Chapter the 3rd: Resolution

I have done a lot of stupid things in my time, like the time I signed the guestbook at 01journalnovel.blogspot.com, but as I was following her out the door, I suddenly realised this may have been the stupidest thing yet.
I was following some random woman, who could very well be a criminal, whom the FBI had just told me was highly dangerous, who once called me Earnest, and I didn't even know her name!
I stopped walking.
"Thats it," I demanded, "I'm not taking one more step until you tell me what's going on."
I stepped towards her to intimidate her more.
Darn.
"Ok, now I'm not taking another step until you tell me what's going on."
She turned, sighed, and looked me in the eyes.
I could have sworn that somewhere I heard angels singing....
"Ok Erstwhile," she said, "What do you want to know?"
It was funny, but as I was standing there looking into her eyes, I couldn't think of anything much.
"Uh..." I struggled, trying to recall what was bugging me, "Whats your name?"
"My name is Ciola Dioletta O'Metta Rubetta Sinsetta Chadwick the 4th."
"Lovely name," I said, trying to regain my composure, "Named for your father no doubt."
"Anything else?" she asked.
"Cheese," I said.
She smiled as I took her photo, then asked, "Anything else?"
"The Cheese Man," I said, "Who is he?"
"You mean the so-called 'FBI agent' who just talked to you?" Ciola guessed, "His name is unimportant, but the man he works for is highly dangerous."
"Unimportant and High Dangerous, eh?" I said, "Well, bravo to the authors for such original names, but thats going a little too far. Why couldn't they be called Earl and Doug or something a bit easier to pronounce."
For some reason, Ciola started laughing, then quickly stopped.
"Oh, you're serious," she muttered.
"Yes, I'm serious," I exclaimed, quite offended by her suggestion, and slipping into a 1940's detective accent as I continued, "I'm not just in this for the laughs, sweetheart, I'm with ya through thick and thin, I'd climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest sea, no-ones gonna make a stool-pigeon outta old Earnest here, no-sir-e-bob, you can count on me, when the goin' gets rough, I'll be beside ya, just you and me, baby, we'll make it through, we'll last the distance, we'll dance the victory dance, and when its all over, and you and I make tracks into the distant horizon, we'll look back on this time and laugh, laugh with all the colours of the rainbow."
"Uh, good to know," Ciola said slowly, "but I think we had better be going. We've got to meet Geoff at 'The Black Falcon' in ten minutes, and its a ten minute walk from here."
"Ok, Ciola, anything you say," I gushed.
And we continued onward.

Previous Chapter ***** Next Chapter