Troublemakers [Engl.]

4. A Rough Morning

Soft morning light shimmered through the living room curtains and tickled Stump's nose, who was snoring on the sofa with Kinski. From a distance they looked like a couple who had fallen asleep. Chorizo was sitting with his back against the site of the sofa, his hat pulled low over his eyes.
As the sun continued its walk, the light fell on three empty Old Desert alcohol bottles that lay scattered on the floor and the remaining drops of spirits sparkled.
Same upstairs, the sun's rays made their way to Bill's sleeping place first. Blinking, the Gila lizard opened its eyes and rubbed them in surprise. Then he remembered why he was lying in Beans's room. Groaning, he straightened up and looked over at her bed.
The lizard girl was lying on her stomach, holding the pillow with her arms like a teddy bear and was making very, very quiet, murmuring sounds occasionally.
Bill, who had never seen her sleep before, stood up curiously and ventured out to her very close. He backed away when Beans briefly muttered a little louder, but then she breathed softly and barely audibly again.
For a while the gangster boss looked at her without moving.
But then the Gila lizard could not resist the temptation and leaned down. He had to make a great deal of effort not to giggle loudly. When he was only a few inches away from her face, he flicked his tongue briefly over her. She smelled of fresh soap, especially her clothes.
Clean girl, Bill thought approvingly, who never dealt with women's stuff.
After sniffing her sufficiently, he nudged her cheek gently with his lips.
A smile passed over Beans's lips. Still with closed eyes, she began to loll on her back in bed.
Bill had straightened up now, watching with a grin as the girl slowly opened her eyes.
First she had to become inured to the morning light and blinked.
Only when she realized who was actually standing next to her bed, her muscles froze. In shock, she stared at the Gila lizard, which gave a somber giggle.
"Who did you expect? Your green friend? Unfortunately, he's not here. But he does that with you, doesn't he?"
Suddenly Beans sat up straight in bed and let out a shrill scream.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
She grabbed her pillow and pushed the blanket almost over her shoulders.
At first Bill was completely surprised by this reaction, then he crossed his arms crossly.
"Hey, just don't think I'm such kind of guy."
Suddenly she took the pillow and hit him several times.
"You bloody bastard!"
Bill had to hold his hands protectively in front of him. Although he could have jumped at her easily, but he refrained from doing so.
"Hey, keep your hair on! I slept on the sofa all night, okay? I wasn't looking for a cuddle hour with you."
At that moment, there were rumbling steps on the stairs outside, which running bottom up to them. Shortly afterwards the door of the room was opened and Kinski jumped in. He looked around hastily, as if he was expecting an attack.
"What was that? A raid?"
His eyes rested on Beans and Bill.
"Did something happen?" Stump asked, who was pushing past Kinski, closely followed by Chorizo, who was still not fully awake.
"Has the roof collapsed?"
Suddenly all three men stood in the room.
Beans threw the pillow at them and hit Chorizo's face.
"GO AWAY!"
The three crooks didn't understand what was going on and looked over at their boss.
"Hey, Bill," Kinski said. "What did you do?"
But Bill had other ideas than answering his question and hurried to the door to the others.
"Get out of here quickly."
"But I wanted to see the pants ..."
Bill didn't let Chorizo finish and pushed him into the hallway so violently that all three hit the floor in a domino effect.
"Don't you dare to show your face here again!" Beans hissed after them.
"I can control myself," Bill snapped and throwing the door shut.

Stump glanced at the kitchen clock in silence.
"She's been up there for over half an hour now," he said thoughtfully.
"Mm," it came only from his neighbor sitters, who were sitting around the kitchen table.
Kinski raised his two index fingers and tapped the tabletop with them.
"Maybe we were a bit too pushy."
"What would you do if there were four guys in your bedroom?" Chorizo asked a little sleepily.
"Well not with guys. But with four ladies ..."
All four giggled, then silence fell again.
"Um, do you think ..." Stump hesitated a little bit to finish the sentence. "Do you think ... we should apologize?"
"No." Bill firmly declined. "She will calm down again. You'll see, she'll be down here in less than an hour. She's not a girl who is ducking her head because of such guys like us."
As a matter of fact. No more than 10 minutes passed when they heard footsteps on the landing.
None of the four dared to turn to her immediately.
Beans was back in her usual dress. When she came into the kitchen, she stopped briefly, then she went wordlessly to the kitchen counter.
There she took out a few plates and took bread out of the cupboard.
Kinski hesitated and cleaned his throat.
"Can we have some coffee?"
"Coffee would be wonderful," Chorizo exclaimed enthusiastically and clapped his hands.
Beans glared at them, but said nothing. With firm hand movements she put the kettle on and then she filtered the coffee powder.
Chorizo slowly bent over to Stump. "Too bad she's no longer wearing her pants."
At that moment she turned and went to the table.
"Do you just want to talk about my pants for the rest of the day?"
With a loud clank she slammed the coffee pot on the table.
The sudden outbreak of temper prompted the two to change quickly the subject.
"The coffee smells good," Kinski said after a strong sniff and poured something into the cup immediately that Beans had also put on the table.
The rabbit was about to drink when Bill took the mug from his hand.
"Wait a minute," warned the Gila monster. "I think our hostess should taste before we let it run over here, right? It could be that we can't take it."
Now Stump and Chorizo were staring into their cups.
Beans, who was back at the kitchen counter, dropped the knife in her hand onto a wooden board angrily.
But Bill didn't give up and held up the mug.
Beans pounded furiously at him, tore the mug from his hand and drank the coffee, which was still too warm, in one go.
Panting, she put the cup down again. "So. Satisfied?!"
With that, she ran back to the counter.
Kinski examined the cup and wondered whether he should ask for a new one.
But then Beans appeared out of nowhere, exchanged the cups again and Kinski sat stunned in his chair with a new washed cup.
Stump almost blew out his coffee, but swallowed it down in time.
"What kind of coffee is that?" he asked quickly.
The girl had just returned with a plate of bread, which she placed on the table with the other things.
"Just ground coffee," she answered tonelessly and went back to the kitchen counter.
"Aha."
While the others were eating, Beans noticed how Bill was peering over to the kitchen window occasionally.
"Are you expecting someone?" she asked inquiringly as she took her breakfast next to the stove.
"No," Bill replied succinctly. "I hope not."
Beans narrowed her eyes. "Why?"
"Oh, I've completely forgotten," Kinski fell into the debate. "How is your arm?"
Stump tried to push the bandage away. "Not too bad."
"I'll take a look at the wound."
"Wait!" Beans interrupted their doctor zeal. "Not at the dining table. Make it in the living room."
"All right."
With grumbling sounds, the two desert rabbits left the kitchen.
The table became eerily silent. Everyone chewed their food.
Beans and Bill pierced each other with evil eyes.
Chorizo was uncomfortable with the freezing cold between the two reptiles and sipped his coffee nervously.
"The coffee tastes really good."
Suddenly, several shots were fired. All of them threw themselves on the ground.
In the next second everyone realized that the shots came from the living room.