Oak Hill, Alabama***
Carl was through with raking the hays on the dairy farm, feeding the hens, milking the cows, and everything Anne asked him to do. Although he had a little help from Clara who couldn't stop asking Carl so many random questions.
Both Carl and Clara had fun taking care of the dairy farm but Carl was so exhausted.
"Clara, do you know where I can find a payphone?" Carl asked Clara
"Yes, I do. But it's kinda far from here" she replied
"That's not an issue, I'll drive, you'll direct me," he said.
"You have a car?" Clara asked.
"You haven't seen it? C'mon, I'll show you!" He said.
Carl and Clara had a few walks to where Carl's car was parked. It was a neat, shiny black Mercedes Maybach SUV that has a gold color interior.
Clara's jaw dropped in amazement as soon as she saw Carl's car.
"Wow, your car is so cool" Clara yelled in excitement.
"Is it?" Carl chuckled softly as he was unlocking his car.
"Of course," she said.
They both got inside the car and drove off. They drove for about 45 minutes, down the highway.
"Stop here," Clara said pointing at a payphone near a small grocery shop.
Carl immediately stopped and parked his car close to the payphone.
"Wait for me here okay?" Carl said to Clara and she nodded.
He took his wallet and got down of his car. He deposited some coins and dialed his grandmother's number. Luckily, she picked up.
"Hi grandma, it's me, Carl." He said on the phone.
"Carl, how are you? Where have you been?" Carl's grandma asked worriedly on the phone.
"Grandma, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me. Just tell Richie not to miss me too much okay?" He said
"I will, but when are you coming back?" She said
"Very soon, I promise. I love you, grandma." He said in softly.
"I love you too my darling " Carl's grandma replied and Carl ended the call feeling satisfied.
A bit satisfied rather. He felt the need to call at least one of his employees to inform him or her that he wasn't in town.
He deposited some coins again and called Noah. "Hello, it's me, Carl."
Meanwhile at the Staffroom***
"Shhh everyone shut up! It's prosecutor Carl on the phone" Noah said to his co-workers because of how noisy they were and everyone lessened their noise.
"Prosecutor Carl, good morning. Where are you? Aren't you coming to work today?" Noah asked curiously on the telephone.
"Yes, I'm not. I'm not in town right now" Carl said
"So where are you, boss?" Noah said.
"Alabama, I'm here for some personal reasons, Carl said.
"Alright boss... Oh yeah, there's a teenager who said you employed him to be a detective" Noah said sneering at Dexter who wasn't paying him any attention.
Rather, Dexter was having a silent conversation with Audrey. They were both getting to know themselves.
"What's his name?" Carl said
"Dexter Robyn something," Noah said, ruffling his hair.
"Oh, yeah, I did," Carl said.
"But why? We both know that to be a detective you need to become a police officer first before you get promoted" Noah said.
"I know, just forget about him... Before I forget, Noah, I want you to do something for me" Carl said
"Sure boss, anything... Prosecutor Carl, since you're not here who's going to be in charge? It shouldn't be Sasha, no one likes her." Noah said and Carl laughed.
"Alright. I'm putting you in charge." Carl said.
"Yes!!" Noah whispered
"alright boss, you made a good decision and I won't let you down," Noah said and Carl ended the call.
"Y'all hear that, am in charge until prosecutor Carl comes back from Alabama." Noah declared to his co-workers and they all murmured in disapproval.
"Y'all have to deal with it or do you want commander Sasha to be in charge?" he said.
"Nope, No one wants that," a cop said.
"Good!!... Hey! little kid," Noah called, pointing at Dexter and Dexter turned his neck to face him.
"from now on you're my assistant and you'll have to do exactly as say. Copy that?"
"Sure, no problem Sir," Dexter answered Noah.
......
AT KIM'S HOUSE
Treasure is in Kim's room lamenting to Kim about how she'll be forced to drop out of college if she doesn't complete all her tuition fees in school.
Meanwhile, her nonchalant brother was lying down on his bed browsing his phone with a cigar in his mouth, smoking.
"Kim, I don't want to keep on risking your life, running from the police here and there because of me." Treasure said softly
"Do you want to drop out of college?" Kim asked Treasure
"Of course not," she replied emphatically.
"Good! Then let me do me okay?" He said
"No, I want a part-time job!" Treasure demanded and Kim fixed his gaze on her.
"And how are you going to get one just like that? A part-time job that'll pay you quick money to clear all your debts in no time" he said.
"I... I don't know" Treasure mumbled.
