Driving Doctor Mayhem

[34] Another Trip to Puppet Lane

As I drove Doc and Gideon downtown to Puppet Lane, I couldn't help but wonder what Cricket was frozen in the middle of doing at that exact moment. It was a strange thought, but it matched the circumstances.

After all, It almost would be a gyp to have a normal thought when your brainiac boss has frozen time and is on his way to steal who-knows-what from the Mayor.

I still didn't know what the full plan was, and I don't think Gideon did, either. As we pulled up in the unassuming Camry, I was fully prepared to just wait in the car before Doc hopped out and said, "You're coming, too, Miss Banks."

I leaned my head against the seat. "Must I?"

He reached over me, turned the car off, and stalked away with the keys. I could've kept sitting there, but I needed the car to be on in order to roll down the windows, and summer's heat was in full form that day. I followed closely behind the two.

"Just make sure to keep your gloves on, be careful around dusty areas and glass surfaces, and above everything else," Doc instructed, "You need to leave everything as close to the way that you found it as is humanly possible. None of this matters if something is obviously out of place."

We nodded reluctantly.

"We have about fifteen to twenty minutes before the world unfreezes again, assuming my calculations are correct, and we're each responsible for one item only," he continued, pulling a notepad out of his coat pocket and checking off items as he went along. "Gideon, you're the strongest, so you'll take the stuffed bear."

"He bought a stuffed bear?" Gideon gasped. "As in, a taxidermied bear?"

"I know what you're saying, but is taxidermied a real word?" I mused.

Doc shrugged. "It should fit in the backseat, it's relatively small. You know, for a bear."

Gideon pursed his lips, his eyebrows knitting together in the closest expression to cynicism that I'd ever seen pass over his face. "John, are you sure that we should be doing this--"

"Don't worry, what we're doing is far less illegal than what he did."

"Color me relieved," I deadpanned.

We finally reached the entrance, and I could have sworn that I saw the faint outlines of egg splatters against the otherwise pristine, white door. Doc pulled another key out of his front pocket at unlocked the door. That was what he'd pick pocketed off the mayor that night.

The thought flashed across my mind that there was a large possibility that Collodi was still at home.

I would have dwelled on it longer, but Doc rushed in with Gideon on his heels and I really had no choice but to follow them.