The Midnight City Social Hour

Ch4: VRGN RTRD

The first thing Cat Girl did was get The Recruit interested in Mr. Kipples. Because everyone liked Mr. Kipples. One of the smarter members of the gang. Wasn't human. Didn't get too into the drug scene.

He took drugs. Sometimes when Tommy would spend the night on Cat Girl's couch, in the morning, he'd wake to her crushing Buzz Pills with a spoon and mixing the powder into a glass of milk. She'd feed him first. None of the female cats liked milk the way he did.

So Mr. Kipples liked drugs. It helped keep him focused when he wanted more. When there was something to do. Like recruitment.

Cat Girl was walking on this empty street, near a park, a little bit after midnight. Down the road there was a flickering street light. Before a shaky group of apartments.

"This is where the recruit lives." Cat Girl muttered, as they reached the intersection.

"These apartments really suck." Tommy couldn't help but feel a shiver around the shoulders. Homes in the immediate vicinity were, "Pieces of shit. I can't imagine the type of people that live here."

They walked by the front courtyard, just outside The Recruit's home. There were a few cars. No gate protecting those cars from intruders.

Cat Girl said, "We don't have to worry. The Recruit won't leave the apartment. They never leave their apartment." Then she added, "It's not like there's a lot to do without friends."

"I'd probably go nuts if I was stuck in this place."

Tommy pulled out a cigarette, lit it with a Bic disposable lighter, blowing smoke and staring off at the surrounding community. A wind was blowing from above. There was a smell of sewage. Cat Girl was poking at a bush with a stick—at the side of the apartment wall, at a bush. Then at random points in the parking lot. To the point she was looking into cars and trying doors.

"What are doing?" Tommy asked.

Cat Girl didn't respond. If one car door was locked she tried another. Until a pick up. The door swung open; she was inside and rummaging.

Tommy played look out and made sure none of the apartment doors opened.

Cat Girl sighed from inside the car, "Nothing really in here. I have some baggies. A pipe. A lot of scraps on the ground. But with how little security there is, I'm sure I could break into The Recruit's car."

"Why do you want to break into his car?"

"For Mr. Kipples."

"How does Mr. Kipples play into you breaking into his car?"

"Because right now he's talking to the profile on the dating site. The one with the man that wants to fuck another man in front of his wife. Mini knows how to use that. And since he likes men, he'll obviously be attracted to Mr. Kipples."

"But The Recruit isn't attracted to men."

But that didn't matter. All that meant anything, to the gang, was what everyone else believed.