The Fredricks Fancy Vase Retrieval Scheme rough draft

The Fredricks Fancy Vase Retrieval Scheme

“You are crazy Sarah. I can’t let you go through with this.” Carien stood in front of the door, her blue eyes narrowed at me. “You can’t just walk down there and throw your life away like this.”

“I am not throwing my life away Carien.”

She put her hands on my shoulders. “Yes you are.  Fredricks Fancy tried to abduct you twice because you can change in size. My vase isn’t worth it.” She threw her hands up. “They can keep that damn thing for all I care.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “When your brother had stolen it all you could think about was getting back.”

She pointed her finger at me. “Hey, Maxwell is different. I can handle my brother ok.”

I sighed. “And I need to make up for letting your brother steal that vase. It was your grandmothers.” I shook my head, scratching at my long dark hair. “It is my fault you lost it and I will be the one to get it back, not matter what. Now can you get out of my way?”

“Sarah. Let me go with you.”

I pushed past her. “I can’t put you in danger. They want me for my ability to change in size and shape. If they knew you could do the same thing then that would put your life in danger as well. I won’t let that happen.”

“Hey, you don’t get to make that choice Sarah. If I want to protect you from these fools I will. It will be easy. I will have a Fredricks Fancy drink, grow and—“

I put my hand to her lips. “No. I made my decision and I am doing this on my own. You can’t be put in danger for my screw ups.” I shut the oak door in her face.

I could hear Carien’s muffled screams from the other side of the door. “You can’t tell me what to do Sarah.” I walked away as I reached into my purse for my car keys.

“I am sorry. I wish there was another way Carien.” I opened the door of my Rotor Salvation and sat in the front seat. “Ok. Time to get this over with. I am supposed to meet that Jerk Callen at Jefferson Ave in twenty minutes.” I reached into the glove box and pulled out a Fredricks Fancy chocolate bar. “And I have this for insurance. I am sure Callen will use this opportunity to try and bring me in again.” I sighed. “I just wish I knew why Callen and the Fredricks Fancy company wanted me so bad.”

The back door of my car flung open as Carien jumped in. “You aren’t going anywhere without me.”

I turned around and narrowed my eyes at her as she adjusted her black jacket. “I told you—“

“Look, if you don’t want to waste time and miss that one opportunity that Callen gave you, you are just going to have to deal with me.”

Carien took the Fredricks Fancy bar out of my hands. “Hey.”

“And if you want help dealing with Callen when he double crosses you, either deal with me or I guess—“

I started the vehicle. “Fine.” I sighed “But you help as a last resort.” I adjusted the air conditioner and my rear view mirror. “I just don’t want you to be in the same position I am with these people.”

Carien slid into the seat next to me and put her hand on my blue jeans. “Hey, everything will be alright. You don’t have to do this alone.” She gave me a slight smile.

I drove out of the driveway and onto the street; the sun shining into my eyes through the pine trees. It was the end of June and there was a heatwave passing through. Carien tried to lower her window but I instantly raised it back up. “Hey, don’t let that nice cool air out. I have the air conditioner on for a reason.”

“Well it is a crappy one. I am still hot.” She crossed her arms. “Didn’t you just get this thing?”

“Yes. Took me forever to get a new car after I umm.” I tapped my fingers on the driving wheel. “Outgrew the last one.”

Carien laughed. “What do you mean outgrew?  Did it break down or something?”

I shook my head. “No. I mean I literally out grew it. It was the first time I had to deal with my body growing.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I grew inside my car until my body broke my car apart. You would think after that I would know to get out of buildings when I feel like I am going to grow.” I shook my head.

“Well at least you haven’t destroyed my house yet.” Carien sighed. “Still this isn’t the best vehicle. I think I can smell gas. Why did you buy it?”

“I was having shrinking issues at the dealership. I was lucky to get through the test drive before I became too tiny to reach the petals. As it was I looked like a kid at the time.”

Carien laughed. “That would have been funny to see.”

I came to a stop at the first intersection with a light. We were now at the edge of town, the corner gas station where I had met Fredrick for the first time in sight. “Tess didn’t think so. She was terrified the entire time and cut the test drive short.”

Carien laughed. “Well if you change size while driving I will jump out of this car.”

I turned my head. “What?”

Carien put her hands on mine. “Keep your eyes on the road.” I turned my attention back just as the light turned green. “I just mean that I don’t want to take any chances with my girlfriend becoming so big she fills up the car or so small that she would be considered my kid and I would get a ticket for it. Or worse.”

“I get it. I get it.” We drove in silence for a few minutes. The pine trees gave way to outlet stores. Jefferson Ave was on the other side of town, and it was rush hour. Pinewood was a small town but still at this time of day, the streets were filled to the brim with people trying to get home for the day. I knew which roads to take to avoid being stuck in traffic backups and construction zones. Normally I would love to make Callen wait in this searing heat but I didn’t want him to run off with Carien’s vase. I could torture him some other time.

“So.” Carien tapped her hands on the side of the window. “How are we doing to do this?”

“Hmm?”

“I mean we need to have some plan right? You aren’t just going to walk in there to get the vase are you?”

I sighed. “That was my plan.”

Carien snorted. “Well new plan then as I am not letting you do something so foolish.”

“They want me to come alone.” I shook my head. “Callen will bolt if he sees you.”

“Then he won’t until it’s too late.”

“What do you mean?”

She put her hands behind her head. “I mean I will hide out in this crappy car and eat the Fredricks Fancy chocolate I took from you. Hope that it makes me grow and then get that vase and you out of there.”

“You should be ready. They had steel cables strong enough to hold me down when I was giant before.”

Carien shrugged. “So what? They won’t expect me and even so they can’t keep me down.”

I sighed. “I hope so. I am just worried that this whole thing will make us both have to run from these jerks.”

She nudged my shoulder. “Hey, this will work out. Stop worrying.”

I gave her a weak smile. “Ok.”

I turned onto Jefferson Ave. “Carien, you should duck down in the back seat.”

“You have got to be kidding me. The car is moving.”

I could see a few Fredricks Fancy employees at the end of the road. “Get down now Carien.”

She unbuckled and maneuvered to the back seat. “Fine. But you owe me for this.” Carien ducked down out of view.

I drove into a vacant parking lot and then took a deep breath. “Ok. You can do this.” I opened the door and stepped out into the hot humid air.

“Sarah. It has been too long.” He extended out his hand to shake mine. “So happy to see you once again.”

I reluctantly shook his slimy hand. “Yes. It has been.”

He blinked his green eyes. “So. What have you been up to these days?”

“Just give me the vase and I can be on my way.”

He threw his arm around my shoulder. “Hey. You will get that vase after we talk. Now let’s go inside so we can do that. Ok?”

I looked around. I only saw three other people in the area, one of them a jogger. So far I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. “Ok.”

Callen snapped his fingers and the two employees that I had seen standing around walked up. I twisted around. “Hey what is going on?”

“We just need to pat you down. Make sure you don’t have any Fredricks Fancy products on you.” Rough hands went up and down my body. “It isn’t that we don’t trust you and all. Oh wait that is the reason.”

I sighed. “I didn’t bring any of your dammed products. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“She is clean.” Said the rather plump man to the right with the beard.

Callen clasped his hands together. “Good. Then let’s go inside and talk shall we?” I followed him inside a motel. It appeared the place was closed for the week; how Callen and Fredricks Fancy had been able to get in was beyond me. The interior had ragged and torn brown carpet and a single celling fan. I pulled at the collar of my blue and white stripped shirt. “Did you have to pick a place with such lousy air conditioning in the middle of summer?”