The night was too hot for sleeping and the air conditioner man wouldn’t be there until the next day to fix her broken down unit. Mrs. Potts slid out of bed and went to the window to open it. Strange…Mrs. Deer’s house across the street was dark, but she saw some sort of movement. Mrs. Deer’s garage door was open.
Mrs. Potts gasped. Something was wrong. Three shadowy shapes moved inside Mrs. Deer’s garage and one of them looked like Mrs. Deer. Leaning forward, Mrs. Potts squinted. Who was that? Why wasn’t a light on? What was Mrs. Deer doing up at three o’clock in the morning? Was she in trouble?
Her heart pounding, Mrs. Potts jammed her feet into slippers, grabbed her robe, and ran to the front door. Something told her not to call out. Her old friend might be in danger and who were those two men?
Slipping outside, she bent low, keeping behind her hedge and dodging from tree shadow to tree shadow until she was across the street in Mrs. Deer’s yard. She slipped up alongside the house, stopped, and listened.
“Give me your keys,” growled one of the fellows.
“No.” Mrs. Deer stomped her foot.
Mrs. Potts gasped. Her friend had always been stubborn, but there was such a thing as being too stubborn for one’s own good.
“Dumb old woman!” snapped the second man. He grabbed the car key from Mrs. Deer’s hand.
This was just too much for Mrs. Potts. They could shoot Mrs. Deer at any moment and now they were going to steal her beloved Millicent the Car.
Mrs. Potts didn’t stop to think or she wouldn’t have been so foolish. She lowered her voice as much as she could and yelled at the top of her lungs, “This is the law. Drop your gun. We’ve got you surrounded!” But, she stayed in the shadows as she shouted.
The men whirled. Then, they yanked open Millicent’s doors and jumped inside. The car’s engine purred to life and they zipped out of the garage. Millicent flew backward and rammed her bumper into a tree. It made a terrific noise.
Lights came on in houses. A man’s voice yelled, “What’s going on ?”
In a minute, a police car skidded to a stop at the curb. An officer sprang out and sprinted to Millicent. “Outa there!” he yelled.
Two shaken hoodlums staggered onto the street, their hands high.
Mrs. Potts and Mrs. Deer, huddled together, shaking.
“They broke in. They wanted my car to drive to the bank. They were going to rob it.” Mrs. Deer said. “But, I knew that Millicent wouldn’t like anybody else holding her steering wheel.”
The young officer peered at the two ladies. “Say, aren’t you the ones who picnicked in the snow last winter?”
Mrs. Potts nodded.
Later, Mrs. Potts and Mrs. Deer sat in Mrs. Deer’s cool kitchen sipping cups of black, hot coffee.
“Nothing like a little excitement to start the day,” Mrs. Deer said. “Thank you, dear friend, for coming to my rescue.”
Mrs. Potts grinned. “You’re welcome, but the real honor goes to Millicent. She handled it.”
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