Going Nowhere

Chapter 23 - Hibiscus de Chamontelette-Brown

I woke up before the alarm which was a massive surprise, mostly since it probably was the first time that had happened. I lay there in stunned amazement and wondered if I was becoming an actual adult.

Then I heard the rattle of small pebbles on my window and grinned.

Nope. Not a grownup. And neither was my grandmother, it seemed.

Grandma Hazel and I went to see Genie and have breakfast. Or, since I refused to partake of anything at Ms. Decateur's home, it was the other way around, and we stopped for pancakes before entering a house where I'd been held captive just a few days before.

"I'm so sorry," Genie said, and squeezed my hand in a way that likely was supposed to be reassuring, but mostly hurt.

"You didn't kidnap me," I murmured and pulled my hand away from her death grip. "It wasn't your fault."

"I designed the kitchen."

I blinked.

"Could have asked them to install bigger cabinets, and I would have..."

"Don't worry about it," I said, but she just kept talking.

"... if I'd known someone with your booty would be locked into one of them."

Huh. Slightly insulting but not entirely incorrect.

"Okay," I said, lacking anything more eloquent to add. "Will you go with us to see the Grand Wizard?"

"If we go before ten o'clock. I have an appointment at eleven that I can't miss."

"What are you doing?" Grandma Hazel asked. "If you need me to come with you, I'd be happy to –"

"Yes, please," Genie said immediately. "I'm nervous."

Her night in the laundry room had apparently not been as easy on her as she'd told my dad.

"I'll be there for you," Grandma said and patted Genie's hand.

"Thank you, Hazel. You can help me place it."

Place what?

"Place what?" Grandma echoed my thoughts.

"The strawberry."

Huh?

"Str –"

"I'm thinking left."

"Left what?" I asked, and I really shouldn't have.

"Butt cheek."

I closed my eyes.

"I'm getting a tattoo," Genie clarified. "It's my first, and I wanted a beetroot, but Josito can only do strawberries and skulls." She smiled happily and added, "I didn't want a skull."

Hoo-kay. Next topic.

Crap. There was no topic available in my mind because my brain had stuck on the visual of a not fully clothed Genie Decateur, old as dirt and skinny-saggy everywhere.

With a strawberry tattooed on her left butt cheek.

"How exciting," Grandma Hazel squealed. "I could do a skull."

No. No, no, no. Yikes. Jesus. Whatever.

"Let's go and see the Grand Wizard right away," I blurted out.

"Not a good idea," my backpack said.

I turned slowly and glared at it.

"Lulu?" I asked.