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At group therapy Sady sat next to Frank, prodding him every so often. Finally, he glared at her and shared with the group he was making a serious effort to kick the habit. Sady hugged his arm and everyone applauded. She held his arm through the rest of the session, and he knew he didn't want to let her down.
"Grab the jello cups after supper," Sady whispered to him when the group broke up. "I'll round up the others and meet you outside."
After supper they scarfed the extra lime cups from the food trays. The kitchen staff was in for a surprise- no gelatin leftovers. Sady ran to the activity room before joining the others outside.
"Pour the jello in the bags, then tie the string around the top," she instructed. She wrote on the plastic bags before passing them out. With a grin she held up the bags.
NO MORE LIME JELLO!
NEW HAIR COLORS!
BETTER ART SUPPLIES!
NO OVERHEAD LIGHTS FOR BED CHECKS!
She looked at her friends. "Anything else?" At the head shakes she asked Frank to tie the bags to a low-hanging branch. "Who wants first shot?" she asked. "We're gonna use this broom to beat the lime jello piñatas in protest."
"Did you say beat?" Carolina asked. "Because those things are starting to resemble that hairy dog my husband is now sleeping with."
"You can't take them all out at once," Sady warned.
"I'd like to just take out one. Do you have any with fur? " Carolina grinned, and she swatted a bag of jello. The goo splattered on the concrete and hit a few guests who sat on the other side of the tree.
"Hey, what's going on?" someone yelled. The gathering crowd came closer to watch Lee take a turn. There was a murmur of disappointment when her bag didn't break.
"Give me that," Lou said. "I'll show you how to use a broom!"
"You'd be the expert on that," Lee muttered.
Lou yelled, "Here's to strawberry jello!" Her swing broke open another bag and sprayed everyone in the area. Some of the guests shrieked and ran while others stayed and cheered.
Before they finished breaking the jello bags Nurse Gabby came outside to see what caused the commotion. She got spattered when the last bag broke. "New hair colors for Lucy," Allison yelled.
"What on earth is going on out here? Who started this?" Gabby demanded.
"You did!" Sady yelled to enthusiastic applause.
"Oh my God, you've turned our sweet little girl into a mobster, Harry Knight!" CJ's voice scolded. "You and your plans! When John shows up, those footprints on your back will be from the rest of us running over you on our way out the door!" Sady spun around. She forgot about her company! Then she looked down at herself and the others, covered with green jello.
Nurse Gabby picked up the broken bags and read what Sady wrote on them. "Anyone not wearing green jello is dismissed!" She then lined up the delinquent guests like children. She started with Lee and Lou. "You don't like lime jello?" They shook their heads. "Have you ever tried asking for strawberry jello?" The twins looked surprised and shook their heads again. "Try it! Dismissed, after you apologize to Sandy-Sue's visitors."
"Not the rest of you," Nurse Gabby warned when the others tried to slip away. She turned to Allison. "If Lucy doesn't like the hair colors all she has to do is let me know, and I'll see what else is available. Dismissed, after you apologize!"
"The rest of you don't like the bed checks? Offer some alternatives to turning on the overhead lights! Frank, no demands for a smoking booth?"
"I've given it up," he grumbled. "But I'd sell you now for a single puff of a cheap cigarette." Sady grabbed his arm and smiled while Gabby narrowed her eyes and addressed Sady.
"In order to get better art supplies something else in the budget will have to be cut. Like the fish pond or the garden," she told Sady. "Any suggestions?" Sady felt bad and shook her head.
"Hold on, right there," Amanda interrupted. "I have a suggestion- let me make a phone call." She turned away for a minute then spoke to the person on the other end. "Joey, break open that checkbook and find a good deal on art supplies- for adults." She listened for a minute then glared at her phone. Looking up, she asked, "Who's in charge of art supplies around here?" She passed the phone off to one of the aids, who reluctantly took it.
Everyone looked at Amanda and she said, "What's the point of having a rich boyfriend if you can't help yourself to his money when you want?"
Matt gave a snort of derision. "Joey's not your boyfriend, Amanda!"
"He doesn't know that, so what difference does it make? It keeps him happy. Besides, he can use the tax write off."
Nurse Gabby took over again. "The rest of you are dismissed after you apologize! Except you, Sandy-Sue. You have company." Everyone apologized and most of the guests left, but Frank and a few others.
"Frank's my friend," Sady announced.
"No kidding," CJ muttered to Harry.
A sudden squeal from Amanda made everyone turn.
"That's just irresistible," Cliff said defensively when Amanda narrowed her eyes.
