Same Old Song

Kid had long ago decided the most constructive thing he could do with his time was sleep. Jimmy was first to pick this choice of activities, and it had only taken Kid a few minutes of listening to his snoring to realize that sounded good to him. Layla looked at him incredulously when he settled back and titled his hat over his eyes. She surely expected him to bust them all of there single handedly, risk his life to save her important neck. Never mind the small detail they'd be killed before the door opened.

Sleep came easily, even given the circumstances. Kid's head still ached from the blow the night before, and he imagined Jimmy's did as well. He slept soundly, and even dreamed a wonderful dream about escorting Lou to a private box in the theatre. However, even in the expensive seats, the horrible squawking they'd heard last night persisted.

Sleep left him as easily as it came, when he realized the sound wasn't in his dream, but uncomfortably close to his ears. Screams split the air, high pitched shrieks that set his teeth on edge. He sat up the same time as Jimmy, eyes wide and heart pounding, expecting to find Layla's throat slit.

Instead, he cocked his head to the side and smiled slightly at Jimmy as they settled down to watch the show. Layla was standing up in the small space, bent at the waist, and madly tearing her hands through her hair, pulling at her dress, and swatting her skin.

"Get it off!" She screeched when she saw they were awake, "Get it off now!"

"What might it be?" Jimmy wondered, unconcerned. He wasn't surprised to find the room had a few crawlers.

"I don't know! It just crawled right across my mouth when I was sleeping! It had…LEGS!" Her eyes were round in horror.

Kid knew he was endangering himself by letting the smile broaden, "Well, if it was crawling of course it did, can you see that now?"

"Find it! It's still here!" Layla demanded, stamping her foot and shivering violently when she was finally satisfied it was not, in fact, on her person any longer.

"Find what? Do you think that's the only insect in here?" Jimmy asked her, "Even if we found it, another would take it's place. In fact, if we ain't careful they may rise up and ambush us. My advice to you would be to sleep with your mouth closed."

He smiled sweetly under her murderous gaze, "You are the most horrible men I've ever met! Fine! I'll find it myself! A fine pair of gentleman you turned out to be! Not only do you not protect me from these horrible men but you won't even help hunt down the poisonous creature that almost killed me! Do I need to remind you that you're still alive because of me!"

Kid gave her a stern look, "Need I remind you we wouldn't be here in the first place if you hadn't messed everything up?"

She stopped suddenly and looked at him with wounded green eyes, before dropping her gaze and turning her head to try to hide the tears that were rising.

Kid, although he wasn't really fond of the spoiled girl, was ashamed of himself. He stood up slowly and went to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Layla. I didn't mean that at all. We shouldn't have been snooping around there in the first place," he cast a poignant look at Jimmy who shrugged sheepishly, "This isn't your fault, and we'll get out of here. They are not going to hurt you or us."

Jimmy was always impressed with Kid's ability to calm people down, especially women in distress. Of course, that attribute usually ended up causing Lou to fret, but that was another matter.

"Are you alright?" Kid asked softly.

She sniffled and delicately wiped at her eyes, "No. You're so mean!"

"Well what can we do to make you feel better?" Kid asked, indulging her pouting.

"Help me find the bug," she sniffled once more for good measure, and did her best to look devastated.

Kid glanced at Jimmy and raised his eyebrows and his hands in defeat. They both dropped to their hands and knees at the same time, and began the search.

From above them, it was Layla's turn to grin. She batted her eyes and felt grateful for her skill at getting what she wanted. Her eyes fell shamelessly on Kid's backside as he crawled under the table in the room, and she arched an eyebrow. Of course, some things were harder to get a hold of than others…

"There!" Kid yelped in excitement thirty minutes later.

"Where?" Jimmy cried, from right in front of Kid where they were both searching the last corner of the room for the guilty bug. Their heads cracked together when he raised up, and they both sat down hard on the dirt.

"It's getting away," Layla observed calmly from her perch on the table, where she was fiddling with her fingernails, having lost interest on the search that was going on at her request-well, order-long ago.

Kid shot Jimmy a look that should have by all rights, killed him, and Jimmy, cradling his skull did the same. Then remembering their whole reason for nearly combining their skulls into one in the first place, they both went scurrying across the floor on hands and knees, not looking entirely different than the bug they were chasing.

"It's a centipede!" Jimmy cried out as they gained ground on the unsuspecting little critter. It was four inches long, and its tiny legs twitched restlessly. It wove in and out gracefully as it moved along, stopping in the middle of the floor.

"You're right, Layla, it did have legs. Lots of them," Kid conceded gracefully.

