"What do you mean, you're not going to do it anymore?" Ladybug asks.
"It means what I said, Lady," she scoffs.
"Okay, okay. I hear you. Just tell me, again, what happened, exactly," Ladybug demands. "I'm not demanding; we are problem-solving," Ladybug eye-rolls. "I don't eye roll," Ladybug huffs. "Ugh!"
"Shut up, Lingerer!" she shouts.
"Tell me,"Ladybug insists, with a look.
"While I was walking home from my job, the other day, there were two one-dollar bills in the roundabout in front of my apartment building," she starts.
"Okay," Ladybug encourages as it leans toward her.
"Obviously, I was thrilled. It had been a minute since I found money on the ground. You know me," she shrugs.
"Yes, I know," Ladybug encourages, leaning in even more now, antennae perky.
"And I woke up the next night thinking, one buck for each billion .... but i want two-point-two billion ... *sigh* ... oh well ... i'll obviously be happy with two billion ... obviously," she explains.
"Okay?" Ladybug shrinks back a bit, feeling confused.
"And then, later that day (the early morning from the night before), we checked the mail, which is mail from the day before. And in the mail, our address had been chosen for some Gallup Poll, and in the mailer was two bucks," she states.
"I see," Ladybug slouches back, even further now, so far that it sits back on its haunches.
"I'm not finished," she clears her throat.
"Why? What more could you have possibly experienced in the two seconds we were parted!" Ladybug shouts!
"The next day, while I was walking home from my job, earlier along the route, I found a ring. It was obviously too big for any of my fingers, but it fit the bodybuddy/lifemate," she whispers.
"You found him a ring of power?" Ladybug gasps as it deploys its wings to meet her face.
"It would seem so," she smirks.
Ladybug slows lowers itself to the ground in front of her. On all sixes it asks, "And two sets of two one-dollar bills."
"Yes," she smiles.
"You were gone for two seconds; I swear," Ladybug swears.
a big red barn appears on the green green grass
at the base of the tall tall mountains
where the three peaks meet.
The two of them glance out over the fields toward the big red barn.
"Fucking, List-Maker," the two of them spit simultaneously.
"Squirrel's just up this stream," Ladybug points, "and he's been making a list of all of the stuff we can eat along the way," Ladybug informs.
She stands and dusts herself off, "Lesgo."