Peppa Pig: Escapee

Chapter 3

"A grilled cheese sandwich... and a tuna fish sandwich," Ms. Rabbit said, tapping the buttons on her register like mad. Her painted long nails clinked against the metal register, and it sounded like a bundle of dry spaghetti being hit against a champagne glass.

Peppa and Suzy were at the checkout counter in the grocery store, which was surprisingly close to the warehouse. It was 2 pm, filming had ended, and they were hungry, so they bought stale sandwiches that came in little clear wedge plastic boxes. 

"Can I have a Sprite too?" Suzy asked, putting a Sprite from the fridge next to the checkout counter on the conveyor belt. 

Peppa grabbed a bottle of store-brand pink lemonade from the fridge and set it on the conveyor belt next to Suzy's Sprite. "And I'll take a pink lemonade."

Ms. Rabbit scowled at them. "Couldn't you have grabbed your drinks earlier?" she grumbled, frantically pressing more buttons on the register. 

Suzy gave her a chagrined expression. "Sorry," she said. 

"$12.47," Ms. Rabbit said. Peppa pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of her high heels, and handed it to Ms. Rabbit. Suzy stared at her weirdly. 

"What?" Peppa objected, while Ms. Rabbit counted out her change. "Dresses don't have pockets! Where was I supposed to put my money?"

Suzy shrugged. "That's fair, I guess," she said, taking the sandwiches and drinks off the small conveyor belt on the checkout station. She passed Peppa her grilled cheese sandwich and her pink lemonade.

"Your $7.53," Ms. Rabbit said, while handing Peppa a wad of bills and a handful of coins stuffed in a receipt. "Have a nice day!" she called after them. 

"You too," Peppa said from the door. Suzy drank about half her can of Sprite before they even left the grocery store and waved at Ms. Rabbit. 

They walked down the hill the grocery store sat on, and up another steep hill where the warehouse was, and where Suzy had parked her car. 

"You owe me," Peppa said, breaking the silence. 

Suzy opened her car door. "For what?"

"For lunch," she said. "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

"There is if you rob a McDonald's," Suzy said, yawning, and she started the car. She nearly hit the door to the warehouse as she tried to turn the car around. 

"Who gave you your license?" Peppa groaned, when Suzy nearly rammed into a tree.

"Hey, at least I drive better than you," she retorted. "You drive like a stoned 10-year old with two prosthetic legs. And plus, I can parallel park without breaking Mr. Zebra's headlight."

Peppa rolled her eyes as Suzy swerved left at the bottom of the hill. "Your driving makes me nauseous."

She took a swig of soda. "And your driving gets me stuck in the hospital for 2 days, Peppa." 

Peppa's face flushed. "Filming today sucked," she said, eager to change the subject. 

"It always does," said Suzy matter-of-factly. "Why do we have to act like toddlers on international television?"

"Yeah. That, and Madame Gazelle is way too much of a perfectionist. I had to jump in that mud puddle 28 times," Peppa grunted. 

Suzy stared at Peppa's gown, which was stained with mud and dirt. "That sucks."

"And my dryer broke, like, years ago, so I have to put all the washed clothes on a clothesline outside like some 18th century Victorian lady," she rambled. "Sometimes the birds shit on my clothes."