Chapter Ninety-Seven: What Happened to Sapphire

Giggles (of the Belle
variety) was busy lecturing Demon on the long-term goals for the new
University that was being built on the site of the old one. Demon,
meanwhile, was nearly asleep.

“And THAT is
why…mate, seriously!” Belle pulled out the Lucky Seven Gun and
put it to Demons head.

“You're not going to
shoot me, so why should I wake up?” Demon yawned.

Giggles pouted and put
the gun away.

“Your friend Chuckles
however…” Demon smirked. “He'd kill me, wouldn't he? After what
I did to Sapphire?”

Giggles stiffened.

“Sapphire was the
boys grandfather wasn't he? Awful, awful way for a senior citizen to
die…but then, some of them do ask for it.” Demon mused.

Giggles itched to take
out the Lucky Seven Gun and put a few bullets in the Mayor. Knowing
that it would only ruin her chances of making any change however, she
went for the next best thing.

“You want to hear
about my idea for the Pleasantville Public School? The School was
established a hundred and fifteen years ago…”

Demon wished he'd kept
his mouth shut.

—

Sunny had just put
Melody down for a nap and was about to tackle the job classifieds
when Cyclone Belle struck.

“Hey
Belle-Belle…whoa!” Sunny cried as Belle grabbed her by the
shoulders and pulled her into the cupboard under the stairs.

“Belle! What are you
doing?!” Sunny hissed.

“I need to make sure
Charlie doesn't hear us.” Belle told her.

“In a CUPBOARD?!”
Sunny fumed.

“Your father brought
up Sapphire today. He was trying to bait Giggles.” Belle said
flatly.

“Sapphire? What
Sapph…oh no.” Sunny groaned.

“Exactly.” Belle
grimaced. “Charlie's pretty good about his grandfathers death, but
if he was baited like Giggles was then it could get ugly, and it
could cost us everything we've worked for. Charlie would never
forgive himself if he let that happen.”

Sunny exhaled. “What
are we going to do? Charlie won't like us keeping him away from City
Hall, he wants to be a part of this as much as anyone.”

“We need to have a
nice, calm, soothing conversation with him telling him the truth,
while at the same time keeping him from going into a blood rage.”
Belle told her.

—

“Oh this is so cool!
You would not BELIEVE how well the children are responding to the new
changes!” Sammy nearly knocked Daniel and TJ over as they walked to
their hideout at the tip.

“Easy Sam! You're not
ten anymore!” TJ laughed as Daniel picked Sammy up and threw the
younger man over his shoulder. “Although to some people, you might
as well be.”

“So Chuckles and
Giggles have started to make a difference.” Daniel put Sammy down
on the boot of a car.

“It's made teaching
completely different, and today was only the first day!” Sammy
grinned. “The kids were all talking and trying to work with each
other. No tears, no fights, just a lot of learning!”

“Do I hear someone
gushing over the brilliance of Chuckles and Giggles?” The voice of
Charlie floated towards them.

“Yup!” Sammy waved.
“Although it's more Giggles at the moment.”

The group laughed as
Charlie slumped over. The ribbing continued as Belle, Sunny and Tammy
arrived.

“Petunia got caught
at work. She asked us to let you know she'll be home late and not to
wait up.” Tammy told TJ.

TJ frowned.

“Anyway, we have to
talk.” Belle began.

“But first we can
have a bit of chocolate!” Sunny quickly cut in, holding up a large
block of chocolate. Belle frowned at her.

“What is this?” She
hissed at Sunny as the boys tore the block of chocolate apart.

“Gentle.”
Sunny whispered back.

“So
what do we need to talk about?” Charlie said, popping some more
chocolate in his mouth.

“Are
we going to get any of that?” Tammy asked.

“Charlie,
there's no easy way for us to say this.” Sunny said gently.
“Unfortunately, my father has started playing dirty.”

“He
tried to bait me by mentioning Sapphire.” Belle dropped the
bombshell.

“I
BELIEVE IT WAS YOU
WHO SAID THIS HAD TO BE NICE, CALM AND SOOTHING?!” Sunny roared.

“He's had chocolate.” Belle shrugged.

Charlie gulped. It had been years since Charles Howzatt had been
brutally killed by Demon in the final battle between the Death Valley
Gang and the Mobsters of Misneach. Charlie had never forgotten either
of his grandfathers, but there was still a sting to the memory of his
maternal grandfather, who Charlie had been arguing with when he died.

“You're saying I can't go to City Hall because you're afraid I'll
be baited.” Charlie breathed. “I understand.”

“I know you do. You might have a mouth the size of Marions mental
health problems but you're a smart bloke.” Belle hugged her best
friend.

“DO YOU HAVE A SINGLE SHRED OF SENSITIVITY IN YOUR BODY?!” Sunny
nearly pulled her hair out.