Welcome to the Potato Cult

13. Everything Just Makes Sense

The wind was blowing. The skies were dark. On the trees, leaves were shaking like Shaking Chloe made them moving. Below the trees, the bushes were shaking, too. Don't get me wrong; no one is fornicating in there. As the winds came to a temporary stop, three very familiar heads popped out of the bushes.

"Alright, mission laundry line spying in session," one head spoke up. "Calling attendance... Keran?"

"Present," Keran muttered.

"Shaking?"

"Present!" Shaking chirped.

"Good, all heads towards the nearest house."

Shaking and Keran obediently turned towards Xiai and Chen Jue's house.

"Xiaotang, I have a question," Shaking suddenly said. "Why are you saying all of this weird military stuff?"

"Because it's cool."

"Why are we in the bushes?" Keran asked. "It's starting to get a little itchy."

"It's called camouflage, my dear Keke."

"Why can't we just walk past like normal human beings and subtly look over at the clothes lines?" Shaking whined.

"Because we cannot spare any suspicion," Xiaotang explained. "We don't want the vandals to know we're onto busting them."

"We look more suspicious hiding like this."

"Oh, be quiet, Xie Keyin. Now, spy. Keran, you stay on lookout."

Shaking muttered a few cusses to herself and squinted at the house from behind the bushes. Keran kept an eye on the road. Xiaotang focused her binoculars on the clothes line and looked.

"I don't see any clothes hanging outside," Shaking said.

"Me neither," Xiaotang said. "Oh well, I guess we'll come back after they do their laundry."

"Good idea."

Just as Xiaotang and Shaking were about to get up from the bush and leave, Keran suddenly saw a glimpse of Chen Jue coming out with a laundry basket.

"Get back in here!" she hissed at her best friends. "Someone's here and she has a basket full of laundry with her!"

Shaking and Xiaotang slipped back into the bushes with Keran. The trio silently watched Chen Jue hang the clothes one by one. Keran nudged Xiaotang.

"Xiong di, see if there's anything torn there," Keran said.

"I'm trying," Xiaotang zoomed in on the clothes with her binoculars and then shook her head. "Nope. Nothing."

"Oh, well," Shaking giggled happily. "Guess the search party's over! Time to go home!"

Just as she was about to get up and head back, Xiaotang and Keran dragged her back.

"Nonsense!" Keran exclaimed. "We're not done with all the houses!"

"Yeah," Xiaotang agreed. "Quit whining, Xie Keyin. We still have a hundred and forty-three more houses to go!"

Shaking felt like crying. But Xiaotang and Keran didn't care. They mercilessly dragged her along to the bushes near the next house.

~

Wei Chen headed to Daimeng and Jaiqi's house. It was getting really windy, and the dark clouds were gathering in the sky.

I should make this quick, Wei Chen thought. If it starts raining, I won't be able to get back.

Wei Chen walked up to the white picket fence. She rung the little bell on the small gate to notify the hosts of her entrance. As she helped herself in, Daimeng's wife, Kiki, ran towards her.