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Episode 8: Conclusion

Deckett raised the cardboard out of the case and out of sight. Gessy hopped up and down a little bit until he reached back in for her.

She grabbed his finger as he lifted her out and over to the edge of the tub. The women were still on the backing. It was taped to the side of the bathtub. She watched as he started running water.

“Don’t forget the bath salts!” she shouted.

“I won’t,” he replied. He had that smile he often got when she made suggestions. She thought of it as his ‘how stupid do I look’ smile. Gessy didn’t understand how insulting his intelligence made him happy.

For now, though, she just wrung her hands until he pulled a cardboard can out from under the sink. He put a measured amount under the faucet. Water started turning green.

“I have to call about the fire-brush,” the giant said. Gessy nodded, eyes locked on the Earthlings. They were still writhing in place, gritting teeth and groaning.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised and walked out. As soon as he passed the doorway, Gessy started stripping off her forest clothes and throwing them to the floor. When she was naked, she walked to the back of the tub, or the end of the tub where Deckett’s back went, pinched her nose and stepped over the edge.

She slid down into and under the water, slowing and popping to the surface. Then she waded quickly over to the other women.

“Where is it the worstest?” she asked. Valerie screamed and Betty just groaned. “That’s no help,” Gessy scolded. Then she started splashing the medicated water. It wasn’t rising as fast as she wanted so she tried to apply it to the tops of the women. The young woman took cupped handsful of water and splashed the other two on the hair.

“If I can work from the top to the bottom,” she said, “it’ll meet the water rising from the bottom to the top. Right?” They didn’t answer. She continued splashing.

“One for Betty,” she muttered, “then one for Valerie.”

The mite-salts worked to paralyze the mites and sedate the skin, incidentally dissolving the glue that held the women in place. The water itself softened the cardboard. A few moments after Gessy jumped in, both women freed their feet, kicking back and forth in the water and raising a froth.

The water she splashed on their hair ran down their shoulders and arms, medicating their body as it went. It also released their hands before Deckett had expected.

They were able to scratch while they were still itching unbearably.

Gessy first noticed the change when she rose to splash Betty. The woman’s hand came free and knocked the cupped water into the air. Then she started scratching at her belly.

“No!” the girl cried. “No, no, you’ll hurt yourself!” She grabbed the blonde by the wrist, trying to keep it away from the reddened skin.

Beside them, Valerie screamed and started to draw blood from her hips.

“No! NO!” Gessy shouted. She didn’t have enough hands to stop them both. They needed to be deep in the water, as soon as possible. She glanced up at the tape, but it was the Good Stuff. Nothing she’d ever be able to do would shift it. She thought of the faucet, but she’d never get the water flow increased in time.

Betty yanked her hand free and started scratching again. “Darn it!” Gessy shouted. In a fit of rage she jumped up to grab the woman by the hair. She had some idea of shaking the head and shouting. It’s what Deckett did when his editor came over and did stupid stuff like down an entire bottle of Drink and declare he was able to fly. It never made him less stupid but at least he stopped trying to open the window.

When she had a hold, though, she ended up peeling Betty off the cardboard and down into the water.

They thrashed about in the water for a bit. Gessy finally kicked herself free and crawled/swam over next to Valerie. She grabbed the wrists of the redhead, but kept her eyes on the other.

Betty’s head rose slowly above the foam, but she didn’t stand all the way up. Her hands were rapidly rubbing the green water over her skin, her eyes were a bit glassy.

“Oh, that’s just what I needed,” she sighed.

Gessy instantly grabbed her friend, Valerie, and pulled her down into the water, too. In moments she was also kneeling in the tub. The only body parts either woman lifted above the water were ones that had stopped itching at all or were necessary for breathing.

Even then, it was a difficult choice to make.

-----

An hour later everyone was in the living room. Deckett sat in his favorite chair. The Earthlings were wrapped like sausages in hand towels. Ointment had been applied to their scratches and they’d each had a dose of the giant’s Drink. They lay on the arm of the chair in a state of cotton-wrapped bliss.

Gessy was wrapped in her own towel, tucked into her usual spot in the crook of her friend’s elbow.

“Why don’t I get Drink?” she asked. “I was in just as much danger.”

“You’re not old enough for Drink,” he replied.

“Iss bad fer ya,” Betty said.

“It makes you slur ‘r werrs,” Valerie added. “Ur be’er off widout it.”

Gessy looked from relaxed face to relaxed face. “Looks like it’s worth it,” she concluded.

“Trust me,” Deckett said.

She thought about it. Gessy and her giant had each saved her Earthling friends in one day. He’d promised to get them home and safe and she knew he would. If they could trust him with their lives, she could trust him on this.

“’Kay,” she said, snuggling down deeper into his arm. “But just this once.”




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