All the usual disclaimers stand, not ours, just borrowing, thanks
Warner Bros. & Shoot the Moon...
A Little Mix-Up
(by the Yank and the Brit)
Dotty entered the kitchen ahead of her daughter, placed her
purse on the counter, and flopped down onto one of the
stools. "Amanda, my feet hurt so much I don't think I'll ever walk
again."
Amanda looked at her mother sympathetically and gave a tired
laugh, as she placed her own purse beside her mother's. "I think
you're exaggerating, just a bit, Mother, but I do understand what
you're saying."
Pulling off one of her shoes, Dotty started massaging her
foot. "Well, perhaps I am stretching the truth a bit, but it's only
because I feel like we walked for miles and miles today."
Amanda smiled. "You say that every time we go to one of these
mall-wide sales." Walking over to the cupboard, she opened a door
and pulled out the hot cocoa. "Why don't you go and run yourself a
hot bath, and I'll bring up a cup of hot chocolate for you to drink
while you soak."
Dotty stretched her neck from side to side. "Mmmm… that
sounds like a wonderful idea." She slowly eased off the stool and
turned to grab her purse. "Amanda, which one of these is mine. They
look so similar, I can't tell the difference."
Amanda finished filling the kettle with water and walked over
to the stove. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked at her
mother. "Yours is the one with the tiny gilt buckle on the side."
"Oh that's right." Dotty inspected the two purses. She had a
feeling that this was going to be a constant issue. "Maybe we should
have gone with different colors."
"Oh darn." Disappointed, Amanda closed the cupboard where
she'd hidden the marshmallows. "We're out of marshmallows. I must
have used the last of them up and forgot to write them on the store
list."
"Hot chocolate just isn't the same without them, is it?"
Dotty replied a bit sadly.
Amanda turned off the stove. "No it's not. Why don't you go
take your bath and I'll run to the store for more."
"Are you sure, I can live without them you know." Dotty gazed
at her daughter.
Amanda nodded. "Yes, besides, we're low on milk, so I can
pick that up too." She turned to grab her purse, just as the phone
rang. Letting out a sigh, she reached over and picked up the
receiver. "Hello? … oh, hi."
Dotty knew who the caller was the minute her daughter's face
had lit up. Why her daughter and Lee Stetson didn't make their
relationship more official was beyond her. If Lee wasn't with her at
work, he was at the house, or calling every hour. Knowing that the
call was going to take a while, she slipped her shoe back on her
foot, grabbed her purse and headed for the door. "I'm gonna go get
the marshmallows," she called as she opened the door and slipped
outside before her daughter could object.
Clutching her purse, Dotty quickly made her way to Amanda's
Wagoneer and groaned as her feet began to protest. Maybe she should
rethink going to the store, after all, they didn't really need the
marshmallows that bad, but then again they were out of milk. "Oh,
be quiet." She mumbled to her feet. "We can do this. It'll be a
quick trip to the store and back and then you'll have all the time in
the world to soak." Ignoring the ache in her feet, she climbed into
the vehicle and closed the door.
Turning the key in the ignition, Dotty put the Jeep in
reverse and began to slowly back out of the driveway. As she pulled
away from the house, she glanced briefly towards the windows and
shook her head wistfully. She loved Amanda, but her daughter and Lee
were really trying her patience. Anyone with eyes could tell how
very much in love they were. She didn't understand what they were
waiting for. The boys enjoyed having Lee around, and Jamie had
finally accepted the new man in his mother's life. Everyone would be
much better off if Lee would just pop the question and move into the
house, permanently.
Dotty sighed as she made a right out of the neighborhood and
onto the main road. She was sure of one thing, the moment Lee moved
in, she would definitely get to see a lot more of her daughter, and
so would Phillip and Jamie. Not that Amanda wasn't a good mother,
but between the film company, the boys' activities, and Lee, her
daughter's time was definitely split in one too many directions.
