“Jack, you shouldn’t have flicked that little fairy into the lake,” said Jill, as the two of them unpacked the chorobates.
“Aw, she bugged me. And she threatened you.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jill wiped sweat from her forehead. “But she was harmless. We coulda just ignored her.”
“One of us mighta stepped on her if I hadn’t gotten rid of her.”
“Jack, listen, we pat at ourselves on the back for being so noble and self-sacrificing.” She sighed and gestured at the planks of wood, resin, and tools surrounding them. “We dragged all these building materials up the hill so can construct an aqueduct to bring clean water to the village.”
“Yeah. We volunteered to work for a pittance of what they’d pay a real surveyor and construction crew.” Jack hefted the chorobates into position next to the well.
“And I’m glad we did, Jack. My back is sore, and I’ve already got blisters on my hands, but I’d volunteer again.”
“Me too. So let’s get busy and get as much done as we can before the heat of the day.”
“No, Jack … Just no.” Jill shook her head. “Listen to me. This is important. My point is, we can’t go around congratulating each other for doing a good deed when we deliberately hurt anybody who annoys us.”
Jack glared at Jill. He might have been about to argue with her, but apparently came to his senses. “All right … All right. I shouldn’t have flicked her.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I dunno, Jill. I guess when I saw her I thought `insect.’ I reacted … Well, I swatted at her without thinking.”
Jill seemed mollified, at least somewhat. “She’s gonna tell her friends what horrible people we are. When we’re finished here, let’s make it up to her.”
“How??” asked Jack.
Jill shrugged. “Send her a fruit basket, maybe.”
Jack couldn’t help chuckling. “A fruit basket?? One banana would last her a lifetime.”
Suddenly a deafening roar came from the far side of the hill. A helicopter appeared from nowhere and landed on a level spot near the well. As Jack and Jill watched in amazement, a man jump out and walked toward them. He was nattily dressed in an obviously expensive blue suit, a green-and-pink stripped tie, and oxblood shoes polished to a high glaze. “Are you Jack and Jill??” He had to yell to be heard over the beating of the rotors.
Jill nodded dumbly.
He handed her a large Manila envelope. She took it by instinct, the way a person reacts when someone offers something. In a flash, he was back in the chopper and airborne.
Jack and Jill looked at each other, neither quite sure of what had just happened. Jill opened the envelope and pulled out what looked like an entire ream of paper. “OH SNAP!”
Jack reached for the papers. Jill handed them over wordlessly. “Miss Muffet is suing us,” she said.
“The joke’s on her, then.” Jack scanned through the documents without really reading them. “We don’t have any money. You can’t get blood from a stone.”
“Jack, she’s named the Aqueduct Edification Foundation as co-defendant.”
“What?? She can’t take that money. It’s to pay for materials and construction. People donated it – Pennies, a dollar here and there. Whatever they could afford.” He waved the papers around, his voice rising. “We’ll fight her, Jill. We’ll fight her in court. We’ll show her up for the greedy little imp she is.”
Jill nodded, but wasn’t convinced. This’ll ruin us, she thought. We’ll spend the rest of our lives just paying the lawyer’s fee.
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