Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Tough Old Birds ❯ 24 Chestnut Street ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: “24 Chestnut Street”

 

 

 

Snickerson arrived so speedily, Chi-Chi idly wondered if he had been sitting outside the door the entire time. He had probably been listening in on their conversation while chewing on a breakfast bar. “You called, madam?” he asked.

 

“Yes. Take these…ladies to 24 Chestnut Street in South Mayfair, understood?”

 

“Yes madam.” He replied with a bow. He sounded disappointed.

 

Snickerson gestured for Chi-Chi and Gilligan to exit first, and followed them out the big white doors. They walked down numerous halls, down the grand stairway, and out yet another door. It was there that they met the two security guards, Dylan and Jack. They had Gilligan's red wagon in tow, and she let out a squeal of delight.

 

“My wagon!” she cried joyously. “We left it in the shrubbery, didn't we Chinny?”

 

Chinny snarled at the nickname. “I suppose we did.” She bit out. Secretly, she had hoped Gilligan would forget it. I'm the one always lugging the stupid thing around for that stupid, lazy ass. Snickerson pulled the wagon for them, and led them into a dim, spacious garage. Dozens of colourful, shiny, exotic cars were parked in rows. Chi-Chi let loose a grin of anticipation, but quickly twisted it into a grimace.

 

“Stomach trouble,” she grumbled at Gilligan's questioning look.

 

Three minutes later, Snickerson looked very unhappy with his decision to let them pick a car. Gilligan wanted a sparkling yellow Pontiac Solstice, while Chi-Chi favoured the sleek black limousine. Eventually, they deduced that the wagon would not fit in the Solstice (upon hearing which, Chi-Chi quickly changed her mind about the limousine) and the limousine was the choice to make.

 

They had been driving for almost twenty minutes. The car ride was grimly silent between Gilligan's cheery outbursts to the like of “Look Chinny, there's a bitsy little telly on the ceiling! Look, the little dear folds right out, how marvelous!” and “You don't suppose there's monsters under the seat, do you? It's frightful dark down there.” Her fears didn't reach her blissful companion. Chi-Chi had raided the cooler and was on her second Heineken.

 

When the landscape became more rural; more open fields and trees, they knew they were close. South Mayfield was a small county, with none of the bright lights and large buildings its neighboring cities had. The limousine rattled as it sped down a badly paved road. Snickerson turned the vehicle into an empty lot and pulled to an abrupt stop.

 

“Out you come,” he said with false pleasantness.

 

“Are we there yet? Is this 24 Chestnut Street?” inquired Gilligan.

 

“This is it. Looks deserted, doesn't it? Well, Garth or whatever his name is must be here.” Said Snickerson brightly.

 

“This is an old ball field, you moron!” bellowed Chi-Chi.

 

“Get out of the car.”

 

“Take us to 24 Chestnut!”

 

“Get out or I'll force you out.” His false cheer had disappeared inside his blue eyes, leaving behind a stormy glint. Chi-Chi couldn't help but worry that he might have a weapon stashed somewhere. Didn't rich peoples' chauffeurs carry guns? Had she watched too many police shows?

 

Chi-Chi spat at him but obeyed, gesturing Gilligan to do the same. Gilligan cradled the Radio Flyer, watching Snickerson fearfully as he wiped saliva out of his eyes. She hid behind Chi-Chi like a kicked puppy.

 

Chi-Chi, however, was not finished. Roaring angrily, she aimed a powerful kick at the passenger-side door of the limousine. Her temper was not to be underestimated when she had gone this long without a cigarette. Cackling at the jagged dent she had created, she continued to kick the vehicle even as Snickerson burst out of the lot like a bat out of hell, leaving behind the battered chrome bumper. He left a billowing cloud of sandy dust behind him, causing the two women to erupt into hacking coughs and close their eyes against the gritty smog.

 

When the dust had cleared, Chi-Chi realized Gilligan was crying. Unlike her usual dramatic sobbing, she cried very quietly, as though afraid someone would hear.

