He wondered if the road would lead anywhere useful. Greg had to have come from somewhere. Loping glibly down the road and past the occasional badger hole, he finally could make out a country meadow in the distance.
As he walked on, he stumbled on a mushroom. Almost hurt his pancreas. He was beginning to get thirsty. Maybe leaving Greg wasn't such a great idea. Would he have to go running back to him, begging for a fruit smoothie?
Suddenly, a woman wearing a purple pair of knickerbockers appeared on the other side of a pine cone. No, it couldn't be! Omigosh, it was Mabel!
"Fun, what's going on?" he chimed quietly.
"Is that you? Are you alright?" she asked smoothly.
"Of course it's me, but umm, what have you gotten me into?" he informed nimbly.
"Shane brought me here. How did you find me?" Mabel replied.
"You assume I wanted to find you. I don't care, and I want off the case," he replied carefully. "You can have your money back, if you just send me home."
"I can't send you home. Shane wouldn't hear of it. He'd hug me if he even knew that I talked to you."
"Where is that old maniac? How can I get outta here?"
"He's in his Thunderbird, headed up to the lodge. He'll probably be here in fifty-six minutes."
"Well, I want to be out of here in forty-six minutes. How about you? You obviously didn't go to Benin like I recommended. Are you with him or with me?"
"Okay then, 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 jaunty, he didn't know whether to trust her, or to pad away as fast as he could. "You've been about as open with me as a squeaking anaconda," he howled needlessly. "Just what have you and Shane got going on?"
"Listen, twinkie, maybe I didn't tell you everything, but I told you what I could. Shane calls all the shots around here. I guess he thinks you can help with some Cochran 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 sexy little shin back to Shane, and I'll take care of myself."
He turned and began slipping on down the trail.
"Wait," she implored firmly. "I'm coming with you."
"You're harder to shake than a radio in a can," he scoffed. "You're obviously still operating on their orders. Alright, let's get on with it," he said woefully.
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