by Arnie
The faces of his men presented a bland, innocent facade.
"You see, Lieutenant, we thought you would appreciate a break from the war," Actor explained smoothly.
Garrison sat back, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the best con man in Europe. He'd seen Actor in action too often to be fooled. "A break from the war. Spending a historical weekend in a cottage?" He pulled the Davy Crockett hat from his head and regarded the arrow stuck through it. "And where, exactly, does this come in?"
Goniff smiled. That had been his idea. "That was just to give you a feel for the time. You won't be pretendin' to be in the Alamo or anythin' though."
"The Alamo woulda been a lot more exciting!" Casino pointed out, his face showing what he thought of the historical weekend.
"Well, that wouldn't exactly have been a break from fightin' though, would it?" Chief murmured, his eyes gleaming with mischief.
Garrison looked at the Indian, then around at the rest of his men. Actor was still conning him, he was sure of that, while Goniff was doing his best innocent act, always a sure sign of trouble, and Casino was trying to hide the grin that threatened to break out and give the game away too soon. Taking a deep breath, the Warden laid the hat on the table and faced up to the latest challenge his men were throwing him. "All right...now what's really going on?"
Actor shook his head. "Nothing, Lieutenant. Why should anything be going on?"
"So tell me about this weekend." Garrison suggested, his eyes fixed firmly on Goniff, always the weak link in any con.
Goniff squirmed slightly, his eyes shifting nervously as he tried to smile at the Warden.
"Goniff, why don't you get another round in?" Actor suggested, giving the Limey a way out.
"Yeah! I'll do that!" Goniff's hasty escape from the table confirmed Garrison's worst fears. He knew he wasn't going to like this.
With Goniff gone, Garrison shifted his attention to Actor. The Italian smiled, confident of his ability to control the situation.
"So...tell me more about this weekend." The emphasis the Warden laid on the word 'weekend' told them all quite clearly that he wasn't buying it.
"The cottage belongs to a historical society," Actor explained smoothly. "You'll spend the weekend living the life of a typical 18th century Puritan."
"A Puritan?" Garrison echoed, stunned.
"You betta believe it, baby!" Casino couldn't contain himself any longer. "Early to bed, early to rise, plain food. It'll be just like bein' in the army!"
"I hope you got a likin' for tapioca, Warden," Chief murmured, well aware of the man's intense hatred for it. "Seems the Puritans were real keen on it."
"Tapioca!"
As if by magic a bowful appeared in front of him, placed there by Goniff. "We got yer some in for yer birthday dinner, so's you could get a taste for it," he explained happily.
Garrison's hands curled around the bowl. There was only one thing to do with tapioca.
Actor's eyes widened in alarm. "Now...Lieutenant...!!"
THE END
