I don’t know Winnie or Katy all that well, but one thing I can tell you is when you say you need something done, these two step into action. Less than thirty minutes ago I made the comment I needed to get to my storage unit and find Emma’s baby book so I can put in her first lock of hair after I get it cut this month. I wasn’t planning on being in the apartment this long, so I put the book in storage not thinking I’d need it. Now I don’t want to get her hair trimmed until I have a place to put the first clippings. She’s gone past the cute messy bedhead look to unruly. It was one offhanded comment and the next thing I knew Winnie said she’d messaged Katy, who was on her way. I said no because I didn’t have a babysitter, but Katy called Pearl on her way and picked her up before getting here. Every office I’ve ever worked for searched for the synergy these ladies have together.
I’ve only seen the aging hippie around town a few times, but Winnie promised she could handle Emma. Called her spunky.
When the two of them get together with a plan, it’s hard not to just go along with it. They get you swept away in the moment. Everything is an adventure.
Even if it shouldn’t be.
Like this simple run to a storage unit to collect a baby book.
Another minute passes while we wait for Pearl and I contemplate how dead the flowers are in the pots down below. It’s gotten to the point I don’t pay attention anymore. The big overflowing flowerpots blend into the background when I walk into the building. Eventually, right as I’m in the middle of mentally calculating the number of pots she’s cleaning, there’s a knock on the door and Winnie jumps up to answer it for Katy and Pearl.
Pearl wanders into the apartment following Katy, her eyes sweeping the room in every direction. The long pink tie-dyed dress, which reaches her ankles, sways with her movements as she walks. Her hair isn’t in the braid I’ve seen previous times but pulled back and put into a tight bun at the base of her neck. She looks a little more nanny-ish.
“This place reeks of sex,” the older woman says as she stops in the middle of my living room.
My face reddens and I swear my heart skips two beats as I stare her with my mouth hanging open.
“Pearl!” Katy yells.
Pearl shrugs, causing the pattern of her tie-dye to do a wave. “If the shoe fits.”
“It doesn’t. Does it, really?” I ask, stuttering over the words. My mother’s candle trick is going first on my list tomorrow.
“No!” Winnie yells, staring at Pearl as if she doesn’t know who she is or how she got into my apartment.
Pearl slaps me on the back and laughs, sounding a lot like a crazy old woman. We could stick her in a haunted house to scare all the children. “No, it doesn’t, but now we know for sure what you and that hunk from Ridge’s have been doing in your free time.” She laughs again, continuing on as if it’s the funniest thing she’s heard all year.
I let out a sigh of relief, but my face stays red. Being sex smelly isn’t something you want to be accused of, and I make a mental note to stop by the outlet stores on the way back from the storage unit to pick up a wall plug-in. Or five.
“Okay, out with you all. Go, have your girl fun time. I brought my radio in case I hear your codename on the walkie.” She pulls out a huge, black walkie-talkie so large it takes up her whole hand.
Katy narrows her eyes in our direction. “What do you mean our codename?”
“You know.”
Winnie shakes her head that she doesn’t.
“The police give certain individuals monikers for use on the radio so they know who they’re talking about without using names.”
“Sure,” Katy says. “But why would we have one?”
Pearl hesitates, her eyes flitting from one person to the next. “Well… you have a tendency to be talked about on the police radio.”
I didn’t think it possible, but Katy’s mouth drops open wider until Winnie steps over and closes it with her hand.
“What exactly is our name?” Winnie asks, keeping her hand on Katy’s chin so her mouth doesn’t fall open again.
Pearl swallows and shakes her head a tiny amount like she doesn’t want to tell us, but she opened this door and now she has to walk through it. “I’m not positive, but I think they’ve referred to you as The Bakery Bandits.”
“What? That doesn’t even make sense. Who started this?”
Pearl shrugs. “I’m not sure. It’s been around for a while.”
“A while?” Katy asks, stepping away from Winnie so she has use of her mouth again. “I’m so tired of the men in the state. I am moving far away..”
“You won’t find that man sitting in this apartment so you best go do your thing. I’ll keep my ear out,” she says shaking the radio.
Katy turns around in a huff, mumbling something under her breath as she walks toward my door. “You won’t need it,” she yells back before stepping into the hallway.
