Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Wednesday Briefs: Bad Karma and the Family Plan #30 (6.5)

Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.

Someone has slashed the tires of Vinnie and Ethan's car! And Vinnie swears he saw Caroline St. Clair in the crowd at the rest area. Could he be right, or is he just a little paranoid? See what's happening in this week's chapter of Bad Karma and the Family Plan. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!

Bad Karma and the Family Plan #30 (6.5)

If I’d been wearing a dress, I’d have followed Sarah inside without a second thought. Okay, maybe it wouldn’t have been that easy, even dressed as a woman. But not dressed as one, I had no option but to wait outside, along with Ethan and Benny and Alex, and hope Sarah didn’t run into any trouble inside. I’m sure Ethan felt the same way, the way he fidgeted, rocking Alex back and forth, his eyes glued to the ladies’ room door. A few minutes that felt like an eternity later Sarah returned, and she was not empty handed.

“I found these inside one of the stalls,” she said, handing the items to Ethan. I recognized them immediately as the coat and scarf I’d seen on that woman earlier. Did that also mean I was correct as to whose clothes they were?

“No one else was in there,” Sarah said. “Only those.”

Damn. What did that even mean? I cast a worried glance at Ethan, whose attention was fixed on the clothes and then on me. “It must be a coincidence, Vin,” he tried to reassure me. “I mean, Caroline’s still locked up, you know that. And if by any chance they would be willing to let her out of the asylum, Troy would let us know, I have no doubt.”

I had no doubt either, but how to explain the clothes being left behind? As if the wearer were afraid she’d been recognized? Or was there something more sinister at work here? What if Chip, aka the Florida Mangler, somehow managed to escape custody and was now stalking us? Maybe I had talked about the insufferable actress after he’d kidnapped me and drugged me and… was I becoming increasingly more paranoid or what? Chip being on the loose would have definitely triggered an alert of the highest magnitude, and Anderson would have called us straightaway.

Of course, that still left us with four slashed tires. Luckily, our employer had us covered. We took seats on a couple of benches in the lobby of the rest area while Ethan called the insurance company and arranged for a tow to the nearest tire store. It was obvious that we couldn’t go with the tow truck driver, there were just too many of us, but Ethan had a solution for that too. Turns out Atkins had actual Uber drivers. We found one with a mini-van who was willing to pick us up. Sarah had the forethought to grab the car seat for Alex, luckily. Ethan asked the driver if she’d mind waiting while we got the car squared away. The man behind the counter said it would be ready in about three hours. What to do in the meantime?

We headed back to the Uber, unsure of our next move.

“Ma’am, we have some time to kill, what would you recommend?” Ethan asked.

The young woman cocked her head thoughtfully. “I like to go to the Settlers Museum when I have the time,” she confided.

The adults exchanged glances at the information. “Sounds good to me,” I volunteered.

“I like museums,” Sarah said. “Obviously. I worked in one.”

“It’s been a long time, I’d like to go,” Benny admitted.

“I think that settles it,” Ethan said as we piled into the mini-van once more. Off to the Settlers Museum of Southwest Virginia!

 to be continued

Now see what's up with the other Briefers!

Cia Nordwell


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