#126: The Civilian Complaints

Kelly had been up in her bathroom when she heard someone at the front door, and so went downstairs.

 
"You look wonderful!" Peter gushed upon seeing her.

"Your new hairstyle really suits your face!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, thanks, Peter."  Kelly blushed slightly.  "Alice and Regina dragged me to the spa yesterday while the boys were out at the park, and convinced me to make a change."

"What's this?" Kelly asked him, about the box now standing next to the door.

"I was out shopping for presents for Daedelus and Scout, and saw this toybox and thought I'd get it for Declan."

Kelly was touched.  "That's really sweet of you, Peter," she said.  "Hey, what would be involved with getting a small bathroom upstairs--so that Declan could shower?"

"Not a big deal," Peter said.  "I could think about the space, and talk to Bill about construction."

_______________

Zoe and Rafael were hard at work on their new clothing boutique.

Zoe was finalizing purchase orders for the merchandise she was buying for the store, and Rafael was making an advertising buy.

"Oh, Rafael, I'm SOOOOOO excited!" Zoe exclaimed.

"As am I, mi amor!" he said.  "And I have bought a TERRIFIC advertising package for you--customers will be POURING into the store!  And add to that my own personal celebrity appearances, and I am certain our store will be a HUGE success!"

"And may I say, you are the loveliest shopkeeper I have ever seen!"

(Rafael was easily distracted.  As was Zoe.)

_______________

Lana bagged another perp,

then went out on patrol.

"I'm so glad I ran into you, Detective!" a civilian said.  "Because I have a very weird neighbor who's been filling his front yard with junk and blasting Kaboom Boxes for 3 days now!"

The woman gave Lana the address of the offending neighbor, which address Lana recognized.

'OH, boy!' she said to herself.

She spent 2 hours on patrol, and heard many complaints from many civilians,

intervened in a domestic dispute,

and had to issue a citation.

_______________

That afternoon, Kelly went over to Regina and Bill's house to see baby Scout,

and baby Daedelus,

 and to have tea with her new-mom girlfriends.  (Alice had baked a blueberry cobbler.)

"How long will Derek be away?" Regina asked.

"A couple of days," Kelly answered.  "It's just recurrent pilot training that he needs for his Astronaut job."

"Hmmm, are you okay on your own with Declan?" Alice asked.  "Do you need one of us to take him to the park?"

"Not to worry," Kelly assured her.  "Declan's actually much nicer when Derek isn't around."

"And Peter kindly dropped off a box of toys for Declan this morning, so he'll have something to do when he gets home from school."

_______________

When Lana was done with work, she headed to the address the annoyed civilian had given her.

"Oh, geez," she said aloud, upon approaching the house.

"Mr. Austin???" she hollered.

Devin came ambling outside.  "Detective!" he greeted her happily.

(Devin was a huge Lana fan, and searched for mention of her every night on the internet, so he knew she'd been promoted.)

"Mr. Austin," she sighed, "what IS all this stuff???"

"Oooooh--these are the results of my latest experiments with my newly modified invention!" he exulted.

"Mr. Austin, I've received several complaints from your neighbors about the clutter in your front yard," Lana told him.

"But, but--they're just JEALOUS of all my pretty treasures!!!" he wailed.

"Mr. Austin, you MUST clean out your front yard," Lana told him sternly.  "Maybe you can get away with having all this stuff in your BACK yard, but you can't have it here."

"I just LOVE it when you boss me!" Devin flirted.