Yep.

You‘re kidding!

Nope.

But she just got divorced!

Evidently, she just got remarried.

No! Kate and Johnny said together, savoring the horror of it all with unconcealed delight. Petey‘s older sister wasn‘t a Park favorite. This was partly because she had one of the few steady jobs around, and partly because you never knew when you walked into the post office if she was going to try to convert you to the ways of the Lord when all you wanted to do was pick up your mail. Annie Mike said she saw them fighting in the post office. Was that why?

Lynyrd Skynyrd started begging for three steps more. Yes, it was. And while she wasn‘t smart enough to know she was his second wife that month, she was smart enough to intercept his check when Global mailed it to him. Probably in violation of seven or eight federal laws, but I‘m choosing to ignore that for the moment. Or until a U.S. postal inspector shows up on my doorstep.

Which, Kate said, thinking out loud, of course sent Suzy hotfoot to the post office to put a trace on the check. Bonnie kind of laying herself open to that by opening the post office for two hours on holidays because she knows everyone will be in town for the parade.

Exactly, Jim said, a gracious nod going to this most apt pupil. This most apt pupil stuck out her tongue. And between the two of them they had just enough brain to figure out that they were both married to the guy the check belonged to. So when they got done slapping each other around, Bonnie closed up the post office and they came down to the post. He sought comfort in his beer.

Were they loud? Kate said, looking sympathetic.

They were loud, Jim said, with a shudder. They were foulmouthed and abusive, too, to Maggie. And even to me. He was wounded all over again at the memory. Women were never mean to Chopper Jim Chopin.

How could they, Kate said, and even Lenny Kravitz wanted to know who‘s that lady. The aptness of the iPod‘s musical commentary made her laugh. Yeah, yuck it up, Shugak, he said, but I‘ve a mind to pitch this right in your lap. I‘ve got a job, she said, and batted her eyelashes at him. Got it just this afternoon.

True. Damn it. He brooded in silence, and Johnny decided the fun part was over and departed for his room and the joys of Maroon 5 on his iPod. Up till now he accessed his iTunes account on Bobby Clark‘s computer. But next fall, his own computer with his own Internet connection. iTunes, Facebook, World of Warcraft, he could hardly wait.

Jim put on a CD he had mixed under Johnny‘s supervision.

Jim, Kate said in the kitchen, about Petey. Did you catch him in the act of something?

He made a disgusted sound. Ah, Harvey reported seeing him and Howie cleaning out Feodor Williamson‘s garage. You know Feodor‘s been conspicuous by his absence lately, but that doesn‘t mean it‘s open season on his homestead, he‘s probably just catting around Anchorage like usual. I couldn‘t find Howie but I found Petey at the Roadhouse, and he wouldn‘t give me a straight answer to anything I asked him. Pissed me off, so I locked him up on general principle.