 

Chi-Chi looked miserable, and gruffly patted Gilligan on the shoulder, standing on her tiptoes in order to do so.

 

“Err…there, there, Gilligan. It'll be all right, I umm…I promise! We'll find him. C'mon, we could still be so close! You can't…err…you can't…y'know, quit.” She finished lamely. Her time spent watching police shows might have been better spent on soap operas.

 

Gilligan hugged Chi-Chi tearfully, sneakily blowing her nose on the back of Chi-Chi's sweater. Gilligan cradled Chi-Chi's head next to her stomach, rocking her hollering captive as she cried.

 

“We_we were so close, Chinny!” she sobbed. “So close, I thought we'd found him!”

 

Chi-Chi responded by biting her stomach. Gilligan unhanded her in shock, clutching her wound.

 

“We're still close. And we will find him. Right now, in fact. Now come on.” Chi-Chi pulled one of the stolen sandwiches from her red leather handbag. “Here, buck up, okay?”

 

Gilligan latched onto the sandwich and swallowed it whole. “Yeah,” she choked. “Okay.”

 

They trekked down the dusty road for ten minutes before they found any sign of civilization. It came in the form of a small ranch. They ran to the mailbox.

 

“56 Chestnut Street,” read Gilligan. “Oh no! We're nowhere ne_” She stopped so suddenly, her knee gave out and she collapsed in the dirt. “Wait! No! It's right here! It's right down the road! We did it! We did it, Chinny!” She crowed happily from the ground, ignoring the pain shooting up her leg.

 

“Excellent! Let's go!” yelled Chi-Chi, pulling her up, and they took off down the road, the wagon rollicking behind them.

 

They had arrived. They were hot and sweaty, in dire need of a few Tylenol, and rather dusty. But they were there. Gilligan galloped up the front steps onto a little gray wrap-around porch and rang the doorbell three times in her excitement.

 

A small, waif-like woman with wispy blonde hair answered the door, her brown eyes full of fear.

 

“Hello? You're not here about the mortgage, are you?” She asked suspiciously. She looked fidgety, like she was about to flee, and Chi-Chi recognized her voice from the telephone call. “Because if you are, I promise_”

 

“We're not here about your stupid mortgage.” Chi-Chi cut in savagely.

 

The woman's eyes lit up in frightful recognition. “I spoke with you on the telephone.” She said quietly. “You're the one looking for the toy elephant.”

 

Gilligan frowned at the word `toy', but Chi-Chi had reassured her before that the term had multiple meanings.

 

“That's right.” Chi-Chi snarled.

 

“Oh, um…right. Well…er…” she trailed off.

 

And slammed the door in their faces.

 

Bristling with fury, Chi-Chi rapped her knuckles very hard on the door. The entire house shook.

 

“Let us in, you stupid woman!” she roared. “Give us the toy! You called us!”

 

There was silence, then a shaky whisper penetrated from inside the house.

 

“Please…please, my daughter loves that toy! She loves it; you can't take it away from her! Oh, I wish I'd never called! She loves it!” the timid woman pleaded. “Please! Leave us be!”

 

Gilligan looked teary, Chi-Chi just felt tired.

 

“Look, woman, just let us talk to her.” She reasoned.

 

“I suppose…” was the reply. “I suppose I could.” She said louder.

 

They heard the lock click. The door slid open with a slow, measured creak. The blonde woman reappeared, her hollow eyes stabbing through them. They were large eyes that were perhaps once beautiful and bright with life. She looked like the ghost of a formerly stunning woman.

 

Behind her a large, aging man with sparkling green eyes stood in shadow. His eyes glowed in the dim light. A peaky-looking lovebird perched on his shoulder.

 

He was the cab driver from the day before. His already mind-blowing eyes widened when he saw their guests, and Chi-Chi gaped at him attractively.

 

He took the fragile blonde woman by the arm and led her gently into the depths of the dark house. “Go lie down in bed.” He ordered her softly. She nodded vaguely.

