The Next Morning....
"Ricky?" Lucy asked during breakfast, "Do you think if the Mertzes have a fight, that they'll tell us?"
"Sure, they promised to," Ricky told her.
"Well, if we fight, would WE tell THEM?"
"Sure, we promised to, too."
"Ricky," Lucy said sarcastically. "Think about it. Would you really tell them? You wouldn't and you know it!"
"Well... yeah, probably."
"Uh huh..."
Ricky got up, "I gotta' go to work. Bye, Dear."
"Okay. Good-bye, Ricky."
Lucy cleared the table and went over to the phone. "Hi Fred, can I talk to Ethel? -- Hi Ethel. What are you doing this morning? -- Oh, I was thinking about going shopping, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. -- Okay, I'll be over in a minute."
She hung up the phone, went into the bedroom to get her purse, then headed for the door.
~~~~~
Ethel hung up the phone. She turned to Fred, "Lucy asked if I wanted to go shopping with her."
"And you said yes. I know, I heard your side of the conversation. I risk losing $50, and you're going shopping."
"Fred," Ethel said. "Are you still worried about that? If it's got you so worried, why did you agree to that price? You could've said no, they already know you're a penny-pincher."
"Hey! If I would've said no, they would've teased us that we weren't 'brave' enough."
There was a knock at the door.
Ethel shrugged, and walked over to the door, "That'll be Lucy. Anyway, you said yes, so we'll just have to wait and see."
--------
Browsing through the dresses in the dress shop, Lucy and Ethel were talking.
"Ya' know Lucy. I think maybe we shouldn't have made that bet." She chuckled, "Fred's so worried that we'll lose."
"Yeah Ethel, I'm sorry I got so mad last night."
"I'm sorry too, but--"
"Ethel?" Lucy asked. "If you and Fred had a fight. Would you really tell us? Honestly?"
"Lucy, if me and Fred had a fight, it'd be so common, we wouldn't even notice that we had one. Anyway, the way Fred's acting, I don't think he'd let me tell you," Ethel said. "Would you tell us?"
Lucy chuckled, "I didn't think you would. As for us, probably not. If we had a fight, and then told you that we didn't, you'd probably believe us. Because you wouldn't have a way of REALLY knowing anyway. Ethel... if neither of us would tell anyway, what would you say to calling off the bet?"
Ethel sighed, "Fred'll be glad to hear that."
"Yeah. I don't know what Ricky'll say."
They walked by a rack, and one of the dresses caught Lucy's eye. "Hey Ethel."
"What?"
Lucy grabbed the dress, and held it up to herself, "How do you think this dress would look on me?"
Ethel looked at her. "That'd look great! But you can't buy that dress. You just bought a new one last week. If Ricky finds out you bought another one," Ethel shook her head.
Lucy thought a moment, "Ethel, let's not tell the boys that we called off the bet."
"Huh? Why not?"
"Well, because then if I got the dress, Ricky couldn't get mad at me. And if he did, I'd tell you, and we'd lose the bet," Lucy said.
Ethel looked confused, "But we just called the bet off."
Lucy smiled and shook her head, "But Ricky doesn't know that. All I have to do is threaten to tell you, and he won't get mad at me."
Ethel shook her head, "I don't know Lucy..."
"Oh, come on Ethel. Just don't tell the boys."
"Well... when would we tell the boys?"
Lucy thought, "we don't have to, we can let them do it themselves."
"How?"
Lucy waved her hand, "Nevermind. We can take care of that later tonight. But first--"
Lucy walked up to the counter, and bought the dress.
Part Three