A Good Find by Gary L Beer (chrysanthemum read aloud .TXT) 📕

between and Steve stands up and looks out the window; “Yeah it's Natalie and Sheila.” he says as he answers their waves by waving back.
Their excited chatter as they walk in breaks the silence; “Hiya.” they chorus as they enter the kitchen, huge smiles cover their faces and they look very happy.
“Hello there.” greets Steve.
“Look what we got.” says Natalie as she takes a leather bag from her shoulder. Undoing the bag she reaches in and pulls out a clear plastic bag of cocaine and a small automatic pistol.
“Let's have a look?” asks Curly Pete.
Natalie puts the bag of cocaine on the table and hands him the gun; “Be careful it's loaded but the safety is on.”
Curly Pete feels the weight of the gun and guesses it must weigh over a kilogramme. A small round barrel about twenty five millimetres long sticks out of the dark grey square shape of the automatic. Curly Pete pulls down the folding front grip and getting hold of the gun with two hands he points it in the direction of the window and looks along the barrel. The gun about two hundred and fifty millimetres long looks tiny in his giant hands but he looks impressed.
“I got one too.” says Sheila as she puts her gun onto the table.
The gun is exactly the same as Natalie's and Curly Pete asks; “What are these then, you going to war or something?”
“No.” laughs Natalie “But you took our other ones away and we had to get something.”
“You didn't answer my questions.” Curly Pete snaps harshly.
Natalie's face flushes a pale shade of pink; “It's a Beretta 93R automatic pistol that holds twenty rounds and you can shoot them in bursts of three. That's what I set it on with that little lever on the side.” says Natalie as she points at a little lever on the gun; “And no, we are not going to war.”
“What do you want this for?” Curly Pete says angrily, holding the gun out towards her.
“It's all right for you, being big and tough, but we have to protect ourselves and this is the best way.” Natalie tells him her voice tense.
Curly Pete stares her in the eyes his anger rising, the fear that he feels unnerves him, Steve interrupts by leaning on the table and taking the gun from Curly Pete's hand; “Let's have a look.” he says not giving Curly Pete the opportunity to refuse.
“Nice gun I expect that you will need this in the future now you are a big cocaine dealer.” Steve says carefully trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“We're not going to let anyone take it from us.” says Sheila firmly and Natalie smiles with excitement, anticipating the moment when she can shoot someone.
Steve looks Curly Pete in the eyes, their answer confirming his and Curly Pete's suspicions. Curly Pete seems to understand what Steve is thinking and Steve sees his face change from the angry red to a pale white that looks very worried.
Natalie watches Curly Pete; “You are not scared of me are you Pete?”
Steve hands the gun back to Natalie as Curly Pete locks eyes with her; “I am when you have that thing in your hand. I don't like guns they tend to make you do more than you really intend.”
“Yeah well, I told you, we need to protect ourselves.” Natalie snaps as she puts the gun on the table.
Curly Pete's face starts to turn red and Natalie breaks the gaze and looks up at Steve; “You understand don't you Steve?”
“In a way, but you leave them at home if you ever come out with me.” Steve replies harshly. The guns frighten him also, especially with a mad lesbian holding the trigger!
“You may need my help on a big deal, that way we won't get ripped off.”
“We don't get ripped off, we only deal with friends and people I've known for years and guns are not part of it. Admittedly I have to call Pete in to get paid sometimes, but if we do it the way you want to do it we won't be able to collect any money because you would have shot them.” Steve explains, his anger rising.
“We won't kill them, just shoot them in the leg or something.” laughs Natalie.
“Gunshot wounds get reported to the police, our way is better as they just have 'accidents' and that way we have no unnecessary involvement with them.” Curly Pete snarls.
Natalie looks at him shocked at his tone of voice and she sniffs hard, swallowing the cocaine that remains in her nose from the line she had snorted before they came out. Her pupils dilate even further and she cannot help a smug smile that forms on her lips as the sensation of the cocaine courses through her body.
“You stupid bitch.” Curly Pete roars, he looks across the room at Sheila and her staring eyes and inevitable sniff now makes itself obvious to him; “You as well?” he shouts at her.
Sheila stares back for a few seconds until the familiar smug smile forms and she shrugs her shoulders in reply.
Curly Pete feels hurt, admittedly the time he and Natalie spent together has long since passed and she is no longer interested in men, making her appear different to him, but he still feels a love for her. That is no longer deeply buried at the shocking news.
“What's the matter with you?” Natalie asks indignantly; “You do it.”
