Previous chapters of the River Road story:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

How should the story continue? Voting is open on the current chapter!

Last time, The DeLorcas, Miss Trotter and Nancy (as well as Sheridan and Shakuntala) were all asked to leave Trellis’ Flowers and Gifts by a weary Bette Trellis who continued to insist that she had no idea who sent the red roses. After being locked out of the flower shop, the group talked on the sidewalk where a man passed them and overheard their discussion about the roses. The man, a Mr. Throckmorten, explained that he had just been at the movie theater when a strange voice interrupted the movie. As the theater filled with the scent of roses, the man explained, the strange voice referred to itself as “The Red Rose Rascal.” Further confused by these new details, the group was more eager than ever to get to the bottom of their new floral mystery. Miss Trotter insisted on breaking into the flower shop via the alleyway. Though against the idea, Mrs. DeLorca and the others decided they had better follow Miss Trotter to make sure she didn’t get into any trouble. Little did they know, but Trippy Trellis—Bette’s brother and co-owner of the flower shop—was watching from the shadows of the alleyway. Meanwhile, back at the DeLorca’s building, Mia Duomo was having a rather difficult time with the most disagreeable Edie Merrill when they both heard a strange noise from the gallery below them. Mia became frightened, thinking perhaps that someone had broken into the gallery. What did they do? Here’s what you decided.

Chapter 9: Hollers and Scents
by Joseph Crisalli

But, before Mia could say another word, she heard a strange noise downstairs.

“What was that?” Edie asked.

“I don’t know.” Mia shook her head. “It sounded as if someone knocked something over—something heavy.”

“What’re you going to do about it?” Edie grinned.

Mia shrugged. She was sure that the DeLorcas hadn’t returned. She didn’t hear their voices or the sounds of the animals. Mia was beginning to get concerned. What if someone had broken into the gallery downstairs?

“I think we’d better check it out.” Mia said with a hint of fear in her voice.

“We?” Edie rolled her eyes. “Do you seriously think I’m going to go all the way down those stairs?”

“I was hoping you would.” Mia said firmly. “I’m not going to go by myself.”

“Eh. I’m too tired to go downstairs.” Edie groaned.

“You’re going to have to go down eventually when you leave.” Mia argued.

“Can we take the elevator?” Edie whined.

“No.” Mia shook her head. “The elevator is too noisy. If someone is down there, they’ll hear the elevator and be frightened away. We won’t be able to catch them.”

“And, that’s a bad thing?” Edie laughed.

“Good point.” Mia lowered her eyebrows. “Fine. We’ll take the elevator.”

“Okay. But, you owe me for this. I get some kind of discount for helping you scare off intruders.” Edie sighed.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Mia nodded.

They walked quickly to the elevator and shut the old-fashioned, folding metal doors behind them. The elevator groaned and clanked as it was lowered on its cables to the gallery below.

When the doors opened, Mia took one cautious step out and slowly surveyed the gallery.

“There’s no one here.” Mia said after a few seconds. “But, look, some boxes have been knocked over—there in the corner.”

“What is that smell?” Edie sniffed the air. “It smells like a truckload of roses overturned in here.”

“It does smell strongly of roses.” Mia nodded. Then, she spotted something strange.
“Look!” Mia pointed.

On Mrs. DeLorca’s desk, someone had left a huge basket filled with red roses.
Mia walked over to the flowers. As she suspected there was a card. She carefully picked up the card. Before reading it, she studied the basket of roses.

“There must be five dozen red roses in this basket.” Mia shook her head.

“Five dozen? What? That’s like how many? Fourteen?” Edie asked.

“No.” Mia sighed patiently. “It’s more like sixty.”

“Oh.” Edie Merrill nodded. “That seems more like it.”

“Yes,” Mia sighed again, opening the card. She read it to herself.

“What does it say?” Edie asked.

“It says, ‘For Success.’” Mia gulped.

“That’s nice.” Edie nodded.

“Normally, it would be.” Mia swallowed again. “But, I think there’s something weird going on here.”

“So, does this mean our meeting is over or what? Because I’m not going back upstairs—elevator or no elevator.” Edie grunted.

“Yes, I think it’s best we end our meeting now.” Mia said. “No charge for today. We’ll meet again on Monday morning.”

“Whatever.” Edie grumbled. “I’ll see you Monday. If I bother to show up…”

“Of course.” Mia smiled patiently.

With that, Edie Merrill left the gallery.

Mia clutched the card in her hand and hurried back upstairs to get her purse and her keys. “I have to find my friends.” Mia said to herself breathlessly.

At that very moment, as Violet Trotter reached for the handle of the backdoor to Trellis’ Flowers and Gifts, Mrs. DeLorca whispered, “Violet, wait.”

“Caution, curious curator?” Miss Trotter whispered back.

“I hear something.” Mrs. DeLorca said.

“I do, too.” Eben agreed. “Someone’s panting.”

“And, I smell roses.” Nancy whispered.

“And, I’m hungry.” Mr. DeLorca added.

Despite the warnings, Miss Trotter again reached for the door handle.

“Just what are you doing?” Trippy Trellis shouted, coming out of his hiding place. He was out of breath and panted as if he had been running.

“Oh!” Miss Trotter shouted out of surprise.

As Trippy came closer and closer to them, they could not only see how angry he was, but also smell the heavy scent of roses on his clothing.

“Are you going to answer my question?” Trippy asked angrily.

“I say, I’m not quite sure we are.” Mr. DeLorca answered in his usual cheerful way. “But, just to be fair, I have a question of my own.”

“Are you going to ask why he smells so strongly of roses?” Eben asked his father.

“No.” Mr. DeLorca shook his head. “I was going to ask if anyone wants some pancakes.”

“Huh?” Trippy Trellis grunted.

“You know, pancakes? Lovely things and such. They’re made from batter. They’re not exactly like bread, and not exactly like cake. They really are something altogether their own. Very often, one puts syrup and butter on them. Sometimes, you can add fruit and some sort of whipped topping, which, really, makes them more like pie. And, I say, there’s nothing wrong with that in my opinion. I—myself—am a supporter of pancakes in all their many forms. So much so that I had a town built in their honor. Yes, it’s sticky and all that, and the streets get a little slippery what with the melted butter, but all-in-all it’s a fine place, especially in the morning. So, again, I ask, would anyone like some pancakes?” Mr. DeLorca smiled.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Trippy Trellis waved his arms wildly, “But, I do know that I just caught you trying to break into my flower shop. How would you like to explain that?”

What should they say?

Go to next chapter!

Voting results for how the story continues:

Vote!

River Road Ch. 9: What should they say? Tell Trippy the truth? 54.8% Change the subject and ask Trippy why he smells so much like roses? 29.0% Lie and say that they were just making sure that Bette, in her hurry, locked the door? 16.1%   Version 2.03