Two Pink Lines

6

"What time do you get off work, dad?" Jellybean asks him as he reads the newspaper next to her. He likes to read Alice's articles especially, even if he isn't interested in the topic.

"I should be home around four. Thought maybe I'd bring home some Pop's for all of us so we don't have to cook."

"Sounds good to me, I'd eat Pop's every day if you'd let me."

He chuckles. "Well as much as I'm with you on that, it's probably not the healthiest thing for us to do." He looks down at his watch and sighs. "I'm running late. I'll see you when I get home, love you." He pecks a kiss to the top of her head and she smiles at him.

"Love you too."

Gladys comes into the kitchen right as he's about to leave. "You heading to work?"

"Yeah, I told Bean I'd bring home Pop's. Saves us from having to cook tonight."

She swallows the lump in her throat, guilt making an ugly appearance. "That sounds nice. Have a good day."

"Thanks, I'll see you guys later."

Jellybean studies her mother carefully when her dad leaves the trailer. She looks pale and nervous, as if she'd just seen a ghost. "You good, mom?"

Gladys snaps out of her daze and looks over at her daughter, giving her a reassuring smile. "Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired that's all." She pours herself a cup of coffee and looks back in Jellybean's direction. "You should probably get going, kid, you'll miss the bus."

Jellybean takes the last bite of her breakfast and brings her plate over to they counter, grabbing her backpack. "Maybe tonight we can all watch a movie together as a family."

Gladys forces a smile. "That sounds nice baby, have a good day at school."

She waits until Jellybean is on her bus and headed for school, and then she picks up her cell phone. Dialling Hiram's numbed with shaky fingers.

"Hiram Lodge." He answers professionally.

"It's me." She tells him simply. "He just left for the diner not too long ago."

"And you did your part?"

She swallows thickly. "Yes."

"I'll make the call in a little bit." He pauses. "You did good, Gladys."

"What if this backfires on us?"

"It won't. Don't focus on the possibility of something going wrong, focus on the money we'll be pulling in."

"Right." She lets out a breath. "Let me know when you do it?"

"Will do. Lay low, don't leave the house at all today."

"I know."

"The kids don't suspect anything do they?"

"No, they just want us to be a happy family, this is going to be a blindside to them."

"That's what we want. Everyone will be blindsided."

•

"Alright, veggie burger with a side of onion rings and a root beer, and chicken strips with a Diet Coke and cheese fries." FP repeats the order to the table he's serving. "Enjoy."

He walks over to the counter where Pop is standing, reading over some papers. "Business is pretty good today." FP says, acknowledging the nearly full diner.

"Yeah it is, I always love when it gets like this." Pop smiles. "Is Alice coming by today?"

"No, she's working, I think she's stopping by tomorrow though."

"I wanted to talk to her about possibly putting an ad in the paper for our new special, you think she would?"

"I'm positive she would, she loves this place just as much as you and I."

The two men talk amongst each other for a few minutes as they wait for more orders to be ready to serve.

The sound of sirens echo in the distance and soon grow closer until a few squat cars are pulling into the lot.

"What's going on?" Pop questions worriedly. Tom Keller walks into the diner and locks eyes with Pop. "Sheriff Keller, is everything alright?"

"We're hoping so, we got an anonymous tip that there were drugs on the premises."

"Well I can assure you there's no drugs here, you can sweep the diner if you'd like, I have nothing to hide."

"That won't be necessary at the moment." He look over at FP. "Mr Jones, can you come with me for a moment?"

FP's stomach sinks as he follows Tom outside. Immediately thinking that Jughead or Jellybean we're somehow involved in this.

"Is this your vehicle?"

"Yes." FP answers, beyond confused. "What's going on?"

"We received an anonymous call today that said they suspect you to be in possession of Jingle Jangle."

"Jingle Jangle? No way, I don't even smoke cigarettes let alone take or sell Jingle Jangle."

Tom gives him an empathetic look, he doesn't believe FP is in possession of drugs but it's his job to be sure. "We have to be sure, we have a warrant to search your vehicle. Please unlock it and step back."

FP does as he's asked, not even remotely worried that they'll find anything. He's never touched Jingle Jangle before, hell he hasn't even touched drugs since the last time he and Alice shared a joint back in high school.

He steps back as he watches a few officers search his truck high and low, knocking napkins and papers and whatever other belongings to the ground as they search thoroughly. One of the officers let's the station's K-9 up into the truck, letting him sniff around.

Just as they're about to shut the doors and decide that it was a hoax, the dog lets out a repeated bark, alerting them that he found something.

FP's heart starts beating faster, hoping that it's a false alarm, something that caught the dog's attention. But alas, that's not the case.

"We've got something." One of the officer's says, pulling out a small bag of powder.

"What? No, there's no way, I've got nothing in there." FP says, walking towards his truck. He's quickly grabbed by another officer, holding him back. "You've gotta believe me. Come on Tom, you've known me since we were kids, you know I didn't do anything."

Tom looks just as shocked as FP does. "I'm sorry." He pulls out his handcuffs and cuffs FP's wrists. "FP Jones, you are under arrest for the possession of Jingle Jangle."