 

He returned to the door, where Gilligan was calmly petting Chi-Chi on the head. She didn't seem to recognize the cab driver. He sighed, and addressed them.

 

“I apologize for my sister in law. She's just a bit…er…she's not who she used to be, and the household has been shaky for a while. Excuse her.” He said politely.

 

“It's not a problem, not at all.” Said Gilligan soothingly. She swiftly changed course. “Can we have Gregory now?” She smiled as sweetly as she could.

 

He looked unfazed. “Well, come in. You can meet Evie, anyways. We'll sit down and figure this out.” He had a brisk, diplomatic air about him when he was outside of his taxicab. He seemed much bolder than he had the other day, even as he led them into a dingy, gray kitchen. They sat on stools (Gilligan's had only three legs, and she promptly fell over) around a plastic picnic table. The blonde woman had reemerged and poured iced tea into four smudgy glasses, and filled one lion-shaped yellow sippy-cup with milk. Her hands were shaking much less. She pattered out to the back door and whispered as loudly as she could manage:

 

“Evie! Evie, dear, come in.” Chi-Chi wondered if some kind of past throat surgery had gone amiss for the woman to be so very soft-spoken. A few chopped vocal cords, perhaps? She chuckled grimly. Despite the blonde woman's softness (and possible shortage of vocal cords), `Evie' must have heard her, for a cute little girl with dirty blonde pigtails came prancing into the kitchen. She leapt upon one of the remaining stools and grabbed her lion cup greedily.

 

“Hello,” she greeted them.

 

“Hello!” said Gilligan.

 

“Whatever.” Said Chi-Chi.

 

“Well now,” began the cab driver, calmly stroking his lovebird, “My name is Arbutus. I'm Evie's uncle, and Lily's brother.” He said to the visitors, gesturing to the wispy blonde woman. Then he turned to Evie. “They came to talk to you.”

 

“Oh my.” She said cutely, bobbing up and down. “It's very nice to meet you.”

 

“And you as well!” cooed Gilligan. Chi-Chi grunted.

 

“Well?” asked Evie. Her mouth formed a curious `o', like a cherry Froot Loop.

 

“You have Gilligan's stuffed elephant.” Chi-Chi said forcefully.

 

“…Sorry?” said Evie politely.

 

Chi-Chi cleared up the matter at once. “You have her toy, you tiny blonde fool. Give it back.” She demanded, wanting so dearly to slap that Froot Loop mouth off of her lying face.

 

Lily looked incensed in her own pale, frightened manner. She clenched her tiny white fists and pursed her lips unattractively. Gilligan tried to hide her excitement inside her iced tea cup, and the table was rewarded with nervous, snorting giggles made liquid from inside the glass. Arbutus coughed.

 

“Well…how do you get off saying it's hers? What if you're lying?” suggested Evie icily, quickly turning the tables on Chi-Chi, whose knuckles went white around her half-empty cup. Lily had a sponge at the ready in anticipation of an explosion.

 

“Oh yes?” Chi-Chi asked sarcastically, throttling her iced tea mercilessly. Lily lifted her sponge. “Then where did you get it from, hmm?”

 

Evie looked momentarily taken aback. “I got her at the park!” She cried.

 

“Funny, isn't it, Gilligan? You lost it at the park a few days ago.” Chi-Chi announced pointedly. Her iced tea was holding up bravely. She took a gulp, slamming it back down like a shot.

 

“You know what's funny?” said Gilligan. “Those silly men at the circus? Ever seen one of those? You know those ones with the bowties and the cherry noses?” She guffawed at her own wit. The table went silent.

 

Chi-Chi blinked savagely, then returned to the Spanish Inquisition.

 

“So, then, got it in the park?” she taunted.

 

“My uncle bought it for me there! Off a street vendor!” cried Evie, spilling her lion cup all over the table. She ignored the milk soaking her lemon yellow sundress, looking away from Chi-Chi as her mother swooped in with her sponge.

