Chapter Seventeen: H2O Planet

Being Depressing
After the filming of Crumpets Go to School was completed, and a wrap-up party had been held at Thornbury, the ZBC crews packed up and headed out to do other work, while Jisook returned to the studio to work on the final edits and get the show ready for broadcast — all of which made the campus seem a bit empty. Despite having plenty of work to do, the girls struggled with having a few newfound hours of free time. 

One evening the Crumpets were sitting around the dining room table doing absolutely nothing when Bess and Enid came in fresh from dinner and a movie. 

Upon seeing the girls, Bess chimed out, "There are our lovely beagles!" 

In unison the Crumpets all flatly replied, "Hi, Bess. Hi, Enid." 

EinBe did a double take and Enid said, "Oh dear, our girls seem to be coming down with the flu or something." 

Tabitha felt duty-bound to speak for the group, so she took a deep labored breath and said, "No, we are just bored." 

To which Yulia added, "And we miss Sookie." 

Bess shook her head, and with a look of derision, said, "For heaven’s sake ladies, ZBC left on Saturday and today is Monday!" 

Hearing this Tinsley threw up her arms and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, Bess, you are being so depressing! Of course we know how long it has been since our lives last had meaning or purpose!" 

A look of shock crossed Bess’s face which quickly gave way to an eyeroll, as she patted Tinsley on her head and said, "There, there, Buttercup. Do I need to inform Yena that you have suddenly become so burdened by life that you now need 24/7 hand-holding, and can't even sneeze without direction?" 

Tinsley's eyes got big and she sputtered, "Meee-ow, Sergeant Apone! We were just feeling sorry for ourselves and being dramatic." 

Bess grinned. "Exactly!" 

Tinsley narrowed her eyes and said, "Bess, you are an excellent manager." 

To which Bess replied, "I know."

Ingspray Eakbray
After TinBe's exchange of pleasantries, Enid, thinking it a good segue to a topic that actually needed to be discussed, leaned into Bess and asked, "Does the excellent manager agree that now would be a good time to talk about ingspray eakbray?" 

Before Bess could respond, Sarah interjected, "Enid, really, we know Pig Latin. You should have said it in Swahili; we all suck at Swahili." 

Enid took a deep breath and said, "Fine. Uvunjaji wa spring." 

Sarah cocked an eyebrow and said, "So the Swahili word for ‘spring’ is ‘spring’?" 

"Yes," Enid replied. 

Sarah pondered this for a moment and said, "I guess that since Swahili is spoken mostly in tropical countries, there wouldn't necessarily be an indigenous word for ‘spring.’ Maybe Pig Latin was the best choice." 

Enid cleared her throat and tried to get the conversation back on track, saying, "So, from what we can tell, none of you have made plans for the upcoming spring break." 

The girls started to say that they hadn't, but Sarah interrupted again, "What about Somali, what is ‘spring break’ in Somali?" 

Enid answered, "Fasax guga." 

"Oh, now that could have worked; we also all suck at Somali," Sarah responded with an exasperating evil maknae smile. 

Enid took a deep breath and her right eye started twitching a little. "So, what I was alluding to is that, if you girls aren't planning on taking normal vacations, perhaps we could do the H2O Planet trip?'' 

The Crumpets perked up a fair bit at the suggestion, but totally lost it when Enid pointed out that since Dean Eobseo had wanted the trip to also be a show, Jisook had already put them on her calendar, should it work out for ZBC to be the producer. 

Yulia squealed, "Heol! This is going to be just like when AOA did One Fine Day in Hainan!" 

With that, the Crumpets erupted into a boiling pot of overanimated enthusiasm. 

Carefully slipping out of the mayhem, EinBe made for the stairs. Once they were out of sight Enid commented, "Maybe I should have saved that for the morning." 

Bess shook her head and snarkely replied, "Ya think?!"

Swimsuits
In the morning, Enid and Bess both came downstairs at the same time and encountered the Crumpets, who were huddled in the kitchen having what seemed to be a rather serious discussion. 

