Cool World

Gloria wandered around town. She looked like she was out in LaLa land again. She looked up at the sky. The old lady reached up and smiled.

“It’s a great day!” she said. Gloria held out her arms and spun around. Then, an idea came into her head.

“I know,” she said to herself. “I’ll go down to see my friends today.” Gloria giggled to herself as she looked up. Two factory men in their forties gave her strange looks. She just smiled and waved.

“Good morning!” the old biddy shouted. The men just hurried away, silent. Gloria shrugged to herself and walked further into town.

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Evan just had to come along and make things worse, didn’t he? Muriel didn’t know who to be angrier at, her ex or her husband. Tre wanted to run out of the house.

“Evan!” Aisha said. “How are you doing?”

“Good,” he said. Evan tried to ignore his ex-wife glaring at him.

“Tea?” the lead old biddy asked. Muriel turned her head with a cold glare in her eyes. Evan force himself to smile.

“Uh… no thank you,” he said.

“Alright,” Aisha said. Lewis wrinkled her nose.

“Can we go now?” she asked. Everyone looked at her. The farmer put up her hands and shrugged.

“What?” she asked. “We clearly aren’t needed here. Plus, things are getting worse So why are we still here?” No one answered.

“Right,” Lewis said. She smacked her knees and stood up from the table.

“Where are you going?” Aisha asked, giving her the side-eye.

“Home,” the farmer said. “I have work to do.”

“Since when?” Clyde asked.

“Now,” Lewis said. “Bye!” She started to turn around and walk away.

“Get back here!” Aisha commanded her. The farmer turned her head.

“Why?” she asked. The lead old biddy put her hands on her hips.

“We still have a problem to fix here,” Aisha said. “Tre might be making a big mistake with his love life here.” Yasmin whipped her head again.

“I’m right here, you know?” she asked. Tre tried to hold her hand, but she drew it back. Muriel growled as she looked at Aisha.

“There are no problems here,” she muttered. Lewis was about to speak up when the doorbell rang. Muriel rolled her eyes.

“What is it now?” she asked.

“I’ll get it,” Lewis said. She walked out of the kitchen and made her way to the living room.

“Come back here!” Aisha shouted after her. The farmer old biddy already made it to the front door. When she opened it, her face dropped.

“Oh,” Lewis muttered.

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Jules looked at her watch at the Sunny Plum. Tucker and Annie watched her from the counter.

“Do you think she’s okay?” Tucker asked. His wife slowly shook her head.

“No,” she said. Jules looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Annie put down her rag and walked over to the lone patron. Jules lowered her head. The older woman sat down in front of her.

“Can I get you anything else, dear?” she asked. Jules shook her head.

“Can I have the check, please?” she asked.

“Okay,” Annie said. She backed over to the counter. Tucker looked up and tilted his head.

“Get the bill,” his wife said.

“Huh?” he asked.

“Just get the bill,” Annie said. At first, he had a confused look on his face.

“What did she have again?” Tucker asked. She groaned and rolled her eyes.

“A tea,” Annie said. “Are you really that useless?” She walked up to the cash register and totaled up the tea. Tucker blinked with a confused look on his face.

“What did I do this time?” he asked. Tucker rolled his eyes and went back to cleaning the counter.

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Gloria stood outside with a huge smile on her face.

“Hi!” she said. Lewis quickly closed the door.

“Who was that?” Aisha asked from the kitchen.

“Uh… no one!” Lewis lied. She turned and walked back into the kitchen. Everyone looked up at her.

“I thought you had work to do,” Clyde said. Lewis shrugged with a goofy grin on her face.

“I’ll do it later, I guess,” she lied. The knocking came on the front door again. The farmer forced herself to grin harder. Muriel didn’t need Gloria to make everything spill over everywhere.

End