The Dark Side of the Moon

Baby-sitting, who likes it? Certainly not mischievous old people. Muriel got a huge reminder of that. She had just made morning tea when there was a knock on her door. Muriel looked up, blinking.

Who was that?, she thought. The old biddy walked over to her front door and peeked out the hole. Liz and Clover peeked in on the other side. The old lady still didn’t get it as she opened the door.

“Girls?” she asked. “What are you doing here?” Liz and Clover shuffled their feet for a little bit.

“Uh…” Liz said.

“Uncle Bill is in New London today,” Clover replied. Muriel blinked at her.

“New London?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Liz said.

“Why?” the old lady asked.

“Class reunion,” Clover answered. Muriel blinked again.

“What?” she asked.

“Class reunion,” Clover repeated. Their neighbor couldn’t grasp it.

“Why?” she asked. The girls both smiled at her.

“We told him too,” they said. Muriel’s face dropped.

“You did?” she asked. “How?” Clover stepped forward with a grin.

“Begging and pleading,” she said. Muriel just nodded.

“I see,” she said. They didn’t speak for a long moment.

“Okay,” Muriel said. “So who’s staying with you?”

“No one,” they said. Their neighbor’s face dropped.

“What?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Liz said. “We’re all home alone.”

“Okay…” Muriel said. “So why are you?”

“We’re bored,” Liz said.

“Okay…” the neighbor said. “So… what?”

“Can with come in?” Liz asked. The old biddy frowned.

“What?” she asked. Okay, rather random…

Needless to say, Liz and Clover ended up inside at the kitchen table. Muriel brought out three cups of tea.

“Listen,” she said. “You can’t stay too long. My mates will be over soon.” The girls looked on intrigued.

“Really?” Clover asked.

“Who?” Liz asked.

“Just some mates,” Muriel said. The girls looked on still intently.

“Who?” Liz asked again. Their neighbor sighed. When will you be back, Billy? Then, the door bell rang. The old biddy quickly perked up.

“That would be them,” she said. The girls watched as Muriel walked over to the door. She opened it with a big smile on her face.

“Hi guys,” she said. Lewis, Pauline, and Clyde all smiled back at her.

“Ready to go?” Lewis asked. Muriel nervously bit her lip.

“There’s a little problem with that,” she replied. Polly raised an eyebrow at her.

“What do you mean?” she asked. Clyde looked inside over Muriel’s shoulder.

“’Ey Liz! ‘Ey Clover!” she shouted as she waved at them. Lewis and Polly looked up puzzled.

“Huh?” they asked. Muriel lowered her head and sighed.

“That was what the problem was about,” she mumbled. Liz and Clover just waved back at Clyde.

Tucker and Annie opened up the Sunny Plum Café for the day. Annie sighed aloud. Her husband pretended not to hear her. His wife sighed aloud again. Tucker rolled his eyes. Annie looked out at the empty tables and chairs and sighed once again. Her husband finally threw the rug.

“What is it now?” he asked.

“We never go out anywhere anymore!” his wife complained.

“Yes we do.”

“No we don’t.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Where?”

“Different places.”

“Like where?”

“The track races.”

Annie frowned at him. “I mean anywhere romantic!”

Tyler paused and looked up. “What?”

“You know, take me out to like a fancy restaurant or something like that.”

“We don’t have the money.”

Annie glared at him. “Well maybe if you weren’t too busy using that money on the crappy horse races!” She threw down the dish rag and stormed back into the kitchen. Tucker blinked at her as she walked away.

“Okay…” he mumbled to himself. “What was that about?” The man went back to cleaning the counter.

Liz and Clover still sat at the kitchen table while the old biddies looked on at them. Lewis blinked at the girls.

“Why are they here Mur?” she asked. Her old friend shrugged.

“They just showed up at my doorstep and said they were bored,” she replied.

“Where’s William?” Pauline asked.

“Class reunion,” Muriel answered.

“Class reunion?!?” her friends asked. Muriel nodded.

“They talked him into it,” she said.

“Oh…” Lewis mumbled. They all turned back to the girls. Liz and Clover stared back at them. The old friends all turned back to each other.

“So whot do we do wit ‘hem?” Clyde asked. She clenched her teeth in pain as Pauline pinched her ankle under the table.

“Learn how to speak properly!” Pauline hissed at her. Clyde shot a cold glare at her.

“Shuddup!” she hissed. Lewis put out her arm to break them up.

“Excuse me,” a soft voice spoke up. The old biddies all looked up. Clover stared on intently at them.

“Do you have any more tea and some good books here?” she asked. Muriel gave her a little smile as she rose to her feet.

“Sure, hang on a moment,” she said. Then, the old lady walked over to her bookshelf to find the latter. Pauline tilted her head at the girls.

“So, how long will your uncle be out, girls?” she asked.

“Until tonight,” Liz and Clover both said together. The old ladies’ faces all dropped.

“You’re kidding me?” Lewis asked. Liz shook her head.

“Nope,” Clover replied. “We had just planned to stay here until he got home.”

“Really? You don’t want to go out anywhere today? Even to grab a bit to eat?” Muriel asked. The girls took a moment to think about that. Liz shook her head at last.

“We hadn’t planned on it,” she replied. “But, we’ll behave and be really quiet if you want us. You won’t even know that we’re here. It’s just so boring in that house without Uncle Bill in it.” Muriel turned around as she dropped her shoulders.

“Fine, you can stay,” she said. Both girls tried not to squeal aloud in victory.

“Thank you,” Clover said ever so politely. Almost a young lady to hit it right on the head. The old ladies forced themselves to smile around the girls. Four old women with two teeny bopper girls until night. And they can’t really go out anywhere if they the girls didn’t really want to go out either? Oh boy…

The Dark Side of the Moon

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