19 – Robbery at 24/7 (2)

Stellaluna beat Yannick to the library. She wandered about the room, looking at the shelves of books. She still couldn’t read a single title. All the books were thick too. There couldn’t possibly be a book anywhere near her reading level.

Yannick arrived, carrying an old rag and a bottle of cleaner. “Found any?”

“Everything is too big.”

“That does not mean you can’t it read.” Yannick set the rag and bottle on the table. “Some big books are easy.”

Stellaluna sat at the table, watching Yannick peruse the shelves. Every so often, he’d pull out a book, flip through the pages, and put it back. He paused at one of them, smiling at the cover. “Why have Barry this?”

“Have what?”

Yannick walked over to her to show her the cover. It had a scruffy man holding a fashionable woman in his arms. “A classic romance book. Can you the title read?”

“Lady Kuh-hh-at… Kuh-h…”

“C and h makes ‘ch,’” Yannick said.

“Right. Lady Ch-at-er….” Stellaluna gritted her teeth. It was such a long, nonsensical word. “I give up.”

“You had it almost. Come on.”

“Chatter...Lll-eh-ees? Chatterley’s?”

“Yes.”

“Really?” Stellaluna could feel herself glowing with pride over that one. “Lady Chatterley’s… Lover?”

“Correct.” Yannick smiled. “See, you can do this.”

Stellaluna shrugged off his words, but inside, her heart raced. “Have you read it?”

“No. It is… not a book I would read. But I heard of it have. It is a romance between a…” Yannick furrowed his brow, as though struggling to think of the right words. He took the book from Stellaluna, and turned it over, skimming the back summary. “An upper-class woman and a gamekeeper.”

Stellaluna’s hand flew to her mouth. An upper dating a lower? “How improper!” Why would Barry have such a book in his collection?

Yannick rubbed the back of his neck. “You think that wrong is?”

“Of course! What if people found out? She’d be ostracized.”

“But they cared not, because they were in love.” He gave her a half-smile that did something strange to her heart. “Romantic, no?”

“Maybe a little.” A blush crept up Stellaluna’s neck at the thought of falling in love with a lower. Pursuing those feelings, despite the scandal it would cause. “Does it have a happy ending?”

Yannick shrugged, and handed her the book. “You have to read it to know.”

Stellaluna opened the book to be greeted by words she couldn’t begin to sound out. “I’ll never be able to read this!”

“I can help.” Yannick gazed at her with his blue eyes. “Maybe I want also to know. How it ends.”

“Alright.” It was better than rereading a children’s book about a cat for the twentieth time.

Footsteps approached the room. Yannick snatched his cleaning supplies, and darted towards the opposite side of the room. Stellaluna rushed through the other doorway, into a sitting room. Her eyes landed on a couch. She shoved the book under the cushion, then laid on it. The footsteps continued into the library, and she heard Barry’s voice. He was probably talking to Yannick, but Stellaluna was too far away to listen in.

Their conversation didn’t last long. In less than a minute, Barry poked his head through the sitting room and spotted Stellaluna. “Darling, there you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Why?”

“To share the good news.” Barry’s eyes lit up as he clasped his hands together. “As of today, I have 999 billion 867 million 666 thousand 420 ameros and 69 cents!”

How did he keep track of so much money? “That’s a lot. What are we going to do with it all?”

“Save it of course. I’m so close to reaching a trillion. Can you imagine? Being trillionaires!”

“Mm-hmm. Maybe then we can afford to give the servants raises.”

Barry let out a burst of laughter. “Ah, that’s a good one. Giving the servants raises...”

“I think they deserve one, they work so hard.” Stellaluna thought about Yannick, and how half his paycheck went towards helping his parents.

“That might be, but they are woefully incompetent. I just caught a servant cleaning the library, which isn’t even dirty. Meanwhile, the restroom across the hall is filthy! He should be cleaning that. I sent him straight there, of course. I swear. One of these days, owning robots will be a sign of high status again. And all these servants will be gone!”

