Title: Testing and Luck (1/1)
Authors:  Cousin Shelley and Arletta Asbury
Faction: Cousins
Date: July 7th, 2001
Time: Sometime in the Late Morning
      Right after "Monastery Madness (1/1)"
Disclaimers:  All participants used with permission


Arletta and Shelley wandered into the CERK kitchen.  "Wow!"
both women exclaimed at once, as they took in the gleaming
cabinets and state of the art appliances.

"I wonder what he needs all this for?" asked Shelley.  "I
mean, he doesn't eat."

"Well, he doesn't eat *food*," Arletta corrected, spying the
double sized industrial refrigerator that looked brand new.
Opening the doors slowly, a large collection of what looked
like wine bottles gleamed from inside.  Both women instantly
knew these bottles didn't contain wine, however.

Shutting the doors quickly, Shelley said "Let's leave that alone
and just do what we need to do here."

Arletta nodded in agreement as they made their way over to a
large countertop made of spotless stainless steel.  "Okay,
let's see ...." she said, placing the ancient book on the
counter.  "We need the peroxide first."  She opened the bottles
she had purchased from a pharmacy on their on their way back
from the monastery and poured the contents into a large mixing
bowl.

"What's next?" Shelley asked.

"Ummm .... red food coloring?  I wonder why it needs that?"

"I don't have any idea, but let's follow the recipe anyway.
Let me look," Shelley responded.  She began searching through
various cupboards and shelves in search of the ingredient.
"Ah ha!  Here we go," and held up a bottle of red liquid.  Adding
it to the mixing bowl, she stirred it gently as it fizzled ever
so slightly.

Reading from the book, Arletta announced several more ingredients
which Shelley added to the mixing bowl.  At last she said "only
one more item to find".  A small smile spread across her face.
"Ribena!" she exclaimed.

As the two bottles of Ribena were added to the mixture, it began to
fizz loudly and a slight mist rose up from the bowl.  Both women
stepped back a little until it settled down.  As it did, it turned
perfectly clear and had the appearance of water.

"Looks harmless enough now," Shelley commented, but did not move
closer.

"Yeah, sure does," replied Arletta, also keeping her distance.

Shelley sighed and took a step towards the bowl.  Seeing no
activity, she relaxed a bit.  "What should we carry it in?  We
need something small so we can hide it easily.  I don't know
*what* we'd say if someone wanted to know what it was!"

Arletta pulled several small bottles equipped with eye droppers
from the bag of pharmacy purchases.  "Will these be good?"

"Yes, they'll be great!" Shelley told her and began to fill the
first one.

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"We really need to test all the liquor in here," Shelley said,
surveying the wet bar, located in the Cousinly Salon.

"And LaCroix's private stock as well," commented Arletta.

The two of them searched the cupboards and found glasses.
Pouring in a bit of liquid from the first bottle, they
added 2 drops from the bottle of Vitamin U tester fluid.
The brown liquor turned lime green.

"What color is Vitamin U again?  I keep forgetting." Shelley
asked.

"Electric blue," said an exasperated Arletta.  It was only
the 15th time Shelley had asked that question...in the last
hour.

They worked their way through all the bottles, finding
pinks, purples, greens, yellows, and reds.  But not one
blue, much less electric blue.

"Time to try his private stock?" asked Arletta.

"Yes, it's the last thing left," replied Shelley.

The two women made their way back into the CERK kitchen
and over to the gleaming, double sized refrigerator.  Opening
it carefully, they extracted one wine bottle, filled with a
red substance both knew was blood.  Arletta popped the cork
out and poured a small amount into a cup.  She then replaced
the cork (not an easy task) and returned the bottle to the
fridge.

Meanwhile, Shelley dropped 2 drops of the clear testing
liquid into the cup.  Nothing happened.  The blood stayed
red, and looked exactly the same.  "Hmmmm, that's interesting,"
she said under her breath.

"What?"

"It stayed the same....no color change at all."

"I wonder if that means he's not getting *any* Vitamin U?"

"Could be."

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"But *how* are we going to do that?" Shelley whined.  Both
women were sitting on Shelley's bed in their adjoining rooms,
looking slightly depressed.  Tiger, the cat, was busy chasing
an invisible bug around the room.

"We HAVE to....we tried all the food at CERK already, and
nothing showed even a trace of Vitamin U!" Arletta responded.

"Well, okay, I understand the point....but how do we pay
for eating out at so many different places?  I can afford
one or two, but every restaurant in Toronto??"

"And we'll need to get every item listed on every menu,
too...."

"That's going to run into thousands of dollars!  Even in
Canadian money, it's out of our price range!"

"Maybe we could ask LaCroix to foot the bill?" Arletta
asked hopefully.

"I think I'd rather *steal* the food!" Shelley said
unhappily.

------------------------------

Both women had completely forgotten they had left Arletta's
hallway door open.  As the invisible bug careened out the
door, so did Tiger.  She followed it down the hallway of the
CERK building, blissfully unaware of her surroundings (as usual).

Suddenly, she spotted something.  Something small and gray.
This was *much* more interesting than that darn invisible bug.
It was hard to catch those anyway, since you couldn't see them.
Being a cat of very little brain, she decided to sit and stare
at this new object for a while.  To see if it moved.  Or not.
Sitting staring at the floor at an immobile object made her very
happy.

-------------------------

"Where is Tiger?" Shelley asked, a concerned look coming
over her face.  The cat normally could be found staring
at a wall in the room somewhere.

"I don't know," Arletta replied, looking around.

Both of them got up and went to search in Arletta's room.
Seeing the open door, a feeling of dread filled Shelley.
"She must have wandered out into the hall."

Racing into the hall, relief flooded in as she spied the
small gray ball of fluff staring at the floor at the end
of the hall.  "There she is!" she said to Arletta, "Staring,
as usual!"

As the two walked up to Tiger, she looked up and said,
"Yeeeeooooowwwrrrrrrlllll".  She had never really gotten
that meow thing down.  Then she went back to staring at that
wonderful immobile object laying on the floor.

"What's this?" Arletta asked, bending over to pick it up.
As she did, Tiger let out another yeowl to alert everyone
that the previously immobile thing was now on the move.
Then she backed away, just in case it turned into an invisible
bug and she needed to chase it.  She crouched, ready to spring
into action at any time.

"It looks like a credit card," Shelley said, scooping up the
protesting Tiger.  "Who's name is on it?"

"Lucien LaCroix," Arletta said, stunned.

"He, uhhhh, must have dropped it?" Shelley said, voice shaking
a bit.

"Yes, he must have," agreed Arletta.  "So, what do we do with it?"

"Turn it in.......RIGHT after we visit a few restaurants!"
Shelley said, grinning.  Arletta smiled.

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