The Devil on Kazoo

7: The Plan

"The blues are mushed up into three different ways
One said go the other two said stay"

"Leaving Trunk" by Taj Mahal

Kathy had never been good at keeping secrets. Whenever she had one, it nipped at her skin like a flea until she had no choice but to itch it.

Kathy couldn't remember a time when she'd waited until someone's birthday to give them their gift, or a Christmas when she hadn't spoiled a surprise by accident.

This was why she immediately wondered why Syl had asked her to keep one. Whatever the reason was, Kathy swore to herself that she'd do her best and not tell Bash or Smiley about their plan to spy on the Mad Teddy's. The only problem was that she was already keeping a secret of her own.

She'd been going down to the fabric store twice a week to see Jim. They'd only met four times so far, but Kathy knew a kindred spirit when she met one.

Kathy believed that the stars in the sky represented each person on Earth. Like the stars, everyone had a constellation that they were part of; a network of people, all connected to create a beautiful image. There would always be stars surrounding a person, but finding someone who fit into their constellation was special.

Kathy believed that The Crumbs were her constellation...and Jim, possibly, was part of it too.

She didn't exactly know why she didn't tell The Crumbs about Jim, but she suspected it had something to do with not wanting to offend anyone. Would The Crumbs like Jim? Would they feel like she was being unfaithful to their group?

Deep down, she knew this wouldn't be the case, but there was a constant fear of being rejected lurking in the back of her mind, even by the people she trusted without a second thought.

That was why her secret with Syl was important to her. Syl, who rarely trusted anyone, had chosen her, which lead to another conundrum in Kathy's life.

She was always trying to prove herself to her friends. Again, she had no reason to feel like she had to do this, but the problem remained. She'd only been a part of the Crumbs for two years, which was a significant amount of time as far as a job was concerned, but it was precious little when it came to being part of a family.

Bash and Smiley had grown up together, of course, so their closeness was only natural.

And Syl was a mysterious case. Although she was distant, there seemed to be a unique bond between her and Bash. Maybe it was opposites attracting or perhaps it was because they were the two oldest of the group, but they fit together like a puzzle Kathy could never quite settle into herself.

It wasn't that Kathy was jealous (in fact, she had a sketch of Syl's wedding dress and Bash's suit safely tucked away under her mattress for future use). Perhaps she just didn't quite know who she was yet. And she wanted nothing more than to make good on her promise.

All of this was niggling at the back of her mind as she and Syl planned their grand spy mission, which went completely against Bash's request.

It was the next Sunday after they'd first mentioned it; Bash was fixing a few wires in the circuit board while Smiley tinkered with a melody on the piano.

It was a week before their next paycheck, so it wasn't unusual for the Crumbs to take off to run an errand when they weren't on radio duty.

Syl and Kathy pretended like nothing–absolutely nothing–was amiss.