EinBe greeted them cheerfully, saying, "Good morning, ladies!" 

The girls looked up and rather flatly replied, "Good morning, EinBe." 

Bess stopped, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Good grief, now what's wrong?!" 

The Crumpets all gave her big eyes and Yulia answered, "We just realised that we will be filming at H2O Planet, and as such, we will be wearing swimsuits!" 

Bess, expressionless, muttered, "Uh-huh." 

Yulia sputtered a bit and said, "But we are pale. Really, really pale. We have winter fat. And Tabitha's birthday is right then and she will be old." 

Tabitha's eyes got even bigger and she sputter-huffed in Yulia’s direction. 

Yulia looked back over her shoulder and said, "Sorry, Tabby, you don't look old. Yet." 

Enid rolled her eyes and stepped past Bess. "Okay, firstly, none of you have fat, you all eat like horses, but you have no fat, so I don't want to hear anything more about fat; you can complain about that issue when you are my age. Secondly, Tabitha isn't old. Thirdly, AOA was rather pale when they filmed One Fine Day, so just be like Choa and wear a big floppy hat and lots of sunscreen. Fourthly, like AOA you can wear rash guards and swim shorts over your bathing suits, which by the way, are being provided by Shadow Castle Emporium, and they match your skull-and-crossbone sneakers." 

The Crumpets all cooed in response to Enid's K-knowledge, as well as for the style of beachwear they were to be given — all except for Tinsley, who raised her hand and asked, "Can I wear a red bikini like Sunny's in the "Party" video?" 

Enid replied, “No.” 

Turbo Taco
After a week of preparation, the day came for the Crumpets to head to Bay City where H2O Planet was located. Despite being excited, the girls were bummed because Jisook wouldn’t be riding with them. Instead, she had to head down the day before to get things ready. Making matters worse, because their arrival would be filmed, the Barge was left at the LGC and Crumpets had to ride down in one of the school’s formal, black limo busses. To ease some of their suffering, EinBe requested that Skeeter stop at the Crumpets’ favorite Bay City eatery, Turbo Taco, for lunch.

Once their unexciting bus was parked, the girls clamored to get off and race into the giant taco-shaped restaurant for some of the most lethal tacos available within a five-hundred kilometer radius of Zeitgeist. 

On their way off of the bus, Analey grabbed Skeeter and said, "Come on, you can't get out of this one." 

Skeeter's eyes widened as he protested, "Oh, I can eat anything that spicy!" 

"Don't worry," Analey replied in a reassuring voice, "They also have a wimpy menu." 

Despite Analey's reassurance, Skeeter knew that one person's wimpy is another's gastric inferno, so he eyed her skeptically as he followed her into the restaurant.

After ordering, the group pulled a couple of tables together, sat down, and waited excitedly (or nervously, depending on the person) for their meals to arrive. While they waited, the girls argued about which tacos and what sauce Jisook would get. 

They attempted to settle their dispute by texting her, "Hey SookMon, what are your Turbo Taco preferences?" 

Unfortunately her reply was, "I don't know. What is Turbo Taco?" 

Naturally this resulted in them insisting that on the return trip, Jisook HAD to ride with them and that they HAD to stop for a second round of tacos. 

Skeeter overheard this and, looking a bit pale, said, "I think I may need to look at retiring soon."

To which Analey smiled brightly and replied, "Oh no, you pinky-swore to be our driver until you can no longer get your driver's license renewed. Besides, EinBe always have antacids handy; they are old too, you know."

Hot Sauce Surprise
When their food arrived, the girls dove in with reckless abandon, EinBe were quite a bit more civilised, and Skeeter was just scared. 

After inhaling her first taco, Tabitha began saucing-up her second one. Just as she was readying to open sauce packet number two, Sarah suddenly shrieked, "Tabby, stop!" 

Tabitha cocked an eyebrow and responded, "What? I always use two packets of Run Devil Run and I am still alive." 

