Dar glanced at her in perfect sympathy. "Sweetheart, you can have the day off any time you want," she replied. "I know your area's covered."

Kerry grimaced again. "You know what's not covered?" she asked mournfully. "I forgot to stop and pick up supplies at Walgreen's." Her eyes met Dar's. "And you know I can't handle the kind you use."

Dar put the car into reverse and commenced backing out. "Guess we're going to the drugstore then," she said. "S'all right. I need some stuff too. We're low on Advil..."

"Ahhhh!!!" Kerry squeaked.

"And I need some batteries for my digital," Dar finished. "So put the seat back and relax, and we'll get ourselves taken care of."

Kerry took advantage of the offer, releasing the seat and tilting it back about halfway. She closed her eyes and left the driving to her partner, idly listening to the soft new age music coming from the speakers. "They really were kinda sucky today, huh?" she said. "I wonder why? We never had them act like that before. Did we do something I don't remember?"

Dar was silent for a while, drumming her thumbs on the steering wheel as she made her way through the surface streets toward the drugstore. "I don't know," she finally muttered. "It just pisses me off that they act like we owe them something all the time."

Did they? Kerry pondered the idea. "Well, most churches do assume their memberships will do stuff like bake cookies and put money in the plate, Dar," she conceded. "I know ours did at home. Big time. Not that anyone ever said anything outright, but boy...if you skipped a week, the looks you got."

Dar made a rude noise.

"Well, you know, they have to raise money somehow." Kerry felt herself in the odd position of defending a faith she often was at serious odds with. "They have to keep the place up, and pay the pastor, and do community programs. The money has to come from somewhere."

Dar pulled into the parking lot and parked in front of the drugstore. She set the parking brake, but left the car running. "Yeah, I know." She opened the driver's side door. "It's not that part I mind. They do good stuff, especially for those kids you mess with. It's the other stuff they expect us to do." She got out. "As if just because we're gay, we have to be revolutionaries about it. Not my gig."

Kerry watched in bemusement as her partner shut the door gently, and strode off toward the entrance to the Walgreen's.

DAR WAITED IN line, glancing at the items available for sale on the nearby racks out of boredom. She had her chosen items, obtained in quick order, but there was only one clerk working and several people ahead of her waiting to pay.

C'mon. I've got melting ice cream here. Dar glared evilly at the line from behind her shades.

The clerk, unfortunately, was busy trying to understand the request of the first woman in line, who was attempting to obtain a specific type of cigarette using a language even Dar wasn't familiar with. It was hard to say at this point which one of them was the more frustrated.

Her eyes fell on a shelf about thigh level, and she examined the contents, a grudging smile slowly appearing as she reached down and selected one of the items. After a quick look around, she added it to her basket, then resumed waiting.

The woman ahead of her let out a deliberately audible sigh. "Jesus."

The clerk glanced up at her, giving her an apologetic grimace, but slightly shrugging her shoulders. The foreign woman pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and unfolded it, showing it to the clerk with a bit of impatience. "Ma'am, we don't have those."

The woman questioned her in her own language.

"Ma'am, we don't have those," the clerk repeated, with commendable patience. She pointed at the picture in the paper and shook her head. The woman shook the paper at her, her voice rising.

"Jesus." The customer in front of Dar repeated. "What an idiot." With a disgusted look, she tossed her packages onto the counter and walked away, leaving the store with a slap at the sliding door on her way out. The man ahead of her did the same, shooting the clerk a bird as he followed suit.

At the same moment, the foreign woman grabbed back her paper and shoved it in her purse, storming off and walking quickly through the door on the heels of the other two.

That left the clerk staring after them, and Dar with no one ahead of her in line. Not one to look a gift tourist in the mouth, she stepped forward and began removing her choices from her basket, placing them down on the register counter.

"Why do people do that?" the clerk wondered, as she picked up the first item and scanned it. "Move to a place and not know how to communicate?"

Dar studied her from behind her wraparound shades. "To give Americans a taste of what it's like to deal with them overseas?" she suggested mildly.

