“Don’t give me that look!” Wendy Briese snapped defensively as her fingernails picked at the snaps of the pink camo-designed box.
“No look here. Nope, not at all.” Scarlett smirked as she re-read the top of the box. “I’m just not sure this erm...operation is ready for the errr...’Fairy Princess Spy Kit’. It might be a little advanced, if any of it actually does what it says on the box. Still, I guess it’s got Theresa’s seal of approval right?”
“I don’t know,” Wendy said finally getting the case open and pulling out a child-size pair of pink binoculars. “Terrence got it for her birthday last year, she played with it for three hours, and then never touched it again.” She held the binoculars up to her eyes, and looked out the window of the car across the street, receiving a very blurry vision of the post office they were supposed to be monitoring. Frowning, she fingered the top of the binoculars, looking for the focus dial, and frowned in annoyance when a colored lens slid into place, so that now she was looking at a very blurry PINK post office. “Kidding me?” she sighed.
Reaching across Scarlett takes the binoculars and holds them up to her eyes. “Well...this is...different.” Repeating Wendy’s actions, Scarlett rolls the dial back the other way, taking off the pink lens, leaving it merely blurry. “Three whole hours you say? Did she then spend the rest of the day complaining about a migraine?” She lowers the binoculars. “You think they’d put more care into making these wouldn’t you? I mean...a child is going to play with these after all.”
“I think that other dial there is probably the focus,” Wendy said, digging into the box again, and pulling out two magic wands. “These are our… ah, magic… communication… devices… should we get separated.” She handed one to Scarlett and stared at the wand. “I should have gone to Pollaski…”
“You both know that if you’d gone to Pollaski we’d be sat in the back of a drafty old van, he’d be calling it his ‘Command Center’ and claiming he’d hacked into an NSA satellite when he was just dragging up Google Maps on his laptop.” The FFW Champion shakes her head. “No, if you’d gone to him this would have turned into a ‘scheme’ and become over complicated. He might even have brought Scarborough Fair along.” A shudder goes down her spine. “Then we’d either end up babysitting or posting bail for somebody.” She looks at the magic wand. “I think our cell phones might be better.”
“I don’t even think we’ll need them,” Wendy said, peering at the post office unaided. “I mean, the plan’s pretty simple, right? We wait until Natalie shows up, follow her inside, and inform her that her blackmailing days are over, at least where the Kincaid family’s concerned, right?”
Scarlett nods her head in agreement. “Pretty much. We’ve got a pretty good view of the entrance from here…so we should definitely see her go in no matter which direction she comes from.” Using her head she nods towards the row of shops nearest to them. “And if it turns into a long day we’ve got a sandwich shop right there for food, drink and….facilities. Hopefully it would come to that and she’s pretty desperate for the money but...you never know.”
“This is kind of exciting.” Wendy said, turning her attention back to the post office. “I don’t think I’ve ever coerced anyone before. I mean… not to the point that I actually had faith they’d listen, at least…”
This brings a smile to the other occupant of the car. “Coercion really doesn’t seem to be your style. Maybe - and I don’t mean any offence by this - but you maybe come across as being a little bit more...preachy perhaps? I don’t mean in the fire and brimstone sort of way. Sometimes, some people just aren’t receptive to that, in fact sometimes they are simply allergic to it altogether. Just a thought.” Scarlett lapses into silence for a very short moment. “In fact it can be a good thing. Maybe. Sometimes it seems like you talk to people the way a mom would - or at least the way my Grandmother would from time to time.”
Wendy sighed. “I know. And I’m working on that, honestly. But I see things… and its like so OBVIOUS and I want to smack people over the head…” she sighed. “If I actually smacked everyone I felt like… I’d probably be worse than Mileena Savage. So I kinda just… give unsolicited advice instead, so at least I feel like I did SOMETHING.”
“I know. You pretty much said you wanted to smack me over the head last year. Maybe you should have done it.” Scarlett looks a little embarrassed as she looks out of the window for a moment. “Who knows what effect it might have had.” She shakes her head. “Besides, it’s not always a bad thing, sounding like a mother, especially not given how some of the people we have to deal with act like children. Perhaps that’s the best way to approach it? Treat the vast majority like teenagers until they can prove they’re more mature.”
“Well, I’ve been trying for three years, and…” Wendy gestured out. “Honestly, Scarlett… I kind of worry about the future. There’s exceptions of course… but as a whole, wrestlers seem to be getting either more sadistic or more self-centered, or both. And I know I can’t stop it… I can’t save the world… even the wrestling world. But that doesn’t mean I should give up, right?”
