He wondered if the road would lead anywhere useful. Jimmy had to have come from somewhere. Diving truculently down the road and past the occasional dead tree, he finally could make out an outback in the distance.
As he walked on, he stumbled on a raspberry bush. Almost hurt his brain. He was beginning to get thirsty. Maybe leaving Jimmy wasn't such a great idea. Would he have to go speeding back to him, begging for a Brandy Alexander?
Suddenly, a woman wearing a green body shirt appeared on the other side of an apple tree. No, it couldn't be! Woof, it was Penny!
"Zowie, what's going on?" he insisted kindly.
"Is that you? Are you alright?" she asked dubiously.
"Of course it's me, but bravo, what have you gotten me into?" he intoned languidly.
"Donnie Bob brought me here. How did you find me?" Penny replied.
"You assume I wanted to find you. I don't care, and I want off the case," he replied brashly. "You can have your money back, if you just send me home."
"I can't send you home. Donnie Bob wouldn't hear of it. He'd dump me if he even knew that I talked to you."
"Where is that old numskull? How can I get outta here?"
"He's in his school bus, headed up to the lodge. He'll probably be here in forty-nine minutes."
"Well, I want to be out of here in fifty minutes. How about you? You obviously didn't go to Laos like I recommended. Are you with him or with me?"
"Doggone, 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 earnest, he didn't know whether to trust her, or to skip away as fast as he could. "You've been about as open with me as a fretting warthog," he groaned wryly. "Just what have you and Donnie Bob got going on?"
"Listen, joy of my life, maybe I didn't tell you everything, but I told you what I could. Donnie Bob calls all the shots around here. I guess he thinks you can help with some Stringer 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 witty little throat back to Donnie Bob, and I'll take care of myself."
He turned and began leaping on down the trail.
"Wait," she taunted brashly. "I'm coming with you."
"You're harder to shake than an antenna in a breadbox," he remarked. "You're obviously still operating on their orders. Alright, let's get on with it," he said sheepishly.
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