She threw the door open. They all screamed, the shrieking stopped Miss Ida in her tracks just long enough for the girls to make their break, and then they zoomed like lightning.

Mary shouted "Head for the house!"

They took off, their screams echoing across the neatly trimmed lawn, a wide area between the Plantation house and the drawing room located in the vicarage they just exited.

The muffled shouts of Miss Ida followed, "Skjlwef lsdkfj ejkels jsdkfe!"

When Miss Ida gets excited, her dentures never work right. Of course it sounded like monster mumble to the girls.

Halfway through their screaming run across the lawn, they passed the Vicar; mid-forties, head of the household and head of the church, with his head down, golf putter in hand, staring at a golf ball.

They each in turn slammed to a halt, stopped, curtsied, and...

"Vicar," said Mary politely.

"Vicar," said Kay politely.

"Vicar," said Olivia politely.

"Vicar," said Carol politely.

Without looking up, the Vicar said "Good morning, girls."

Then, without missing a beat, they continued their screaming flight toward the house.

The Vicar was still looking at the golf ball and wiggling his butt to get his stance just right, when Miss Ida ran past.

"Gjkeng skjdir dkjlgns!"

Without looking up, the Vicar said, "Good morning, Miss Ida."

The girls finally reached the house, made it inside, slammed the door shut and locked it.

Breathless, they stood with their backs against the door.

"This isn't gonna hold her for long." said Kay.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die!" howled Olivia.

"Oli, get a grip," said Mary.

"That's right. Stay calm." said Kay, "What we need now is calm."

"What we need now is dust," said Mary.

They all thought a moment and then Kay burst out, "The broom closet!"

They all made a mad dash to the broom closet, then pushed and shoved to get inside. The closet was small and cluttered with a lot of cleaning supplies that looked pretty much untouched. Each girl grabbed a dust mop, until they realized that the mops were brand new, still in the wrappers.

A pounding came from the front door and followed by shouts of "Kngd! Dknek! Ghkeng! Klkdng!"

Olivia screamed, "We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"

From upstairs Missy Hyde yelled "Girls, will someone get the door."

"Okay everyone, grab a mop and start dusting," cried Mary.

After they pushed, shoved, and grabbed, the girls split up and started whisking their way around the room, at times bumping into each other.

Well, more like all the time bumping into each other.

As Mary worked at a feverish pace, she turned to see Olivia waltz with her mop.

Then she turned to see Kay polka with her mop.

Then she turned to see Carol trying to mop with the wrong end of the mop.

"Everybody stop! We're never going to get anywhere this way." Mary said as she tunneled back into the cluttered broom closet.

The girls heard CRASH, THUD, PLUNK, then Mary emerged with a huge grin on her face.

"Jackpot!" she said as she pulled out two dustpans full of dust. "Now to set the perfect trap."

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