Who Were You With in the Moonlight

Another lazy summer say in Brit-Wales.

Only today, beach trip!

“Is everyone here?” Annie asked as she stood outside of the van.

“Yes!” everyone said. Aisha did a quick count.

“Hang on,” she said. “Where’s Clyde?” Everyone groaned and looked around.

“She’s on her way,” Muriel said. Her tone didn’t sound uneasy as she shuffled her feet. Annie rubbed her forehead.

“I say we should just leave her,” she muttered under her breath.

“We can’t do that,” William said. “This is Clyde we’re talking about here, remember?” Annie turned to him with puffed up cheeks.

“Good point,” she muttered. Lewis poked her head out of the van.

“Isn’t that her now?” she asked. The rest of the party looked down the cobblestone path. Clyde was running towards the van with a dog running behind her. Aisha shook her head.

“She can’t seriously be thinking about taking that dog with us,” she said. Their rough-looking friend caught up with them, panting.

“I got lost,” she said.

“How?” Tucker asked.

“I don’t know,” Clyde said.

“That dog is not coming with us,” Aisha said as she looked at the giant black lab mix sitting on the ground panting.

“I know that,” the dirty old biddy said.

“Then why is it here?” Annie asked.

“He’s seein’ meh off!” Clyde said.

“Never mind!” Annie shouted. “Just get in the van!” Everyone walked into the van in a single file line. Aisha had to shoo away the dog before getting in herself.

“Is everyone ready now?” she asked.

“Yes!” the rest of the party said.

“Can we roll down the windows?” Greg asked. He wrinkled his nose with Clyde sitting next to him.

“Aw, what’s the matter?” the dirty old biddy asked. “It’s not that bad.” Annie and Aisha sighed.

“Sure,” Annie said.

“Can we go now?” Tucker asked.

“Yes!” everyone said.

“Cheers,” he said. Tucker turned the key in the ignition and drove off the van.

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Pine Heels is a three-hour drive. Greg at last the freedom to breathe out. Liz’s boyfriend, Bobby, had the same problem.

“Better you than us,” William said. Liz nudged him in the side.

“Will!” she hissed.

“What?”

“You aren’t helping.”

“But it’s true. Do you want to up there with Clyde?”

Liz kind of looked the other way. William sat back and shrugged her shoulders.

“Exactly,” he said. Clyde laughed the whole time.

“How long until we get there? Greg and Bobby asked.

“We should be there in two more hours,” Tucker said. The young men threw back their heads and groaned. Clyde laughed the whole time. Aisha pressed her hand to her forehead.

“We can’t take her anywhere in public,” she muttered. The other old biddies didn’t say a word as they tried to look elsewhere. Annie turned on the radio for the rest of the drive.

“Where exactly are we staying for the weekend again?” Clover asked as she looked out the window.

“Our old friends have a B&B near the beach,” Annie said. “They invited us to come down earlier this week.”

“It overlooks the sea,” Tucker said. “The seaside markets are really cheap.”

“We are not doing any cooking over the weekend!” his wife said.

“I’m just saying.”

“Don’t.”

“Listen to the radio.”

“I mean it!”

“Listen to the damn radio!” Tucker clicked his tongue as he stared at the dirt roads. Annie clicked her tongue back at him before puffing up her cheeks and looking out the window at the moving scenery. Aisha opened her mouth, but Muriel put her hand on her shoulder. The leader turned to see her old friend shaking her head. Aisha did the smart thing and shut her mouth.

Two more hours of this, huh? Oh boy…

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When the caravan pulled up to the Toad in Hat B&B, the group found themselves in for a nasty surprise. Tucker and Annie looked puzzled.

“Is that Dante?” the wife asked. Her husband narrowed his eyes. A chubby man with graying hair walked around, chain smoking. He had his hands stuffed into his pockets with his eyes downwards. From a distance, he looked upset about something.

“Yeah,” Tucker said. Annie turned to him.

“Is something wrong?” she whispered. The other passengers strained in for a listen.

“What’s going on?” Greg asked. Clover shrugged and shook her head. Tucker slowly pulled into the dirt pathway. He pulled the caravan into a complete stop and turned it off.

“Dante?” the café owner asked as he got out. The other man looked up with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

“Oh, Tuck!” he said. “How have you been?” Tucker walked closer with his eyebrow raised.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Where’s Sharon?” Dante nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Uh… yeah… well…” he muttered. “She left me.”

“Left you what?” Tucker asked. The other man shook his head.

“No, no,” he said. “She’s gone.”

“What happened?”

Dante nervously laughed as he chewed on the butt of his cigarette. “We got into a fight three days ago and she just stormed off.” Tucker blinked.

“So… who’s running the Toad in Hat?” he asked.

“Me,” Dante said. The café owner tried not to show his unease. His friend took out his cigarette and flicked out the hot ashes.

“Don’t worry,” he insisted. “You will be in good hands this weekend. The house is still open and you still have the same rooms.” Now, Tucker was the one nervously laughing. That’s what I was afraid of, he thought. It was around that time when Annie stepped out of the caravan.

“Well?” she asked. When Tucker turned to her, she had all that she needed to know from his expression of death on his face what kind of weekend this was going to be.

To Be Continued…