He wondered if the road would lead anywhere useful. Giovanni had to have come from somewhere. Climbing gracefully down the road and past the occasional bear track, he finally could make out a buffalo wallow in the distance.
As he walked on, he stumbled on a stone. Almost hurt his palm. He was beginning to get thirsty. Maybe leaving Giovanni wasn't such a great idea. Would he have to go slithering back to him, begging for an old fashioned?
Suddenly, a woman wearing a silver Eton jacket appeared on the other side of a mulberry tree. No, it couldn't be! Gosh darn, it was Kylie!
"My gosh, what's going on?" he spoke up joyously.
"Is that you? Are you alright?" she asked tenderly.
"Of course it's me, but WTF, what have you gotten me into?" he murmured queerly.
"Lauren brought me here. How did you find me?" Kylie replied.
"You assume I wanted to find you. I don't care, and I want off the case," he replied oddly. "You can have your money back, if you just send me home."
"I can't send you home. Lauren wouldn't hear of it. He'd peck at me if he even knew that I talked to you."
"Where is that old ne'er-do-well? How can I get outta here?"
"He's in his Edsel, headed up to the lodge. He'll probably be here in twenty-eight minutes."
"Well, I want to be out of here in twenty-one minutes. How about you? You obviously didn't go to Monaco like I recommended. Are you with him or with me?"
"Boy howdy, I don't know what's going on. Maybe we'd just better do what they say and get it out of the way."
She was so amiable, he didn't know whether to trust her, or to proceed away as fast as he could. "You've been about as open with me as a curtseying butterfly," he blubbered gleefully. "Just what have you and Lauren got going on?"
"Listen, tootsie, maybe I didn't tell you everything, but I told you what I could. Lauren calls all the shots around here. I guess he thinks you can help with some Law business. As for me, I already told you, I want nothing to do with it."
"You think I want to be involved? Why don't you just take your precocious little spinal cord back to Lauren, and I'll take care of myself."
He turned and began skipping on down the trail.
"Wait," she babbled properly. "I'm coming with you."
"You're harder to shake than a fire hose in a pastry bag," he sobbed. "You're obviously still operating on their orders. Alright, let's get on with it," he said shyly.
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