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This appears in a pre-2010 issue
of cc&d magazine.
Saddle-stitched issues are no longer
printed, but you can requesting it
“re-released” through amazon sale
as a 6" x 9" ISBN# book!
Email us for re-release to order.

cc&d v197

Order this writing
in the book

Laying the
Groundwork
Laying the Groundwork
paperback (just issues) 5.5" x 8.5" book w/ b&w pages: $15.95 paperback perfect-bound 5.5" x 8.5" book w/ b&w pages: $17.95 paperback
6" x 9" cc&d perfect-bound book w/ b&w pages: $21.95
paperback
6" x 9" cc&d perfect-bound book w/ color pages: $114.95
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Idols

cc&d June 2014
anniversary issue
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+ bonus 2014 cc&d writings
Idols cc&d collectoin book get the June 2014 108 page
cc&d magazine
2003-2009 anniversary
issue supplement collection
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Satisfaction

Suzanne Hollis

    Kelsey and Joy held hands as they tip-toed down the street. They stuck to the trees for that extra blanket of darkness.
Finally, as they came to the crest of the hill, they saw it. The girls stopped walking and exchanged a satisfied glance.
Kelsey squealed a little in her excitement, but a squeeze from Joy’s hand hushed her up. The girls smiled at each other and continued walking. Each of their free hands held a paintbrush and a large can of black paint, causing them to walk sort of lopsided with a slight limp.
    The girls were wearing all black to help conceal their approach.
Walking as briskly as they could, they made it to the car they were searching for in only a few moments. The night air was rasping through their lungs and they ducked behind a large tree to catch their breath. Peering across the street, the girls scanned their surroundings.
All the lights in the house were off. All except for a flickering, blue glow coming from a room upstairs.
    “I think they’re all asleep.” whispered Kelsey as she reached up and scratched her forehead.
    “Why doing you keep doing that?” Joy asked as she pointed to her own forehead.
    “It itches!” Kelsey whined, “I can’t help it.”
    “You loser, I told you real spies don’t wear hats, but you didn’t believe me.”
    “I saw Catch That Kid, she wore a hat. And she looked really cool, too. Remember? Like, all those boys really liked her and stuff.”
    “Whatever. Let’s just do this, Ok?” The girls stopped talking and continued to look around.
When they were both ready, they exchanged a glance under the moonlight and began to walk over to the car.
It was a small, white, Toyota Camry, parked crookedly up against the curb.
The downfall of their whole plan was that the car was parked directly outside of the house inhabited by the owner. Halfway from the tree to the car, they dropped down and crawled on hands and knees.
    “Ready?” Kelsey asked.
    “Always.” Joy responded through a mischievous smile. She reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out two flat-head screw drivers. Handing one to Kelsey, they began to pry open their paint cans.
After a few moments, they were dipping the brushes inside and putting layer upon layer of thick, black paint over the windows of the Camry.
Once all the windows were sufficiently coated, the girls scurried back to the tree.
    “I can’t believe how cool that was!” Kelsey exclaimed.
    “Well let’s get going before someone sees us.”
    “Fine, Party Pooper, let’s go.” The girls checked to make sure they had all their supplies before starting on the long walk home. It was getting extremely late by this time, and luckily school was cancelled for the following day. After walking for about 20 minutes, both girls started to lose energy.
    “I think we should just go sleep at your house, Kels. It’s closest anyway.”
    “But my mom thinks I’m at your house.” Kelsey protested.
    “Yeah, but my mom thinks I’m at your house, and my house is too far to walk. We’d have to wake up your mom anyway to take us there.”
    “Do you want to just sleep in my playhouse?”
    “Kelsey, there’s no room in there.”
    “There totally is and, like, I have some blankets in there already.”
    “Ugh. Fine.” Joy caved in to the feelings of exhaustion that were creeping over her. The girls walked on another 15 minutes until they finally reached Kelsey’s house. All the lights were off, so the girls just walked through the yard over to the playhouse. Upon opening the door, a spider ran out causing Kelsey to squeal and jump in the air. Joy peered into the tiny space and then looked back at Kelsey. “I hate you.” she said flatly as she squeezed her body through the doorway. Kelsey was soon to follow and after a few moments of trying to arrange themselves, the girls finally lay down.
    “Man, remember when my dad first built this for me? It was so cool.”
    “Yeah, and we used to play in here for hours.” Joy responded through a yawn.
    “Yeah. That was like, six years ago wasn’t it?”
    “No,” Joy said, “We were nine; it was like, four years ago.”
    Kelsey began counting on her fingers, “Are you sure?”
    “Yes. Now go to sleep.”
    “Yes ma’am.” Kelsey saluted Joy as she answered. Both girls giggled before falling asleep.
    