“No, I don't and neither does Steve, you know it changes people who do it regular into cold, nasty bastards. No wonder you enjoyed killing the other day, those are the kind of emotions that take over, especially when the stuff starts to wear off and you get to thinking that is the 'normal' way to live, in hating people so much.”
Natalie's face flushes a little in embarrassment and her eyes flick back and forward between Curly Pete and Sheila appearing unsure of herself.
Curly Pete sees his advantage and asks in a gentle voice; “Are you and Sheila having fights?”
Natalie nods her head as her face changes as a surge of cocaine makes her eyes flicker, buoyed by the confidence the chemical has just given her she stares back; “You can't blame the cocaine for that, she's just a right bitch in the morning!”
“That is until you give her a line?” Steve suggests softly.
Natalie smiles, recalling the change that comes over Sheila in the mornings, from a nasty screaming violent bitch into a smiling funny person; “We're not as bad as that!” she lies.
“Yes you are, let me have a look at your guns.” Curly Pete demands as he picks them up and stands up and puts them on the worktop next to the chromium toaster, the furthest he can get them from Natalie and Sheila. Sitting back down again he stares Natalie in the eyes; “That's better, you make me nervous when you got them things.”
“We're hardly gonna shoot you.” Natalie hotly denies.
“Not you babe.” says Sheila with a smile.
“I'm glad to hear it, sit down will you, I think we all need to have a talk before we continue this new business arrangement.” Curly Pete orders.
Sheila walks across the room and pulls out a chair and sits down as Steve sits beside Curly Pete.
“This looks serious,” laughs Natalie; “you are not going to tell us off are you?” she asks sarcastically.
As Curly Pete starts to speak the sound of a vehicle coming into the drive and pulling up outside makes him stop, Steve leaps up and looks out of the kitchen window; “It's all right it's only Barney and Dippa.”
Curly Pete visibly relaxes as Natalie smiles; “Bit nervous are you Pete?”
“Don't take the piss, it's you two who make me nervous.”
“Makes me nervous too.” agrees Steve; “Dippa has become a bit of an unknown; I'm going to give him a push and see what happens, if you are wondering.”
The sound of the front door and Barney's voice stops any more talking and they all look towards the kitchen doorway as Dippa, looking scared and pale enters with Barney close behind him; “He didn't want to come Steve, I had to persuade him a bit.” Barney says angrily as he pushes Dippa into the kitchen.
“What is this?” Dippa blusters; “I ain't done nothing.” looking Steve in the eyes he tries to pluck up some courage but fails miserably as he has to break the stare and looks down at the floor, his face pale with fear.
“The truth is fella, we ain't sure of you these days.” says Steve harshly.
Dippa continues looking at the floor too scared to look Steve in the eye, Barney raises his hand and slaps Dippa hard around the back of his head; “Look at the man when he's talking to you.” he roars at Dippa.
Dippa is knocked to the floor by the force of the blow, frightened that Barney is going to kick him he scrambles across the room and pulls himself up by holding onto the worktop. As his eyes rise above the worktop he sees the two grey barrelled guns beside the toaster. Coughing, to keep their attention on his face he grabs one of the guns and points it at Barney's approaching form; “Stay back you bastard.” he screams as Barney continues towards him.
Sliding the safety off he pulls the trigger; three bullets smash into Barney's chest knocking him back several feet until he crashes to the floor. Dippa points the gun at the table and squeezes the trigger; Steve's face disappears into a mess of blood and gore as the three bullets smash into him killing him instantly. Dippa in his fear points the gun at Natalie and pulls the trigger quickly; a bullet hits Natalie in the forehead at the hairline snapping her back into her chair. Another bullet hits the table as still firing Dippa points the gun at Sheila hitting her in the stomach making her double over in time to get the next burst into the top of her head.
Curly Pete moves quickly for his bulky size and runs out the back door into the garden, he keeps running until he reaches the garage and quickly ducks behind it.
Dippa points the gun back at Steve as he keeps pulling the trigger as he empties the gun into him. He stands there breathing heavily appearing unaware that Curly Pete has escaped. Throwing the empty gun down he reaches for the other one by the toaster and slides off the safety catch. Pointing the gun to his right temple he puts his finger onto the trigger as he looks at the death all around him. Tears start to roll down his cheeks as his face contorts as the crying turns into hysterics, lowering the gun Dippa stares blankly at the open back door. Still not realising that Curly Pete is not amongst the dead Dippa shuts and locks the back door. Taking his lighter from his pocket he approaches the window. Looking out at the drive and Barney's van and Steve's car he can