 

“Evie,” admonished Arbutus gently. “Don't lie.”

 

“But Uncle Arby!” she cried.

 

“Stop!” he said sternly, feeding his lovebird a Cheez-it. “Go get the toy, Evie. It doesn't belong to you. We'll get you a new elephant, alright?”

 

And the cute, ever-polite little girl clutched her sundress and began howling like a demon.

 

Her mother looked supremely uncomfortable, and glared voraciously at her brother.

 

“Now look what you've done.” She accused, speaking louder than Chi-Chi thought possible of the slight woman. Lily fell upon her offspring like an exceptionally slender mother hen, crooning over the purple-faced child like only a mother can.

 

“There, there, my dear. Don't listen to your uncle!” She exhorted, petting her daughter.

 

Arbutus backed away from his tiny sibling, as the lovebird on his shoulder pecked at him incessantly, violently demanding another Cheez-it. He rudely shoved a cracker at it and turned to his guests apologetically.

 

“Ahem…I assume we can forget about our beverages.” He said. “Shall we go fetch the toy?”

 

“Oh yes!” said Gilligan. Chi-Chi grunted noncommittally.

 

The trio crept down a dingy, narrow hallway filled with framed photographs and the kind of cheap country artwork you might see in cafés that serve bad coffee. The lovebird chirped from its vantage point on top of Arbutus's head. Chi-Chi eyed it warily. Never one for pets or travel, she had never seen such a strange bird before.

 

“What the hell is that?” She asked.

 

“Why, it's a peach-faced lovebird.” Replied Arbutus matter-of-factly. “His name is Jim.”

 

“How…creative.” Spat Chi-Chi. “Not like your name.”

 

“My mother was a botanist. Had a great fondness for plants. So she named both of us — Lily and me — after plants. Arbutus is a genus including 14 species of flowering plants.” He replied patiently as they walked down the long hallway.

 

“You were named after a flower?” Chi-Chi guffawed.

 

“Well, yes. So is my son.”

 

Chi-Chi exploded with her raucous, masculine laughter. “What's his name?” she choked out, producing a small snot bubble. “Daisy?”

 

“Echinacea, actually.” He frowned.

 

Chi-Chi hadn't the slightest idea what Echinacea was, and her laughing slowed to a stop. “How boring.” She commented.

 

Arbutus seemed a bit shaken, but he kept calm.

 

“Here's Evie's room.”

 

They were introduced to a room just as small and dreary as the rest of the house. The walls were perhaps once a pale pink, but they had become so grubby they came off as a dusky rose. There was a small bed with clean blankets, and a bookshelf filled with second-hand picture books and toys. And on the top of that shelf sat Gregory.

 

“Gregory!” Gilligan shrieked with elation, shooting past Arbutus. She had waited such a long time to see him again, searching, finding, and sitting through the conversations held over watery iced tea. But he was here! He really was, whole and safe!

 

Or so she thought.

 

“Gregory?” She whined, holding him close. He was missing one of his pink button eyes. “Gregory, what's happened to you!” she wailed, clutching the beaten plush.

 

Chi-Chi stood stock-still with alarm. “What's wrong? What's happened?” she yelled, spittle flying from her gaping maw.

 

Gilligan was obviously beyond verbal communication, and she raised Gregory for inspection with watery eyes.

 

Chi-Chi's beetle-black eyes reached the lone thread that had once held fast Gregory's right eye. “Find it!” She vociferated with a snarl. “We are not leaving this pit without that button!”

 

Arbutus closed his eyes with a sigh.

 

“Then I'm afraid you'll be here for quite some time.”

 

 

 

 

Author's Note: I'm making headway! This chapter is comparatively short, but I'll make the next one more satisfying. I have a lot of editing to do. But hey, I'm getting somewhere. 23 pages in word might be pathetic on a large scale, but I'm fiercely proud. My first not-so-short story. Oh Shannon, you're growing up.

 

~ Estecca <3