"Don't smile at it whatever you do!" Jimmy warned them both when he and Kid had it surrounded. There was a note of grave seriousness in his voice.

Kid and Layla looked from the creature to Jimmy, and the looks on their faces clearly expressed who they thought the stranger of the two was.

"What are you talking about?" Kid finally asked for both of them.

Jimmy glanced up, surprised to find them looking at him, "What do you mean? It's a well known wives tale."

"What is?" Layla asked, "Not to smile at centipedes? Whatever for?"

Jimmy had the presence of mind to look a little abashed at having the market cornered on the tale, but felt it his duty to enlighten the ignorant. "Well, you see, if you smile at a centipede, then however many legs it has is how many of your teeth will fall out. It's a wife's tale," he repeated firmly, wanting them to know it came from a more authoritative source than him.

"Whose wife?" Layla and Kid asked together and burst out laughing.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," Jimmy muttered, glaring at them as they grinned, "I had an Uncle Bill who swore it was true. Didn't have a tooth in his head."

"Or a brain neither from the sound of it. Like his nephew," Kid managed to say between gasps for air. This made Layla laugh harder.

"I hope all your teeth do fall out," Jimmy growled and pulled off his boot so as to terminate the life of the creature in question before he messed up and grinned too.

"What are you doing!" Layla suddenly demanded, standing up.

"Defending you from this horrible poisonous monster that attacked you," Jimmy responded, "Don't never say I ain't a gentleman again!"

"You're not going to kill it?" Layla wondered.

"I am," Jimmy disagreed.

"No! You can't just kill it in cold blood!"

Jimmy and Kid looked at her as if to determine if she was joking. She wasn't.

"Are you hearing this too, Kid?" Jimmy wondered.

"I'm hearing it, but I ain't believing it," Kid responded, "Uh…so let me see if I'm caught up here. You send us on a chase around this room to find this bug that is out to get you, and we finally--finally--find it, and now you don't want us to kill it? Um, Layla, what would you have us do with it?"

"I don't know, I didn't think that far in advance."

Jimmy dropped his eyes to the floor, and brought his hand up to massage his temples, throbbing from the impact of Kid's thick skull. It was then he noticed their little friend was no longer in attendance…at least not where they'd left him.

His eyes traveled around quickly, and stopped at Layla's silver skirts. Their leggy captive was quickly winding it's way up the beaded hoopskirt.

"Well, I think he wants to thank you for your mercy," Jimmy said, pointing.

Layla looked down, and again transformed into a banshee, kicking and screaming and dancing about as if controlled by a mad-and spastic-puppeteer. The unsuspecting bug fell to the floor, and before it could flip over to get its legs under it, Layla brought her booted heel down on it with a vengeance; and didn't stop at that. Again and again she stomped and cursed until finally there was nothing left but a tiny dark spot in the dirt floor.

"Mercy was it?" Kid asked Jimmy with raised eyebrows, "I'd hate to see revenge."

Jimmy shrugged and they watched as Layla realized the undignified spectacle she'd produced and vainly patted her hair and wiped at her dress. She sat down at the table and avoided their eyes, crossing her hands demurely in her lap.

All was silent for a minute, then Kid wondered, "Hey Jimmy…what happens if you smile at a centipede's corpse? Do the same rules apply?"

The governors as well as Alana leaned forward, their acute sense of curiosity peaking at maximum. "Then you had better start telling us what you mean, Miss." he stated with a near-murderous expression upon his face. His daughter was the most precious thing that he owned, and he would do anything to protect her from the clutches of the evil aspects of the world.

Lou hesitated and refused to let them see the intimidation that she suddenly felt. She had walked into the house confident and set on her task, but now that they sat there staring her down, she suddenly felt very small. "I must get into their hideout, and in order to do that, I'll have to fit in. I believe that your daughter can be brought to safety, sir. I just need you to tell me that you'll stand behind me on this."

The governor looked slightly more at ease after seeing Lou's apparent handle on the situation. She seemed sure of herself, and he liked that in a young woman. Still, he distrusted anyone until they gave him a reason to do so. "Is she in harm? If I find out that one hair upon her head has been touched, or that some man is using her, so help me I swear that…."

Not wanting to hear anymore, she cut him off, "Sir, I'm only telling you like it is. My two friends are trapped there too and my main goal is to free them. I will do all that I can to save them. But again, I need you to tell me that you will support me on this. I want to see your daughter brought to safety…but if her safety costs the life of my friends, I can't do it."

