Chapter 41
Ashort timelater Chickadee hustled back down the hill, with Roscoe again jogging just behind. She began talking loudly before she was within earshot, “. . . not go as expected — those people are absolute asses.”
She grabbed the fence when she reached it. “They won’t release you dear, into my care, but don’t you worry—” She unlatched her belt, feeding the tail of it through the fence. “Don’t you worry one bit dear, Aunt Chickadee has this all under control.”
Roscoe stood behind Chickadee with a bemused twitch at the edge of his lips.
After Chickadee latched her belt through the chain link, she bellowed, “I am not leaving, not from this spot, not until — is it okay dear if I call you Luna Stanford?”
Luna nodded, “It’s what I put on the paperwork.”
“Good.” Chickadee raised her voice again. “Not until Luna Stanford and—” Chickadee counted heads for a moment, but gave up and yelled, “and everybody gets to leave. I will not leave.”
She yelled louder, “And I have friends!”
In a quieter voice she said, “You’ll of course begin filing forms or whatever it is you do, won’t you Roscoe?”
His bemused look was growing. “As soon as I finish the paperwork for Beckett, I’ll begin this case, but in the meantime, you’ll be living here Chickadee?”
She bellowed, “You heard me. I’m staying here, right here, until those asses let my Beckie’s Luna go home with me. I will not be moved.”
She lowered her voice again. “Roscoe, I will need a chair.”
She glanced around, “Also a longer chain. Tell Dillybear that we have a regular ol’ sit-in happening. I need her to load a truck with fruit and veggies and bring it, pronto.” She asked Luna, “Is there anything else you might need dear?”
“We need toilet paper in the bathroom.”
Chickadee blinked a couple of times then bellowed, “Roscoe you tell them we are filing so many forms that they will rue this day. You tell them that my partner is coming with a truckload of toilet paper, as well as pads and tampons for these women, and if she makes it here before toilet paper has been installed in the bathrooms I am going to have a hissy fit so big they will never recover. They will all die penniless and frightened. You tell them that.”
Roscoe nodded now a full blown smile across his face. “Anything else?”
“Call Peter, tell him to assemble the boys, there is an action afoot.”
Roscoe asked, “Luna, will you be hiring me as your attorney?”
Luna stared blankly at Chickadee and Roscoe, “Um, I don’t have any money, I don’t—”
Chickadee said, “It’s a formality dear, Roscoe doesn’t need money, he practices law as sport. Isn’t that right Roscoe?”
Roscoe nodded slowly. “It’s more of a hobby.”
Chickadee said, “A hobby my ass, you like to make people squirm.” She turned to Luna, “but if you want him to act on your behalf, you have to say you hire him. So he can.”
Luna said, “Oh okay, I hire you.”
Roscoe said, “Perfect, Luna Stanford, I’m going to go get started getting you out of here.” He hiked back up the hill to the offices.
Chickadee straightened her t-shirt, “Looks like we’ll be here together for a while. But don’t you worry, from here on out this will be fun.” She raised her voice, and bellowed, “Especially once the film crew shows up!”
Luna smiled, her first smile since she had smiled up at Beckett from the dock days before. “A film crew?”
“Oh yes, my friend Peter is a camera man. And he’s going to bring some friends to keep us company while we wait for Roscoe to work his magic.”
“All of this for me?”
Chickadee smiled. “Of course dear Luna, our Beckie thinks the world of you, so that’s that.” She crossed her arms and shifted her weight a few times. She sighed. “I’m going to be without a chair for a bit, so to keep my mind off my feet, why don’t you tell me about when you met.”
And so Luna began the story.
