10 Things I Hate About Pinky - Sandhya Menon Page 0,70
get bored of a project like this.” She held open the tote bag containing DQ’s seemingly lifeless body. Dolores and Gloria peeked in and their eyes got wide, as if they were suddenly realizing they may be dealing with a group of seriously unhinged teenagers. “That’s Drama Queen. Pinky rescued her and plans to rehome her at a wildlife refuge. She’s also established raccoon hospitals, pigeon recovery centers.… You get the idea. She never gets bored.”
Pinky tossed her cousin a grateful smile.
Dolores leaned back from the bag and eyed the three of them carefully. “Well, dears, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your pet rat is dead.”
“She’s not a rat,” Pinky explained. “DQ’s a possum, and she’s just pretending to be dead. She’ll wake up in a bit.”
“Pinky’s also ridiculously stubborn,” Samir put in, his hands in his pockets. “Seriously. When I first got here, I wanted to drown her in the lake.” Pinky snapped her head to look at him. What the hell was he doing? “But now…,” he continued, “I don’t know. I’m beginning to see how stubbornness can be a really good quality. She can help you with whatever you might need help with. She’s really convincing and she doesn’t take no for an answer.”
Pinky’s anger melted away into something softer as she caught Samir’s eye. Was that how he saw her? She had no idea any of his thoughts about her hardheadedness were remotely positive.
Dolores didn’t look convinced by their soliloquies, but Pinky could see Gloria softening. “Look,” she said. “We’re thinking about canvassing the area downtown with some flyers, talking to other residents, maybe setting up a town hall meeting to figure out what the best approach to all this is. Would you be interested in helping out with the canvassing and word-of-mouth?”
Pinky nodded eagerly. “Yes, very much.”
Dolores shook her head and sighed, and Gloria said quietly, “Let’s give her a chance.” Turning to Pinky, she said, “Okay. Here’s my card.” She pulled out a business card from her pocket that said: G+D LANDSCAPING. There was a phone number on it. “Give me a call later today and we’ll go from there. No texting. Call me.”
Pinky took the card and stuck out her hand again. “Done. Thanks for giving me a chance. I won’t let you or the butterflies down.”
Gloria smiled a little and shook her head, as if she couldn’t figure out if Pinky was being serious or not. “All right, then.” And she and Dolores walked off in the direction of the parking lot.
Pinky turned to Dolly and Samir, grinning. “Guys. Thank you for backing me up like that.” Then she noticed what Samir was doing. “Are you taking notes?”
He looked up from his planner. “What? It’s just so I won’t forget the details.”
Pinky rolled her eyes and looked at Dolly. “Can you believe this guy?”
“Hey,” she said, “he’s your fake boyfriend.”
Pinky snorted. Then, getting more serious, she said, “So I guess I’m going to call Gloria tomorrow.”
Samir looked up at her as he put his planner away. “Right. And you’re sure you want to get involved? I mean, those two women are strangers.”
“It has to be better than sitting around doing nothing,” Pinky countered. When she saw the hesitation on both their faces, she added, “Guys, come on. Do you really want this gorgeous beauty to be completely decimated just so they can put up luxury apartments here? Do you want some snobbish, snide woman in a business suit to destroy the beating heart of this place, where so many hundreds of people have shared so many hundreds of happy memories, just to put up some boxy, soulless, uncreative cubicles? Just so she can add piles of money to the money piles she already has? What’s the point of that? Shouldn’t we stand up and say how we feel about it rather than just sitting back and letting this happen to us?”
She could sense it, the shift in their thinking, as she continued to speak. When she finished, Samir spoke first. His eyes shining, he said, “You know what? What the heck. I’m in.”
“Really?” Pinky asked, grinning.
“Hell yeah,” he said. “This is completely against the rules and completely crazy. I mean, completely.” He paused. “But it’s for the greater good, right?” Samir’s eyes were a tad feverish, and he really looked like he was asking for confirmation, so Pinky nodded.
“I’m in too,” Dolly said, giving her another hug. “Let’s do this together. Let’s help the town save