    The following morning, the girls parted ways and went back to their own houses. They agreed to meet up later on during that month to follow up on ‘Phase 2’ of their plan.
About three and half weeks later, Kelsey called Joy on the phone.
    “Hey, did you still want to do that?”
    “What are you talking about, Kelsey? Do what?”
    “You know...the thing.”
    “Uh...” Joy pondered for a moment before the realization hit her, “Oh! You mean with the car.”
    “Right..”
    “Yeah that’d be Ok. Did you mean like tonight?”
    “Can your mom drive you over?”
    “I’ll see, but my sister is home from college this week so my mom’s all stupid about that. She wants us to be, like, spending family time together and stuff.”
    “Ew.”
    “I know. I’ll go ask her though.” Kelsey waited patiently on the other end of the line, chewing on the end of her long, blonde pony tail to help pass the time. After about two minutes, Joy came back to the receiver, “Yeah, but can your mom take me home tomorrow?”
    “Yeah, but hey listen....” Kelsey’s voice trailed off, taking her deep into thought.
    “Hey listen...?” Joy waited.
    “Oh, I was thinking that maybe your sister could just drive us there and back so we wouldn’t have to walk.”
    “No way. I’m not telling Hope anything about this.”
    “But I hate walking.” Kelsey whined, “Wait, can’t you drive?”
    “I’m not, like, really good or anything, but I know what to do.”
    “Ok, then meet me at my house in like an hour, or whenever your mom can drop you off. I have a plan.”
    “Oh god. You and your plans.” Joy laughed and both girls hung up the phone.
    Two hours later Joy arrived at Kelsey’s house. The girls watched movies, played on the internet, and found other ways to pass the time until it was late enough to go out.
They chatted as well, perfecting their plan. When the time was almost right, they began to get ready.
The girls waited until everyone else in Kelsey’s house was asleep before they gathered their things and left.
Dressing again in all black, the girls snuck down the steps and out Kelsey’s back door. Joy was carrying a large plastic Tupperware filled with sugar and Kelsey had a funnel.
They trudged up the street for almost an hour until they finally came to Joy’s house. There, they saw Hope’s car sitting innocently outside the house. All the lights were off so they knew everyone would be asleep.
Joy snuck inside as quietly as she could and swiped the keys from Hope’s bureau. She then dashed out to meet Kelsey and they hopped in the car.
    Joy started the car like a pro. She eased it into ‘Drive’ then gently pressed on the gas.
The car slowly moved out of its space and onto the street.
Joy drove way below the speed limit, but at least they weren’t walking. Finally they made it to the place they wanted to be.
    Joy attempted to park the car on the curb, but ended up just turning the engine off while it was still about two feet away.
The girls grabbed their supplies then skipped out of the car to do the deed.
    They walked together in silence for about five minutes, then they veered off the road and up onto the sidewalk. Like before, the girls tried to stick to the shadows of the tall maple trees lining their path.
    After another few moments, they came up to the top of the hill. The girls both looked down the hill for the Camry, but did not see it. They exchanged a puzzled glance, but continued on their way. When they were across from the house in which She lived, they popped behind a tree again to converse.
    “OK, so, like, where do you think she went?” Kelsey asked Joy.
    “Man. I don’t know. This is weird...What time is it?”
    