Sarah waved her arms, "No, no, I don't care about that! Look at your packet!" 

Tabitha looked down and shrugged, "It looks like RDR to me." 

Sarah took a deep breath, "It is RDR, but there is no silly saying." 

Looking again Tabitha realised that the area where there was usually a sappy hot sauce joke was just an empty, white field. Tabitha gasped, "Heol, it's a misprint!" 

The Crumpets all stopped eating and started clamoring to see the unexpected packet for themselves. By their reactions you would have thought that Tabitha had just found a winning Z-Lotto ticket worth millions.

While the Crumpets were expressing their amazement over the misprinted packet, Skeeter, who was actually enjoying his tacos, took a sip of bubble tea and asked, "So, do you win a prize for finding a blank packet or something?" 

Kari looked over and answered, "No, this is much bigger than that. You see, long ago I received a misprinted SNSD fan card and the very next day I was accepted into Looking-Glass." 

Tinsley scooted her chair closer to Skeeter and said, "It's true. Kari does have a misprinted SNSD fan card. It says 'Girls’ Genernation'. It’s like a four-leaf clover. Every misprint we have had since has brought us good luck, but we haven't found any since our debut." 

While TinKa were explaining their misprint superstitions to Skeeter, the other members passed the hot sauce packet around, looking at it as if it were a precious jewel. Cradling it in her hands, Yulia said, "We must put this in the trophy case to mark the spot where we will put our first win trophy." 

While the girls went on about how the sauce packet was a sure sign that they were on their way to their first win, EinBe completely ignored the situation and enjoyed their meals. 

When Yulia passed the sacred hot sauce packet to Bess, she gave it a cursory glance and said, "That's lovely dear." 

Insert record needle scratch sound here. 

Feeling a sudden chill, Bess’s first instinct was to try to backpedal and feign more interest, but she couldn't think of a way out of her predicament. Finally, she decided to just go with the truth, saying, "I'm sorry, while this is an amusing curiosity, it is not some magical talisman that will carry you to success. Talent and hard work will get you much further than a packet of hot sauce." 

The Crumpets all stared blankly at her. After a moment Tinsley broke the silence saying, "Oh manager-nim, of course we know that we must work hard and that normal hot sauce packets have no actual power, but this Run Devil Run. AND it is a misprint!" 

OMG
While Tinsley patiently explained to Bess the mystical properties of the hot sauce packet, Enid discreetly searched the net on her phone to see if SNSD and Run Devil Run had a connection, which of course they did. Enid gave Bess a nod to indicate that this was indeed connected to Girls’ Generation. Even though Bess still didn't understand the specifics of what Tinsley was on about, she did now know that this was a Soshi-related freak-out, and as such, she gave Tinsley's rant the consideration it deserved. 

Finally, Tinsley finished with, "So, as you can see, this is not just a hot sauce packet. It is the Holy Grail of sauce packets." 

Her point made, Tinsley and the other members all stared at Bess like so many hopeful little kids looking through the window of a toy store. 

Bess pondered Tinsley’s words for a moment and then suddenly exclaimed, “Heol! This is amazing! What are the odds that you, of all people, would get an RDR misprint packet!” 

Correctly sensing Bess's sincerity, the Crumpets and Enid joined her in an over-animated and boisterous fit of excitement. Despite being surrounded by uncivilised mayhem, Skeeter calmly carried on enjoying his new favorite food. 

Now, you may be wondering about the impact that the Crumpets’ chaos had on Turbo Taco’s business. Well, fear not. For one thing, an unidentified and rather distinguished gentleman paid for the lunches of everyone in the restaurant, as well as for those waiting in line outside. Also, despite the epic nature of the moment, it didn't take long at all for the Crumpets to remember that they were in a public place and they quickly found their manners, making the anonymous buyoff an unnecessary and cryptic gesture that the girls knew nothing about. Now, if you are thinking that the mysterious benefactor was Dean Eobseo, it wasn't; he was with Jimmy at the Zeitgeist Information Technology Trade Show (or ZITTS) at that time.

