Concrete Summonings

THE NEXT DAY

They were in the car. On the highway, and big dark clouds looked like they were starting to collect over the seaboard. It was chilly outside, but Maybelline had the window down and was staring out of it. Her father had his cheap sunglasses on, and they were riding down the freeway. There was hardly any traffic and her father was playing the hard rock station on the radio which she always hated. She would have told him to switch it, but there was a knot in her stomach, and she was nervous. He looked a little uneasy, too. She cleared her throat and said,

"Hey... um. Thank you for driving me out all this way Daddy. I was just gonna take the bus."

"Oh, it's no problem darlin'." He said, eyes on the road. "Hell, you would have been on that thing all day. I... just hope she still lives there. Otherwise I wouldn't know how else to get ahold of her."

Maybelline turned back to look out the window and played with the air between her fingers. Then her father sighed through his nose.

"Sweetie." He said. "There's something else I've been meaning to bring up to you since... everything's happened here. And... well it's a bit of a downer subject to say the least."

This irked her attention. "Oh yeah? What?" She said.

"Well..." He scratched the back of his head. "You do know about contracts in quests and property destruction, right?"

She thought about this. "Well... yeah." She said. "Janet damn near bit my head off about it on my first quest when I launched a fireball over her head in an enclosed sewer... why do you bring it up?"

Her father gave a small laugh through his nose and turned the car to the off-ramp exit. "Damn," he said. "Glad I wasn't around for that- but anyway. Well... what I'm trying to get at here, is... that property you were at when that demon blew up was private... and you all were under contract to make sure it stayed in one piece... and..."

"...aaaaaand..." She said. She hated when he would draw out stories like this. "And now it's not?"

"Yes." He said. "It's not there anymore. And you and your friends will have to pay for it. And on top of that, I know you don't have any questing insurance."

"Well, I mean... no." She said. "I mean it was like eight hundred bucks a month. I ain't got that kind of money, damn. I was going to get it after like a year."

Her father winced.

"Pumpkin." He said. "You... now... how do I put this? First, there's no fault in thinking that- and it's not required by law to have that in this particular part of the country, which maybe they ought to make that a thing. Anyway, I for one can tell you that I certainly did not have any when I was starting out. And then something happened to me and I had to pay it all back. Took me awhile. But I did it. However, it wasn't really as bad... that."

Maybelline gave him a curious look.

"Wait what did you do?" She asked.

"Oh, well..." He said. "Blew up an ice cream truck parked in an empty lot. Guy was hiding behind it. I wasn't about to play hide and seek with him either. Especially after he kicked me in the jaw. It was stupid and impulsive, and I really shouldn't have done it. Had to pay for everything. Tell you right now turns out those things cost a hell of a lot more than a regular truck. Also had to pay for his medical bills. Or rather had to pay the states medical bills after they threw him back in the clank. Man, you must have been five years old when I paid that all off."

"Well..." Said Maybelline. "I mean, I gotta do what I have to do, right? What do you think it would be? All that place had in it was plywood and some steel and some stupid power tools and all that. Like... I dunno, a few thousand bucks?"