Triomino Crumpet.

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9:10am, Tuesday. 3

The cordless phone jingled its merry monotone tune and Triomino Crumpet’s hand shot out to pick it up. 4

‘Hello, Triomino here’ 5

‘-Lo,’ a voice crackled over the poor reception. ‘’D like t- -der a dozen -ies for the wee-nd.’ 6

Damn reception, she thought. Wanted to order eyes? What the hell… ‘Um, are you sure you have the right number?’ 7

‘Yes, 12,’ said the man.8

Ok… ‘Ah, when and where do you want the 12 eyes?’ Triomino asked, mind racing furiously in an attempt to fathom the bizarre request. 9

After asking him to repeat that a couple of times she got the address. 10

‘Oh…’ he said, ‘I’d li- bee- -ies.’11

Bee… beef? Beef, must be a code word for brown or something. ‘Um, so you want one dozen brown eyes at your place 6:00pm Saturday, right?’ 12

‘Brown? Ah, beef, yes. Yes.’ He mumbled, sounding slightly bewildered. She couldn’t say she blamed him, she was too… 13

‘Ok. See you then…’ 14

‘Bye.’ 15

She hung up, lay back on her bed and stared at the pink ceiling. Three days to collect 12 brown eyes. Triomino was intensely curious as to how he got her number, and how did he know she wanted to start bounty hunting? She’d dropped her name on a couple of forums looking for work, but didn’t recall leaving her number. Oh well… she sat up and grinned. She had work, she was doing it! No one on the forums thought I ever would, too young they said, I’d show them, the arrogant pricks. 16

Triomino looked at her watch and groaned, she had to be at Currumbin Bird Sanctuary for work at 10:00, and she wasn’t ready yet. She rolled off her bed and headed to the bathroom to finish putting her makeup on. 17

~*~18

7:34pm, Teusday.19

Triomino sat slouched over the bar at the pub. It’d been a long day mulling over how to get a dozen brown eyes. If that hadn’t been bad enough four kangaroos had caught something and were probably going to die. With the head vet being away it left her in charge of fixing them. Gah, she thought, I hate being vet in training…20

She took a sip of her beer and looked around, it was surprisingly quiet tonight. As her gaze swept the room it feel on another customer - a young, pale and nerdy looking kid, looked about 18. Unfortunately for her, he had been looking at her at the time, so their eyes met. Triomino cursed quietly for not looking away fast enough as he stood up, a nervous grin on his spotty face, and walking over took the stool next to her. 21

She sat scrutinising her drink, hoping that he’d take the hint. He didn’t. 22

‘G’day,’ he said in a way that suggested he’d been told what was said in Australia. She couldn’t quite place his accent.  23

Sighing she turned to him. ‘Hello.’ 24

‘I saw you s-sitting there by yourself,’ he mumbled, turning pink under her steady gaze. ‘Thought I’d keep you company.’25

Oh goodness, she thought, he’s trying to wink… ‘Really. What made you think I wanted company?’ She found it mildly amusing the way his eyes - which she noted, were brown - kept dropping to her low cut top. 26

He had started to stutter a reply when an idea hit her. Brown eyes…27

‘Shh,’ Triomino said soothingly, ‘I’m just teasing.’ She smiled sweetly at him. ‘You’re not from ‘round here are you? I don’t remember seeing you.’ 28

He laughed. It was a high-pitched and strained laughed, Triomino tried hard not to wince. ‘No. I’m not f-from here. I’m on holiday from Sweden.’29

Perfect… ‘Sweden, eh?’ she said. 30

‘Yes. Lovely place there. You should come back with me.’ 31

My gosh… how forward is that? And so pathetically hopeful. ‘Indeed. Don’t you think we should…’ she paused and leant closer to him, dropping her voice to finish, ‘Get to know each other better?’ 32

The hungry look in his eyes - that were not focused on her face -  told Triomino that he was hooked. She stood up and with a sultry look over her shoulder signalled him to follow. 33

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