NaNoWriMo Day 28 - So I was mistaken, one more chapter to go?

Slugtectives Gary and Larry the Leopard Slugs
Conversation

Larry took a big bite from the still substantial pile of lizard droppings and chewed steadily as Gary followed suit. They sat and ate in silence for a while before Larry paused for a small break to let his food settle. He looked around them lost in his thoughts when the sound of a truck could be heard approaching. Soon it pulled up in front of the house, a smaller truck with a makeshift forklift on the back holding a dumpster from it’s tines and a man climbed out of the drivers side and down onto the street. He walked to the front door of the house and Dru met him as he opened it.
“Good you made it,” Dru said as he shook the driver’s hand.
“Yep, no problem. Just tell me where you want me to drop it and I’ll be out of your way,” he said as he shook hands.
Dru walked with the driver out to the pile on the plastic and said, “as close to this pile of shit as you can”.
The driver surveyed the pile for a moment then said, “sure thing, I’ll get it right on the edge for you.”
“Perfect,” Dru said as the driver walked back to the truck. He climbed in and then after pulling forwards backed the truck into the yard and skillfully parked in the perfect position. He climbed out of the truck and walk to the rear corner where he pulled on a pair of levers and the dumpster moved out away from the truck the n lowered to the ground landing with its edge sitting just on the edge of the plastic.
“Nice,” Dru said loudly as he gave a thumbs up from behind the truck.
Larry turned to Gary and said, “he seems awfully chipper. Maybe that means he might actually consider my offer.”
“He’s chipper because he gets to get the pile off the front of the yard,” Gary murmured through the taste of lizard.
The truck pulled out of the driveway and then turned left and headed back to the outskirts of Lakeside. Dru was left staring at the pile and looking at the dumpster. He was momentarily unsure as he stared at the dumpster and he became aware of the height of the lip. He would have to heft the entire pile up and into the dumpster and he felt his shoulders sink.
Larry looked at Gary and said, “see, he needs help.”
“I don’t think you can do much to help him load up the dumpster,” Gary said condescendingly.
“That’s not what I mean and you know it. He needs help, he doesn't need to do everything alone. I really think that we would make a good team. Hell all 3 of us and him would make a great team,” Larry blurted out excitedly.
“The three of us?” Gary said clearly unsure.
“Sure myself, you, and Tendra,” Larry said matter-of-factly.
“Have you even said a word of this to Tendra?” Gary asked incredulously, his eyes narrowing as he continued to stare at Larry.
“No, not yet,” Larry said coyly then continued, “I bet she’ll do it. What else does she have to do?”
“Don’t ever let her hear you say that,” Gary said with a shake of his tentacles.
“Whatever, are you about done? I need to get back and see if he has messaged me back yet. I need an answer,” Larry said as he looked back towards his nook.
“Yeah, I’m good I guess. We can go back. I can tell you have a fire lit under you so I won’t hold you up. If you want you can head back and I will catch up with you,” Gary offered.
Larry didn’t wait for anymore words, he turned and bolted for his nook. Gary watched him leave and until he was nearly halfway to his nook before he turned back to the lizard droppings and continued to take bites and chew in silence.
Sliding the pda out the moment he got in his nook, Larry tapped at the screen in hopes of a reply. He scrolled the notifications and found no response yet. His tentacles drooped and he sulked away from the pda and sat in a huff in the middle of the nook. “How the hell long does it take to write a simple reply?” he thought as he stewed.
#
Dru stood staring at the dumpster and the pile, trying to engineer a way to make it easier to load so he wouldn’t have to lift everything again. His mind filed through images of possibilities but none of them would work without the materials to make it. He shook his head in frustration and walked back into the house and to the kitchen where he saw the phone blinking with a message on the counter.
Picking up the phone he opened the notifications to see it was a reply from LarrSlugg4242. He opened the message and read, “How is an apology a joke? I’m serious about us working together. How can I prove myself?”.
Dru stared at the message and let it sink in as he reread it. His mind suddenly running back over the original messages trying to remember the apology. He scrolled back to the top of the messages and read through them again, this time slowly and intently. He got to the last message and opened a reply and began typing.
“First off I saw your apology, second who the hell are you? How do you know so much about me and what’s happened in this house? Why only communicate through text? And what kind of investigative experience could you possibly have?”
He reread it once then hit send and tossed the phone back on the counter. The room was mostly clean now and he walked to the living room to look for more garbage to haul out. Seeing little he walked outside and stood again staring at the pile on the plastic. Shaking his head slightly he slowly began picking up arm loads of garbage and tossing it into the dumpster.
#
Larry sat fuming at the lack of response, his frustration building as the time ticked by. He had resolved to go outside for a bit to try and cool off and was just turning to leave when his pda lit up with a notification. He looked back quickly and seeing it went directly to it and tapped at the screen excitedly.
His eyes went from wide and excited to narrowed and he began to frown as he read. “Who the hell am I?” he thought, “I’m the one that knows more about the raid than him.” Pushing the pda aside again he sat stewing over the reply. “Investigative experience? I found the list of names from the emails,” he continued.
