Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

refused to come to his arm.
    “She iss upset with me,” he said quietly.
    I could tell he was sad, so I tried to think of something I could say to make him feel better. “Maybe she’ll change her mind, after she’s had time to forgive you for ignoring her.”
    “Dey are not like people, Bryn. Sometimes it’s chust a small thing to us, but a very bigk thing to dem.”
    “Well, regardless, we have to go,” said Winky. “I’m getting nervous. Peter and them are waiting, probably wondering what the heck happened.”
    “Rob would have been there by now. I’m sure they know.”
    “Will they still be there?” asked Winky. “Or do you think they’ll move on without us?”
    “I have no idea. But we need to go find out, before the canners are awake.” I looked over at Bodo who was carefully wrapping up his leather to put in his pants. “Come on, let’s ride. Just blow your harmonica now and again and hopefully she’ll follow you like she did before.”
    Bodo said nothing, just looked up at her sadly. She shrieked one time at him and then took off. I lost her when she went over the rooftops beside us.
    We pedaled back to the shell shop with Bodo between us tooting his harmonica every once in a while. He was like a crazy drunk driver, swerving all over the road. He used us as bumpers, keeping him as straight as possible. His technique only caused two near-accidents and forced about twenty cuss words to come flying out from both sides, but eventually we made it back to the shop where Bodo got off his bike and promptly vomited in the front door entryway.
    “Well. It’s nice to see you, too,” said Peter, wryly, standing back a bit from the doorway. Jamal and Ronald were behind him, both of them with looks of disgust on their faces. Buster tried to get near enough to investigate but Peter shoved him away with his foot. “Don’t even think about it, Buster, you little piglet.”
    “I’m sorry, Peter,” moaned Bodo. “I had some very badt drugs. I feel very sick right now.”
    Peter stepped over the nastiness and moved Bodo away a few paces before hugging him. “Glad you’re back, you big dummy. We missed you. And don’t you dare vom on me or I’ll kick your butt.”
    Bodo patted him weakly on the shoulder. “I missed you, too. Every time I doodled, I thought of your nice face.”
    Peter pushed him away and smacked his chest. “Rude.”
    “What?” asked Bodo. “Dey let me doodle. Dey even had paint and brushes. I painted your handsome face on da wall dare.”
    Jamal and Ronald were looking at all of us and then each other, confused.
    “Don’t ask,” I advised them. “Are you guys ready to leave?”
    “Yes,” said Peter, “are we ever.”
    “What’d you guys do while you waited?” asked Winky.
    “Nothing,” said Peter.
    “Not exactly nothing ,” said Ronald, smiling. He schooled his expression to be bland as soon as Peter looked over.
    “What’s that mean?” I asked.
    “That means Peter did a little cleaning,” said Jamal, smiling.
    “Oh, geez, Peter. Did you have to?” I asked.
    Peter huffed out a breath. “Some people cower in offices when they’re stressed,” he said glaring at the twins. “Other people do things to keep their mind off the boredom.”
    “Like clean out an abandoned, destroyed retail shop that no one is ever going to use again,” said Ronald.
    “Until it was so clean you could eat off the floor,” added Jamal.
    I shook my head. “I’m not even going to look. I had hoped you would have gotten some sleep, but whatever. Everyone here will be very happy for Peter’s tendencies when we get to our new place. I have a feeling it’s going to need some work.”
    Peter lifted his chin, smiling proudly. “I told you Bryn appreciates it.”
    I didn’t have the heart to burst his bubble and tell him the shell shop could have stayed a wreck and I wouldn’t have cared. But maybe if Celia ever saw it again, she’d be happy.
    “Come on. Let’s go. We’re burning daylight.” I gladly released the crotch-crushing bike and took my big-butt-seated one back, depositing Buster in the basket and getting onboard. “We’re going to the Everglades prison. Kiersten said it’s about two days from here, which is great news. That means we only have to sleep one night on the road.”
    “Who’s Kiersten?” asked Ronald.
    “We’ll tell you about it on the way,” said Winky. “Let’s jam.”
    “Let’s jam?” asked Jamal, as we pulled away from the