Sisterhood of the travelling 45

For this week’s Trifecta challenge (this week’s word is confidence), I’m back in the nursing home with DoDo and Wilma. Take a second to read their previous (short) escapade. They have now returned from their shopping spree unscathed, as they have every week so far. It helps that Wilma’s great grandson helped them hack the garden gate code, but sooner or later, they’re going to get caught.

Here is the first of two nonfiction companion pieces to go with this little story.

And here is the other companion.

_________________________

“I know what you did.” Clara Jean Phillips peered at Wilma and DoDo from the hall, then waddled in and perched on  Wilma’s ladder back rocker.

Wilma scolded. “When the nurses see you, it’s back to the lockdown wing.” Even as she spoke, a klaxon blared.

DoDo slid her hand up the inside of her bed and pushed the nurse call button. She mused, “How to buy her silence.”

“Take me with you! And we won’t come back!”

“We’d get caught before we left the gate. No, it’s going to have to be something else.”

“Quickly, now,” Wilma added.

“You take it for me,” Clara finally said.

“Take what, dear?”

“This!” Clara Jean reached down her shirt and brandished something thin, black, and jagged.

“What is it? Did it cut you?”

Clara pushed it towards Wilma, “Take it to 754 Washington Street. Tell them I cracked the code.”

The speaker on DoDo’s bed came to life, the nurse answering her call. “Are you all right?” a male voice asked, “Is it an emergency?”

Clara continued to hold the item out to Wilma, who accepted it between pinched fingers.

DoDo said, “Turn off that racket. My hearing aids both have feedback. Clara Jean just popped over for a visit. She’s down in our room. All ready to go back home, now.”

“Right. Thanks,” said the man.

The speaker clicked off. “Oh, they’re coming now. Oh, hide it!” Clara wailed.

“There now.” Wilma tucked it into the foot of DoDo’s bed. “All taken care of. 754 Washington Street.”

Clara Jean left with the dark haired nurse muttering, “Mustn’t tell.”

When she had gone, DoDo asked, “And what confidence has she bestowed upon us?”

“It’s part of an old record,” said Wilma.

“A record? A vinyl record? What do we do with it?”

“Take it with us,” said Wilma. “ We’ll pitch it at the convenience store. She won’t know. And even if she tells, who would believe her?”

“Who indeed?” Dodo agreed. “Who indeed?”

About jesterqueen:
Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order.

Comments

Sisterhood of the travelling 45 — 21 Comments

    • Wilma and DoDo are totally taking over my brain. I think they may be supernatural or something.

  1. I was wondering whatbthe black shard would be. These ladies are funny. A friend’s dad used to crack the code and wander out. It was funny until the calls about him getting out came in the middle of the night. Still clever despite their ages.
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    • Yeah, that’s when it gets scary, isn’t it? When someone you thought was safe in bed suddenly…isn’t.

  2. Pingback: Clara Jean’s origins | | Jester QueenJester Queen

  3. A part of an old record…now I want to know more. I’m loving these girls. Nicely done.

    • These senior citizens more full of hijinks than prom night with the rowdy seniors in high school!

    • It was just exactly what Aunt Charlo used to do, only she wanted you to hide it in your purse. And the best part about her was that she would find her own adventures completely hilarious when her meds were adjusted. She only hazily remembered what she’d done, and she’d tell on herself as readily as anybody else who’d been through whatever it was.

    • Yay! I want them to be relatable characters, people you’d want to go visit sometime when they weren’t up to no good. Or maybe when they were!

  4. Such charming characters; how do they just grow out of your head? I’m enjoying this story with Wilma and DoDo; will there be more?
    Hop over and visit Sandra’s recent post Dear JoltMy Profile

    • Scott got me thinking and made me remember Aunt Charlo and her records. The other two started in a dream and now have simply moved in and taken up residence, ordering around the other characters like they were dealing with stubborn children.

  5. As soon as I saw 45, I knew I had to read this one. Remember those yellow plastic adaptors we had to fit into the center of those small records? I actually have a silver version on a necklace. I get comments on it all the time. Nice story, JQ. Thanks for bringing me back.
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    • What an AWESOME necklace. I was totally fascinated by those converters when I was a kid. In spite of growing up in the cassette years, we had three turntables in our house at one point, and my Mom had a six milk-crate-high collection of records.

  6. The piece of record is intriguing. I like their feisty personalities and it feels like they’re cooking up some sort of adventure!
    Hop over and visit jannatwrites’s recent post The ChoiceMy Profile

    • Always. DoDo has debilitating hip and pelvis problems, but those haven’t daunted her spirit or her will to get out of bed and sit in the wheelchair as often as possible. Wilma has a few physical issues, but mostly she’s here on a voluntary basis, bored to death with young people and ready to raise hell among ‘her own kind’.

  7. I’ve had a few error messages trying to comment here, but I think the problem is at my end, not yours. I love these guys! You have created some really believable characters here and you write brilliantly as usual. Thanks for linking up.
    Hop over and visit Trifecta’s recent post Trifextra: Week FourteenMy Profile

    • No, it’s not you. This new and ‘improved’ wordpress commenting system is worse than anything blogger can cook up. I hate it. It screws me over about half the time. I’ve had to make a fake e-mail address, which I think had to actually go out and create so people could respond to me at it, so that I can comment on wordpress blogs and leave a link back to my blog. Makes me wanna pull out my hair.