Operation Last Ditch Effort

Chapter 11: Welcome to Vegas

A mixture of pink and purple flooded the sky as the sun began to set. Carly pulled into her driveway as the sun dipped lower beyond the line of white houses. Exhausted after a long day of working with patients Carly drug herself to the door.

Ugh. I forgot the mail.

Sighing she turned around and slumped towards the mailbox. Dragging her feet as she moved, her shoulders slouched in exhaustion.

Probably just bills. I need some coffee.

Reaching into the box she pulled out several letters.

"Bills, Bills, Loans, there it is, Paycheck."

Nice. Hm what's this one? It's from Sal. He wants me to meet his friend. Ok. Rodger that. Wait. No one can hear you say that. Silly. Better go freshen up.

Carly rushed inside to take a quick shower and change clothes.

Oh snap. I've got to bring something. Musten be rude. Ha. Where are those. Oh there they are.

Carly rummaged through the fridge pulling out a package of cookie dough.

I hate cooking. Baking. Whatever its called. I'm no good with an oven. Here goes nothing.

Carly rolled the dough into balls and tossed them onto a pan shoving the pan of cookies into the oven she almost burned her hand.

Ouch. That was close.

Fidgeting as she waited Carly tapped her fingers on the counter thinking of the all the possible reasons Sal would call for a meeting.

It's nothing. Stop worrying. But what if someone found out? Surely not. You wouldn't be at home and safe. Breathe Carly. Breathe.

The oven beeped like an unwanted alarm breaking Carly out of her trance of finger tapping.

"OW! Crap. Not now. Stupid Carly. Stupid." Carly screamed as she dropped the pan of cookies onto the ground. Carly ran over to the sink and ran cold water over her burnt hand.

How could I have been so stupid? Who forgets potholders? Geez, Carly get your head together.

Flustered Carly found some bandages and ointment to put on her hand. Bandaging her burnt hand she cleaned up the mess on the floor. Unable to use her burnt hand, Carly crouched down scrubbing the floor trying to get the chocolate spots out to no avail.

Ugh. Stupid cookies. I'll never get this out. My perfect white tile. Well semiperfect. I give up.

Cleaning herself up she decided to just go without anything. It would be ruder to show up late for dinner.

Mumbling to herself Carly said "What time did he say to come? Oh wait, he didn't give a time. I guess I should just go on over. Hopefully, I'm not late."

Good no stains on me. Thank God for the small mercies.

Carly gave herself another once over in the mirror before walking out the door. Locking the door behind her Carly smoothed her hands over her hair and crossed the street. Coming to the front door Carly prepared to knock, but the door swung open as her hand was in the air. Marjorie motioned for Carly to come in. Carly could hear noises coming from the kitchen. It sounded like Sal and another person were talking and laughing. Carly waited for Marjorie to close the door before relaxing her stance. She lowered her shoulders and let her face relax.

Noticing her bandaged hand Marjorie asked, "Oh dear, what happened to your hand?"

Sighing Carly responded, "Oh, it's silly really. I was baking cookies to bring and grabbed the pan without a pot holder."