Kelsey pulled back her sleeve to reveal her sparkling watch designed by Paris Hilton. “It’s, like, 2:00 now!”
    “Hmm. Maybe she went out?”
    “Yeah right, with who?”
    “Uh...James? Isn’t that his name?”
    “It’s Josh,” Kelsey’s tone seeped with irritation, “and besides, she’s, like, retarded. Who would ever want to date her? I mean, she’s, like, a total twit, you know?”
    “Riiiiiiight. So, there’s no chance that he would be out with her right now?”
    “God. I don’t know.” Kelsey huffed and sat down cross-legged on the ground. “She’s so dumb, you know? Like, she’s only three years older than me and she’s got stupid brown hair.”
    “Hey!” Joy argued defensively, “What’s wrong with brown hair?” holding out a strand of her own in front of Kelsey.
    “Oh. Heh heh, sorry.” Kelsey replied sheepishly, “But you know what I mean. She’s not that gre—”
    Just then, the girls both started up at the sight of headlights coming down the street.
    “Oh my god,” Joy said, “Get down, get down!” She pressed Kelsey down toward the ground, as she herself got down as well. Both girls lay as flat as they could, while staying behind the trunk of the maple.
The car drove past them and pulled over down the street about a block. The girls could see the top of the car in the light from a flickering street lamp nearby. It was white.
    “Do you think that’s her?” Kelsey half whispered, half mouthed to Joy.
    “Could be.” Joy began to army crawl her way over toward the sidewalk.
Kelsey followed behind her, only less skillfully. Once they reached the grass’ edge, the girls shimmied over to the nearest car and crouched down, one at each tire. There, Joy slowly raised her head just high enough that her eyes could see over the hood of the blue station wagon.
She dropped back down immediately and nodded to Kelsey.
    The girls waited long enough to hear the front door of the house open and close behind her. They crawled back over to the protection of the tree and discussed their new plan.
    “OK we can still totally do this.” Kelsey was getting to cheer up because now there was hope that they could still accomplish what they set out to do.
    “Kels,” Joy began, “Are you sure? We’ll have to sit out here for hours to wait for her to go to sleep.”
    “Man, good thing I made you get that car, huh?”
    “What?”
    “Now we can go sit and wait in the car. And not freeze our butts off out here.”
    “Fine. Let’s go.”
    The girls walked back to the car and sat inside. After a few minutes, Joy managed to just turn on the accessories so they could have heat and listen to the radio. They talked about school and the summer and Valentine’s Day (which was coming up) and snowboarding. All the while, they listened to some CDs in Hope’s car.
    “What is this?” Kelsey asked in disgust as she pointed to the car stereo.
    “Uh, only, like, the greatest band ever.” Joy reached on the backseat to bring up a CD case. “Here,” she said as she tossed the case on Kelsey’s lap, “they’re called My Chemical Romance.”
    “Ugh! They sound soOoOooOoOo moany. Like, someone just ran over their cat or something.”
    “God Kelsey, that’s disgusting!” Joy squealed as she snatched the case back from her. Both girls had a laugh and went back to talking. Kelsey however, had reached up and pressed a button to change CDs. “I saw that!” Joy said playfully, but made no attempt to change it back.
    “Well this is more like it!” Kelsey began laughing and started playing ‘air guitar’ while nodding her head along with the beat. Joy just laughed along with her. The girls sat in the car in this fashion for about another hour and a half, until finally Kelsey could stand it no longer. “I think she’s asleep now, don’t you? I mean, like, if I were such a crap person as she is, I would go to sleep now.”
    Joy gave a short laugh, “Yeah I guess. Let’s go out and check. It is pretty late now. And I’m almost tired.”
    “All right you big baby,” Kelsey said as she reached for the Tupperware, “Let’s check.” And with that, she hopped out of the car and was already onto the street before Joy even had her door open. Once they were together and walking side by side, Joy broke the silence.
    “You know, you might have wanted to bring this,” she said as she held up the funnel.
    “Omigod! I almost forgot! Dude, you are totally my lifesaver!” she snatched the funnel from Joy and gave her a half-hug at the same time. “I would have been, like, SO mad if we got all the way there and then, like, didn’t have this.”
    “I know.” When the girls made their way back to the maple, they peered out from behind it at the house. All the lights were out, but they were still a little nervous.
    “Are we going?” Kelsey asked.
    “Yeah, let’s circle around that way though.” Joy pointed to the end of the street which had no street lights that were working.
    “Oooh. Yeah, good idea.” Kelsey agreed and the girls walked down the street, crossed, then slowly back up the other side to where the car was parked.
    “Do you think she parked under this street light on purpose?”
    “Uh, definitely not. She just didn’t have anywhere else to park. Duh.” Kelsey looked around and then back up into the windows of the house. It was hard to see in them at the angle they were at, but that gave her hope that she couldn’t see out either. Once they were sure the coast was clear, both girls walked up next to the car near the back end. Joy passed the funnel to Kelsey, who meanwhile had removed the gas tank cap on the car. While Kelsey held the funnel in place, Joy poured the sugar into the gas tank. About three-fourths of the container went in before the tank began to overflow. Joy stopped immediately and grabbed the funnel, while Kelsey screwed the cap back on. She closed the little door and both girls backed away from the scene. The girls walked as swift as possible back up to Hope’s car.