His frustration was mounting as he tried to come up with something that felt like it would make Dru listen. He searched his memory for anything poignant he had ever seen him do and suddenly he landed on one. The memory of Dru lighting a free standing coat rack full of jackets and various shirts on fire in the driveway during what appeared to be a manic episode. He thought about the scene and it felt like a good way to make Dru believe.
Pulling the pda back out he wrote his reply. “I’m Larry and I found the list of names, that was not easy and took a lot of work. I live here so I see most everything that happens, like when you lit the coat rack on fire in the driveway. We can only message because I can’t speak.”
He read the message over and over, finding himself nervous about hitting send. He wavered a tentacle over the button but then pulled it back quickly. His uncertainty was too much and he turned away from the screen to stare at the wall lost in his thoughts. He just couldn’t make himself send the message yet, he didn’t know if he should tell him his name or not.
His vision returned and his head cleared, turning back to the pda he turned the screen on and with a deep breath hit the send button. He exhaled loudly as the message finished sending and then sat staring at he pda, expectantly awaiting the reply. From the entrance to his nook he heard Gary call as he entered and he turned his head to look at him.
“Get a reply?” Gary asked.
“Yeah,” Larry said sullenly.
“Oh? Not good huh?”
“Not exactly,” Larry said as he turned back and tapped at the pda, opening the last message from Dru. He slid the pda towards Gary who read the message.
Gary looked up at Larry and with a raised eye said, “yeah, what kind of investigative experience DO you have?”
“Hah hah, funny,” Larry replied.
“Have you responded yet?” Gary asked.
“Yeah, I just sent it a bit ago. It’s the next one down after that,” Larry said as he tapped the screen and opened the message.
“A little forward and do you think it’s a good idea telling him your name? How do you explain that we are slugs?” Gary asked with an unsure look in his eyes.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. I’m sure I will when the time is right,” Larry said pulling the pda back to him.
“I hope you’re right,” Gary said then continued, “I’m going back to my hole, I’m still sore and after slugging back from the lizard pile I need to rest.”
“Okay, I’m going to sit here and wait for him to respond, maybe take a nap,” Larry said.
Gary nodded his tentacles, turned and exited the nook. Larry turned back to the pda and sat staring at it waiting.
#
Dru picked up arm load after arm load from the pile of garbage and tossed it in the dumpster with a puff of dust as it landed. He slowly worked his way along the plastic’s edge and then towards the middle, lifting the plastic as he cleared it to move all the small stuff into one pile. Nearly halfway through he stopped for a break and went to get a drink of water in the kitchen. As he entered he saw the phone blinking again and ignored it until after he had slugged down two glasses of water in quick succession.
With his thirst satiated he picked up the phone and opened the message. “Larry? Lives here? What the fuck does he mean?” he thought. “Lit the coat rack on fire? I don’t remember that…” his thought trailed off as the slight memory slid into his mind. “Shit, I think I did do that.”
He lifted his head and stared at the window over the sink, unsure what to do as he again was lost in thought. “How the hell could someone live here without him knowing? He hasn’t seen anyone around the property other than himself so what could he mean?” He knew he had to meet this Larry person if anything was going to go any further.
He looked back to the phone opened a reply message and slowly typed. “I’m not sure what you mean by live here but no one else lives here except me. I’m done with messages, I want to meet. I want to see who it is that is living here besides me.” He hit send right away set the phone down, turning to the sink for another glass of water.
#
Larry had nodded off and popped awake as the pda flashed with a message. His eyes clearing quickly he excitedly opened the reply. His stomach dropped as he read it. “Shit, he wants to meet,” he thought. “How the hell will this work? He’s going to squish my ass.”
He stared at the message and read it over and over, his mind reeling at the prospect, even though he had wanted it to begin with. Now the reality of it was here and he found himself suddenly afraid and not ready. “There has to be another way,” he thought.
He turned from the pda and left his nook for Gary’s hole, he had to ask for help or else he felt like he wouldn’t be able to go through with the meeting. He gave a call at the entrance then went inside, finding Gary chewing on a bit of fungus.
“What’s up?” Gary said through the fungus.
“I need your help,” Larry replied.
“With what?”
“I, uh, I mentioned it earlier. I need you and Tendra to go with my to meet Dru. I can’t do it by myself. I just want you there in case something happens,” Larry said with a slight stammer.
Gary stared at Larry for a long time, Larry becoming uncomfortable with the gaze and beginning to fidget. Finally Gary said, “I don’t get why you are so intent on doing this”.
“I’ve told you already, I know we could make a good team and I feel bad for his house getting raided,” Larry replied.
Gary stared at him again as he thought over helping him. He had no desire to be a part of this but he also didn’t want anything to happen to Larry. His eyes softened then and he said, “fine, I’ll go with you. You’ll probably have a lot harder time convincing Tendra though.”
Larry smiled and said, “thank you. I’m going to go ask her. You want to come with? It might make her more willing?”
Gary sighed and said, “I guess.” Larry left Gary’s hole first followed by Gary and they headed for Tendra’s.