That Butler, New Face

That Butler, Birthday 2

"I see this city is still very similar to when I last saw it..." Sebastian thought out loud as they drove through the Crescent City (aka New Orleans). There were many new buildings and modern contraptions now, but there were a few old buildings he recognized.

"Oh? You've been to New Orleans before?" Pomona asked.

"Uh... he means before he started working for Ciel, yeah!" Chêne said, laughing nervously. She hoped Sebastian wouldn't say anything that might give himself away...

"Yes, it was a long time ago," Sebastian said, giving them all a brilliant shit-eating grin.

Cpt. LeBeau turned onto their street. Their old house, the one Chêne and Laurie grew up in, was located in the Mid-city Fairgrounds neighborhood, on North Dupre Street. It was very close to Bayou St. John.

"Oh, there's Cabrini!" Chêne said excitedly as they passed her old high school.

"Ah... I remember when we used to go canoeing in the bayou for P.E., and we ended up sinking because ours had a hole in it, and we didn't notice until it was too late... Good times, good times~!" Lacey said, smiling, and nodding to herself.

"Yeah, that was a pretty interesting experience... even though the teacher failed us for canoeing, she gave us an A+++ for swimming..." Chêne said, smiling wryly, as she sweat-dropped. "At least the bayou isn't that deep, so we were able to get the canoe back out... eventually."

"I remember that when you two came home, you wanted to 'drown your sorrows,' but since you were too young to drink, you made cookie dough instead, and let me eat it with you... that was the best cookie dough ever," Laurie said, smiling.

"That's because it was seasoned with our tears, pain, and suffering. I love how our hell was your heaven," Lacey deadpanned.

"Well, we were about 13 or 14, around Laurie's age now, when it happened, so she was only 7 or 8... She probably didn't even fully understand the trauma we went through," Chêne said shrugging.

"Oh, you mean how that flock of geese chased us after I yelled at them? Yeah... that was like out a Hitchcock film or something... I kept hearing their menacing honks in my dreams... uugh...!" Lacey said, shivering.

"You got nightmares... because of geese?" Ciel asked, raising an eyebrow as he and Laurie both stared at her like she was an idiot.

"They have teeth you know! It would hurt if they bit you!" Lacey said defensively. "Tell 'em, Chêne! One of them nipped your ankle, didn't they?" Chêne sweat-dropped.

"Yeah, but luckily it didn't break the skin... or I would've had to get rabies shots, just in case..." Chêne said, grimacing. Rabies shots were not fun. "I know this is totally random, but I just realized something, PomPom... You told me back at Chevy's that you had a gift for me from Grandma Willow, but aren't we going to see her tomorrow...? Why did she give it to you for today?" she asked.

"Well... funny you should ask that, because I actually—Son of a Buick!" Pomona yelled as she glanced up ahead of them. There was Grandma Willow, waiting for them on their porch... and glaring sternly at Pomona, as they pulled up into their driveway.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear..." Cpt. LeBeau said, sweat-dropping. Chêne and Ciel glanced at Sebastian. He smirked like a Cheshire cat at them in response.

"Why the heck is grandma on our porch?" Laurie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"G-Will is like a legit ninja... maybe I should become her apprentice?" Lacey said thoughtfully, stroking her nonexistent beard. She was pretty slick for an eighty-nine year-old lady.