New Kid in Town (Jerod's First Tale - Part 7)

Sometimes, it's the simple things in life that can make you happiest. Someone brought their baby to the park and left it just sitting there.

Such a cute little tyke. All alone. Unprotected. Mine to have fun with.

You have fun your way and I'll have fun mine. Stealing candy from an unsuspecting toddler is a lot of fun. The results are one upset toddler screaming its little lungs out and I have some great candy.

"Hey, Red, got some news for you." It was Sinbad Rotter. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"What's up, 'Bad?"

"Couple of things. The Company got tired of waiting for Dennis Racket to return so they've fired his ass. Till they decide who's running our branch, we're taking orders from the Company head office."

I nodded, that made sense. Dennis was senior most employee in town, almost everyone else has been happy drifting along like the two bit thieves they are.

"The other thing is that there's a new kid in town. The Company has decided to assign him to be your getaway man. You two have a lot in common."

"Sinbad, there is no way I'm shepherding the new kid. I am not the company babysitter."

"Not your choice, chum. The Company has decided to start pairing off people quickly, it gives the noobs someone to look up to and you have incentive to teach them well."

"I do?"

"Cops ain't gonna just take your offsider in, are they? He's over at the Red Rendezvous, you should go meet him."

"Well, how am I going to recognise him?"

Sinbad laughed. "Red, you'll know him when you see him."

Well, Sinbad was right. In a tiny town like this, any new face stands out. That honker of his stands out by a mile.

But it is annoying to find that the company is so shallow, they'll assign another red-head to me just because we are 'so much alike'.

"I'm Ted. Ted Ginger," he told me. Right, his real last name is Ginger *exactly* as much as mine is Shrimpton.

"I'm Jerod, but most everyone calls me Shrimp."

"They told me I had to start as your driver. Do you think we should convince the company to invest in some super-charged V6 cars or would standard V8s do? Cars aren't normally my concern."

They aren't mine either. Do they go faster than the cop cars? That's the only point that's really going to matter. What kind of guy did they set me up with?

"Mainly, don't get something too flashy. It's not nearly a big enough town to hide a flashy car. And it needs to be able to hit top speed pretty quickly. Beyond that," I shrugged.

"Come on, you have to care. We need to make waves in the Company. Big waves. Waves that I can ride to the top."

"Waves you can ride to the top?"

"Yes, someday this town will be mine. This town and beyond," he cackled with glee.

He is more like me than I realised. He's an evil bastard bent on ruling as much of the world as he can hold.

Since I was already at the Red Rendezvous, I arranged for another band get together.

We still haven't been offered an official gig but we make damn fine music together.

During our break, I went over to get to know MJ better. She wasn't impressed when she found out that I was evil.

So MJ is yet another Ms Goody Goody chick. What is it with all the cute chicks in town being good?

Hot damn. Dennis's hot tub finally arrived. They've installed it upstairs here, along with a bit of screening.

I can forgive Dennis a lot for this. I finally can try out skinny dipping in the hot tub.

Well, I can forgive him some. I'm still glad that I managed to avoid kissing him, much less sleeping with him. And the pink tux was godawful in every sense.

Tania and Tatianna joined me. What more can a guy ask for then skinny dipping with two girls?

"Ted, what are you doing?"

"Can't let you hog all the ladies in town, can I?"

I was about to protest when Tania made room for Ted by sliding over next to me. Niiccee.

Tania started to cuddle and everything else in the room faded to insignificance. Let Ted have Tatianna. They deserve each other.

"Shrimp?"

I turned my head toward her. "Yes? What do you..." She took advantage of me and gave me a kiss I wasn't going to forget in a hurry. My Ms Goody Goody is damn fine at making out. That woman can take advantage of me any time she wants.

I told Tania we should talk when I got back from my trip. But I can't just bring myself to just ask her to move out of the house. I tried an indirect approach.

"Tania, why the hell can't you clean anything? You've cooked like once and the stove is filthy, the counter is disgusting and there are dishes everywhere."

"What on earth is your problem, Shrimp? What's a few dirty dishes? And I seriously don't know what you mean about the stove or the counter. It all looks fine to me."

"My problem is that it stinks in here. The cloud of flies doesn't give you a clue that it's getting bad?"

"Eh, if you don't like it, you can clean it. I have better things to worry about."

So far, so good. She's quite insulted.

So much for the indirect approach. One minute we are fighting and the next minute, well, let's just say that makeup sex can be everything that it's promised to be.

Insulting Tania is not going to encourage either of us to move on. It always ends with us diving into bed again.

The band isn't getting gigs as a group but as individuals, we are making some money on the side from our efforts. I was at City Hall to do a drum roll for the mayor. She was announcing a new tax for the businesses around the city.

I did my bit, the mayor did hers to much cheering and applause. She handed me 500 simoleons since the announcement went so well.

I found out that Dennis had left behind a recommendation that I get promoted. It's kind of impressive how much he was willing to do for his toy boy-to-be; trip, promotion, hot tub.

Almost enough to make me regret having him kidnapped from camp. Not quite, but nearly.

I was outside, working on my latest masterpiece.

When Tania answered the front door and found that Sinbad and Ted have dropped by for a visit. I wonder what they want.