Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to Janet Evanovich. I am not making any money from this. Mistakes are mine.
Even the Pup is an Unmentionable by Debra8652
Chapter 31
Remy's POV
It's Saturday afternoon here at Rangeman. Many of my peeps are gathered in the rec room on fourth floor with carafes of Bloody Marys in abundance plus some non-alcoholic ones for people who are on-call or working tonight or tomorrow morning. The first order of "business" was to decide on a name for a group of Rangemen. Caesar suggested throng but Santos thought he said thong and the discussion deteriorated from there.
Did I mention that Mom's Man was in attendance as well as all the Core Team? Mom convinced them that these get-togethers weren't to complain about the bosses and they would be welcomed! Word. I actually suspect that Mom's Man is attending to keep an eye on Mom and Lester ever since I saluted him at the end of the Core-Leadership meeting. I've never seen his eyes get that big or Mom and Santos move so fast to exit the room. Score!
Anyway, Mom's Man just topped off his Bloody Mary after the throng-thong discussion. After suggestions of squad, battalion, and company, it was decided that herd was more appropriate - a herd of Rangemen. Then the discussion moved into other groups of things, like a murder of crows, a clowder of cats, an exaltation of larks, a pandemonium of parrots, a shrewdness of apes, a cackle of hyenas, and a coalition of cheetahs.
Since Mom's Man vetoed a Rangeman version of the Water Bottle Fan Challenge, the game of choice today is Charades - movies, books, TV, and songs. Mom is up first - she needs to get them to say "The Sound of Music." She's doing pretty well acting out Julie Andrews. Why in the world did Santos guess "Apocalypse Now," Brett said "Schindler's List," and Junior said "Saving Private Ryan?" Wow - Mom's Man just drank the remaining half-inch of Bloody Marys straight from the carafe after that. Luckily, the ever-musical Ramon is here, guessed it correctly and Bobby dinged the bell.
Next up is Lester with his attempt to get them to say "Moulin Rouge." Did I mention that Bobby is in charge of the game, the timer and the penalty flag as well as the bell? Santos acts out a windmill, which is on top of the Moulin Rouge cabaret. A pretty good clue but Caesar guesses "Don Quixote." Yes, tilting at windmills - incorrect, but a good guess. The three-minute timer goes off so we have to move on but we can come back to it later. Tank pours himself another Bloody Mary and Lester threatens everyone with the bunch of celery that's being used to make Bloody Marys, for not guessing it. Just as Ram gets up for his turn, Mom shouts out "Moulin Rouge." Yep - Mom and Santos share a brain cell. Mom's Man just looks between them before pinching the bridge of his nose and grabbing the nearly empty carafe from Tank's hand.
Next up is Ram with TV shows being the category. He lifts the end of his nose with his index finger and Vince says "Charlotte's Web." Ram says "It's a TV show, you dolt." Since Ram spoke, Bobby got to throw the penalty flag, not that you can throw a cocktail napkin very far. Thankfully, Hal quickly said "Green Acres." Ding ding. I love Arnold Ziffel.
Bobby is making up the rules as we go along and said that Mom is due for another turn. She also draws TV shows. She gets up and twitches her nose. Binkie shouts out "Bewitched." Ding ding. I love Gladys Kravitz. Did you know there is a band called "The Sons of Gladys Kravitz?" So funny.
Bobby asked Mom's Man if he wanted a turn. That's a hard no. Not only did he decline his turn, he denied being in attendance at all. Mom shouted out "Batman," Bobby dinged the bell and we moved on.
Another ding sounded but it's the oven timer - the pizza rolls are done! Time to soak up the vodka from the Bloody Marys. Woody gave me some baby carrots from the veggie tray and I'm a happy pup.
Mom and Ramon are standing in the kitchen area, snacking and plotting. They volunteered for cleanup duty so they can listen to music from "The Big Chill." Cool - they are cleaning the kitchen while singing and dancing to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." I love The Temptations.
Sounds as if there will be a delay in resuming Charades as Santos wants to know why the metal piece inside a bell is called a clapper. Sigh.
~A/N Shoutout to directorofchaos and her pandemonium of parrots. Gayle, I am pondering your suggestion. The Water Bottle Fan Challenge and The Sons of Gladys Kravitz do exist.