"Huh?" The girl frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You ever been in another country?" Dar inquired.

"No," the girl replied. "Why would I want to go to another country?"

"Doesn't matter. How much?" Dar indicated the register. She watched the total come up, and swiped her ATM card through the reader, punching in the code with an impatient motion. The machine hesitated, and then regurgitated her receipt, which she snagged along with her purchases from the clerk's hands. "Thanks."

"Bye." Now bereft of customers, the clerk waggled her fingers at Dar. "Have a nice day."

KERRY HAD AMUSED herself by trying to make up stories about the people she watched coming out of the store while waiting for Dar's return. The first man who had come out seemed to have gotten something he wasn't too sure about based on how he kept looking inside the bag he'd carried out as he walked to his car. She decided it was a choice between hair growth formula, some feminine products, or birth control.

She watched him until he got into his car, whereupon he drew something out of the bag and took a bite of it, skewing her theory.

She hoped.

The next two women who exited were apparently together, talking non-stop in Spanish as they walked right past the Lexus and got into a maroon station wagon right next to her. They started their car and without breaking their stream of discussion, began to pull out.

Kerry's eyes widened as she realized the car's front wheels were turned sharply to the right, aiming the vehicle right for the passenger side door inches from her. Reacting instinctively, she leaned over and slammed her hand on the Lexus' horn, closing her eyes and sprawling half over Dar's seat as she waited for the crunch and impact.

After a moment's silence, however, she opened her eyes and peered over her shoulder. The maroon station wagon was gone, and as she straightened up and looked behind her, she spotted it pulling out into traffic with a squeal of tires.

A blue Jeep barely missed sideswiping it. Kerry blew her hair out of her eyes and faced forward again, deciding the women had probably picked up either legal stimulants or prescription sedatives or maybe a combination of both.

Another customer stormed by the front of the Lexus, walking with short, furious steps. She banged into a trashcan on the sidewalk, and shoved it away from her with a audible curse even through the closed windows of the Lexus. She gave the can a vicious kick, before she continued on and around the corner of the store to the other side of the parking lot.

Didn't like her one hour photos? Kerry wondered. She had little time to consider it, because the woman was followed almost immediately by another, equally upset looking, who seemed almost in tears. She walked over to a small four-door car near the entrance and spoke to the man inside it, showing him something she had in her hands.

The man grabbed it and then shoved her backwards with an angry snarl. He pushed the car door open and headed for the door to the drugstore, leaving the woman behind. She looked unhappily at the car for a brief moment, then went around and got into the passenger side, pulling down the sunshade and peering anxiously into the mirror.

Now, what was the story there? Kerry wondered, but not for long because her peripheral vision was filled with an approaching figure that captured her attention fully as she turned her head to watch Dar walk over to her.

Just the sight of that angular face made her smile. Kerry could feel her facial muscles responding, and she watched Dar react and return the grin as she opened the door and slid inside bringing a puff of hot, moist air and the scent of the apricot scrub still lingering on her skin. "That didn't take long. Thanks for getting my stuff."

Dar handed her the bag. "No problem. Careful, there's a jug of..."

"Ice cream in here," Kerry finished, peering inside. "And...what in the..." She removed something from the bag and held it up, letting the plastic bag drop down to the floor between her hiking boots. "Dar, what is this?"

Dar was concentrating on removing the Lexus from the parking lot and keeping the body of the car intact while she did so. "Um...it's a hamster."

Kerry tapped the small, furry foot, and the stuffed animal started to dance to the tune of "Over There..." "It's a dancing hamster," she observed, dancing a little in her seat along with it. "It's a dancing hamster in a sailor suit, Dar."

"Yeah." Her partner peered fiercely through the windshield. "You were calling me a hamster the other day so..."

A giggle worked its way out of Kerry's chest. She set the creature on her lap and tapped its foot again, watching it dance and squiggle in its white outfit and hat. "Is this supposed to be you?"