Lullaby

Late one night, Glanni couldn’t fight the urge to go out and commit a crime. Sneaking out of bed, he told a very sleepy Sean that he was going downstairs to watch a movie. The detective didn’t question it, mumbling an “Okay.” before rolling over and going back to sleep.

Throwing on his catsuit, Glanni headed downstairs and out the door — well, he almost made it out the door.

“Isn’t it a little late to be going out?” A voice said from behind him.

“Ruby, dear. Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

The teen chuckled. “It’s the weekend. No, I shouldn’t.”

Oh. Yeah, it was.

There was a beat of silence before Ruby spoke again. “Can I come with you?”

Glanni seemed caught off guard by his daughter’s question, but shook it off. “Sure. Whatever you do, don’t mention a word to your Pabbi about anything that happens tonight.”

“Okay.” The girl grabbed her jacket and followed Glanni out the door.

Walking the streets of LazyTown, Glanni looked for a target. There was a small jewelry store on the outskirts, near where he and Aiden used to live. That’s where they’d be heading. He looked over at Ruby, who seemed to just be enjoying the walk.

“You’re going to get a lesson tonight, dear.” he said, with a smirk.

“Sounds fun. What are we doing?”

“You’ll see.”

After what seemed like forever, they reached the store. It closed hours ago, and there wasn’t any traffic around, so it was the perfect place. Glanni looked at the exterior of the building, spotting a surveillance camera. It wasn’t pointed in the direction he and Ruby were, and he was pretty thrilled about that. However, it may see them leave…

“Ruby, dear. How good of a throw are you?”

“Good enough to pitch at softball. Why?”

Glanni picked up a brick, handing it to her. “I need you to take care of that camera.”

Ruby looked up at it. “Easy.” She took a step back, and launched the brick. The camera went flying, clattering as it hit the pavement a distance down the road.

The look on Glanni’s face was a mix of pride and absolute astonishment. “If I ever need anyone to throw a brick at someone’s head, at least I won’t have to look far.” He then walked over to the door, kicking the glass a few times.

“Dad, what are you doing?!” Ruby yelped.

“Breaking in, what does it look like?”

“That doesn’t seem very legal…”

Glanni chuckled. “When there’s no cops around, anything‘s legal. Now, follow my lead and we’ll be set.”

Ruby nodded. What the hell had her dad gotten her into?