Breaking Barriers

Getting Away With Murder

Pinto Pengino:

"That was a relief." Paani sighed as he slid out of his boots. It had been too long of a day for everyone, so we'd decided to drop anchor for the night in the woods nearby. Paani had assured us that this part of the woods were completely people free for the most part. Plus, it was likely no one would even drive by here, and if they did, we were deep enough into the woods so they wouldn't be able to see us.

But still, we had to be cautions, like usual. Even though the sun hadn't even gone down yet, we were frantically cooking our dinner over an open flame. We had until sunset to cook. If we lit a fire in the nighttime, it would be too risky. The light and smoke would give it away.

"Hurry up." Paani rushed us as the sun began to dip down behind the trees layered thickly over the horizon, turning the whole sky a dark, silky blue. We didn't have long.

"We're done, we're done!" Ishka exclaimed as she wiped her brow and extinguished the fire, "Just stop yelling, please?"

"Alright." Paani shrugged and went back to "fetching water for us", though I highly doubt Shellington's magnifying glass and his sampling pole were supposed to be used while fetching water, "Oh, did you know that the water here contains a higher number of healthy minerals than the water in Alaska did?" He suddenly asked.

"How do you know this?" Tweak eyes him suspiciously, "Don't tell me you just stuck your pole down the sewer and-"

"No, no. It wasn't the sewer." Paani replied coolly, "I got samples from a pond near the wastewater treatment facility." Everyone abruptly stop what they were doing to look at Paani. What the heck?

"What?" Paani asked cluelessly, "It was for research."

"You stuck a stick down the sewer, Paani." Pogo raised his eyebrows pointedly, "That's a bit unsanitary."

"It wasn't a sewer." Paani defended, "It was just a pond near the treatment facility." 

"Paani, that may be equally bad if not worse." Pinata piped up. 

"Hey, it was in the name of science, right?" Paani looked around as everyone tried to avoid his gaze, and Shellington nodded. Then all of us gaped at him.

"Hey, he said 'In the name of science"." Shellington raised his paws up in defense, "Science is worth it."

"You both are crazy." Pinata decided, shaking her head as she reached out a flipper to pet me on the head.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I cannot believe you sold them that load of crap." Tweak murmured in a low voice to Paani as all of us sat huddled around a tiny gas lamp the size of one of the leaves on the ground.

"Hey, I did well." Paani grinned as Tweak softly punched his arm.

"Yeah, ya did, Paan. I was kidding." Tweak laughed, "Thanks for doing this for us."

"My pleasure, Tweak." Paani pretended to salute her, "I'm glad we got away."

"But really, we got this close to being caught!" I jumped up and held my flippers as close together as possible.

"Yes we did, chick." Paani picked me up and swung me around before tenderly setting me back onto the ground with a heavy sigh, "We better get going now. We might be able to get a few more hours of travel in under the cover of night."

"But Paani" Peso protested sweetly, "You need to rest. Don't overexert yourself for us."

"Ah, don't worry about me Peso." He reassured my brother, "I've just had four coffees and a dozen chocolates; I'll be fine." 

Tweak stiffened, "No one get into that truck."