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[wheelsy_sheriff]

Bill is dead-dog tired.

He didn't even care when the front door opened to Milliways instead of the house, because there was work to be done at home, too.

Milliways gives him a chance to catch a nap at least, before he gets to wrestling with the damned garbage disposal again.

That explains why there is currently a sheriff parked in an armchair near the fireplace, cap pulled over his eyes, and sawing logs.

What it doesn't explain is why said sheriff is missing a shoe.

Sometime between flopping down in the chair and closing his eyes and now his left shoe has gone missing.

It'll be fun when he notices it. Or not.


[ooc: for car keys, but open to everyone until it scrolls.]

Comments

[fry_sandhu]

A small boy peers curiously at the man with only one shoe.

Maybe he's connected to the strange man he saw hiding a shoe earlier.

In the meantime he notices a shiny sheriff badge, not quite like the Security ones, and he peeps over the arm of the chair at it.

"Sh...err...if" he reads off it quietly to himself.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Bill cracks a lazy eye, blinking a couple of times before looking at the boy.

"C'n I help you?" he drawls, not bothered, just tired.

[fry_sandhu]

Fry jumps when the eye opens, and breaks eye contact.

"Your shoe is gone." he says. "Shoes should stay together."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Bill starts to say something to calm the boy, but his thoughts meander on to what the kid is saying.

"My wha?"

He takes slow stock of himself and that's when he notices.

"My shoe is gone."

[fry_sandhu]

"There was a man." Fry says helpfully, still looking a little cautious in case Bill thinks he took his shoe.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

It's a little bit of a struggle for Bill to sit up, he's sunk pretty well into the chair, but he finally manages it.

Staring down at his socked foot a moment, he then glances at the boy.

"A man took my shoe?" He's skeptical for a moment, but honestly that isn't the weirdest thing he's ever heard in Milliways. "What man?"

[fry_sandhu]

"He smelled bad, like armpits." Fry says. "He had orange hair which was sticking up in the air, and metal on his head, and he wore a thing with no sleeves which said 'Very metal' on the back."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Well that was probably one of the weirder descriptions he's ever heard.

"A punkrocker?" he hazards a guess. "You see which way he went?"

[fry_sandhu]

"He went into the toilet but he put your shoe up there." Fry says, pointing to the rafters.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

Bill turns his head to look up.

"Well, fu-- " a quick glance at the boy and Bill draws out that four letter word into five, "--udge me."

Straightening out his cap, Bill stands with a sigh, canting his head.

"Where's it at?"

[fry_sandhu]

"It's four metres from the wall on that beam." Fry points.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"Four meters... right."

Bill cranes his head, trying to see it and trying to measure.

"Y'wouldn't happen to know how far that is in feet, would you?" he asks, pushing the chair he was sleeping on up underneath the beam, trying to gauge the distance.

[fry_sandhu]

Fry considers this, then gets a tapemeasure out of his pocket and starts trying to measure Bill's feet.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"What're you-- " he pauses to look down at the boy, then gives a chuckle and shakes his head. "Oh. No, not what I meant. I-- never mind, I got this."

Carefully, he tries to step away from the kid.

"You just stand by, alright? In case I fall off and bust my head open or somethin'."

[fry_sandhu]

Fry doesn't like the sound of that, as it might involve blood. But he waits and watches because the shoes should go together as a pair.

"He put something on the bottom." he says helpfully. "It was either toothpaste, superglue, or eye drops."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"Are you shittin' me?" Bill asks with an irritated sigh, not catching the curse this time.

Grumbling to himself, possibly about asskickings and the like, Bill climbs up onto the chair. Balancing on the chair back carefully, he reaches for the rafters; feeling around for his shoe.

"Got a whole world full of dumbasses an' I've gotta come to the end of the universe t'find more," he mutters.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

Juliet's not one to disturb a working man's sleep. She is, however, one to try to reunite a man with his shoe.

She'll try to be unobtrusive while looking for it, but is pretty likely to bump into you - sorry, Bill.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

It's a bump to his elbow that does it, drawing him awake with a snort and something that sounds like, "Sumsumsnrfbrrurk."

He blinks awake and gives her a drowsy look, "S'I sleepin'?"

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

And his suddenly speaking up makes Juliet jump. "Like a rock," she says. "And you lost your shoes, too."

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"Sorry, didn't mean t'make you jump I-- " he starts struggling to sit up straighter but pauses as her words register. "I lost what?"

He looks down and yup, he's missing a shoe.

"What the hell? Where'd it go?"

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

"It's okay," Juliet says. "And that's what I've been wondering. Did you go out for a swim at the lake, something like that?"

She's a natural detective, and she's trying to figure out why he'd be shoeless in public.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"No, I just came in an' crashed out." He sighs, pulling his cap off to run a hand through his hair.

"That was my fault, I really should know better by now."

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

"So the only question is: did you leave your shoes on the other side of the door or did they end up in the trilobite tank?"

Strangely, she had to ask Shawn the same question the other day.

[wheelsy_sheriff]

"Pretty sure I had 'em with me." But, given how tired he was coming in, he can't be 100% positive on that front.

Just to be sure, he looks towards the trilobite tank.

[craftylildoodlepumpkin]

"Okay, that narrows things down," Juliet says. "Can we check with the Loompas? Is there a way to get into the lost and found?"

She's gone into detective mode, almost against her will.