my garbage truck {ebbo}

[daphne adelaide flynn]

outfit!

Being inexpensive, the Grand Cabanas did not attract the most admirable residents. Daphne tried to turn a blind eye to them during her off hours and request that she not be stationed near her own living quarters so that they would not band together and riot against her, but that didn't stop her from being curious. She was always hearing people yell things in other languages, especially from below her, and the only tenant she knew well enough to trust was Will--and even her trust in him was sketchy, at best.

The only way that she could think to find out about what was going on was to be sneaky or to break into apartments and go through their stuff. Since the first would be much harder to talk her way out of, she went with the second option. Digging was not only a useful thing to find information, it was also a hobby that Daphne would never mention she had. People did know that she did it, but most of them didn't know that she liked it as much as she did--at least, she hoped they didn't know because she had never told them.

When she prepared for a dig, she tended to look like she belonged in an eighties workout video for losers who couldn't afford leg warmers and today was no exception. The long socks protected her legs, since her shorts were so short, but there were no other pants she was willing to ruin by diving into a dumpster. Even though she'd tried to take her cat Speedy with her, he refused to come and so she was now at the dumpster alone. She wasn't sure whether to climb in and sift that way or if she should try to take bags and just do it there on the floor.

Diving in sounded like it would be more disgusting than even Daphne was willing to deal with, so she reached up and hauled a bag out, plopping it onto the ground and carefully undoing the knot at the top.

[ebbo]

The evening wasn't as hot as July South Florida evenings often were. There was a breeze filtering through from the ocean and the air wasn't nearly as humid as it usually was. There wasn't a single hint of a rain cloud or rain.

Taking advantage of this, Ebbo was zooming around on a scooter razor he stole from someone's front yard. He had a bad habit of stealing things people left in their yards, like lawn chairs and tacky garden ornaments. A couple weeks ago some kid left out the razor making it automatically Ebbo's.

He just got back from riding it to the gas station on the corner where he bought a pack of Marlboro 27's and two Redbulls. He was gliding past the back of the apartment where the garbage chute led down into the dumpster when he spotted a girl pulling out a garbage bag and untying it.

He was actually painfully sober at the moment, coming down from a pot high and the adderall he took two days ago were barely buzzing through his veins. So girls digging through trash was weird and curious for him.

Approaching cautiously he said, "Lost something?"

[/justify]

[daphne adelaide flynn]

Daphne considered herself a pretty good judge of character, at least insofar as her policing instincts went. She might not have been able to tell whether someone was a good person or a terrible one, but she certainly knew a criminal when she saw one and this man, riding over to her on a scooter, had 'delinquent' written all over him. That, however, was irrelevant because, once Daphne noticed the scooter he was riding, she was won over. For the moment.

"Whoa!" she said, standing up from her bag of garbage. She didn't approach, just because her hands were kind of gross and she didn't want to mess up his ride, but she did lean forward to get a better look. "Is that a Razor? I didn't know they still made those!" She set the empty chinese carton in her hand down and wiped her hands together, not really fixing anything, but at least making them a little bit less covered in things.

At his question, she glanced at the garbage. People who knew her would not have been surprised, but she realized that it was probably strange to people who didn't. Best to lie, then. "Yeah, I lost an--" What was something that would allow her to dig through the trash for a long time? "--earring. In there. It was expensive. Diamond. Yup." She nodded, hoping she sounded convincing.

[ebbo]

The girl seemed as shocked as he was to see a scooter razor. It brought back memories of childhood and since she seemed to be about the same age, he was pretty sure she was thinking along similar lines. "Yeah. I didn't realize they still existed until a few weeks ago. Weird, right?"

He sort of wanted to move away from her, but didn't. He wondered passingly if she was homeless. Ebbo would have thought she was on drugs, but he knew people who were on drugs. All in all, he assessed that she wasn't dangerous. Just maybe a little crazy. He didn't believe for a moment she was looking for an earring and proceeded to say, "In a Chinese carton?"

[/justify]

[daphne adelaide flynn]

Daphne pursed her lips, nostrils flaring out a little as she did. Why couldn't he just believe her and then walk away? It was plausible that she had thrown an earring into a dumpster--it was even plausible that said earring had found its way into a carton of Chinese food, since it was an open container and empty. Still, even though she knew she was busted, she went with it. Because she was a cop. And she was sneaky, god dammit.

"Yes, in a Chinese carton," she said, waving it at him. "Things fall into other things, especially when they're small." She tossed the carton back into the bag, but did not dive headfirst into her search again. Now, she was a bit self conscious and wary about this strange person with a retro scooter judging her--or doing something worse.

[ebbo]

He didn't believe one word the girl said. Not one. He learned to realize when people were lying or being over all sketchy a long time ago. Back in Miami he was known for picking up people off the street and giving them a ride home. Usually to some crack den. He did it out of charity but also out of reckless abandon and a need to interact with people crazier than himself.

He wondered if this girl even lived at the apartments or if she was possibly just like the Witch of Orange Island, a crazy bag lady who always wore black and sometimes even a pointed hat. Maybe this girl was a new bag lady. But she seemed almost normal. That was the other thing, being around seriously crazy people made Ebbo able to tell who was institutional and who wasn't.

"Right," he said. "Let's say I believe you, then I guess I'm obligated to help. It must be seriously valuable, maybe even on a personal level, if you're digging through garbage."

[/justify]

[daphne adelaide flynn]

If she had really lost a diamond earring, she might have been wary about letting this weird criminal-esque person help her dig through trash for it, but since there was actually no way he could rob her of diamonds without going to her apartment--where he would have to make his way through a maze of object piles--she shrugged and smiled. "Thanks!" she said, reaching into the dumpster for a second bag. She hauled it out and plopped it in front of him. "My bag spilled, so it could be in any of these bags." With two people working at looking through stuff, she could stalk people at twice the speed.

Not waiting for him to open his own bag, she stuck her hand into hers and dug around until her fingers closed around something that felt interesing. When she pulled it out, it was a messy Playboy magazine. She flipped it over to see if there was a subscription name on it. "Huh," she said, looking up at Ebbo. "I didn't know people ever threw these out. I thought they just, you know, stored them in boxes under their bed. I wonder whose garbage this is?"

Shrugging, she tossed the Playboy back and then stuck her hand in again. As she felt around, she glanced up at Ebbo. "Thanks, by the way," she said, even though there was no diamond earring and he wasn't really helping her at all. "Not many people would offer to dig through garbage for a stranger."