    When the reached it and got inside, Kelsey began to jabber away with excitement, “That was SO cool. I mean, we kind of are the coolest ever, don’t you think?”
    “Yeah, but tell me again how this will help you?”
    “Because, she will see that by being with Josh bad things happen to her.”
    “Ok that doesn’t really make sense, but whatever.”
    “No just wait, one day she’ll break up with him and then he’ll, like, totally come running to me.”
    Joy had started the engine and was easing the car back onto the street, “Does he even know your name?”
    “Well no, but like I said, all in good time.”
    Joy laughed, “You never said that.”
    Kelsey joined in laughing, “Yeah well I meant to.” The car was starting to move down the street when Kelsey said, “Maybe you should turn off the headlights.”
    “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”
    “Why not, all the people in spy movies do it.”
    “And I bet they really have their license...I don’t even really know what I’m doing.”
    “Fine.” The car slowly moved down the road and when they passed Her house, both girls peered out the passenger side to try and peek in the windows. Right as the car was almost parallel to hers, both girls felt a bump under the front left tire. Joy slammed her foot on the brakes. Both girls nervously looked at each other. “Uh, did you feel that?” Joy asked.
    “Yeah, like, did you just hit something?”
    “I don’t know, but we can’t just sit here.”
    “Well then pull over down there,” Kelsey pointed to an empty spot a few yards down the street, “and then we can check it out.” Joy eased her foot off the brakes and the car only traveled about a few feet when the girls felt another bump.. This time it was under the right back tire. “Oh God.” Kelsey’s voice had turned dead flat.
    Joy pulled the car over near the space Kelsey had pointed out earlier and stopped the engine. The girls got out of the car and held their breath as they turned around to face the street. There, just on the edge of the ray from the street lamp laid a small, dark mound. Kelsey’s hands shot up and covered her temples (an action she usually did when she was scared) as she sucked air harshly through her clenched teeth.
Joy just lowered her head.
Both of them knew they had to at least see what it was they had hit, so Kelsey walked around the car and took Joy’s hand in hers. They walked delicately toward the animal. When they were within about ten feet from it, both could tell that it was a cat.
Kelsey’s eyes began to water as she looked at Joy. Upon closer inspection, they saw the cat was wearing a collar. It was a bright pink flea collar.
    Kelsey turned to Joy, “Do you think that’s her cat?”
    “She does have a tabby doesn’t she?” Joy answered without taking her eyes off the cat. Her face was lacking its usually tan complexion. Kelsey swallowed hard.
    Both stood in silence staring down at this little cat. Their moment of reverence did not last long however, because suddenly a light flicked on in her house. The girls froze to the spot. They could not see in the window well, but at once they both saw a shadow or a figure pass by the lower set of windows. With their hands still locked together, the girls took off running down the street. They hopped in the car and drove off as quickly as Joy could manage without seeming conspicuous.
    The ride home was silent. When the arrived back at Kelsey’s house, Joy said, “I have to go put this car back so Hope doesn’t know...Do you want to come?”
    “I don’t think so, I am pretty tired. You should probably just sleep at your house tonight.”
    “God Kelsey, it’s like, 5:00 in the morning, I can’t just waltz in my house.”
    “Fine, then go put the car back and come back. I’ll be inside.”
    “You won’t even walk with me?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t feel up for walking. I just...don’t know how I feel.”
    “Yeah me neither.” Joy agreed.
    After another moments silence, Kelsey finally said, “All right. I’ll walk with you. Let’s go.”
    Joy smiled inwardly and they were off. By the time the girls finally made it back to Kelsey’s house, the sun was beginning to rise. They sat out on the porch to watch it, then clumsily made their way up to Kelsey’s bed where they fell asleep instantly.
    Once they woke up well after noon, Kelsey said, “Let’s start over.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean, let’s just let things happen, and not try to force them...so bad things don’t happen.”
    “Ok. Sounds good, but shouldn’t you be telling yourself this...not me?” Joy chuckled.
    “Hey, shut up!” Kelsey said, but had a laugh herself. The girls walked down stairs to find that Kelsey’s mom had cooked pancakes and waffles for breakfast. “What’s all this, Mom?”
    “You girls must have had a long night to sleep so late, so I thought I’d make a treat.” The girls exchanged a knowing glance and sat down at the table.
Kelsey’s mom brought them each a heaping plate.
    “Thanks.” They said in unison as they began to shovel forkfuls of the syrup drenched breakfast into their mouths.



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