The Therapeutic Effects of Tea
by sloanranger
Part 10
Downstairs Ernie was getting tired and his clothes were becoming damp. He looked up at the window and the light was still on.
The sisters were taking their time tonight. He would catch his death if they didn't hurry up. He pulled another twig from the tree and reamed the leaves from the stem with his teeth so he could continue his dental ablutions. The taste wasn't too bad, he thought.
Ernest was an epicurean adventurer.
As a child his main source of vegetable matter had been the sour grass that grew in front of the flat with the other weeds. He had loved squeezing the tart juice between his teeth from the stems of the little yellow flowers. He liked sweet clover, too. He knew not to eat wild mushrooms, though. They could be dangerous.
The light should be out soon and he would wait 20 minutes after that and then go through the back door where he had left a flattened matchbox between the latch and the lock. He had a key to go round front of course, but Sibley was planning a petty robbery from the Gibbs sisters and wanted it to look like one.
As much as he liked the old girls, he thought it would look suspicious if their house was the only one in the neighborhood not yet burgled. He had already robbed several homes in the quiet Manchester suburb. Nothing big, a silver vase or platter - anything he could fit easily under his coat.
He hadn't taken any money yet for the simple reason he hadn't seen any left out in the homes he burgled and thought it to risky to visit people in their bedchambers.
Ernest Sibley needed the extra money. He had met someone and he wanted to get married.
(To be continued).