Blue Carpet Arrival
Having stuffed themselves with Turbo Taco tacos — with their precious packet of hot sauce in hand — they all head out for H20 Planet. 

Upon their arrival the Crumpets were greeted by a ZBC crew who filmed them getting off of the bus and walking to the interview area on a blue carpet  (Jisook thought it would be a fun touch, since they had an orange carpet for Halloween and a red one at the ZMA.) Sporting black sundresses, the girls strode by the cameras, waving and smiling as they went. 

The chic procession was suddenly interrupted when Yulia unexpectedly bolted from the line and sprinted across the parking lot, chasing after a plastic bag that blew her. After an epic and comical struggle, she finally managed to subdue the rogue bag and brought it back for proper processing. Despite being winded, after handing off the bag to Enid, Yulia returned to the line and acted as if nothing had happened, and aside from a nod of approval from Tabitha, the Crumpets went on, virtually unfazed.

The ZBC crew, now accustomed to the Crumpets frequently swerving off of the path, took Lia's adlib in stride and filmed away. When the girls were lined up for a proper group photo the paparazzi carefully timed their shots between Yulia's gasps for air so things looked reasonably normal.

Once their pictures had been taken Jisook came out of a door at the end of the blue carpet to greet them — she was not only the show's producer, she was also the host.

Upon seeing Sookie the girls enthusiastically mobbed her with greetings and started talking all at once. Despite the barrage Jisook remained calm and seemed to be understanding most of what they were saying. 

Even though this was her first time being an MC/interviewer/host, Sookie skillfully herded the girls into a makeshift studio and, once the Crumpets were seated on their appropriate stools, Jisook seated herself in the middle of the now slightly calmer beagles and began the show.

"Hello and welcome to the GC Spring Break Special. How are you ladies today?" Jisook asked them. 

In a tone completely different from just seconds earlier Tabitha said, "Thank you Jisook, we are quite well and delighted to be here." 

Which they followed up with their personal introduction greetings.

Things went smoothly enough until they got to Tinsley, who was the last to go.  

"Hi, I'm Tinsley, face of the group and visual director. I smell popcorn and cherry slushie. Is this studio actually one of the snack shops?" she said as if it were a perfectly normal thing to say in an interview greeting. 

EinBe and the Crumpets all rolled their eyes. 

Sookie took Tinsley's odd question in stride and replied, "Hi Tinsley, yes, our makeshift studio is in fact one of the snack shops — which brings up a good point; because Looking Glass is on a quarter system your spring break doesn't line up with most of the other schools in ZeitBay. Since it is still a bit early in the season H2O Planets' outdoor rides aren't yet open to the public and are currently only running to get them ready for the season opening at the end of the week. As such, you will have most of the outdoor areas of the park to yourselves."

Tinsley shot Jisook a heart sign whilst saying, "Way to go SookMon, getting us exclusive use of a water park and such!"

Birthday Harassment
With the introductions out of the way Jisook went on to announce that Crumpets go to School, which aired over the weekend, was number one on the Zeitgeist ratings. Surprisingly, not only was it aired nationally, it also made it onto the national ratings at number three. Hearing this news the girls all cooed excitedly. 

Tabitha exclaimed, "Wow Jisook you have really put us on the map, and all without having to include any uber embarrassing material." 

Sookie looked a bit awkward and replied, "Uh, actually the bit that I am sure you are referring to (that of course being the burp incident) is in there. Due to time limits we had to edit it out of the over-the-air broadcast but, it is in the on-line video that was posted at midnight." 

Tabitha blushed a bit but, before she could respond, Sarah chimed in, "It's okay Tabby, everyone knows that old people have limited control over their bodily functions." 

Tabitha ignored this.

Seeing that Tabitha had either missed Sarah's assault, or that she wasn't going to acknowledge it, Jisook decided to move on.

