Coffee for a Suspisious Squirrel

Lex smiled happily as he doled out hand-blended iced coffees. They were selling like crazy in the late August heat to adults who didn’t want super surgery confections but needed a little pick-me-up in order to keep up with the kiddies. He started out with a portable espresso maker, made however many shots were needed for the drink—about two shots for a single, four for a double, ect. Then he added their choice of flavorings, put it all in a blender with a big scoop of ice and puréed it. All that ice was why a single iced coffee needed two shots, of course. It would have been watery otherwise.

His grin grew when he saw the next guy in line, none other than Mayor Gil himself.

“How’s it going?” Gil asked, trying to play it casual. The were-squirrel’s eyes gave him away though. Gill suspected Lex was up to something, which was absolutely not true, for once. All of his mischief had been done prior to the first day of the fair. Lex was honestly just serving up the same coffees, using the same products and recipes as they served at Java Joe’s seven days a week during the hotter months.

“Things are going very well,” Lex purred happily. “The Phrappy Joe Mochas are selling particularly well tonight. Would you like to try one?” Gil’s gaze became more intense, almost piercing Lex from across the counter. Lex let his smile become more beatific, knowing that his friend and sometimes advisory would take it as a challenge.

“Sure, I could use a little something to keep my tail up.” Lex kept the innocent smile going as he fixed Gil’s drink. Gil’s sharp eyes watched every move he made and when he handed Gil his drink, the were-squirrel sniffed at it suspiciously.

“Yes, it does smell divine, if I don’t say so myself,” Lex said as he allowed a bit of his Cheshire Cat grin peek through. “But to properly enjoy and iced creation, one really should taste it.” Gil looked at his drink suspiciously and then back at Lex. Gil stared deeply into Lex’s eyes and he took a cautious sip. “Really, Gilbert,” Lex said with an effected sigh. “You are not a mongoose to be able to detect poison and such. Besides, Marissa would skin me alive if I caused her to lose her vendor’s license and unlike you, she can detect any and all of my magic tricks. She was just here a half hour ago. I am really up to nothing.”

“I’m sorry,” Gil said, sounding a bit embarrassed but not much. “It’s just that I can’t see you letting an opportunity like this to pass you by.”

“An opportunity for what, may I ask?” Lex asked, honestly curious about what Gil thought he might have done.

“An opportunity to test one of you concoctions on a large crowd like this.”

“Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert!” Lex laughed. “I have never tested anything on anyone without their knowledge. There are entirely too many non-initiated humans visiting the fair.”

“So you really are not up to anything?” Gil asked skeptically.

“Well, nothing other than making sure I was visible in order to drive you nuts, so to speak,” Lex conceded with a full blown Cheshire Cat grin. Gil chuckled and took a deeper sip of his iced coffee.



**********



Meanwhile, on the far side of the fair ground, a very strange looking wolf is trying to sell the last of his stock. He had managed to make a killer profit off that skinny cat whom he’d pressured into selling him the ice cream cart. Moon-Moon wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but it never took too much brains to scam a cat into giving up the goods!

“Popcorn! Get your Popcorn flavored Icecream! That’s right, folks, cool refreshment and all the flavor you love without greasy fingers!”