"Is that a threat? Because if it is, tell me where my daughter is and I will see that she is freed!" he took a step closer to her, but Lou was determined to stand her ground. All in all this was her fight, and she would rescue them with or without the governor's approval. Although she would have liked to have had it just the same…

"No, that is not a threat, it is the condition that I set before I place the lives of my friends in any more danger. If you go off and storm the place, they will be killed. I will not have that. We are on the same side here, and the only thing I want from you is your support. I came here like this because I knew that you had a right to hear about what has happened to Layla. However, if you so much as threaten to go against my plans, I will not help you," her eyes widened once she realized how easily that had been spoken. Lou cringed inwardly at the thoughts of what reactions might come from the man before her. She had basically just given a man of high respect and position an ultimatum.

Lou contemplated it for an instant and decided that her move had either been very smart, or very very stupid.

The governor sat back down in his chair and rubbed his chin. "You seem quite certain of yourself, Miss…?"

"Louise McCloud."

"Well Miss McCloud, I don't seem to be left with much of a choice here. You have a plan figured out, and I respect that. I am very ready to hear it, because as far as I am concerned, there is not a minute to spare," his eyes softened and he motioned for her to sit down across from him.

Hastily seating herself, Lou tugged at her skirts and felt a pang through her heart at the dirt on the side of her skirt. Had it only been a few short hours ago that she was walking arm in arm with the two men that she loved more than any other in the world?

Bringing herself back to the present, she forced her mind to clear and focus. "I need to get into the operation, find out who is behind it and lead them to believe that I am against you and your daughter."

Jones started to protest the idea, but then decided to let her finish when Alana's eyes lit up in terror. He figured that he had better not make the situation any worse that it was already becoming. "And you think this will solve everything? You against goodness knows how many men?"

Lou could sense his distrust and she raised her chin in defiance, "With all due respect I have dealt with some of the worst criminals you could imagine. I think that I can take this on and make it work. It is the only way I see."

Both governors exchanged glances and a silent communication passed between them. They nodded to each other and then gave their attention back to Lou. The two men were aware of the leap of faith that they were taking. "Okay, tell us your plan, what we need to do, and we're behind you all the way."

"You girls actually wear this stuff?" Lou said, holding up this liquid bottle of something that was very, well…pink. She took the lid off and placed it next to her nose as she took a sniff. "Or should I ask, why do you choose to wear it?"

Alana thumped yet another bottle with her finger and waited until it settled at the bottom. Lou nearly recoiled in fear at the thought of such colors being placed on her face. She hoped, somehow, that this would turn out to be a dream…because only in her dreams could she be living such a nightmare.

"Just hold on, Louise. We do this all the time. It won't hurt, I promise," the younger girl offered sweetly.

Lou moved in closer and sat before Alana, opening up her face to a whole new world of possibilities, "Well, you know what you're doing, so work away."

Nearly thirty minutes passed before Alana allowed Lou to look at herself in the mirror. She made one last dab with the cotton to wipe off the excess lip rouge and then she smiled at her handiwork, "There you are. Miss Louise, I'd like to introduce you to the new you. And 'Louise' is going to have to go. From now on you are Miss Glendaveeve Delorus."

"Who?" Lou asked flabbergasted by such an overbearing name. She lifted the small mirror to her face and wanted desperately to scream. "I thought you said this was the new me! This isn't me! It can't be me! Even Kid and Jimmy aren't worth this!" Lou dropped the mirror to the ground and watched as it surprisingly did not break. "Take it off, Alana, now! There's got to be a better way! Busting in, storming the place, anything! That's not my face! I can't even recognize myself!"

"Calm down," Alana said soothingly, "it isn't as bad as you think, I promise! This is what the girls really look like. Layla wears this all the time and it works for her. See, to be a showgirl you've got to act, move, and be that part. You've got a great start too! Just take some time getting used to it."

Lou cringed and glanced at herself once again. A pale cream powder had been spread across her face, giving her a smooth silky-skinned appearance. Her cheeks were perfectly lined with pink that enhanced the darker shades around her eyes. Ruby red lips that looked like they belonged on a doll were now her own, and she touched them, insecure that perhaps Alana had replaced them with something fake as well.

And there was something else odd about her looks, Louise noticed, she was nearly the spitting image of Alana herself. Was it showgirl rules that they all must appear on stage with the same faces? The entire prospect was alarming to say the least.

She optimistically reminded herself of the hoots and hollers that Layla had had attracted from every male in the room, and for one fleeing instant wondered if this "new look" might arouse the same reaction for her.

Turning to look at Alana, Lou's eyes softened and illustrated that she was no longer enraged. She was now seeking the advice of an expert and knew that when it came to the show biz acting, she would be taking the lessons and following instructions instead of giving them. "Just tell me what I need to do."

To be continued...Chapter 8