Page 17 of A Little Bit More

They nodded.

“Well then, let’s keep this between the three of us. Sometimes old people forget what words they’re supposed to say, and the wrong ones come out. I’m sure that’s what happened.”

Lexie rolled her eyes dramatically, clearly not buying any of it.

Grace was a tad more gullible. “I say the wrong word all the time. Yesterday I called the calculator a phone.”

“Aye, it was just like that,” Betty said. “Now, help me find a ladder; my stun gun’s on the top shelf.”

“I can get it.” Lexie eyed the shelf. “Mummy says I’m a monkey ’cause I climb so good.”

“You sure?” There was a counter under the shelves. She supposed the kid could stand on that. But she was still awful wee. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I’m sure. This is easy. I climb higher stuff at school.” Then, like a goat scaling the craggy face of a cliff, she was up on the counter and climbing the shelves like a ladder.

“Mind you hold on tight,” Betty said with pride.

“I can see up your skirt,” Grace said. “Those are my pants. Mummy gave you the wrong ones. The dinosaurs are mine.”

“Can we worry about her knickers later?” Betty said, her eyes on Lexie. “I want two of the smaller Tasers.” They were easier to hide about her person. “And my old yellow stun gun. It’s big and has my name written on it in black felt-tip pen. Is it up there?”

Lexie moved some things around. “Is this it?” She held up the stun gun that had taken Grunt-the-Giant down at Betty’s wake.

“That’s the one. It has sentimental value. Now come on down from there before we’re caught.”

Lexie hesitated. “Can I have a Taser too?”

Betty considered it. On the one hand, it would do the girl good to be armed. On the other, she’d probably use it on her sister. “No, but you can have this instead.” She grabbed an air horn from the shelf behind her. “It’s pink. You can put your stickers on it.”

“Is it a gun?” Lexie said eagerly.

“No, but it makes a loud noise.”

“Loud enough to scare off bad people?”

“And make their ears bleed.”

“Wow,” Lexie said with reverence.

“Can I have one too?” Grace said.

“Aye.” Betty handed her a purple one. “But don’t use it in here. It’ll just make your father come down to see what’s happening.” And she didn’t want that!

Betty watched Lexie carefully as she climbed back down, standing close in case she fell. She wouldn’t be able to catch the girl, but she could probably break her fall—and her own hips while she did it. But when it came to her granddaughter, she was willing to make the sacrifice.

“Here.” Lexie handed over the Tasers.

Betty took the two smaller ones. “You hold on to the big one for a minute while I stash these.” She shoved one down her cleavage, then hiked up the back of her tartan dress and wedged the other one into the back of her knickers. It wasn’t comfortable, but she’d manage until she got home. “Right, let’s go.”

She locked up and led the way back into the shop, in a hurry to get the key back before it was missed. But, of course, she’d taken too long.

“Ice cream!” Grace shouted as she ran for the mouse, who’d just stepped into the shop—through the door that the girls’ mother held open for her.

“Oh, hell,” Betty muttered.

The smiles on the faces of the two women froze when the scene in front of them registered. Betty was holding the storeroom keys. Lexie had a Taser and an air horn in her hands, and Grace…well, Grace had dumped her air horn and was reaching for her ice cream.

“Yay!” Grace skipped over to the corner of her room with her cone and dug right in, the world dead to her now.