General Freedom’s Humiliating Retreat
By the time we found Juan, he had climbed a streetlight and was clinging to it for dear life while screaming for help.
Below him, the furious woman in the red dress paced back and forth, knife in hand.
A small crowd had gathered, watching the spectacle. A group of tuk-tuk drivers were taking bets on whether Juan would fall before the woman got tired of waiting.
Brenda crossed her arms. "Well,
this is embarrassing."
Danny DeVito grabbed a bag of popcorn from
somewhere. “Nah, this is
art.”
Juan saw us and shrieked, “HELP! FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY, HELP ME!”
Brenda smirked. “I dunno, looks like
General Freedom has this under control.”
Juan wailed. “I WAS
LYING!”
Brenda turned to the woman. “Hey, sweetheart, how about we call it a night?”
The woman spun to face her, eyes blazing. “Are you
with him?”
Brenda hesitated. “
With him? Absolutely not. I’d rather lick a gas station toilet seat. But
legally speaking, we’re kind of stuck together.”
The woman sneered. “Your friend is a North Korean puppet.”
Danny DeVito snorted. “Lady, I promise you—if Kim Jong-un ever saw this idiot,
he’d defect from himself.”
The woman thought about that. Then, finally, she sighed and tucked the knife away. “Fine. But if I
ever see him again—”
Juan let go of the streetlight and dropped to his knees in the middle of the road. “I PROMISE YOU WON’T! THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU, PLEASE DON’T KILL ME.”
She spat at his feet, turned, and disappeared into the night.
Juan slowly turned to us, shaking. “I need a drink.”
Danny DeVito threw an arm around his shoulders. “That’s the first smart thing you’ve said all night, kid.”
Escaping Bangkok
We dragged Juan back to the hotel, where he spent an hour lying face-down on the floor, mumbling to himself about the dangers of "deceptively muscular women."
Brenda tossed a pillow at him. “You gonna wallow in self-pity all night, or are we getting out of here?”
Juan’s head shot up. “Where?”
I shrugged. “Anywhere but here.”
Juan sat up too quickly and nearly passed out. “I’ll choose. But first—” He crawled to his suitcase, pulled out a plushie of Babe Woof, and held it to his chest like a stress ball.
Danny DeVito watched in pure amusement. “You really live like this, huh?”
Juan didn’t answer.
Instead, he grabbed his phone, bought plane tickets on impulse, and grinned at us like a lunatic.
Brenda frowned. “Where did you just send us?”
Juan giggled.
Not a normal giggle. A
Juan giggle.
Brenda rubbed her temples. “Oh, great. We’re screwed.”
And just like that, the next morning, we boarded a flight to a location only known to Juan
.