Page 26 of Her Wonderful Wonder Bell
“You in charge here?” she asks. “I’m captain of these girls. We all got more than a few questions.”
Rosa looks around at us, then shrugs. “You could say I’m in charge here. Your teammate, however, is more likely to be able toanswer your questions.”
I slide out of the way to reveal Pearl, who has been hiding behind me. She tries to shrink back again but I don’t let her. When they see her, they gasp. Pearl waves awkwardly, her expression tight with nerves.
“Hi there. As you can see, I’ve had a little bit of trouble. You all are fine though, don’t worry. Well, you’ve been locked in a box for almost eighty years.” She shrugs. “But otherwise, you’re fine.”
The women all begin to ask questions at once. Apparently, finding out they’ve been zoomed most of a century into the future is just as tough for them to believe as it was for Pearl. She’s patient and answers every question she can, and the ones she can’t the rest of us fill in. It takes a long time, but we get to every one of them that we know the answer to. Angelo contacts a friend who owns an apartment complex with a couple places available who’s willing to let the ladies stay there until they can get back on their feet. We all agree to do as much as we can to help them learn how to live these days, bring them things they need, etc. It’ll be tough for a while, but they’re all strong. I know they’ll be fine.
As for Brigley, Pearl and I went to visit him in the hospital. He couldn’t talk much. We asked the doctors what’s wrong with him and, I guess, there isn’t anything in particular. He’s just…old. When we got rid of the curse, monster, experiment, or whatever it was that had taken him over, he returned to a normal, human guy who just so happens to be well over a hundred years old. I called the nursing home and sort of explained what happened. They said it’s not the weirdest thing they’ve heard of, and they’d take care of everything. He’ll have a place to stay.
The Wonder Balls are, unfortunately, done for the season. They’re looking for a new coach and, while Mr. Brigley still technically owns the stadium, he can’t efficiently make decisions. He also doesn’t have a will or the capacity to make one. It will likely go to the city when he passes. What will happen then, I have no idea. The Wonder Balls will definitely still play—the towns folk would riot if they didn’t—I just have no idea what things will look like when it’s not under Brigley’s rule.
As for The Wonder Belles? Information about them has been slowly reappearing nowthat they’ve returned—individual things like their birth records, photos in family albums etc., but also things that involve other people. News articles talking about The Wonder Belles have reappeared in the archives. The names of the lost girls are, sadly, gone for good. I think that’ll take a while for the Belles to get over, and that’s more than understandable. They do want to play again someday though, and I hope they do. I hope they get new women from all over as well.
Oh, and Pearl’s movies are back. Which means her old public service films are back too. We found them—and they’re hilarious. Pearl doesn’t get why I couldn’t stop laughing, but a whole thirty-minute movie telling teens that if they go past holding hands they’ll never graduate was some kind of work coming from her. The drive-in is going to have a night to play old public service announcements and hers are definitely going to be a major feature. She’s being grumpy, but I for sure think she’s excited to be a bit of a star again.
“Hey, Delia?” Pearl asks as we’re out walking to Kyle’s to get a drink.
“What’s up, Bubbles?”
She giggles at the nickname like she always does.
“I read on the Internet that they have little vibrators people can wear inside of them, and they can be controlled by another person from anywhere through their phone. Is that true?”
I stop and stare at her. “Where the hell have you been looking on the Internet? But anyway, yes, that’s true Pearl.”
“Wow. Phones really can do everything.”
She starts to walk but I set my hand on her shoulder—which has healed, thank goodness—to stop her.
“Is that something you’d like?”
Pearl looks around us, and when she sees no one is there, tugs my nipple piercing through my thin tee-shirt. “I think I would.”
I take her hand, turn the opposite direction and start walking at a brisk pace.
“Wait, aren’t we going to Kyle’s?” Pearl asks.
“Nope. I’m taking you to Carl’s.”
“Carl’s? I’ve never heard anyone mention that place.”
“Yeah. People don’t, uh, usually mention going to places like Carl’s, but that’s definitely where we need to go.”
We walk at a steady pace, arriving shortly at Carl’s Adult Emporium. I tend to get my toys online, but when I want something now, Carl’s will do. It’s a little seedy, and the prices are higher than they should be, but they’ve always got what I need.
As soon as I open the door and Pearl sees what’s inside, her face turns bright red. She might be sexually adventurous, but I don’t think she’s ever seen a wall of rainbow-colored, realistic, monster dick-shaped vibrators, or a giant, high-definition screen playing a pansexual, demon-kraken orgy. A Ghostlight Falls sex shop can’t be beat.
“Alright, we should find at least a few of them to choose from over here,” I say as I guide Pearl to the area where the remote vibrators are.
“Alright. That’s good,” she says as she drags her hand along a display of werecat pheromones. “Can we look around a bit too?”
“Anything you want,” I saywith a laugh.
Unfortunately, Brock appears around the corner, holding a magazine called Goth Girls with Huge Honkers and a tube-shaped item I quickly look away from before I can make out what it is. I think hard about baseball to bleach away this memory.
“Oh, uh, Dee,” he mumbles. “Dee’s girl. Hello.”