There’s a shrug of the shoulders from the cajun. “Honestly? No. If people didn’t try and save the world - or at least try to improve it in some way where would we be? I don’t think it would hurt to have a little more faith in people though. They might be self-centered now, while things are good...but when a threat rises up they might realise they’re interests are tied to the greater good. A lot of them are good at heart, they’ll step up to the plate.”
“I hope so.” Wendy said, checking her jeans pockets. “I’m getting hungry… you want something to eat? My treat.”
~~ Three Hours Later ~~
“I spy...with my little eye…” Scarlett lets out a sigh. “Errrr...Something beginning with...an..umm….” She looks around her surroundings. “We might have playing this game a little bit too long.” Finally she spots something that she doesn’t believe they’ve already had and spurts it out. “D!”
“Hrm… door?” Wendy said, before popping another potato chip in her mouth.
“Damn. You’re good at this game. Guess it comes from driving all over the country with a young child.” The red head shakes her head. “Should be some sort of handicapping system to this, like in golf.”
“Okay, I got one.” Wendy said, smiling slightly. “I spy something that begins with… S”
“S?” Scarlett asks of her tag partner while scanning around quickly, eyes darting around. “Soda. Sandwich. Shop. Sleepless In Seattle? The poster is over there” The girl explains quickly as she continues to rattle off guesses. “Stormdrain??? Sidewalk? Steak?”
“Nope…” Wendy answered quietly, trying her best to hide a smirk. “You’re never going to get it…”
“Staff? Serving Staff? Sony? Sportscar? Silver Mercedes Benz? Seventeen year olds...if you’re a good judge of age maybe? Urgh…” She lets out a little scream of frustration. “If it’s Scarlett, it’s cheating….”
“No…” Wendy asked, almost bursting out laughing. “Theresa used herself once. Took me ages.”
“Really? I’ll remember that if I ever play with her.” Scarlett shakes her head. “I’m not going to get it am I? You’re going to have to tell me.”
Wendy opened her mouth, then turned her head sharply out the window as something caught her eye. “Seth Star?!”
“WHAT?!?!?! Where???!???!!” Scarlett exclaimed, leaning forward and craning to look around Wendy. “What the hell is he doing here?!?” She watches him as he heads towards the Post Office. “You don’t think he’s….no...he can’t be….that would be….no. But it can’t. How much do you believe in coincidences, Wendy?”
“Trust me, weird things happen to me all the time that turn out to be just one big misunderstanding,” Wendy muttered, although she didn’t look convinced. Grabbing the binoculars, she aimed them at the post office. “Shoot. I can’t see inside. How are we going to know what he’s doing?”
“We won’t.” Scarlett looks grim. “Not until he comes out anyway. If it’s him doing what I think he’s doing, if this isn’t just a random occurrence of chance…” Another deep breath. “He’s going to be walking out the door with a hot pink envelope - and unless he wanted an 8x10 signed publicity shot of Destiny Loveheart, he’s not going to be happy.”
“I didn’t know Destiny Loveheart HAD publicity photos.” Wendy said, tuning the focus on the binoculars a bit. “I think he’s coming back out. He’s holding something! It’s… pi-” she paused, and looked down at the binoculars to make sure the filter hasn’t been turned on again. “Yeah, it’s pink.”
“...And he’s the proud owner of a rarely distributed Destiny Loveheart photo...Not exactly what he was expecting.” Scarlett slips into silence, thinking deeply. “It’s certainly an interesting development. Seth...Natalie...I don’t...This can’t be anything at all good. Not in any way at all.”
“Seth… I don’t know what he’s up to.” Wendy whispered. She turned around to look at Scarlett. “Pollaski told me that he was the one who set Jessika on Kinsey…” she said. “At least that’s what she told him. I have no proof. But if he did… I don’t know his game… but it could be a very dangerous one.”
The Baton Rouge native nods. “I’m not exactly his favourite person either. I guess there’s only way to find out what he’s up to…” Turning to Wendy, she grins broadly as she opens the car door. “Go ask him.”
“He’s gone.” Wendy noted, pointing to the luxury car that had pulled away from the post office. “I don’t think we’re going to get to follow him in this traffic, either…”
Slamming the car door shut, Scarlett lets out a sigh. “Damnit. No doubt I’ll hear from him...or Natalie...again soon. No point hanging around here now.” The girl shrugs her shoulders. “Just wait. Might as well get out of here…”
Wendy looked to where the car had driven off, and gave a sigh of disappointment. “Yeah. I’m sorry, Scarlett. All this time hoping to get some answers, and all we got were more questions.”
Scarlett nods in silent agreement. A morning wasted, a morning that had yielded no answers, only questions, plunging her into a deepening mystery and a growing feeling of trepidation engulfing her. Seth Star was involved in her life again and that could only spell disaster.
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