| Duck! By Jemmiah ******* "Are you sure about this?" Vernice asked as she dragged Jemmiah round by the arm. "You could have the choice of any number of gifts and you want bath oils?" "I missed not having baths." Jemmy looked solemnly at Vernice. "When I was stuck on that planet for five years we only had sonic showers. I liked being able to soak in the bath. When I was little I used to splash my brother in the face. He used to pinch me, see? So I tried to get foam in his eyes to make him cry." Vernice half smiled. "Sounds delightful." She said dryly. "It was fun. Except when he'd force me to eat the soap." Jemmy pulled a face at the stray memory. "I don't recommend it at all. So I used to hit him with my duck." "Duck?" Vernice asked, wondering her sanity in asking. Jemmy nodded her head really fast. "I had a bath duck when I was little. No bath should be without a duck." Vernice was kind of thankful that Jemmiah was still too weak and wobbly to do much in the way of shopping. She seemed to tire easily, which left the master wondering if it had been such a good idea of Qui-Gon's in the first place. They'd been picking out a few items of clothing for the girl, and Vernice was wondering what exactly Qui-Gon would make of them. They'd argued over style and practicality, Jemmiah seemingly being drawn to the impractical and the daring (which she knew Qui-Gon would NOT tolerate) and in the end practicality had won out. As a compromise the Corellian child had insisted that the colors be loud. And they were. VERY loud. She'll certainly be eye catching, Vernice thought dryly to herself as Jemmiah charged off towards the perfumes and bath oils. Well, he'd promised her she could get what she wanted within a certain price range and so far they were still well under budget� "Corellian orchid is very good." Jemmy unscrewed the tester and let Vernice sniff at it. "Here. What do you think?" "I think," Vernice tried to catch her breath, "Qui-Gon won't know what's hit him!" Jemmy dropped the bath oil into the basket and moved on. "Bath cubes." She held up the container. "More Corellian orchid?" Vernice wondered. "Why not something more subtle, like Alderaani rosewood, or Korrassi pine?" "Bleuch!" Jemmy pretended to gag. "They're for babies! I prefer something more mature." She walked over to the counter and picked up a scented bath sponge. "Let me guess," Vernice stared as the item was added to the collection, "Corellian Orchid?" "Yup!" Jemmy gave small grin. "I hope Qui-Gon likes Corellian Orchid." "So do I." Jemmiah agreed. "But nevermind. I'm sure he'll get used to it." The next stop was over to the bath accoutrements. Jemmiah had taken a few steps round the corner and then suddenly her eyes lit up. "Ducks!" she pointed gleefully. "Just what I need." Vernice followed the child's enraptured expression towards the shelf that was literally overflowing with plasti bath ducks. White ducks, green ducks, blue ducks�ducks of every color. Wall to wall ducks. "Okay, if you're sure." Shrugged the master, reaching out to pick up the nearest one to her. "Uh uh." Jemmy rounded her eyes. "I'd like a yellow one." "Yellow? Why yellow?" Vernice looked up at the shelf where the yellow ducks were. The TOP shelf. "They are way up where we can't get at them." "My duck was yellow." Jemmy said defensively. "And I'd like a yellow one to remind me of him." Vernice cast her eyes up once more. She couldn't help but wonder if Jemmiah was being deliberately awkward by requesting a yellow duck but one look at the disappointed look on the girl's face was enough to persuade her to make a special effort. "Okay. A yellow duck it is then." She murmured. "I'll have to get the assistant to get one for us." "Can't you float it down?" Jemmy asked, waving her hand about to imitate Vernice's force powers. "In a store? That would look maybe a tiny bit odd." Vernice tossed her long mane of hair backwards. "No, let's go see if we can find�ah, ha!" she hailed over a passing assistant, a rather tall and weedy looking young man with the complexion of thin porridge. "Can I trouble you to help us?" "S'pose." He replied unenthusiastically, hands in his pockets. "We want a bath duck." Vernice pointed. "Yeah? Well, there you go." He jerked his head back at the display. "Go ahead and take one." Jemmy narrowed her eyes. "I want a yellow one." She insisted. "Yellow ones are on the top shelf." He replied glibly. "Never!" Jemmy pretended surprise. "Is that what they are??? Well, that's a real shame coz I want a yellow one. Please get me a yellow duck." "What's wrong with a white one?" the man asked, frowning. "Because it's not yellow. I thought you were an assistant." "I am." "So how about assisting me?" Jemmy heard Vernice stifle a snicker. "Look�" the man stared up at the top. "I'd need to get a ladder." Jemmy walked over to him and shook him by the shirtsleeve. "I know people who could turn you into rose fertilizer." She said quietly. "A yellow duck, please." The man sniffed and for a minute Jemmiah was certain he was going to aim a kick in her direction, but then he finally deigned to fetch some ladders. He was gone about five minutes when she saw him struggling back with the repulsar steps. "Kriffin' kids." The man muttered as he hoisted himself up on the steps and allowed himself to soar gently upwards. "Kriffin' ducks�look at some of these. Evil looking objects. Some of them look like they're possessed�" "Really?" Jemmy asked, interested. "I'll have one of those." The man rolled his eyes. "Kriffin' strange kid." His hand went to the first yellow duck he could find on the top shelf. "I don't want that one." Jemmy pointed, walking round the side of the shelf and staring upwards for a better view. "I want THAT one. The one towards the back with red beak." "Well you can't have it." The man said bluntly. "I don't want any other one." "Tough, kid." The man started descending, ignoring the irritated look Vernice was giving him. "There's nothing wrong with this one. It's a nice ducky, see?" "Don't patronise me." Jemmy growled. "I want my duck or I will inform your manager." "Listen, I don't�" he stopped abruptly as the repulsar steps suddenly bucked violently to the side. Jemmy couldn't be certain but she was almost sure she'd seen the slightest movement of Vernice's fingers as the steps shot away, leaving the man clinging for dear life on the top shelf. His legs dangled and flailed about, kicking a cascade of brightly painted plasti ducks from the lower shelves onto the ground. Eventually though a combination of his weight and gravity caused the top shelf to fall sideways, and the man landed with a satisfying thud amidst a sea of ducks. He looked momentarily stunned, but when he realized that everyone in the vicinity had stopped to see what the commotion was he brushed off the dust, set his thin lips into an artificially pleasant smile and handed the Corellian girl a yellow duck. "That's not my duck." Jemmy refused. "Well, which IS your duck?" The man asked acidly. Jemmiah looked up at the one remaining duck on the sliding top shelf. "That one." She said. The man closed his eyes and mentally started to count to ten. He'd got as far as four when something hit him on the head. "Ah ha!" Jemmy picked up the yellow duck with the red beak and the thoroughly evil upturned smile. "This is Snordle." "Who?" Vernice asked. "Snordle. My duck." Vernice took the girl by the arm once more. "I think we'd better be going." Jemmy was half dragged along the isles, past the perfume counter and the bath oils, turning to wave at the man at the last moment. "Have a nice day!" she raised Snordle in a salute. "Jemmiah!" Vernice shushed her. "Well, I was only thanking him for being so helpful. Although," she looked at the plasti object in her basket, "maybe on reflection white would have been nice after all�" |