Beryl Ashcraft was meeting with her cousin, Diesel Grey, in the basement of the Big Bang Truck Stop to discuss the next leadership council meeting and an important issue she wanted to raise. She was worried about how one member in particular would react to her news and wanted to ensure the Fearless Leader would be on her side.
“Do you think Mr. Gris will give me grief?”
Diesel grinned. “Don’t worry about Mr. Gris. We’ll just tell him the truth and move on.”
Beryl didn’t think it could be that easy. “Will he believe it?”
Diesel shrugged. “He will as long as we don’t make a big deal out of it.”
“Define ‘big deal.’”
Diesel said, “Well, if we give him a big explanation, it will only invite more questions and a much longer discussion. That always gets his motor revving. In this case, it’s best to just give the bare minimum of details and move on to the next topic on the agenda before he can sink his teeth in.”
“You think that will work?”
Diesel nodded. “Absolutely.”
Beryl didn’t mean to question his opinion, but when she continued to stare at him, he winked and said, “Not my first rodeo.”
Beryl grinned. “Awesome. Thanks, Diesel.”
“Sure thing.”
Her phone dinged and she pulled it out of her pocket to see what was up. It was the Tri-City Monthly Newsletter with the latest news from Alienn, Old Coot and Skeeter Bite. Instead of a paper copy, like they used to have, the powers in charge had opted to go digital to save money.
As was her usual practice, Beryl scanned the headlines for mentions of Alienn, Arkansas. Later, she’d read the whole newsletter, but she liked to know what was going on in her hometown as soon as possible.
“What is it?” Diesel asked. “Anything crazy that I need to know about?”
She shook her head as she read. “Just the Tri-City Monthly Newsletter and public notification page. I always read the Alienn section first, now that I live here and all.”
“Good for you.”
Beryl was about to close the app when she saw a name she recognized.
“Hey, Jack is in here.”
“Jack? Really?”
She nodded. “Yep.”
“What’s he in there for?” Then Diesel chuckled. “Is it a write-up about the bachelor auction? That will likely not make him very happy.”
Beryl grinned. She’d arrived at the bachelor auction just as Jack was headed to the parking lot with his date. Diesel and Jack’s other siblings had caught her up on the crazy bidding chaos and how Jack went home with a mysterious woman who was a proxy for a secret client. She thought eight thousand dollars was a pile of money for a date, and she liked her cousin. She hoped whoever bought him still thought he was worth the exorbitant price.
“Maybe they will finally identify his date.”
“I wouldn’t count on it,” Diesel said. “Aunt Dixie has been trying to find out for days with no luck. If she can’t find out, trust me, no one will be able to.”
Beryl studied the screen of her phone to find Jack’s name again. She saw where it was and did a double-take. What?!
“Holy space potato farm, Diesel! Look! Did you know about this?” Beryl turned her phone so her cousin could see the screen.
Diesel looked at her communication device, read the public notice and his mouth dropped open.
“No. I did not.” He promptly retrieved his own communication device and began to scroll, muttering, “I had my sound turned off for the meeting I was just in.”
Diesel brought his screen up and shook his head. Under “marriage licenses recently acquired” was his youngest brother’s name along with the name of his intended.