"Don't worry Tee, just tell me how much money you need to settle your school problems and I promise to take care of everything as usual," Kim said
"How? By robbing a bank??" Treasure said vehemently.
"How did you know?" Kim chuckled.
"No, no, no. I can't let you do that, not anymore. What if you get caught and go to jail just because you were only trying to help me pay my fees… I can't let you live that life any longer. I'm going to look for a part-time job that'll help both of us." Treasure said. She was determined.
"Since you want a part-time job so bad, I'll link you up with one… And I promise you're going to make A LOT of money from it." Kim winked.
"Hum… what kind of job?" Treasure asked Kim suspiciously because she knows that her brother can be very cunning sometimes.
"Just trust me okay?" Kim said.
*******
Carl got inside the grocery store that was close to the payphone. He bought some foodstuffs and paid with some cash that was in his wallet. He left the grocery store with the foodstuffs in a paper bag and got to his car.
The moment he entered his car, his eyes were wide open in shock as soon as he saw Clara pointing him a gun.
"Clara put that down!!" Carl ordered in a husky voice.
"Take it," Clara said giving him the gun and Carl carefully collected the gun from her.
He was a bit scared and worried that Clara might have accidentally pulled the trigger since the gun was loaded.
"Why do you have a gun?" She asked suspiciously.
"It's a... It's a toy gun" Carl stuttered.
"What about this?" Clara said, showing him his shiny silver prosecutor badge.
"Clara please stop touching my stuff," he said as he starts his car to drive.
"Who are you? Are you a cop? …Or an armed robber. Or a kidnapper" Clara gasped at her last word, looking at Carl with anxiety.
'is he trying to kidnap me?' she thought.
"No!! Don't get scared Clara, I'm neither an armed robber nor a kidnapper" Carl said to her with a tight smile.
He didn't know how to convince her not to get scared at this point.
"so who are you?" Clara curiously asked.
"…I am a… superhero," Carl said with his eyes on the road.
Clara gasped in excitement.
"A real-life superhero?" she grinned.
She totally believed that Carl was actually a superhero. Maybe it was because of how built Carl looked.
"mmhmm," Carl said holding in his laugh as he was driving.
He thought that Clara was too young for him to start explaining that he is a prosecutor who works with the police blah blah blah. So he thought that telling her he was a superhero was the best idea. Besides, it totally reduced her fear and her worriedness.
"Umm Clara, don't tell your mom I have a TOY gun okay? You know that superhero things are always secretive" Carl said
"I promise I won't tell her" Clara said.
…..
Carl and Clara got back home and Carl got to the kitchen to prepare a meal with the foodstuffs he bought.
"Uhmm can you cook?" Clara asked with doubt.
"Are you forgetting that superheroes can do anything? …Just wait till the food is ready, you'll love it. Trust me" Carl said.
After 30 minutes, the food, jambalaya was ready to eat. The aroma alone was pleasing enough to start devouring the food.
It's been a while since Carl had eaten good food since he came to Alabama. He made sure the food was enough for Victoria, Clara, and Anne to eat.
Clara was super excited to have a taste of it because of how beautiful, and yummy it looked. Let alone, the pleasing smell.
As soon as the food got into Clara's mouth, her eye broadened. She has never eaten such delicious food like this before.
"This is so delicious" she exclaimed while eating the food like a hungry wolf.
Carl smiled feeling happy as he watched Clara eating the food. He also ate his food to his satisfaction till he was full.
"I'm home!!" Victoria yelled from outside coming inside the house.
"What's that sweet smell?" Victoria said sniffing the air.
She was surprised to see Carl and Clara eating a meal that looked so rich and tasty
"Carl, did you cook? because I know it's not my little daughter." Victoria said.
"I did. I hope it's okay with you?" Carl said.
"of course not… but there's only going to be a problem if the food isn't enough for me," Victoria said and Carl laughed.
"There's enough food for everyone." He said.
He gave Victoria a portion of food to eat and Victoria started to salivate seeing how yummy it looked.
"How did you learn how to cook like this, this is amazing," Victoria said while eating with her mouth full. It was obvious she was enjoying Carl's food.
"My grandma taught me how to cook." He said.
However, Anne was outside coming close to the house. She looked around the dairy farm and she saw that it was cleaner than how she had left it in the morning.
She smiled subconsciously feeling impressed by how Carl put in so much effort in taking care of the dairy farm. She saw that the cows were already milked and well-fed.
She intentionally asked Carl to do all the work so he'll back out and probably leave Alabama since she was being a headache but no.
"is he doing all of this to impress me or what?" Anne asked herself.