Stellaluna certainly hoped that wouldn’t be the case. As terrible of a boss Barry could be, there weren’t many job opportunities in Jefferson. All of those servants out of work… What would Yannick do? And what would she do without Yannick around, trying to teach her to read? She’d have to go back to roaming the halls in a state of perpetual boredom.

Barry’s watch pinged. He checked it. “Oh! Bennie Joe just dropped a new podcast. I must stop everything I’m doing right now to listen to it.”

“Who?”

“One of those political commentators. He’s going to be talking about the upcoming election. Nothing a lady should concern themselves with.” Barry pulled out his phone, and wandered out of the room.

Stellaluna waited a few minutes before returning to the library, book in hand. Yannick had left. He was most likely following Barry’s order to clean the restroom. Stellaluna decided to leave him to it. She’d rather not get him in anymore trouble than she already had. Instead, she decided to slip off to the cottage, and hide the book there.

~~~~~

Maple had been too stressed out to pay attention in class. She couldn’t stop worrying about what to do with Neil. How to get out of the proposal. But there wasn’t a way. Her brothers had spent a year searching for someone willing to go on a second date with Maple, much less propose. Before, they tried to set her up with men with money, or men they could strike business deals with. But now?

None of it mattered to her brothers anymore. As long as a man they liked offered them money, they’d hand her over to him.

“It won’t be that bad,” Kyra said to her after school, as they walked their usual path home. “Being married is great. And maybe you’ll have a child soon, and our kids can grow up together.” She clasped her hands, beaming.

Maple remembered her conversation with Jake, months ago. About how exactly people got pregnant. She had completely forgotten about that part of marriage. Bile rose in her throat. “Oh God!”

“What?”

As if being hit often wasn’t bad enough. He’d probably demand… that. Tears filled her eyes. She couldn’t. She wouldn’t!

“What’s wrong?” Kyra asked, concerned.

Kyra wouldn’t understand, the way she was with her marriage, and her unborn child. She’d probably make some sanctimonious comment about womanly duties, or how it was worth it. She’d text Jake her fears on her secret phone later. He’d understand. She had already texted him the news the previous night, and he was disgusted. Completely on her side. “Never mind. Forget it.”

“Okay.” Kyra gave Maple’s hand a squeeze. “It’s normal to be nervous. But once you’ve settled into life with him, it’ll be wonderful. You’ll see.”

Maple arrived home, and headed straight for her room. She intended to grab her secret phone out of hiding, and text Jake. But her brothers intercepted her in the family room.

“Good, you’re home,” Walker said.

“What are you doing here?” Maple usually had the house to herself after school, while her brothers worked at their office building.

“We came home,” Carter said. “There’s… terrible news.”

“Okay?”

“It’s Neil,” Walker said. “He’s in the hospital.”

Maple’s heart soared. Was it serious? Her brothers looked worried. Really worried. It had to be serious. Was he going to die? It was terrible, to wish death on someone. But it would solve her problem. She kept her face expressionless. “What happened?”

“He was on duty,” Carter said, rubbing his eye. “There was a robbery at the 24/7 Mart. Neil and I think Baum? They responded, and the robber shot Neil in the head.”

Maple’s hand flew to her mouth. Part shock, part to hide her wide grin. As far as she knew, not many people survived getting shot in the head. “That’s awful.”

“The robber got away,” Walker said. “Half his face was concealed, but his description matches that Luke Lindberg guy.”

“Really?” Maple had never met Luke, but she knew of his tragic past, and thought his decisions were incredibly stupid. Or, she used to. Now that she had developed those sorts of feelings for someone, she found herself fantasizing about Jake defying her brothers’ wishes, and dating her in secret.

“Yeah, and is it really so surprising?” Carter folded his arms. “Now that he has custody of his kid, he probably can’t afford anything anymore. So he has to rob places at gun point.”

That was rather presumptuous. But if that was the case, Maple would have to thank Luke.

“Anyways, put your backpack away. We’re leaving now.”