Missy reminds Coco about the Terranean arms dealers she’d been cultivating since Nowruz.
“Missy, I feel so awful about those bears.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much, Coco. They wouldn’t let them go up in flames like that.”
“They who?”
“The Terraneans who captured them. Remember those arms dealers I mentioned back in my Prolegomenon? Well, they aren’t your typical arms dealers. They’re wildlife traffickers. And they’re not your typical wildlife traffickers either. They’re into trafficking wildlife parts. Eyes of newt, rabbits’ and pigs’ feet. Stuff like that. It helps them fund their terrorism operations.”
“But why bears? Are they after the claws?”
“No, the Terraneans are too proud of their traditional pastries to want ours. Not even the ones with almonds. They’re after the arms.”
“Bear arms?”
“Yeah, which is why the Crystal Crevice Creek Resort schedule caught my attention.”
“You mean because the Gays of Hormuz event? They’re Terranean, aren’t they?”
“They are. But did you notice that the calendar listed three separate bear arms rallies for this weekend? One of them has to be cover for a major arms deal. We have to shut that down.”
Coco and Missy bought local corn to reduce the risk of starting a new infestation of an invasive insect or disease.
“Hey, Missy. This yurt is pretty spacious. The skylight lets in a lot of natural light. And the view’s great, too. What’s the name of the river again?”
Coco and Missy’s yurt has a great view of the Crimea River.
“Crimea. But before we get too comfortable, Coco, let’s go look for those bears.”
Coco and Missy arrived too late at the bear pen.
“Dammit. We’re too late.”
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“Hold on tight, Missy, while I break formation. Prepare for landing.”
“Roger, Coco.”
“Missy, look down to the right. Do you see what I see?”
“What? You mean those bears penned in by those colossal pieces of firewood?”
“Yeah, bears. And I think two of them are waving at us.”
Coco and Missy spotted bears penned in by firewood as they prepared for landing.
“Remain still. Don’t wave back. Just get us on the ground so that we can get Shining Armor some corn and check into our yurt. I’ll fill you in after that.”
“What?”
“A yurt. I booked us a yurt.”
“A what?”
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Coco and Missy change their flight plan despite running low on corn.
“Shining Armor, say again.”
“Crystal Crevice approach, we’re running low on corn. Permission to go around.”
“Shining Armor, state your intentions. You just said you’re running low on fuel. How is aborting this landing going to help you?”
“Approach, we’re going deep. Into Crystal Crevice, that is.”
“Shining Armor, do you want advisories?”
“Negative.”
“Roger wilco, Shining Armor. Good luck!”
“Coco, why did you abort the landing?! We’re on our last ear!”
“Change of plans, Missy. We’re going to draft off that flock of birds to save fuel and have them pull us down into Crystal Crevice. But first, I have to maneuver this unicorn into their slipstream. Quack like a duck so they don’t notice us.”
“Coco, they’re not ducks! They’re Canada geese! And geese don’t quack, they honk!”
Hear the Canada geese as they pull Coco and Missy down deep into Crystal Crevice!
“Duck, goose. Quack, honk. I’m a city girl, Missy! I don’t know anything about migratory aquatic birds, least of all foreign ones. Just do what you have to to distract them while I get us into position.”
Coco maneuvered Shining Armor into position so that they could draft deep into Crystal Crevice.
Coco rented domestic unicorns instead of domestic uniforms.
“I said domestic uniFORMS, Coco, not uniCORNS! The plan was to infiltrate the resort at Crystal Crevice Creek disguised as femmes de ménage, just like Madame de Boneville taught us.”
“Missy, there were metal snaps in that dryer! I couldn’t even hear myself think over all the clanking, let alone what you were saying. Who’s wearing things with metal snaps these days anyways? Well, these corn-fed unicorns are ours for the rest of the week, so we might as well make use of them.”
“What do you suggest we do, besides get you some Q-Tips to clean the cobwebs out of your temporal bones?”
“We switch to Plan B.”
“What Plan B?! Something insane like aerial reconnaissance over Crystal Crevice?!”
“Exactly.”
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Coco didn’t know until now that she’s been dating Chica Mutante’s brother.
“What do you mean I’m dating her brother?”
“Coco a.k.a. Beautiful, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Alejandro a.k.a. Rich a.k.a. Dirty Rich–and don’t think I didn’t notice–a.k.a. Sucio Rico is Carina Celina Cristina Margarita Sabrina Mutante y Bailarina del Infierno a.k.a. Chica Mutante a.k.a. my mother’s lock-kneed pole-dancing housekeeper’s brother.”
“Yeah, Missy a.k.a. Beautiful, that’s what you said in the last chapter. And that clown dentist you insist on seeing goes by the alias Dirty Rich. What’s your point?”
“My point is this. We have to figure out why Chica Mutante is working under cover in my house and why my parents are down in Crystal Crevice during the off season.”
“And why your mother came back to water wooden tulips.”
“Right. Take a look at this. I got it off the Crystal Crevice Crier website.”
“Well, we knew from the androgynous Terranean burkini models, Inané and Insané, that the Gays of Hormuz were going to be down there this weekend. They told us that in the Writer’s Colon during the dramatic reading of Gray’s Anatomy. Remember? Chapter 3.“
“Do I?! Those hair dryers were loud! Speaking of, we need to get out of here ASAP because he’s about to put in a load of laundry.”
“Good idea, Missy. Guess I’m answering the phone today.”
Missy pays homage to Lady Gaga with her own MISH (MIssing Skeletons Hotline) Egg.
“Come in, Coco. The door’s around back. It’s bigger on the inside than it looks.”
“You’re right, Missy. It’s very spacious. Hey, did you get a new purse?”
Missy’s MISH Egg is much more spacious inside than it appears from the outside.
“No, it’s the housekeeper’s. I meant to search through it this morning, but my mother’s back from Crystal Crevice for some insane reason, and I needed to get out of that house.”
“Did you ask her why she was home?”
“She said she had to come back to water her damn tulips.”
“Missy, those tulips are made out of wood. They don’t need water. I worry about you sometimes, girl.”
“Let’s get back to that later, Coco. Take a look in the purse.”
“At what? The gum wrappers? You chewed through all the bubble gum, didn’t you? You don’t know where this purse’s been.”
Missy chewed through all the bubble gum, just like in Candy Crush Soda Saga.
“Not the gum wrappers.”
“Then what, the expired Boners employee discount card?”
“That, plus the business card. Look familiar?”
Madame Françoise de Boneville pioneered the MERCI method for teaching espionage techniques to girls.
Madame de Boneville’s Ecole Supérieure de l’Espionnage for Girls – The MERCI Method
Money: You can earn a lot of it!
Ego: Spying makes you feel good!
Revenge: Get back at your enemies!
Coercion: Force them to do what you want!
Ideology: Because you are right!
“Hmmm. That’s Madame Françoise’s card. Missy, do you think…”
“Do I think that my mother’s housekeeper’s one of us? I think so, Coco. Take a look at that discount card.”
“The name’s so long, Missy, it runs off the side, but somebody wrote ‘Chica Mutante’ across the top.”
Chica Mutante’s full name is too long to fit on her Boners employee discount card.
“That card belongs to Carina Celina Cristina Margarita Sabrina Mutante y Bailarina del Infierno, a.k.a. Chica Mutante, the lock-kneed pole dancer who used to work at Boners.”
“You mean to tell me, Missy, that Chica’s your mother’s housekeeper? That would explain all the trash on the floor.”
“That’s right, Coco. And guess what? You’re dating her brother.”