VAQS: Is it Just Me.....? (1/1)
By: Teri DeLong
Place: Vachon's Church
Day/time: Tuesday, Nov 9, evening,
follows Knighties: How Sugar Highs Turned Into High Fives (3/3)
concurrent with VAQS: Dude, Where's My Bike?

Teri watched Brooksie climb into Nick's car and her brows pulled down
in a puzzled frown as the car pulled away. She thought she heard
another motor purr to life somewhere out there in the darkness, but
only for a brief moment so she wondered if she'd imagined it. She
glanced back at the big chestnut in his pen, who was already walking
normally with all four feet on the ground. She turned away and slowly
walked back into the church. Once inside, she closed the door against
the bitter November wind. The vestibule was empty, since the inner
sanctuary was warmer. She moved on through that room and into the
larger one, closed that door as well and leaned against it. She
chewed the inside of her lip pensively and said nothing for so long,
the other four Vaqs in the room finally looked up.

"Is it just me, or did that seem totally weird to you?" she asked.

Cloud gave her a lopsided smile. "You're misquoting again, " she
said, turning her attention back to what she'd been doing.

"Yeah, the exact wording from 'Trophy Girl' didn't seem to fit as
well," Teri said with a shrug. She pushed heself away from the door
and started to pace slowly down the aisle between the pews.

"You oughta try to watch that, though," Cloud admonished with mock
concern. "People might think you haven't watched the show enough."

"'Sorry, it gets away from me sometimes.'" The VaqSecond continued
pacing across the front of the sanctuary. "'So......what's the
deal?'" she asked, sounding like she was talking to herself. Cloud
frowned at her, really trying to figure out what she was fretting
about.

"So are you gonna tell us what's eating you, or are you gonna make us
guess?"

"'Do you want me to draw you a picture?'" Teri continued to pace. "I
wish Vachon was here! Maybe he could tell us what was up with Nick.
And then why he got all mysterious and bugged outa here like he did."

"'So, what is this now? Every time you run across something really
weird, you run to your supernatural chum, Vachon, for the inside
dope?'" Cloud tossed that quote at her without even looking up.

Janice rolled her eyes and looked over at Angel who was happily
playing on Marilyn's laptop(with Marilyn's permission, of course!).
Angel seemed oblivious to the 3rd season quote-fest going on around
her. It wasn't often she got to play online without interruptions
from husband and kids!

"Somebody make them stop!" Janice groaned.

"'I think I should stay out of this'," said Angel, sounding slightly
distracted. Angel's fingers didn't slow down at all in their typing.

"If *any* of you say 'Cars are sexier with fins' I'm going to throw
something at you!"

Lynne set her needlework aside and stood up, stretching muscles that
were getting stiff from sitting on hard pews for too long. Even with
cushions, pews weren't designed to be comfy; too many church-goers
would be snoozing.

"So what *is* bothering you?" she asked. "Is it all that weird that
Nick came to talk to Vachon about something? He probably wanted to
pick Javs' brain about the Treaty and the stupid rock we're supposed
to be looking for."

Teri stopped and leaned on the rickety pulpit. "No, it's not Nick
that's bugging me. It's more of Brooksie."

"Why? Brooksie *is* the faction leader for the Knighties this War. It
stands to reason she'd be with him. Especially if they were here on
War business."

"Yeah, but that's just it," Teri said. "They could have just asked
us. It's not like it's all a big secret or something. And....I
dunno.... Brooksie just seemed.....I dunno......weird. She kept
steering our conversation away from Nick and Vachon, she hustled me
around the building when we were outside, and she seemed like she
kept looking for something....like she was only half listening to our
conversation. Then all of a sudden she just bailed, like 'Oh! Gotta
go!'"

"So, you're thinking it was a diversion, chica?" asked Cloud.

"That's what I'm thinking." Teri realized she kinda liked the feeling
of power she got standing behind the podium, looking out over the
room at her faithful followers.....er....friends. "I wish Vachon was
here."

"And Naia's been gone an awful long time too," Janice said, gesturing
with the plushy she had in her hand. Naia was good at making these
cute little critters, and Janice had been playing with this one for
quite a while. "She left shortly after you did."

"Yeah, but I didn't stay. I came back as soon as I saw they didn't
need my truck to bring home the groceries. For that matter, the whole
shopping party should have been back hours ago. It's dark out there!"

"They'll be alright," said Cloud. "The bikes have headlights."

"Yeah, but they *don't* have heaters, and it's really cold out
there." Teri left the pulpit and resumed pacing. "I still can't get
past the feeling that Brooksie was here for a reason. Other than to
chat about our horses."

"You think it might have been a raid of some sort? Should we go look
for something missing, or something that's out of place or doesn't
look like it belongs? Tab hasn't had a chance to set up any of the
VaqTraps yet. None of our usual security systems are in place."

"It might be a good idea."

Before any of them had a chance to move, the roar of several Triumphs
returning let them know that at least one worry was over. The
VaqMadre and her shopping posse had come back.

But when the Vaqueras had mobbed inside out of the cold,(if 5 people
can actually be considered a mob) it was obvious that something had
truly gone awry.

"Where's Tricia and Naia?" asked Teri. Being VaqSecond for this war
had really sharpened her perceptions. She noticed things like missing
people real quick.

The VaqMadre took a deep breath, as if getting ready to say something
of grave importance, pausing for added effect. She didn't get a
chance to.

"Tricia's bike was STOLEN!" blurted out Marilyn, not noticing the
*look* the VaqMadre gave her for stealing her thunder.

"Stolen????" Even Angel's head came up away from the computer as all
eyes riveted on the returning shoppers.

"Yes," Sarah the VM nodded. "While we were picking up the supplies.
None of the other bikes were touched, just hers. We've spent the last
couple hours at the police station, filling out reports." She looked
around the room. "They aren't back yet?" Everyone shook their heads
in response. She sighed a worried VaqMadre sigh. "I was afraid of
that. They went off searching for the bike."

Sarah M came back in from lugging the last of the groceries into the
kitchen. "I wanted to go too," she said, "but Tricia said we needed
to bring the groceries home. Some of this stuff needed
refridgerated."

Marilyn snorted. "In November, Toronto *is* a refridgerator! The
perishables are fine." The VaqMadre looked over her shoulder. "Did
Tab go back outside?"

Melissa nodded. "She wanted to get the new VaqSecurity systems on the
rest of the bikes as quickly as possible. And then she says she'll
need our help getting all the VaqTraps set up around the church too."

Teri looked as if she might break out into pacing again at any
moment.

"Hopefully, it's not too late," she said quietly.

========

http://Javs.4all.cc

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