Ian, who was being
currently ignored since Dylan's arrival, leant over to Jess and
decided to grab her attention. “Jimmy's going mad.”
At the mention of Jimmy, Jess'
attention was caught and she tried to look uninterested, but
failed miserably. “Really?”
“Yes. He's trying to kill you.”
“Oh, how amusing.” Jess was worried, but tried to look
calm.
“You're taking that well,” Dylan noted.
“Uh-huh.” Jess smiled through gritted teeth. Ian sighed
- his attempt at attracting Jess' attenntion had failed. He went
back to his drink… at least that was faithful.
By sunset, all of Hannah's
requests had been built, and after an afternoon on the beach,
many of the people on Jesshannahtropolis had headed back to the
hotel for dinner. However, Hannah had headed back to the Casino
Hut, for she had large withdrawal symptoms from the friendly
machine noises.
When she got there, she
was surprised that she couldn't see Patrick anywhere. He had
promised to hold the fort whilst she was gone – what the
hell was he playing at? “Patrick?!” Hannah shouted. “Where are you? You
worthless slacker!”
There was a clunk and Patrick appeared
from over the top of one of the machines.
“What are you
doing?”
“I can't get the money out!” he exclaimed.
“Y'what?!” Hannah ran over and thumped the machine.
“Where's it gone?” she exclaimed. “Where's our
money?” She opened up the flap where the winnings came out.
“Hello?” she shouted into the machine.
“Hello?” she repeated.
There was no reply. “Oh my God!”
The two of them sat on top of the gambling machines in a state of
shock.
Patrick started shacking. “I need to gamble, gambling is my life!”
Hannah started crying and the pathetic pair sat on top of the
broken machine that had eaten all their strands.
Suddenly, Jess
stormed in. “Right, you two! I don't want any arguments – rehab, NOW!”
She looked at Hannah and Patrick, then asked, “What
happened?”
They replied by
bursting into tears and falling into each other's arms.
Jess,
more that a little p*ssed off, frowned deeply. “I'm getting
a rehab centre built first thing tomorrow, and you two can be the
first rehabees!” She marched out and slammed the hut door.
Hannah and Patrick were left alone in the dark.
“OK… and THROW!”
Jimmy commanded.
Tyke hurled the grenade with his mouth.
Jimmy
watched it roll down onto the beach and then explode.
“Fabulous,” he said, grinning evilly. ”Now all we
have to do is watch… and wait.”
Tyke sat down on the
sand and fell asleep.
“Soldier! Wake up!” Jimmy
commanded. “We must be alert and prepared at all times!”
Tyke yawned and farted in his sleep.
Jimmy looked back down at the beach. No sign of Jess
yet… only David Bowie and the Pope (walking separately, that
is). Jimmy sighed and adjusted his bandanna around his head. Soon
he saw Jess coming over the beach on the far left. “Wake up,
soldier!”
Tyke opened one eye to see Jimmy coming towards
him with a grenade in his hands.
“Open up!” Jimmy tried
to wedge open Tyke's jaws with the top of the grenade, but Tyke's
jaws were clenched firmly shut, and the only thing that gave way
was the pin in the top of the grenade. “Oh my GOD!”
Jimmy screamed, looking at the live grenade in his hands.
“You've done it this time!”
Tyke stared at Jimmy and Jimmy stared at Tyke.
“I KNOW!”
shouted Jimmy, throwing the grenade high into the air and wiping
his hands clean on his army vest. “All done.”
Tyke
looked up at the grenade falling back down to earth at rate of
knots, yelped, and ran into a nearby bush.
As Jess stormed along the
beach back towards the hotel, there was a huge explosion on the
hillside to her right.
“Woah. Someone should do something
about those explosive gas pockets,” she said, before jogging
off to meet Dylan and Ian at the Star Bar.
In the bushes, Jimmy coughed up a small black cloud and fell
over.
The door of the casino fell open as Patrick
and Hannah emerged into the twilight. They had finally pulled
themselves together and were braving the outside world. They
blinked as they were momentarily blinded by the glare of the
moon.
“What now?!” Hannah asked, completely wired, as it she
had been eating pure coffee granules.
“I don't know!” replied Patrick, equally spaced out.
“Let's peg it to the Star Bar!”
“OK!”
They made a break for it, but hours of sitting on
uncomfortable jackpot machine stool had rendered their legs
completely useless. They collapsed onto the sand together.
“Now what?!”
“Erm… let's crawl!”
The two manic figures
disappeared over the dunes.
Tyke stared over to the
other side of the bar to where Hannah's new pet tiger was
standing. It was guarding a stool by the bar, ready for when its
owner returned, if ever. Tyke shook himself and sauntered into
the bar through the beaded curtain.
Hannah's tiger, which she had
immediately named 'Terror' on seeing everyone's reactions to it,
looked around over its shoulder and saw Tyke approaching from
afar.
Tyke, unaware that he had been spotted, grabbed a glass
full of beer with his jaw and trotted towards Terror the Tiger
– he was gonna throw it in his face – right where it
hurts.
The sounds of Tyke getting mauled were drowned out by the sound
of the High Llamas being played over the loud speakers. The
atmosphere was chilled and relaxed. Until Hannah and Patrick
crashed into the bar in hysterics, that is. Jess, Toby, Ian,
Zane, Dylan and Brandon looked up to see what was going on.
“And… and… the parrot—“ Hannah giggled
as she sat on the floor. “The parrot was wearing GREEN
Y-FRONTS!”
She and Patrick physically fell over on the
floor laughing.
“On my God,” said Dylan. “What the bejesus
happened to them?”
“No idea,” said Zane.
“Fricking eedgits.” Dylan concluded.
“It's like
'Silence of the Lambs' gone wrong…” commented Zane.
Dylan nodded, then looked at Zane, confused.
Jess walked over to
the two of them giggling on the floor.
“Oh, oh no!” said Hannah sarcastically, between
gulps for breath. “We're very naughty, Miss Jess, we
understand… honest!”
They collapsed into hysterics.
“They've lost it,” nodded Dylan.
“Your music arena has been built,” Jess said.
Hannah sat up, immediately serious, and brushed herself down. “Let's roll…”
� Jess and Hannah 2002