THE CHRONICLES OF GIN
A Serialized Gingerbread Man Retelling for Adults
Part 6: Into the Details
"Kitherine, that didn't count. Let the cookie go.”
I glanced around my alluring captor to find the issuer of that command. He was a shaggy dog in his senior years, with at least a couple of Saint Bernards in his lineage. Maybe a horse or two.
“Which one of you snitches called Scruff??” Kitherine hissed.
There were a lot of mumbled denials throughout the barn, but I could swear the goats were snickering quietly underneath it all.
Kitherine narrowed her eyes and threw a sideways glance at the interloper, who seemed intent on ruining what had been turning into an awesome night after all.
Abruptly, she released me and sat to my side, a hair's breadth away but not touching. I felt that distance to the depths of my soul. I stared up at her pleadingly, but her focus was squarely on the dog. She took a deep, calming breath.
“Scruff,” she began, “the cookie clearly expressed, in the presence of all these witnesses, his willingness, nay, eagerness, to play. With me. Why are you interfering?”
“Yeah, Scruff, I gave consent!” I chimed in, helpful moron that I was, but the big dog didn’t even glance my way.
“Kitherine, this cookie is so fresh from the oven he's still warm. It's unreasonable to expect him to understand what you meant. You want real consent? Show him the playroom and ask again.”
She stiffened for a moment but recovered quickly.
“Fine!” she said a bit too brightly. “He’ll probably love it, I could tell he was a little freak the moment I saw him!”
“Hey! Maybe gingerbread doesn’t usually come to life, and that’s a little ‘weird’ and whatnot, but that’s no reason for hurtful wor-” I trailed off in embarrassment. "That... wasn't what you meant at all, was it?”
Kitherine just smirked. And while Scruff didn’t say a word out loud, I could almost hear him calling me every synonym for ‘stupid’ in his head.
“Follow us, cookie.” Scruff ordered sharply, then started walking toward the door with Kitherine right beside him.
I got nervous for a second then, but the view from behind Kitherine quickly wiped my brain of higher reasoning. I gleefully followed the sway of her hips out of the barn to the playroom.
To be continued...
Saved by the dog? We'll see! Tune in to the next installment to find out, definitely eventually 😉.