"Okay, so for the parts of the show that involve rides, we will be dividing you into two teams that will be reshuffled before each new ride. The "Rich" team will go on the best rides while the "Poor" team will be stuck going on the Minnow Zone kiddie rides," Sookie explained while her crew rolled in a table with a game on it that would be used to determine who was on what team.

Trying to hide a grin Kari responded, "We definitely want to play the game but, depending on the ride, Yulia's arm may prevent her from being allowed to go on it and I think that Tabitha's advanced age may have the same result." 

Continuing on with a barely contained smile she said, "So, maybe we should just have fixed teams. Instead of Rich and Poor we could have Young and Healthy vs. Old and Infirmed." 

While Yulia gave Kari an epic look of derision, once again, Tabitha had no reaction.

It is worth noting that in Zeitgeist (as well as of the country) when a person turns twenty years old they are legally considered to be an adult — a milestone that Tabitha had crossed before their debut — and it is something of a tradition to consider any birthday after twenty to be on the other side of a proverbial hill. Since a person's twentieth birthday is their last noteworthy one for a very long time, twenty one is often a cause for much teasing (it is all downhill after twenty being the concept).

Fidgeting with her cue cards Sookie said, "Well, let's just go ahead and play the game and see what happens." 

With that they began playing the pirate in a barrel game — although in this case it was the Larva version. At any rate, one at a time they began pushing plastic keys into slots around the barrel which would eventually cause Yellow, the larva, to pop out. 

It didn't take long for the Poor team to have its first member, which was ironically, Yulia. After screaming with shock when Yellow suddenly sprang out of the barrel, Yulia accepted her fate and walked over to the Poor team corner, flashing Kari an indignant side glance as she passed by. 

Kari leaned in and whispered to her, "Sorry I threw you under the bus but it was for a good cause, too bad it didn't work out."

Yulia whispered back, "Ya,we're scoring a big doughnut here, not even Tinsley has been able to shake her."  

The game then determined that the Poor team's next member was Sarah, who was soon followed by Tabitha. Regardless of which team Tabitha ended up on, teasing was inevitable but, since she ended up on the Poor team, the teasing went accordingly:

"Oh good, the Flutterflit Teacup ride for Tabitha, that will be nice and soothing," Analey said in a cutesy voice whilst batting her long eyelashes at Tabitha.

"That's true the teacup seats are nicely padded and the ride moves slowly, so she can probably handle it," Sarah giggled.

Trying to mimic someone having a senior moment Kari said, "If she forgets where she is they have lots of very nice staff in that area that are sure to help her, they might even reassure her with some pudding or cottage cheese."

Yulia pushed out her bottom lip and said, "I wonder if the Grumblegrouch nap area will be open in case Tabby needs to "rest her eyes" for a bit?"

Though they did their best to get a reaction out of her, Tabitha was an unbreakable wall. With all hope nearly gone the Crumpets looked at Tinsley — surely she would have something so annoying to say that Tabitha would have to react — but they were wrong. 

Tinsley looked back at them, hung her head, and in a solemn tone said,"I fear that our Tabby Cat has outgrown shenanigans; I guess cresting the hill really is a thing. We'll just have to remember when she, despite sucking at games, was still fun." 

There was still no reaction from Tabitha. 

In spite of what seemed like terrible timing Jisook had no choice but to move on to the next bit, which was a pre-birthday surprise for Tabitha. On cue the stage crew husseld in and exchanged the game table with a cart that had a birthday cake on it. 

Upon seeing the cake Tabitha squealed, threw her arms up, and exclaimed "Wow!" 

Not only did her reaction seem a bit strong, it felt decidedly scripted, and was rather sudden. Making things even weirder both Bess and Enid cracked up and did their best to hide it.

