To Ling Chin: Thanks For Nothing! Naomi Claussen by ARthur

Chapter 8
Epilogue

"Naomi, you got to help me," Ling whispered. "What? You got lost on the way to the CIA?" Naomi replied. "No I got there all right," Ling added. "But when I tried to enter, nobody would at first believe who I was. So they sent me to the headquarters daycare facility. It took me a while to climb out of that playpen, especially with those real babies tugging at my clothes. And then out of the playpen, I got nudged into a spilled Coke, and did the daycare worker misinterpret that. She put me in a diaper.

"Any way, Carl Curdiz rescued me," Ling added. "You know Carl, our old boss. After I carefully explained what happened, he said he had the perfect assignment for me. I was blindfolded, driven around for two hours, and deposited here.

"And you’re unhappy with the mission?" Naomi asked. "I think they made a mistake," Ling said with agitation. "I’m with this Chinese family, but they seem to think I’m really a 3-year-old girl. And… Uh oh! Here comes Papa… (Hey, you don’t play with phone. Phone not a toy for little girls. Come on, we tuck you back in bed) …Yes, Papa!… Hey, can’t you girls come here and get me out of this. Trace this call, please!"

"Sorry, but that system is down," Naomi lied. "Look, I think I’m in Maryland or Virginia. When are you next due in these states?" Ling pleaded. "About 2009," Naomi added as she heard those last bits of phone conversation. "(I told you, go to bed. You wanna sit in the corner?) …No, Papa!…(click)."

"Just what she needs," Naomi grinned. She then redirected, "Say, Ruby, whatever became of the witch Ruth? You were the last person to see her, mouse size and all. How did she escape from you?" Ruby looked perturbed at the inquiry. "How should I know. She was so small, she could have hidden anywhere."

Back at the Juggz outlet wrecked in the AAAARG/witch battle, a crew of workers was already trying to restore everything to normal. One worker emerged from a storage closet with a small cardboard tube.

"What’s this?" he asked. "That’s a glue trap for catching mice," his foreman said. "So that’s why it was wiggling. I bet there’s a mouse caught in here," the worker. "Get rid of it. I don’t want to ever glance at some filthy mouse twisted in adhesive. Toss it in the drum," the foreman said.

As the worker walked to the steel drum, he slowed his pace, and raised the tube to ear level. "Listen to them squeaks. It almost sounds like it’s yelling, ‘Help! Save me! Don’t throw me away,’" the worker said. "Mice don’t talk. Now toss it and get back to work," the foreman glowered. The worker complied.

"You think that was right?" the worker asked. "Sure! I mean, what was in the tube was vermin," the foreman said, as other workers deposited more debris into the can.

END