"Little man, you better not try that again, because I've had all I'm gonna take. You just help yourself to a free squeeze? Do I look like a fruit that needs juicing? If you say yes, I'm gonna pile drive you with my fist... right into the ground." Amanda turned to Judy. "You be sure and let me know if you need any help with this little pervert. Because I'm ready to do the world a favor and put him out of commission permanently!"
Cliff looked scared and ran while Judy followed with a smile.
Sady turned to her company. "We can sit over by the garden if you don't mind my green spots." Frank went in to clean up and Sady's company sat by the garden. "Sorry- we might have gotten a little carried away," she said, a little embarrassed now. She pulled a paper from her pocket and handed it to Harry. "Here's my report."
While Harry looked at the paper, CJ said, "Hey, we brought something special for you to watch." CJ pulled out her phone and showed Sady the video from Matt and Amanda's adventure at the shooting range. Sady giggled at Amanda's clothes, then laughed when she flattened Matt.
"Amanda would fit right in here," Matt told Sady. "You want me to leave her?"
Harry interrupted, waving the paper at Sady. "So this is your report? Would you care to explain it?"
She glared at him and pointed to the stick figures she'd drawn. The first was a woman with black, red, and blue hair. "That's Lucy. Someone stole her bra." The next figure showed the same woman but with a grossly exaggerated chest. "This is Lucy with her new bra." The final picture showed the same woman with arrows indicating a bouncing chest. There were several stick men with their eyes bugged, and some with their eyes hanging out on springs. "This is Lucy bouncing and showing off her new bra."
No one said anything. "Nothing's been stolen," Sady exploded. "Except Lucy's bra, and Frank and I just found the remains of it! Hey, I just had a thought. I'll be right back!" She left her friends and raced off to find Nurse Gabby.
"You bought Lucy's new bra, didn't you?" she asked the nurse.
Gabby glared. "Don't be ridiculous. That's against policy, and you know I'd never break policy. This place would fall apart if I didn't enforce the rules!" Sady grinned and ran back to her friends.
"You can go now. After you leave me my bag of goodies. Did you get the good ear plugs, and the soft eye mask?" CJ nodded and handed her the bag. Sady looked into the bag. "Thanks. I'll let you know if I need anything else." She pushed her friends to the exit and rushed to find Frank, yelling goodbye as she left them.
"Did we just get the brush off?" CJ asked Harry.
"I'm more worried about what she's cooking up in that twisted little mind," Harry replied. "And I'm not so sure I like that guy. He's a bad influence. We need to do a background check on him."
"Harry, you're not jealous, are you?" CJ teased. He gave her a grumpy look, and she grinned. "You are! Don't worry, I'm sure Sady still loves you."
"I like that guy," Amanda said.
"That's no surprise," Matt retorted. "How do you feel about Cliff?"
"Humph! That little man better mind his P's and Q's or I'm gonna go all George Washington on his butt and chop down his little tree, cherries and all," Amanda said.
***
"Sandy-Sue, didn't you leave your friends a little abruptly?" Frank asked.
"They'll get over it and I'm still a little mad at them right now. Besides, I just saw Todd and I want to have a talk with him. I didn't know he was back."
"Well, I'm going to watch TV," Frank told her. "I might as well since I can't go sneak a smoke." Sady patted his arm with a smile and ran to find Todd. Something didn't seem right, and she wasn't leaving until she knew her friends here were all okay.
She found Todd at the pond, sitting on the bench. When she greeted him he looked up and smiled. "I missed you," she told him. "I wanted to talk with you about fish, but you were gone."
Todd appeared confused. "I don't know what happened. When I'm on my meds I never space out, but I spaced out so something went wrong. I don't think it was the water, because I'm not a fish, but they took me away until I felt better. Then they brought me back."
"Did they give you your meds, Todd?" Sady asked curiously.
"Yes, but they gave me the wrong ones. I only get one red and one white, like my fish, but they made me take a blue one, and that's all wrong. That's like a flag's colors and I don't need a flag, just a fish, except my flag was only white and blue. The red was gone."
Sady tried to make sense of his jumbled explanation. "So instead of getting your red pill and your white pill, they gave you a blue pill and a white pill?"
Todd nodded. "It's like they tried to add the water to my fish, but I didn't need the blue pill for water because I already get it in a glass when I take my pills."
Sady nodded and patted his hand. "Well, I'm glad you're back, Todd. Maybe we can talk about fish tomorrow."
"Okay. I like fish!"
That night Sady used her earplugs and eye mask and slept better.