Death by Ploot Ploot Read Online Free PDF Page A

a
whole different universe. So what?
    A booking was a booking.
    She bit her lip as she
recalled something. Back on Earth, in San
Francisco , Lorgin had witnessed the magnificence of
Curly first hand as the chubby stooge had spun about the floor in his trademark
maneuver yelling ‘ wub wub wub ’!
    Curly
was a great Stooge.
    Perhaps
the greatest Stooge.
    And he had suffered- suffered for his craft! She wiped a tear from her eye.
    Lorgin had questioned
her as to whether the odd spinning spectacle was a civil punishment of some kind.
She had told him it was, not bothering to explain the Three Stooges to him.
    Hey,
who could explain the Three Stooges?
    Especially
to an alien.
    People on Earth were
still scratching their heads a good sixty,
seventy years after their, ah, debut.
    She sneaked a peek at
him. Would he remember? Nah, he would never connect the dots.
    Now all she had to do
was work out all the details for the new holiday!
    With eyes still closed,
Suleila spoke up from the comfort of Krue's lap. "Adeeann, tell us one of your
delightful Charl stories."
    Lorgin and Krue groaned.
    Deana had started
telling Charl jokes awhile back and they had taken Aviara by storm. Oh, how she
loved to poke a little fun at their austere 'knightly' demeanors.
They were the perfect foils.
    In fact, the townsfolk
had gone wild over her ‘ How many Charl
does it take ’ jokes. New
additions were added daily as the villagers invented their own versions
of her tried and true favorites.
    “Hmmm," Deana
tapped her lip. Something different was
called for today . She smoothed
out her kaftan as she prepared to tell a slightly revised version
of her favorite joke.
    "Okay,
I think I have one to share."
    “I will notify the High
Guild,” her husband deadpanned.
    Pointedly ignoring him,
she began to tell the joke. “One day, three Charl knights are sent out on a
mission to an unknown world with the orders to–"
    She hadn’t even finished
the first sentence and before Lorgin was affronted. "Charl do not take
orders," he stated imperiously.
    "No? Then what
would you call it when the High Council
sends you out on a mission?"
    " That is a
suggestion." He huffed. " We , the knights, decide whether we
will do it or not."
    "Um,
yeah, sure." Keep telling yourself that, Lorgin. “Anyway, when the
knights arrive through the Tunnel, they are–”
    "She has a point,
Lorgin.” Traed stroked his jaw. “The Guild does expect–"
    “That matters not.”
Lorgin dismissed whatever Traed was about say in regards to Charl procedure
with a slash of his hand. “The final decision always lies with the knight.”
    “Lorgin is right.”
Yaniff aimed his staff at the green-eyed man. “You would have known this Traed
if you acquiesced to your heritage and joined the Charl.”
    “Acquiesced?” The peridot eyes sparked danger ously. “As if I, myself,
have not been coerced into–”
    “Whoah, whoah, whoah!”
Deana threw her arms in the air. This was getting way out of hand, fast.
"May I please continue with the joke ?!"
    All of them begrudgingly
went silent. For the time being.
    Does
anyone realize what I have to go through to tell a
simple joke in this place? Gawd, I should get a medal for extreme bravery in the face of impossible odds
every time I try this!
    Aviarans apparently had
trouble telling a joke from a real story as evidenced by the comments,
interruptions and "opinions' that were ensuing.
    " As I was
saying, what they didn't know was that this world was run by women
warriors."
    "Now it gets
interesting." Rejar settled back, having found something to focus on.
Women. The one factor that would get the Familiar’s attention.
    "However,” she
continued, “these warriors were not especially happy to see Charl knights on
their doorstep."
    Lorgin shrugged,
unconcerned with their plight. "As you
say, Adeeann, occupational hazard."
    "Yes,"
Yaniff concurred wisely.
    Deana rolled her eyes.
"The female warriors captured the three Charl–”
    Lorgin