[FYI: Part 1 of the story, you can find here, and Part 2 is here.]
The house was different these days. Jennifer and Emily couldn’t place it, exactly when, where or how it happened. It was almost two years to the day since their legendary winter barbecue, the last time all of them stayed up so late together for no reason at all. The changes crept up and affected all of them but Jeff operated as if he had no part of creating the current situation. Not engaging in the problem though, made the situation harder than it had to be.
Terry, now friends with all of them, tried to be the impartial outside observer. He thought he knew what the problem was, and always would be. Rick. Only Rick -- increasingly obfuscating, controlling, and officious, remaining blithely optimistic -- denied there was anything wrong with the way things were unfolding. His policies and responses to his housemates’ demands, particularly Emily’s, were denigrating and un-motivating.
Things were getting personal and escalating. Rick routinely brushed Emily off as an another blue-eyed peaches-and-cream blonde from the boonies, with her suggestions of process improvements on chore rotas. Quick to remind him he was not winning at charm school, Emily retorted he’d be a dumb male blond also to think he’d make it in business with that attitude. He wasn’t exactly a “good ol’ Charlie Brown” as he tried so hard to convince everyone as fact. Talking incessantly about himself, Rick's words and actions were really misunderstood, just like good ol’ Chuck. And he has a Snoopy! No, no, no, Emily knew something was not right with the picture Rick was trying to paint. When it came to Rick, Emily’s feathers ruffled every time. Outside of the house, at bars, at the gym, she’d complain to anyone who’d would be willing to hear. Shut up Rick! Her blue eyes infuriated like the inside of a flame.
So it had come to this -- to teach Rick a lesson. Friday morning had come and Emily was wary about going through with the last part of plan she and Jen had concocted last Saturday over a few beers. She did her part. As luck would have it, Rick was away most of the week at a last minute robot conference, which made things easier for Jen to prepare the ruse. Emily’s remaining job was to make sure nobody found the Snoopy in its kidnapped location before Rick came home Friday night.
*****
“Rick!” Jeff shook his head, saddened to have the misfortune of being home when Rick finally noticed Snoopy was missing late Friday night. “It’s good for you, it’s therapeutic, man, think of it like that. Take it easy, nothing bad is gonna happen.”
Rick gave Jeff his once-this-is-over-you’ll-die look. "Where's Jen and Emily?" Rick fumed. Rick wasn’t terribly happy with the idea that someone had come in while only Jen was home with the ruse of getting something for Rick and “kidnapped” his most prized possession in the world, a three-foot high off-white and well-loved Snoopy character doll, and made it out as a treasure hunt. It could have been his housemates, it could have been someone from the robotics group that didn’t go to the conference, it could have been one of his students. Rick suspected all of them. It was not going to be a good weekend.
Rick, nearly twenty-three years old and an electrical engineer still sleeping with stuffed animals, didn’t care about what others thought. That was clear in the way he conducted his undergraduate labs and the less than logical ways of storing his collection of electronics parts. Besides it wasn’t just any stuffed animal. It was Snoopy! Snop-ehy! He had the t-shirt, the sweatshirt, pens, mouse pad, all sorts of Snoopy and other Peanuts paraphernalia, but mostly just that huge grubby worn-out stuffed Snoopy was what annoyed others the most. Jen complained that it was "filthy and skuzzy", her exact words, Rick remembered. Of course, all he could then think and talk about after that was scuzzy drives. Emily just laughed at him, not out loud mind you, Rick knew she was trying to control it.
Jeff was actually the one raising his eyebrows and trying to get all psychoanalytical on him. His first and only girlfriend (so far!) didn’t mind as long as Snoopy sat on the desk chair when she came over. Rick wasn’t serious enough that she’d actually sleep in Rick’s tiny bedroom at any point in the near future anyway. His housemates all knew that, and was further cause for Rick derision.
Fighting to not roll his eyes at Rick, Jeff tried to convince Rick that it’ll bring the house back together if they manage to find the Snoopy. Rick would play along. “Yes, of course!” Rick piped up, after a small pause to let what Jeff was saying sink in. “You don’t have to tell me twice.” He went back to his sullen face, looking longingly at his empty bed.
Rick found the ransom note in his favorite lasagna pan, sitting outside on the front porch. Yesterday, Jeff left the snow shovel and sidewalk salt he bought right next to the pan, without ever telling Rick he saw the pan or note there. Jeff denied he had anything to do with it. Rick assumed Jeff was clueless as to what went on earlier between Emily, Jen and himself so in that spirit, Rick apologized to Jeff, assuming he could be trusted.
At any rate, it’s plausible deniability to leave Jeff out of it Rick thought. Jen might have been the “psych major” expert, but Rick maintained that he was always one step ahead of his roommates. “Not this time it seems”, Jeff offered. Jeff wasn’t exactly always helpful even if he was hopelessly honest. “Are you going to help me or not?” Rick snapped.
Next week: the Finale! Stay tuned....
Word count: 968
