Agent Reptilian: Exploiting Gold|editing

Chapter thirty four: A Grim Warning

The door clicked as I gently closed it to refrain gaining any attention from Del. I needed to consult Nix before anything, and take a hot bath to calm my nerves and relax my muscles. My hands trembled as I loosened my shoe laces and my legs quivered from pain as I walked up to the closet to tuck my muddy runners away.

My eyes followed the grocery bag on the ground with some of its fallen contents consisting of a calculus textbook and a bunch of pencils, followed by a clamour of noises from the kitchen. Pans and pots clanked loudly, the exhaust fan was on its highest settings and I could smell something rancid. I groaned internally. Nix was cooking up another disaster.

I stripped the tattered and dirty windbreaker off and dragged it behind me, all the way into the kitchen.

Nix had a pot on the stove with it's contents bubbling. She turned around to grab something when she caught sight of me and stopped. She examined me, from my messy hair to the scowl glued on my face, to the twigs stuck on my clothes and raised her eyebrows.

"Uh, what the heck happened to you? Got in a fight with a kangaroo?" I glared at her and exited out through the back door in the kitchen to toss my jacket in the trash bin.

"What ar-"

I screamed "OH MY GOSH!" I held my hand over my chest as I heard Del spoke. I turned my gaze towards her and saw that she sat on a lawn chair as she completed a crossword puzzle. "Gosh, you scared me." She closed her book and placed it in her lap.

"Thank you, it's one of my hobbies to scare children, happy to hear that I'm succeeding. Now, where's the money missy?" I stuck my hands in my pockets, and shuffled them around in search for the bills.

Finally, I pulled them out and handed it to her. One of the receipts from Rickie's Rad Rocks slipped out and instantly, Del's gaze fell on it. Before I could scramble to the ground and snatch it, her scrawny hands got there first and pulled it away. She read over it as if reading over the declaration of independence.

"What on earth is... 'Rickie's Rad Rocks'?" She asked. Then I almost felt a cramp in my stomach as I noticed as her eyes zeroed in on the price. "$100.09." Silence followed. "You... spent, one hundred, dollars, and, nine, cents on rocks." She wasn't even questioning, just stating.

"Um, that isn't my recei-" Her eyes snapped up to my face and I froze immediately. She held the receipt up and pointed at the figure. "That is exactly what a rock collector would say."

What?

"Have you ever met one?" She squinted her eyes at me.

"Oui. Just now. They call her, 'Alaska Brooks'. This receipt though calls her an idiot." I huffed.

"Oh come on. That isn't even mine and you know that, just look at the date." Del eye's fell back on the receipt. The date those were issued on, I had been rubbing her feet at home. The memory made me shudder but at the same time, at least I had an alibi.

She just crumpled up the receipt and threw it at me which bounced off my head and landed on the ground. She hid her unamused expression behind her crossword puzzle book.

"Go help that menace in the kitchen cook actual food." She shooed me away and I ran back in the house and swung the kitchen screen door  behind me shut but left the door open. Hopefully the squirrels and chipmunks wouldn't die from the stench of Nix's cuisine.

I helped Nix out a bit in the kitchen, though I felt as if I made things worse and then went up to take a bath. I needed some time alone to abstain from ripping my hair out.

After I came back, I explained to Nix how I lost the money for the following month.

"Al, how do you lose $2000?!" She yelled but half way her tone dialed down as the devil walked into the kitchen. Del sniffed the air and opened the screen and went back outside. Ah, so maybe next time when I need to get rid of her, all I'll have to do is ask Nix to cool something for me. Even a lizard that I had found earlier in the house was on the verge of death until I took her outside where she took one breath of air then scampered away.