Free The Trouble Way by James Seloover Page B

to nothing.
    “ Yessiree, this will do just fine,” she said and walked straight to Ann’s large bedroom.
    Standing at the foot of Ann ’s bed, she scanned the room. To her right was a dresser with a large mirror and a straight back chair in front where a person could sit. A table lamp was on each side, like one would see in movies where the actresses would apply their make-up. Three drawers were on each side. To her left was a closet. When she turned further to her left, there was another dresser, taller than the first with five drawers. On a nightstand was a lamp with a pink lampshade with frills hanging from the edges, a phone, a Big Ben clock, and, next to an ashtray, an open pack of Marlboros. Absentmindedly, she picked up the flip-top box, took a cigarette out, lit it, tossed the box down, and lobbed the match into the ashtray. She looked back at the box, bent, and picked it up and took two more cigarettes and put them in the pocket of her blouse.
    She meandered around the bedroom looking at photos on the dressers and glanced out the window at the tall pine trees while taking several drags on the cigarette. She stopped in one corner and surveyed the room. She wagged a finger at each dresser, finally settling again on the nightstand. “Well, let’s see what secrets we are keeping.” She bent and slid the top drawer open. It was stuffed with handkerchiefs, lipstick, Kleenex, folded hand towels, and when she lifted a pink handkerchief, she discovered a half-empty container of birth control pills. “Annie, Annie, Annie.” She closed the top drawer and pulled open the second. She picked up the object neatly rolled in a light blue washcloth. “Oh Mama.” She examined it, caressed the smooth shiny business end, turned it bottom up, flicked the switch, and felt its buzz before flicking the switch off and tossing it onto the bed. Nestled in a corner, beneath another hand towel was a two-finger lid of pot, two packs of Zig-Zags, and a beautifully beaded roach clip. “Naughty, naughty, naughty, naughty.” She took the baggie with the newfound treasure and put it on the nightstand.
    Going around the room, she methodically examined the contents in each dresser drawer. Satisfied she knew the location of everything she might need, especially the cosmetic items, she closed each drawer and went to the closet. Since Ann was not her size, Candy did not see the need to secrete anything from the closet but when she moved some sweaters on the top shelf, she saw a large plastic peanut container where Ann apparently stashed her tips or spare change. The bills were all awry. She quickly counted over two hundred bucks, pulled out a couple of the ones and fives and stuffed them in the ass pocket of her jeans, and tossed them back, giving them a good mix, confident the bills would not be missed. “Always good to know the location of the vault.”
    Satisfied she learned everything she could glean from Ann ’s bedroom, she meandered back to the bed, sat and reached for the pot. She rolled a joint and carefully put the contents back into the drawer exactly as she had found them and went back into the living room. On the backside of the room was a sliding glass door leading to a small deck. Pulling a chair close to the door, she kicked her shoes off, sat, and lit the joint and blew the smoke into the rain threatening Seattle evening.
    After a few tokes, she carefully doused the burning end on the metal door railing, twisted the paper on both ends, and put it carefully in her pocket, and replaced the chair.
    She fingered through Ann’s music and picked a Beatles album and slid the record from the sleeve and set it playing and danced back to the bedroom.
    Candy stood beside the bed and undid the button and zipper of her jeans and wiggled them over ass and kicked them off. Next came her panties. She sat on the cool comforter and picked up the object she threw there earlier. She examined it, got up and went to the bathroom where she gave it