With the Crumpets looking rather confused, screens mounted on the partition wall behind them lit up and every one from Amber to NZ appeared in boxes all over them. This was, for the Crumpets anyway, totally unexpected. While they were trying to find their bearings Analey focused on the image of NZ who, like everyone else on the screens, was smiling and waving as if it were a live feed. Strangely, he had a goatee, but she had just worked with him a few days ago and he had been clean shaven. While she was pondering this, NZ's box suddenly expanded and moved to the center of the middle screen which startled her and drew everyone's attention 

NZ started speaking, "Hello Tabitha. Wherever you are — Happy Birthday! Since you are viewing this it means that you are being interviewed, they are having a pre-birthday surprise celebration for you, and your members are trying to give you the business; so, we are here demanding justice for your obvious youthfulness and undeniable shenanigan skills."

At this point NZ's box returned to its place, the screens went dark and some text came up reading: "PRE-RECORDED IN ANTICIPATION OF MEMBER HARASSMENT." Then, pictures of Familiars, colleagues, the Crumpet's family members, Looksens, the guy at the convenience store, and even the Mayor of Zeitgeist —  all holding up signs that read "JUSTICE FOR TABITHA'' — began popping up. 

As this was happening, EinBe and Jisook (along with her crew) also held up justice for Tabitha signs.  

The Crumpets were completely blown away.

It was clear from the videos and the signs that Tabitha had not only correctly predicted her members' shenanigans, she had also been working on her counter attack for quite some time. In fact, Tabitha was so good that she even got Yena, Ava, and Analey's Grandfather to pose with signs all without any of them letting the cat out of the bag despite many challenging weeks of having to keep their secret (something that would become a bonding point between them).  

At any rate, after seeing what Tabitha had pulled off and, despite being completely shook, the Crumpets exploded into an excited cheer for her.

Tinsley fell to her knees in a deep bow and proclaimed, "Lady Tabitha, although one day I will inevitably return to mocking your shenagin skills — for the moment — I am humbled and terrified by your mischievous greatness!"

The other Crumpets followed suit and paid their respects to (quoting Yulia) Tabitha's "epic awesomeness". 

Looking rather smug and undoubtedly feeling quite satisfied Tabitha graciously thanked her supporters, blew out the now rather short candles on the cake, and then (in perfect fake evil maknae fashion) said to her members, "By the way, one of my operatives informed me of your "top-secret" plans for a Tabby's Over the Hill party on Friday evening; so — ya know — it's not exactly top-secret anymore."  

The Crumpets all stared at Tabitha with awe, and Analey whispered, "Like a boss!"

Weird Growth
After Tabitha's pre-birthday and shenanigans victory celebration Jisook moved on with the show.  She explained that before they went on the first round of rides they would need to model some beach attire provided by the show's main sponsor. 

With that the girls were led to a makeshift boutique where they each selected outfits of their choosing from the surprisingly large Shadow Castle Emporium beachwear collection. Once they had their respective styles put together they headed to the dressing rooms to get ready for their mini fashion show.

When the time came the girls were to line up behind a curtain before, one by one, strutting out onto a stage and striking a few poses for the ZBC cameras. While the Crumpets were assembling they started critiquing each other's outfit choices. Despite being distracted by the amusing commentaries, Tabitha noticed that Tinsley was still in her dressing room. Concerned about the time Tabby knocked on the door and asked how she was coming.

Tinsley opened the door a bit, peeked out and, looking a bit shaken, said, "I'm ready, but after the shoot I should probably go to the hospital."

Tabitha was shocked and replied, "Heol, Tinbot, what's wrong!"

Tinsley hesitated a bit but finally said, "I don't know, there's something terrible growing on my back, I never noticed it before but it is huge and ugly."

Caught somewhere between concern and skepticism Tabitha said, "Well maybe I should take a look."

"Oh no," Tinsley replied, "it is seriously ugly and I don't want you to remember me this way."

Tabitha gave her stern look and said, "Come on now, let's have a peek."

It took a bit of time and effort for Tinsley to take off her windbreaker, sweatshirt, t-shirt, tank top, and rashguard but, once her back was exposed through the opening in her swimsuit, she sheepishly turned to show Tabitha the revolting growth.

