Ruby Red Marionette

thirtythree | fragrance

I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, my period came today, and I was sitting here being forced to read about whooping cough. 

My day was off to a terrible start. 

The moving truck that Isaiah used for work only had two seats and there were five of us. I was in the passenger seat, because I was the one who left the house with Isaiah and got to the truck first. Yvette sat in Isaiah's lap in the driver's seat and Tyler and Batul were sitting on the floor. Batul was in one of her tender moods, so she was explicitly dissatisfied with her seat, but Tyler was okay as long as we kept him hydrated, fed and entertained. 

We were parked a block away from the last house that Isaiah had to help with moving. He needed me to join him this morning because his usual partner was sick and couldn't make it to work. When we got there I realized that some of the person's boxes were too heavy for me to manage, so we called Tyler to help. He had to bring Batul along, because she was 'in a sucky mood' and he felt bad to leave her in the house to herself and her sadness. Yvette just happened to call Isaiah in the morning and came when she found out we were all here. 

After finishing the job, we stopped the truck to decide what we were going to do today. I declared that I didn't want to do anything but stay home and sleep, but Isaiah and Tyler said that my opinion didn't matter when it was that time of the month. So, since I was excluded from the discussion, I took a book about whooping cough from the glove compartment and began to read. 

"We should go back to that guy you told us about." Tyler suggested. "The one that was looking at Carlos' video. Maybe he found some new info." 

"He said he'd call us if he had any information. He didn't call, so there's nothing." Isaiah replied. 

"And when we said we wanted to find out what to do today, we meant something relaxing." I said. 

"That's what you meant." Batul said. "But really, relaxing things are just a waste of time." 

"What about Christmas shopping? That's relaxing." Yvette asked. 

"That's disgusting." I said. 

"I'm happy you brought that up," Tyler cleared his throat, "because we need to talk about this. We've known each other for a couple months now, blah blah blah. But let's just be clear on one thing: I'm not getting you guys anything. You can get me something, though, but you're not obligated to. If I say you have to, then you'll say I have to, and that's too much. I hate getting people gifts because I never know what people like, and I don't have any money. So don't expect presents from me." 

Then, in unison, Batul and I said: "Me either." 

"No," Isaiah shook his head, "Batul was right. We shouldn't be doing anything 'relaxing' today. Instead, we should do something productive." 

"Like what?" Yvette asked. 

"We can look for clues." Batul proposed.