Who would've thought

More Baloney?!?!

I sighed and stepped out the door carefully. "Here we go..." I whispered to myself as I climbed down the two front steps. I then started the walk down to the convenience store.

After I climbed down the hill and to the main road, a little boy running after his older brother on a horse saw me. "Hi Miss!" He squeaked happily. I was shocked by his manners, and decided to be polite like him. "Good morning! Off playing with your brother I see?"

Eww. I hate talking like this! Just stay polite and don't say anything stupid, Aiden. "Yup! Look, here he comes!" The boy pointed as the horse circled back around. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. "H- hi! How's your day?" I choked.

The brother raised an eyebrow. "Why're you being so polite?" I stumbled over my words. "W-well, I... your brother was being n-nice so I thought I had to as well?" I said it more as a question.

He laughed and rolled his eyes at his brother. "Yeah, he likes being polite when he sees a girl because he wants to be a 'ladies man' when he's our age." Oh. I guess the older brother is the same age as me, then.

"The name's Billy. This is my kid brother, Ryan. Did you want a ride anywhere?" He patted the back of his horse. "Well- I ummm... I was just heading down to the convenience store, but I can walk. Y- you don't need to go out of your way."

Billy grinned at me. "Nah, s'okay. I was just fooling around with Ryan. We weren't doing anything important. Hop on!" I ungracefully climbed onto the horse and stiffly put my hands on Billy's waist.

"I- I've never been on a horse before." I admitted. "Really? It's so much fun! What town are you from?" Oh no. "I umm... I'm visiting from Canada. My grandparents live here." I suck lying! Canada is not a town.

"That's so cool! Okay, Oreo is getting restless now. Hold on!" Billy exclaimed as the horse, Oreo, bolted off. I screamed and held onto Billy, terrified. "This is scary!" I exclaimed. I could hear Billy laughing in front. Ryan was left behind and was sitting in the grass, collecting potato bugs.

Not long after, the horse slowed down as we arrived at the store. Billy helped me down and I dusted myself off. "That. Was. Terrifying." I caught my breath. We both laughed as we entered the store.

"So what were you looking for?" Billy asked me and the little bell on the door rang, notifying the owner that we arrived. "Just groceries. Stuff that won't go bad in a week. Not baloney, oh god no. Not baloney."

Billy laughed. "What's so bad about baloney?" I shook my head. "I hate baloney so much. I never liked it and I never will." He raised an eyebrow. "I've never met someone who hated baloney so passionately."

"Well I'm passionate about a lot of things." I stated as I squished an avocado in my hand. I slowly backed away without attracting anyone's attention. I then went over to the meats section to see what else they had.

"Let's see..." I trailed off as I ran my hand over the labels. "Baloney... uncooked children. Nah, can't have chicken if it's uncooked. Hmmm. Baloney with pepper... baloney with- WHATS WITH ALL THIS DAMN BALONEY?"

The owner stomped up to me. He was a short and plump man with thin grey hairs on his head. He wore a navy blue and white plaid shirt with his Sunday shoes. "What is the matter with the baloney, Miss?" He snapped.

I was taken aback. "Sorry! I just want something that doesn't need to be cooked." The owner shook his head. "No, can't help you there Miss. All we've got are baloney and chicken." I sighed. "That's okay. I guess we can survive a few days without meat."

Billy looked at me oddly. "Pardon?" My eyes widened. "Nothing. I said I wonder how long it'll take for chicken to cook in the heat. As in, the heat of the sun." Nice move, Aiden. Nice move. "I actually have no idea." Billy said.

Time skip

I heaved all the things on the counter with a big huff. "I'd like to buy all these things, please." I stood on my tippy toes. The counter was very high up. "So your are buying baloney after all?" I nodded my head.

"Don't say nothin' about it. I'm this close to throwing it out the window." I made a small circle with my fingers when I said, "this close." I took out my money and paid for all the items. I thanked the cashier and exited the store, with Billy right behind.

"I'm gonna walk back, okay?" I told Billy. He nodded his head. "Sure. Do you need any help carrying the stuff?" He offered. I picked everything up easily. "Nah, I got it. Thanks, though." I started walking as Billy got on his horse.

"I'll see you round!" He called out as he rode away in the opposite direction. I waved with my free hand. "Probably not, but sure." I mumbled. I started the walk, back to the old church.

Time skip

I climbed up the hill and knocked on the door with my free hand. No response. "Hello?" I called out. That's weird. Maybe they're in the back? I knocked on the door again. "Guys! It's Aiden!" I yelled. Still, no response.

I started freaking out and knocked on the door loudly. "Come on, guys!" I then thought, what are all the reasons they wouldn't answer? They could've been caught, they- "Oh!" I realized.

I remembered the low whistle that Johnny did when he came back. Soon after, Pony came to answer the door. I entered the church and heaved the stuff I bought on the table. "That was quick." Pony stated as I started sorting through the items.

"Yeah. I had a little help." I mumbled as I stuck my nose in a bag. "Help? From who?" Johnny asked. I went over to him and pecked him on the lips. "A horse... and a person." I spoke quieter at the last part.

"What?!" Pony exclaimed. "You could've gotten caught! You could've been killed! And then we would be left here forever, waiting for you to come back!" I put my hands on his mouth to stop him from yelling.

"Calm down! I just got a ride to the store, that's it! It's not like I told anyone my name or where we were." Pony calmed down a bit. "Fine. What did you get?" He asked as he snooped through the bags.

He started taking everything out one by one, just like we did the first time. "Blanket... Another blanket... more bread... apple juice... trail mix... cigarettes... baloney... matches- more baloney?!" I shrugged my shoulders.

"It's the only meat they had. Unless you want to cook your own chicken." Pony sighed, bummed about the baloney. "I hate baloney." He muttered. "Yeah well, so do I. We all have to deal with this stupid baloney together, so suck it up or starve."

"I rather starve!" He exclaimed. I threw my hands up in the air. "Be my guest! Do you want to go back to the store and buy some raw chicken? Go ahead and get salmonella poisoning!" Johnny put his hand on my arm.

"Sorry." I mumbled, not wanting to make Johnny upset again. He grinned, then started laughing. I raised an eyebrow, wondering if he had taken any drugs or smoked too much today. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"It- it's just, you guys are fighting about baloney!" He giggled. I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Really? I thought you were gonna be mad at us again!" Pony sighed in relief. Johnny shook his head. "Not at all."

"Good. I don't want any more fights or arguments for a week." I stated. I sat down on the bed frame and leaned my back on the crumbling wall. "You know," Pony started, "Baloney is the most interesting things we've talked about all day."

BALONEY! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, humans or giraffes. Whichever one you want to be.
Stay Gold! 💛