Page 79 of Merry Mayhem
She bumps his fist and then says, “I’ve had four cups of coffee and I don’t need to stretch. My chariot awaits, and I have a big, strong charioteer here.”
Josh glances at me with a confused frown, and I shrug.
“Chariot?” I ask. “Does this mean you’ve seen Andi this morning?”
“Yup. She’s right over there.” Muriel points slightly past my shoulder, and Josh and I both turn.
Andi and Everly are headed in our direction.
And they’re each pushing a shopping cart.
Or what used to be shopping carts.
My eyes get wider even as my grin grows.
My friend is a genius.
“What do you think?” Andi asks. “I got inspired and just forged ahead. But I knew you were busy at karaoke last night, so Everly came over to help and give me some input.”
I circle around the two carts and my friends. “I am amazed.”
“You just cut off the fronts?” Josh asks.
Andi nods. “Cut off the back of the baskets to where they widen a bit and removed the little seat where they put kids,” she says. “Then glammed up the whole thing.”
She’s not kidding.
The shopping carts are basically intact except for being open on the front. But they’ve been painted. One is shiny gold. The other is bright pink with, I swear, glitter mixed in.
Both baskets are now padded with cushions along the bottom and all sides. The gold one has black cushions, the pink has purple cushions. There are also embellishments. Draped along the outside of the gold cart are black, gold, and purple beads. The pink cart has multicolored scarves threaded in and out of the basket.
“You can get in and out of this easily?” I ask Patty.
Patty steps forward and slips into the gold cart as if she’s sitting down on a chair. “No problem,” she says.
Muriel also demonstrates how easy it is for her to sit into her cart and then get back out.
“And check this out,” Patty says, bending over and pushing a button on the wooden box that has been secured to the platform underneath the basket on her cart.
Christmas music starts playing.
“You even gave her a stereo?” Josh asks with a laugh.
“Of course,” Andi says with a grin. “I’m thinking these could be used again in the future.”
“Check out what mine has,” Muriel says, bending and opening the little door on the front of the wooden box under her cart. She reaches inside and pulls out a bag of gummy candy. “Snack box.”
I notice one other addition. I step forward and pull on the piece of nylon that’s tucked behind the back cushion. A bar extends, and the nylon slides over the top of the basket, providing a canopy.
“These are convertible chariots,” I say with a laugh. “Brilliant.”
“Wouldn’t want the queens getting sunburned or sprinkled on,” Andi says with a wink at Patty and Muriel.
“We are still trying to get Andi to tell us how much this costs,” Patty says. “We are absolutely paying her for this.”
Andi shakes her head. “Most of the stuff was just pieces and parts I had lying around in the studio. It was fun to put them together.”
Patty puts a hand up, stopping Andi. “Absolutely not. I’m going to have Muriel keep working on you. I know she’ll wear you down.”