"Just take a quick glance, it is way too gross to look at for very long", Tinsley said as she clung to the bundle of her protective outer layers of clothing.

At first Tabitha was shocked. Though not as huge as Tinsley seemed to think, there was indeed a dark brown lump with a creepy red center protruding from the skin between her shoulders. Squinting a bit Tabitha decided to give the unwelcome newcomer a closer look. 

As she moved nearer to it, Tinsley tried to pull away, shrieking, "Don't get so close, I'm hideous!"

Tabitha held Tinsley by her arm and focused on the spot. While she was analyzing it a look of derision began to cross her face. Rolling her eyes Tabitha reached out and grabbed a hold of the dreadful lump. With Tinsley flailing about like a fish out of water Tabitha gave it a good tug whereupon it came off in her hand. 

Tinsley's knees buckled and she shrieked, "Tabitha, what are you doing!!!"

Tabitha released her grip on Tinsley and hid the ugly blob behind her back. Tinsley staggered away and cowered in the corner of the small dressing room.

"Tinsley Ann, what was it that you were eating on the bus after we left Turbo Taco?", Tabitha asked sternly. 

Tinsley's only reply was to look at her with big, sad eyes.

Tabitha shook her head and went on, "You were eating Cho-Toe-Cran's (chocolate and toffee covered dried cranberries), yes?"

Tinsley cocked an eyebrow, "Yea, and..." she started to say in reply.

Tabitha interrupted her and pressed on.

"And how were you eating them? You were tossing them into the air and trying to catch them in your mouth, weren't you?", Tabitha questioned.

"What does any of this have to do with you trying to rip a tumor off of my back?!" Tinsley demanded.

Tabitha shook her head and held out the sticky blob for Tinsley to see.

"I didn't try to rip it off, I did rip it off. Look familiar," Tabitha asked her while she made a derp face.

Tinsley was completely shocked and recoiled at the sight of brown and red glob but she gave it enough of a look to begin realizing that her life threatening tumor was in fact nothing more than a once delicious piece of candy that must have fallen down the back of her shirt. 

Slightly embarrassed, Tinsley slipped out of the dressing room, pursed her lips, and said, "Huh, well isn't that something."

Tabitha took a deep breath and asked, "So, do you know what this means?"

Tinsley gave it a moment's thought and perkily replied, "That you would make an excellent doctor?"

With forced calmness Tabitha said, "No, it means that there are probably other Cho-Toe-Cran's floating around on the bus, a mess the Skeeter should not have to deal with."

Tinsley whole heartily agreed and instinctively turned to head to the bus and pick up after herself. 

Tabitha grabbed her by the arm, turned her around, pointed her toward the stage, and said, "After the photo shoot!"

Tinsley exclaimed, "Right, right!" as she trotted off toward the curtain.

Approaching her mark Tinsley dropped off her discarded layers on a folding chair as she passed by — except the wind breaker which she slung over her shoulder. Then she confidently marched up to the curtain. At the brink, she suddenly paused and decided to slip the windbreaker on. Now a bit more covered, she started to make her move; however, once again, she paused, this time to zip the jacket up to her chin. After a little more thought, she unzipped it down to her collar bones. Finally confident with her degree of exposure she sashayed out onto the stage like a well seasoned fashion model.  

While Tabitha was trying to shake it off and prepare herself for her own walk down the runway Bess,who had observed the whole incident, sauntered over and held out her hand. 

Trying to hide a grin she said, "You probably don't want to do the catwalk with a candy tumor in your hand."

Tabitha smiled a bit and, in exchange for a wet-nap, handed Bess the sticky mass. 

Cleaning her hands Tabitha sarcastically asked, "How much longer is my contract?" 

Bess's grin fully emerged and she replied, "With Looking glass, about a year and a half — with the Crumpets — the rest of your life."

Established October 2015   ​All Rights Reserved 

Established October 2015   ​All Rights Reserved