Dotty's thoughts were broken by the sound of a siren behind
her. Glancing in her rearview mirror, she noticed flashing blue and
red lights. She quickly looked down at her speedometer, and clearly
not speeding, she couldn't understand what she could have done to
warrant being pulled over. Letting out another sigh, she put on her
blinker and maneuvered the vehicle over to the shoulder.
As soon as the Jeep was in park, Dotty reached over and
opened the glove box. Taking out the registration, she then picked
up her purse from the passenger seat. She hadn't been pulled over
more than once before, but she had seen people being pulled over on
TV enough times to know the procedure. With everything within easy
reach, she rolled down the window and waited for the police officer
to approach.
"Afternoon ma'am." Officer McDonald nodded politely, when he
reached the open vehicle window. "Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"No, Officer, I'm afraid I don't." Dotty shook her head with
honest bewilderment. "I'm pretty sure I was going the speed limit,
and I know the vehicle's registration is up-to-date… "
"I pulled you over because you apparently didn't see the stop
sign back at Magnolia." Officer McDonald pointed back in the
direction Dotty had come.
Dotty's hand instantly went to her face, her expression
clearly showing her embarrassment. "I can't believe I missed that.
I've lived here for almost fifteen years, and I've never missed that
stop sign."
"Be that as it may, you did miss it, and thankfully traffic
is light at this time of day, or you could have had a serious
accident." Officer McDonald shrugged compassionately. "Suffice it to
say, I am going to have to write you a ticket. License and
registration please."
Dotty handed the Officer the registration she'd already dug
out, and began routing through her purse for her wallet. The first
thing she noticed, as she opened the bag, was that something seemed
off with the contents. "Officer, I think I may have grabbed my
daughter's purse… " her explanation trailed off as her fingers felt
something cold and hard. Wrapping her hand around the item, she
began to pull it out, and then as the sight of it came into view, her
eyes grew wide, and she quickly let go of the item. She prayed that
the officer didn't catch sight of it at all.
"Excuse me ma'am, may I please see your hand bag?" Officer
McDonald asked, his friendly tone now serious.
Dotty nodded and closed her eyes as she passed the purse
through the window. Apparently her prayers had gone unanswered, and
Officer McDonald had clearly seen the…, no it couldn't have been. She
didn't dare even think the word. What would Amanda be doing with a…
"Do you have a permit for this gun?" Officer McDonald fixed
Dotty with a cold-hard stare.
"Officer, I can I explain… " Dotty swallowed hard. She
wasn't sure she really could explain.
Officer McDonald nodded in understanding. "I'll take that as
a no."
"No, I mean, well, see, as I started saying before, I grabbed
my daughter's purse… " Dotty took a deep breath and continued, "and
see we were just at the mall, you know for the mall-wide sale, and we
both bought new purses. I don't know what possessed us to choose
bags that were almost identical, but we both liked them, and we
decided to start using them right away. Then when we got home, and
they were on the kitchen counter… and we were out of marshmallows,
and the phone rang, and it was my daughter's boyfriend, and I knew
they were going to be talking forever, so I decided to go to the
store, and… well obviously I grabbed her purse instead of mine."
Having found a wallet and ID in the purse, Officer McDonald
stared in amazement at this woman. He had heard her take one breath,
and that was all. No one could possibly say that much in one
breath. It was obviously a stall tactic. The registration, Federal
ID with photo and driver's license all had the same name on them,
Amanda King. However the picture on the ID and the woman behind the
drivers' seat were definitely not the same woman. "I'm afraid I'm
going to have to take you down to the station house."
Dotty's mouth fell open. "Honestly, officer, this is my
daughter's car. My name is Dorothea West, and I live with my
daughter, Amanda King. I have two grandsons, and we all reside at
4247 Maplewood Drive."
"You're obviously good at creating confusion, ma'am, but I'm
not that easily suckered." Officer McDonald put the purse under one
arm, and placed his free hand on the hilt of his gun. "You could very
easily have read the information on this woman's ID and come up with
a cover story. Now we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but
either way, you will be coming with me to the station."
