Fourteen Days

Scottie and Sky sat upon the mantle at ‘Cuffs, listening to the fire crackling beneath them and watching the evening foot traffic outside their establishment. Scottie brought the heel of one foot to the edge of the mantle, wrapping his arms around his leg and resting his chin on his knee. There were a few items on their agenda, things that needed to be hashed out, “I say we start with the, uh, bird, I guess? First.”

Sky leaned back against the chimney, her hands clasped behind her head and her feet crossed, swinging playfully over the edge of the mantle. She chuckled half-heartedly, her eyes jumping from pedestrian to pedestrian, “We’re going to use his term for our… guest?”

Scottie couldn’t help but chuckle with her and shrug, “Why not? Seems fitting enough.” He let the sink in a moment, then wondered off-handedly, “You know, we thought someone might spot us, but I’m fairly certain Mr. Underby wasn’t around. I wonder where he gets his information from.”

It was Sky’s turn to shrug this time, chewing on her lower lip in thought, “I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter now. He knows that we have the ‘bird’ but he doesn’t know where we’re keeping her. I think we’re quite lucky, in that regard.”

Scottie nodded slowly against his knee. She was right, of course. Given the nature of what they’d done, it really couldn’t have gone better. But the fact that Underby, of all people, knew about their captor made him very uneasy. And the ensuing chat they’d had unsettled him even more, “He seems to want her locked up for good. At least, so he says. And it would seem he’s gotten around the missing divorce-“

A rough-looking man stumbled up the steps of ‘Cuffs, opening his mouth to speak. Scottie cut him off immediately, “We’re closed for the evening.” The man, who the couple finally recognized beneath the grime as a semi-regular, stopped in his tracks and narrowed his blood-shot eyes at Scottie. Sky leaned forward, her hands grasping at the edge of the mantle now, “He said we’re closed. What part of that do you not understand?” Her voice took on an icy edge that Sky only used when she was deadly serious. It was a tone that made the man recoil and Scottie grin. The couple watched with satisfaction as the would-be patron turned on his heel and bolted, momentarily sobered up by the experience.

“Yes, he’s gotten around the divorce papers,” Sky said, finishing Scottie’s previous thought. “Murg said he was ‘giddy’. Can you imagine Underby as ‘giddy’?” Scottie lifted his chin from his knee and the two of them settled back against the fireplace, laughing and joking as they tried to imagine what a giddy Mr. Underby would look like.

They finally calmed, still chuckling occasionally as Scottie finally brought the conversation back on track, “She’s been down there for two weeks now, and Underby’s advocating leaving her down there possibly indefinitely. Though he’d like a visit at some point.  I’m not keen on any of it. I say we carry on as we intended.”

Sky nodded thoughtfully, trying to catch her breath from the laughing fit, “I think you’re right. I don’t trust him and I don’t see any reason to deviate from the plan.”

Scottie sighed, turning toward her for the first time since they’d started talking, “So… what’s all this about that Foehammer woman?”