Business

This is serious. You’ll have to treat it like business.

You dress in slacks and a blazer, as you would for a job interview. You know how to make yourself look put together, and you are pretty good at convincing people that you are older than you really are.

It turns out the girls are not fooling around together, although when you go to check on Kris, from the way she answers her door, you are 90% sure that she was touching herself and thinking about last night when you interrupted her.

Kris is still riding high on what happened.

Karen is being shamefully lazy.

And Lisey is watching TV. You aren’t their mom, but with only three of them around, it’s not hard to keep track of them. They don’t need to know where you’re going and what you’re doing. You slip out and get back in your car, driving into town. It’s just late enough that the liquor store is open. You go in and get a decent bottle of wine. Here’s where things get tricky for you. This is business, and business requires planning. You need a plan of attack for when you sit down with Alex.

You know she’s proud and stubborn, but not bad. Her girls break the law, but the things that they do are not malicious. One could even argue that they serve Gurlberg, in a way. You prefer them to the police, certainly.

You know with certainty that you can get her cooperation if you go in there meekly and humbly, ready to make concessions. If you approach that way, Alex will not refuse to help you, but she will probably take a heavy price.

Or you can go in more guardedly and try to negotiate. That way you’re bound to get a better deal on whatever is ultimately agreed on… but Alex’s pride might get in the way.

You head back out to your car and get behind the wheel. It’s a two-minute drive to the clubhouse. You hesitate with your key in the ignition.

How to play it?

Go in humbly?

Or go in scrappy?