Dotty closed her eyes and fought back tears. "I don't want to
make trouble. I'll come willingly." She turned the car off and
pulled the keys out of the ignition. "What'll happen to my daughter's
car?"
"I'll call ahead and have a tow truck come and get it."
Officer McDonald opened the Jeep's door and assisted Dotty out of the
vehicle. He walked her to his squad car, helped her into the back
and then closed the door. He then wrote out a note on the back of a
ticket, and walked back to the Wagoneer. He placed the note on the
windshield, so that any other squad cars passing would know this
vehicle was already being taken care of.
Walking back to his own car, Officer McDonald shook his
head. He hated arresting nice older women, but he'd learned that
even the nicest face could easily be used to distract others from
more nefarious wrong doings.
***** *****
Amanda rushed into the station house with Lee right behind
her. Only her mother could turn a simple trip to the store into a
matter of national security. The police station had called not only
her to report her missing hand bag and vehicle, but had also called
the Agency, to let them know that a civilian was walking around
pretending to be a government agent.
Fortunately, however, Mr. Melrose was the one who had
received the call, and though he wasn't happy about it, he did
understand, to a point, having met Dotty on several occasions, and
knowing that Dotty was Amanda's mother, which was explanation
enough. But, understanding or not, he had issued an order that Lee
go with Amanda to the station, just to ensure that everything was
taken care of properly. After all, with two agents along to verify
Dotty's story, well it would be a lot easier to clear up all
misunderstandings.
Amanda, with Lee beside her, anxiously approached the front
desk. "I'm looking for my mother, Dorothea West."
The desk officer looked up from her paperwork. "Your name,
please?"
"Amanda King. I believe you have my ID and license, which if
you look at the photo, will verify that I am who I say I am." Amanda
pointed to her purse sitting on the edge of the desk. "Which will
then allow me to vouch for the woman you're holding."
Lee took out his own ID, "I'm also a federal agent, and can
back up Mrs. King's story."
The desk officer picked up the ID from beside the purse,
looked at the photo, then at Amanda, and back again. "All right, it
does appear that you match the photo." She snapped her fingers and
motioned towards the officer standing beside the door behind
her. "Please go get Mrs. West from holding room two." She then
turned back towards Amanda and Lee. "I'll just need you to sign for
your things."
Amanda nodded and accepted the clipboard from the officer.
She quickly signed her name, and handed the board back to the
officer.
The desk officer handed Amanda her IDs and purse, just as the
door opened.
"Oh, Amanda, thank goodness… and Lee? She didn't need to
drag you down here." Dotty walked briskly towards the partition
door. "But then, I guess she did need a ride since I had the Jeep,
and well that's now in the impound lot, and I mean who else would
Amanda have called…"
Lee smiled with amusement as he opened the half-door for
Dotty, who immediately rushed into his wife's arms.
"Oh, Mother, are you all right?" Amanda pulled back to look
at her mother more closely.
"Yes, I suppose. Though I have a mind to write to someone."
Dotty eyed the officers behind the desk. "I mean what kind of world
do we live in when an honest citizen's words aren't worth anything
anymore?"
Amanda glanced over her mother's head and shared a knowing
look with her husband. If her mother only knew. "Come on, let's get
you home."
"I can tell you, I'm definitely taking a long hot bath now."
Dotty nodded as she stepped out of her daughter's embrace and turned
towards the front door. "Oh, this whole ordeal has been so
upsetting. I mean I tried to explain that I took your purse by
mistake…" She turned towards her daughter as they reached the front
doors, "which, by the way, I'm not the only one with something to
explain. I believe you and I are going to have a long talk about why
you have a gun in your purse, missy."
Amanda glanced briefly at her husband, and letting out a deep
sigh, followed her mother out of the station house.
End
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.