Weird half-Austrian girl at school! I want people to respect me! And nobody should see me like that! That's why nobody is allowed in my room, because whenever I'm here, I'm sad! I feel alone! Now get out of here!"
Amira threw Alison and the envelope Out of her room.
Alison clenched her fist and yelled at the door.
"No wonder you're alone!"
It was quiet. There was no reaction from Amira. She looked at the money again. She felt a lump in her throat. She went into Patrick's room. Rita walked down Franklin Avenue. She thought. It was only six months until Alison's child was born. Then she entered the house and went into the living room. Lori, Lola and Lily were there. Lily lay on Lori's lap and Lola looked at herself in the mirror.
"Hi Mom." said Lola.
"Hi." replied Rita.
"How was it?" asked Lori.
"Good."
"Good for you." said Lola.
"How do you mean that?"
Lori replied annoyed.
"You spend too much time with Alison! She's not your daughter! We're your daughters! Not Alison! We! You have 11 kids who need you. And you're spending more time with a girl you only know since two months!"
"Not in that tone, young lady!" said Rita Sternly.
"Yes, maybe my tone of voice wasn't appropriate. But the content was." said Lori.
"Yeah. Think about it. You spend more time with Alison than you do with us. Your kids. You leave the house and don't come back until the evening. We hardly see you." said Lola.
Rita considered.
"Yes you are right." Rita then went to her room and found Cliff sleeping on her bed. She lay down next to him and stroked his fur. He began to stretch out his front legs and purr.
"You like that?"
Cliff got up, stretched, and lay back on the bed, facing away from Rita. Rita couldn't blame him. It was just typical for a cat.
End of chapter