"Peppermint"
The next morning, the new staff slowly gather around the picnic table for their first think tank. Charles, Emma and Jeremy talked for a bit, waiting for the others to arrive. Emma had a little discussion with Billy the night before, right where they were closing. She remembered that little talk with him. That was the first time she ever heard of something called the "think tank".
"All right, love, run that by us again." Charles asked Emma, yawning as the sun emerged from the dark clouds. "What's all this about a tank?"
"From what I heard, the think tank is an assembly of people thinking of ideas to give a business a boost. Sometimes it may even increase moral."
"Increase moral you say?" Jeremy asked. "Well, my Claudine's moral rose up because of my support for her."
"Are you sure it's you support that's given her a moral boost?" Charles laughed until he saw's wife's eye. He coughed and cleared his throat. "But seriously, Fred, you're doing her a favor by letting her stay in your home. I think she is enjoying herself here than she ever did up north."
"The Florida weather gives her a healthy feeling. She still needs to take her allergy meds for the tree molds though. She hacks all night if she doesn't."
Teddy sat beside Fred and sighed. "Well, that reminds me! I need to take my pill this morning before breakfast."
"You're on the pill?" Charles asked Teddy as he noticed him perspiring. "Oi! Why are ya sweating? It's humidity is low!"
"I took a jog this morning with Maggie today. She is helping me lose weight."
"Oh, good for you, Sug!" Emma told Teddy. "Maybe I should lose weight. I feel snug in my pants."
"Oi, don't lose weight because of your pants. You should take them off only when you're...hot."
He lost his smile and cockiness when he saw Jeremy walking along with Shirley and Cherrie. He sat down and took off his sunglasses. He wiped his forehead with his silk handkerchief as he looked around the table. "Not many people right now is there?" Shirley asked.
"Give it time, chica." Charles yawned. He looked at his watch. "I hope this think tank starts soon. It'll be opening time soon."
"Billy needs to be here!" Dustin cried out. He and Cody sat down and drank their cups of coffee. Shirley gagged over the heat of the liquid. "Cur! 'Ere, what's with that? It's too hot out for coffee!"
"Nah, it's never too hot for a good buzz!" Cody gulped his straight down. Yes, he was used to drinking boiling cups. His tongue was immune to the hot stuff. "I had plenty of buzz yesterday."
"Oh yeah." Shirley moved to Cherrie and whispered into her ear. "We missed a whooper apparently. There was this Beach Party that lasted all through the evening."
"A beach party?" Cherrie said, her eyes popped. "Oh, I do wish someone told me! I wanted to go there!"
"You wouldn't like it." Rosana sat down and sipped her iced tea. The Florida native waved at Jeremy and winked at him. Wilbur and Mavis made their way to the table and sat next to Rosana. The woman sighed with a refreshed attitude from her drink. "It was a naked beach party."
Cherrie's face flushed red and turned away. "Good golly! I don't think I wanted to hear the rest. A shock this early would give my stomach a turn."
"Yeah, it gave one of the new guests quite a fright!" Shirley complained. "Some foreign chick came rushing to the front desk and yelled for Major Burns. You remember her, don't you, M?"
"As a matter of fact I do. It was a Russian young woman and she spoke to me in vibrant Russian. Her...language is rather colorful to say the least."
"Meaning she swore at him in her native tongue." Mavis piped in. Teddy raised his hand. "Dusty? Cody? Do you have any of that coffee left? I need to swallow my pill?"
"Yeah, here." Dusty gave his half drank cup to his Art teaching pal. "It's iced coffee with bit of peppermint."
"Ah yes! Thank you. It's my anti-depressants. I need to take this every day. Otherwise I'd be thinking a lot of dark thoughts."
"We don't want that!" Rosana exclaimed. "Take your pill, darling." She watched her friend swallow his pill. The pill didn't go down smoothly so he took a second shot of the peppermint coffee. When he swallowed, he made a small belch. "Oh, much better."
Mavis sighed and her eyes were half asleep. Emma looked at her and smiled. "You look rather peaceful over there, Mavis."
"Yeah, I was just finishing our dream." Mavis held Wilbur's hand. "Wilbur had the same dream I had."
"We are kindred spirits, you and I." Wilbur picked up her hand and kissed it. "It was funny though. We ran on the beach to come straight here and we saw these naked bodies in all sorts of positions."
"Yes." Mavis nodded. "But the bad part of it is there weren't moving. They were just stiff! They didn't even flinch when Wilbur and I ran past then."
"Crumpets!" Charles flinched. "I hate that world standing still dream. Go on then."
"Well, as we ran to the field, we ran into this centaur!" Wilbur proclaimed. "He was staring right at us and was about to charge at us."
"How awful!" Shirley said to the couple. Jeremy twitched his thick mustache. "What on Earth did you do?"
"Nothing really." Mavis giggled. "He went past us and went straight to a female centaur that was behind us! You know, it's more intimate when Centaurs make love. They got hands on the recipient's shoulders and the front hooves on their hips!"
Her accent was adorable when she spoke. Teddy sighed in a romantic tone. "I'll bet your lives are magical in your cabin. I hope I will one have that someone that will give me plenty of magic."
Billy stretched his arms and greeted his staff. "Good morning, everyone! So glad everyone is here!"
"Yes, and you are late, Mr. Liberstat." Jeremy commented looking at his watch. "We were supposed to meet at six on the dot. It's now quarter past six."
"I stayed up all night getting my slideshow ready. Fell asleep and didn't hear my alarm." Billy set up his laptop and turned it on. "Yes, my colleagues old and new, I have a slide show about our camp setup. Right now, we have an empty box of themes. So, any of you lovely people have any ideas or suggestions, let's move right along."
