𝙐𝙇𝙏𝙍𝘼𝙑𝙄𝙊𝙇𝙀𝙏 - 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙤𝙣

IV

CHAPTER FOUR
SCOOPS TROOP & THE DISC SPINNER

( episode 3: the case of the missing lifeguard )

Violet hasn't seen Tony at all today. She doesn't really hear from anybody. Nobody calls. She doesn't ring to find out if they want to.

She spends it moping around the house under the occasional glance of Marge, in and out of the house on errands. She spends some of it in the nook of the couch with a book, then lies with a record until she falls asleep for some time. Attempts a walk, but it's too hot and muggy, so her spare time ends with her head beneath a cold shower; letting the water pressure run thin whilst she stands there. Not a phone call comes through. She pities the reflection she sees when she steps out of the shower; eyes welling with pathetic tears. She swipes them away with her towel, wrapping herself amongst it.

'Your friends stopped by this afternoon whilst you were asleep,' Marge says from the dining table when she's dressed and procrastinating the last fifteen minutes before she had to leave. 'Thought you ought to know.'

The toaster pops over the radio. Violet looks up from the glass of water she was pouring. 'Really?'

'Sounded like it,' her mother says with the flick of a page, eyes glancing towards the hallway. 'Tony told them you were asleep and had to work later.'

'He was here?'

She nods. 'Came home for lunch.'

'Good of him,' Violet mutters. She pictures the distain her Father would have given to Steve and Dustin, having opened the door and seen them standing on the porch. Steve only drove them on Tuesdays. He'd probably gotten the days jumbled up for reasons that locked Violet's jaw into a bitter stance. 'I'm seeing them today anyway.'

Violet feels her Mother watching her gnaw lamely at her lunch, gazing out across the dead fields and wilted trees beneath the July sun. She wasn't hungry. Wasn't in any mood to work. Wasn't even in the mood to stay home and do nothing. She didn't really know what she wanted to be. She dumps her plate in the sink.