Secret kisses and twisted minds

Chapter 9

As Mabel stormed from the drawing room she saw Wendy come out of the dining room.
"Wendy!" She rushed over to her, making the redhead jump slightly.
"Hey Mabel...have you been crying?" Wendy asked in concern as the small girl approached her. Mabel just grabbed her hand and pulled her to the garage. Wendy tried to wiggle free from her grip but darn Mabel was strong.

"Mabel! What's gotten into you?" Wendy exclaimed as soon as Mabel let go of her.
"Can you drive?" The girl asked as she searched for the car keys.
"Yeah...but i don't understand—"
"Good, I need you to drive me to town" she stated, placing the keys into Wendy's hand. Before Wendy could protest she had already climbed in the car and was waiting patiently. The red head sighed in annoyance before getting in the drivers seat and revving the engine to life.

Wendy still had no idea as to why she was driving Mabel into town on a Saturday, at ten in the morning but didn't complain. She was the mechanic after all, she deserved to drive the car.
"STOP!" Mabel exclaimed suddenly, making Wendy flinch with surprise. She stepped on the break and made the car come to a sudden halt. Before Wendy had time to ask why they had stopped Mabel was out of the car and walked into shady looking bar. It had grimy walls and the plaque above was dangling very loosely from its fittings. Wendy didn't like the look of this place but before she could park two police men walked around the corner.
"Oh shit" she whispered under her breath before doing the rational thing and pretend to look like she was just about to leave.

The establishment was dark and dreary. Lazy drunks littered the booths and it stank of sweat and alcohol. A group of semi sober men were gathered around someone at the bar chanting slurred words that sounded like 'one more!'. That seemed interesting, Mabel took a deep breath before charging head on into the crowd. That was where she found him.

Mcgucket was sitting at the bar, centre of attention as he continually drank away small glasses of whiskey. He looked awful. His clothes were scruffy, huge black bags had formed under his eyes and a short beard had already began to grow on his face. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve after downing the last shot.
"Told ya I could do it!" He sneered at the bar tender.
"Yeah, well if you go another round I will give everyone a free glass" the bar tender offered with a sly grin. Many of the semi sober men pleaded and encouraged mcgucket to take the offer. Mabel spied what was happening and decided to take charge. She knew that the bar tender was just playing games and one more round like that could kill Fiddleford. She had seen him and grunkle Stan have drinking competitions and he did usually win but the mornings after were always awful. She did what she had to do.
"Sorry fellers, he's done" she stated before yanking the southerner out of his seat by the belt buckle. Mcgucket tried to fight her but he was honestly so pissed he couldn't even see straight.
"Hey! You didn't pay!" The bar tender yelled from across the counter, pulling a gun from under the desk. He aimed at Mabel causing her to freeze on the spot.
"Mcgucket, pay your tab" she whispered to him in a panicked tone.
"C-can't, I lost it all" he hiccuped and struggled to keep standing. The bar tender grunted at them to move away from the door.
"Well someone's gotta pay" he stated before cocking the gun. The semi sober men were all watching in silence, hands hovering over their guns incase a fight should arise.

Mabel swallowed hard and waited for something, anything to happen. The atmosphere almost frozen in time, the tiniest moment would surely shatter it like fine glass. Suddenly Wendy burst in, gun loaded and ready to shoot. The bartender only had a second to react before he heard the gunshot and feel the bullet fly into his arm. He dropped the gun and went into a panic. The semi sober men were slightly confused and when there's  confusion there's fighting. One man took a swing at the other, which soon turned into a full blown brawl between all the men. Empty bottles, bar stools and the occasional teeth flew over head.

In the confusion Wendy pulled Mabel and Fiddleford out of the establishment before something real bad happened. As they jumped into the car a series of gunshots could be heard coming from inside the bar. Wendy didn't wait to count the casualties and drove as fast as she could.

Mcgucket tried his best to not spill his guts on the backseat but its harder after having nothing but alcohol in your stomach.
"Mabel what the hell were you thinking?" Wendy pleaded at the young girl beside her.
"Grunkle Ford is in a lot of pain, he needs Mcgucket and Mcgucket needs him" she justified her statement with a quick glance over her shoulder to the poor man in the back. He did look terrible, he looked as if he hadn't slept in days, his face was very pale not to mention how off his head he was at that moment.
"That's all well and good Mabel but what are you gunna do about Stan?" Wendy asked, slowing down the car as the heat seemed to have cooled off. The girl pondered to herself for a while before simply stating "I don't know".

The rest of the car ride was silent as she tried to think of a plan. This was going to be tricky but true love will always find away, right?