Gideon wasn’t happy and was about to let me know. I held up a hand.
“I dove into the minds of the living before,” I reminded him. It had been my Angel siblings. It had been an accident, but it had worked and we’d all survived. It had taken a heck of a toll on me, but it could be done. “If Tom Hanks is in there, I can mind dive into Shitty Ritchie and have a conversation.”
“Dangerous,” Candy Vargo commented, mulling it over. “And I don’t think Tom Hanks is gonna to be amenable to a conver-fuckin’-sation.”
“But he might be,” Tim said, clearly on my side. “If Tom Hanks did indeed cage the other two Higher Powers, he’d be furious about them taking over. Out of spite, he might help us find the third.”
“Or he might not,” Gideon said through clenched teeth. “He might trap Daisy inside Shitty Ritchie. If he’s in there, he’s still powerful.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. It made the entire idea riskier. However, my daughter’s life was on the line. I’d die for her in a heartbeat… and so would Gideon. I had to try.
“Hang on a fuckin’ minute,” Candy Vargo said, pulling out a box of toothpicks and putting a handful into her mouth. “If, and I stress the wordif, Shitty Ritchie didn’t chew the bastard, there’s a chance he could crap him out while you’re in his mind.”
“Oh my god,” I choked out. Could this get any more f-ed up? No. No it could not.
“Not to worry about that! Shitty Ritchie only poops once every decade,” he overshared with great pride. “I pooped two weeks ago and clogged the toilet off the kitchen at Daisy’s house. The stench was dreadful. Thankfully, June, bless her cookie-making soul, put on a gasmask and helped Shitty Ritchie plunge the potty. She’s such a lovely gal. If she wasn’t Charlie’s wife, I’d hit that shit. Of course, it would be helpful if I had a larger love-rod. Just sayin’.”
That left all of us speechless for a full three minutes. I had no clue that my bathroom had been defiled. June really was a saint.
“Okaaaay,” Candy Vargo said when she finally found her voice. “It looks like the risk of Shitty Ritchie crapping Tom Hanks out of his ass is low.”
“Very low,” Shitty Ritchie confirmed. “Although, if you’d like me to poop the bastard out, I can command my bunghole to do so.”
“Hell to the no,” I said, gagging. “Let’s keep Tom Hanks away from your bunghole.”
“As you wish,” he said with a giggle.
The words that had come out of my mouth in the last few minutes were appalling. Whatever. It was what it was. Sadly, it was nasty.
“Daisy, before you do this, we need to set some ground rules,” Gideon said, tightly.
Even though I knew it took years off his life, he’d never fought me on me doing my job. He respected me as much as I respected him. It was clear he didn’t like it, but he’d never try to stop me. And, if the roles were reversed, I support him even though it would be difficult. Getting our daughter and Jennifer back wasn’t an option. It was a necessity. The path to get to the goal wasn’t clear, but we had to start somewhere and we had to start soon.
“The Fonzies,” Tim said. “They helped with the chant. They aided Candy Vargo with the spell to heal Shitty Ritchie, and then they helped revive Candy. No one present is here by chance. I say before you dive into Shitty Ritchie’s mind, we go to Arnold’s Drive-In and have a few chats.”
I didn’t want to wait, but Tim made a valid point. Discounting logic could bite me in the posterior. In the past I’d leapt before I looked. This time I would not. There was far too much to lose to be sloppy. Information could be as powerful as magic.
It was time to get a little more educated. Plus, if the burgers and fries were as good as Tim said, I could grab a bite before I did my thing. Actually, I was a vegetarian. No burger for me unless Arnold’s had a veggie burger. I doubted it, but one could hope. Working on an empty stomach wasn’t the best plan. Hopefully the fries rocked.
Only one way to find out.
CHAPTER SIX
The diner was packed.The food smelled terrific and the atmosphere was easy and joyful. It was in complete juxtaposition to how I felt, but I would take happy over sad whenever I could find it. The trios of characters were celebrating the success of putting Shitty Ritchie back together again. Kind of like Humpty Dumpty. The dwarfs were on the right side of the establishment entertaining the Sullys. The Mike Wazoskis were on the left side playing Rock Paper Scissors with the Fonzies. And the Als, all three of them, were delivering food to the booths.
It was nuts.
“I’ll take the Sullys and the dwarfs,” Candy Vargo said, grabbing a fry off a tray as an Al Delvecchio walked by.
“I’ll join you,” Tim told her.
“Guess that means we have the Mikes and the Fonzies,” I said to Gideon with a small laugh.
He was still on edge, but smiled back at me. We were all on edge. Right now, we couldn’t be anything else.
Shitty Ritchie had situated himself in the middle of the room where he greeted the crowd like he was royalty. We’d had to carry him in since he was severely off balance due to his newlyacquired arm and leg. While he looked ridiculous, he was still beautiful to me. He was alive and that mattered most.
“Daisy,” Gideon said, touching my arm as we crossed the diner. “We can learn the most by simply listening. Often times, people share more when not under pressure.”
