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Picking a direction, she just went with it. She knew she’d made the wrong choice when she saw the different floor of the hallway. The guest wing was carpeted where this hall was covered in a stark white marble of sorts. The walls were colorfully decorated with various art projects as opposed to the western-style décor that adorned the other walls. The Littles’ Wing. She’d read about the Littles of Rawhide and desperately wanted to join them, but she wasn’t sure she was a Little. She liked coloring and cuddling soft things, and she’d loved playing with her girls when they were young, creating elaborate scenes and stories with their dolls or figures or building things out of blocks, and she was absolutely obsessed with all things Pippi Longstocking, but did that make her a Little? She didn’t know.
A bell rang and people began to file out of the cafeteria and head into different rooms. She watched as they talked and laughed with one another, many of them with carefree smiles on their faces. What would it feel like to let loose like that?
With everyone out of the cafeteria, maybe it wouldn’t be too bad?
She went back to the main door and peeked inside. There was a group of girls sitting at a table with a cup in the middle and a few other tables had people at them, but it was much more subdued than it had been mere minutes ago. And without all the noise to overload her brain, the scents didn’t bother her as much either. On the contrary, it smelled amazing.
She went to the front and grabbed a tray before going down the line and meticulously choosing things she might like to eat. She tended to be on the picky side, but mostly because some textures just felt funny on her tongue. Thankfully, they had her favorite, grilled cheese. She loaded that on her tray along with some steamed veggies and the creamiest mashed potatoes she had ever seen and went to the drink station. She reached for the milk, but a big hulking hand stopped her.
“One second, darlin’. That milk has been tampered with,” a man told her.
Looking up at him she knew exactly who he was. Derek Hawkins. Owner of Rawhide Ranch. “Go on and get started on your lunch and the kitchen staff will bring you over a fresh glass.”
“Oh… umm… that’s okay, no one needs to do that. I should probably have water anyway. Milk sometimes upsets my stomach.” She shared information he hadn’t asked for.
“Well then, little lady, sounds like water is an excellent choice. I’m Master Derek. You must be Piper.”
She nodded. “How do you know my name?”
“I make it a point to know all my guests.”
“Oh yeah, duh. That makes sense.” She felt stupid and she wanted to dump her tray and go back to her room, but that would be a rude and a terrible waste of food.
He filled her a cup of water and set it on her tray. “You enjoy your meal. I need to deal with a group of naughty little pranksters.” He looked over at the table of girls and things began to fall in line.
“Did they dye the milk?”
“One of them, yes, and I aim to find out which one.”
Fear kicked her in the gut. Would the one who did it get kicked out? She couldn’t let that happen. She didn’t know the girls, but she didn’t want any of them to be kicked out.
“I did it,” she blurted.
Master Derek’s eyebrows almost hit his hairline and he tilted his head to the side. “You dyed the milk green?”
“I… yes… it was me. You should let them all go.” She waved her arm, gesturing at the group. “They had nothing to do with it.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he cleared his throat. “Where did you get the green dye?”
“I brought it with me.” She didn’t know where all of these lies were coming from; all she knew was those girls probably wanted or needed to be there more than she did, and she wasn’t going to let them get kicked out for a silly prank.
“Okay, and how did you get it into the milk?”
“I… snuck into the kitchen when no one was looking.”
“You did, huh? And which door leads you to the kitchen?”
Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at the two sets of double doors that were obviously not the answer and the two sets that were behind the buffet. After a quick “eenie meenie miney mo” in her head she pointed at one.
Derek smiled and shook his head. “Wrong answer.”
“Well, it's the other one then. I don’t know! I get easily turned around, but it was me! Kick me out, not them!” Her infamous temper was rising and even though she was the one lying, she was angry at the man in front of her for putting her in such a predicament.
Understanding dawned on Master Derek’s face. “Darlin’, no one is getting kicked out. They will be punished, but then all will be forgiven and we will all go about our day.”
“Oh.” The word punished had her insides twisting. “Will it be bad? The punishment, I mean?”
“I can assure you the punishment will fit the crime.”
