Two men at first came to join the fuming woman and then two women, then three more kids until it seemed as though all of old Mrs. John's family had assembled by the door.
" These people are here making a false accusations about mother!" the brunette continued to exclaim at the top of her voice.
Thankfully, the men seemed more composed as they urged her to keep it low and spoke to the members of the nature family by their door in a civilized manner.
" What's going on?" one of the men asked and his question received an echo from the rest of old Mrs. John's family who had assembled by the door.
The four people from the nature family seemed a little bit more skeptical to talk now as they met what they had not anticipated.
Gizem being the one who cared less and the one with the nonchalant attitude took to repeat their former words. " The old woman came to our door with a packet of fried chicken as a neighborly kind advance or so she called it but our brother ate the chicken and now he's in danger," she said without mincing words.
" What?!" came the gasps from all of Old Mrs. John's family.
" My mother has fried no chicken today nor has she stepped out!" one of the females yelled. " Gina, go call the police. This is ridiculous and a grave accusation!" she further instructed and the brunette who was formerly speaking to them went in to place the call.
Vidal knew or had already guessed what this was.
They were at the wrong door and he knew not how to tell the others about it because he knew he had messed up, way too much.
" We are not making accusations but stating facts!" Calliope yelled at the army by the door.
The whole corridor was getting noisier by the minute and soon, doors began to creak as some of the neighbors began to peep.
" You better have a big evidence to justify this false accusation of yours for we will not let this slide easily!" another female of old Mrs. John's family hollered.
" Can evidence be found to justify a false accusation?" a male out of those by the doors fired at the female who spoke. " These filthy liars will sleep behind bars for this, I promise!"
The noises and interjections between the two parties were getting increasingly high by the minute until the police arrived a few minutes later and assembled them all in a bundle into the police van and all the way to the station.
Only the grown-ups from Old Mrs. John's family were taken along and all the four people from the nature's family.
Once again, they were faced with the Sheriff who had a toothpick stuffed in his mouth now, picking at basically nothing in his teeth.
" Can you all take it slow and explain the whole ordeal to me one after another?" Sheriff Blair yelled at the two parties who were ranting simultaneously.
They all stopped immediately his yells entered their ears and stared at him in obedience.
Vidal was completely silent as he had no idea what to do in such a situation and was at a loss on how to end this mess that had already begun.
" Thank you, Sheriff" Calliope nodded at the Sheriff, acting like a very composed lady.
Vidal wished the Sheriff lived with them so he would get to know Calliope was the opposite of what he just regarded her.
" Thank you, gentle lady. Please, do tell your side of the story" he urged her on.
Calliope represented the nature family and began to explain what they had witnessed. " It was a nice night with my family and then, a knock came on our door. After getting the door, we found an old woman standing there with a packet of fried chicken which she presented to us as a neighborly welcome gift. Buttt...." Calliope being her dramatic self stressed the 'But' and continued. " Our brother ate the chicken and began to foam in the mouth afterward. His life is in danger now because of their mother yet they claim she is innocent and hasn't stepped out of the house which is a complete lie for if she has not stepped out of the house, how did she get the chicken to us herself?" Calliope turned a side of her face to the detective as if she was expecting him to whisper an answer into it.
The people from Old Mrs. John's family were about to make a statement of their objection when Sheriff Blair hushed them with a raise of his hand.
" How did you know the old woman who was by your door was Old Mrs. John when you haven't seen her before eh?" he asked, his hand on the toothpick, picking at his poor incomplete teeth.
He would get a bad toothache later and hurt these teeth, Vidal noted after watching irritatingly at the Sheriff.
August was the one who spoke this time. " Because the boy next door and his overweight friend called her by that when they saw her. They were having dinner with us" he announced, playing with his fingers as if he was announcing a grand art exhibited to be auctioned.
Sheriff Blair frowned at that. " LSR?" he asked.
August pointed his finger at the Sheriff, all of Mrs. John's family watching him in awe. " That..." he shook the index finger he was pointing at the Sheriff " One!" he stated.
Sheriff Blair grimaced at first, stuffed his hand under his desk, and brought out a black cane of some sort. He lightly hit it on August's outstretched index finger. " Hands down" he coughed. " LSR was with you for dinner and witnessed Old Mrs. John giving you the packet of fried chicken. Is that what you are saying?" Sheriff Blair said the words one after the other as if he wanted to make no mistake in his statement.
" Yes, he did. The boy next door and his friend did" Calliope shook her head.
Being in the human's precinct house was always such a bore for Vidal and he was usually the one playing with them and annoying the officers as much as he could but there was no such pleasure for him this time for he was basically soaked in his own sweat.
Sheriff Blair stood up from behind his desk, dragging his chair sluggishly on the floor. " Excuse me" he said to the bunch and walked towards the door" Somebody get LSR here!" Sheriff Blair shouted out after opening a shorter part of the door.
He dragged his uniform trousers up his skinny waist. Even the large belt couldn't do the job of keeping the trouser in place on his skinny waist.
After that, he walked back to his chair behind the desk, all eyes in the room on him.
" Now, onto the party B. Tell me your side of the story" Sheriff Blair motioned to the members of Old Mrs. John's family and they all began to speak at once.
Vidal saw the irritation in Gizem's eyes, the fight of Calliope to keep her claws which were beginning to shoot out from her finger in anger, and August trying hard to keep his mouth shut by shaking his head rhythmically even though there was no song playing in the background.
" One person speak, please! One sensible and civilized person?!" Sheriff Blair yelled at the top of his voice, his hands over his head.
The lots from Old Mrs. John's family kept quiet simultaneously and the man who seemed like the eldest spoke for them. " I and my siblings came with our families to pay our mother our usual monthly visit" he was saying but the sheriff cut him short.
" Monthly? By Jove, you all abandon the old woman for months with barely a mail every month, and not even all of you send her allowances, she's living off her pension mostly!" he raged, and the man paused without blinking. Same with the rest of them, they were silent to have been exposed in front of their opponents but Vidal could care less about their human dramas and he was sure the others didn't give a damn also.
" Life happens Sheriff, we all have our personal families to tend to plus mum can do well on her own okay" the man threw his hands in the air but after seeing the smug look on the Sheriff's face, he decided to continue more honestly this time " Okay maybe not monthly but we came on our usual visits during our convenience and spent every minute of the day with our mother. We even took tapes of every moment and I can swear on my late father's grave mother had no fried chicken left in her freezer nor did she step out yet these strangers" he pointed at the nature family members. " Are insisting she came to gift them poisoned chicken which is a big lie!" he finished.
"Why lie on an harmless old woman" the brunette eyed them scornfully.
Sheriff Blair seemed lost as to how to settle the brawl. He scratched his nape and spat out the toothpick. " Can I see those tapes?" he asked the old Mrs. John's family.
" We did not come with them" the man replied.
Sheriff Blair threw slapped his hands beside his trouser pockets. " Well, go get them! Until then and the arrival of LSR, feel at home with me in my conducive office" he grinned, and his overgrown mustache threatened to enter the opening of his mouth.
They all traveled their eyes across his semi-large office. It was something far from conducive. The damn sheriff was a dirty man.
Shaking their head, the Nature family members wished they could just snap life out those annoying humans but they were the good type of Originals so, mostly they find themselves bound by humans' rules and laws.
Author's Note
~~
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