Honey, I’m so delighted that you had a wonderful trip to Rome and actually got to shake the pope’s hand. We’re all fine. No news. Love to both of you.

Mama

Well, I certainly couldn’t tell her about her Aunt Sister being bitten by a rattlesnake and us having a wreck. Especially after she’d just had us blessed.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter
Twenty

The soup was delicious. We topped it off with some pralines and cream ice cream that had been in the freezer so long it was chewy around the edges. But still good. Afterward, while I was leaning over putting the dishes in the dishwasher, Fred enveloped me in a bear hug and said, “You interested?”

“No.”

“Me neither. I just wanted you to know the potential is still there.”

“Good. How about you and the potential going and turning on Biography. I’ll be there in a minute.”

A half-hour later, Fred, the potential, and I were all sound asleep halfway through Nelson Rockefeller’s life. Nelson was dead and buried and they were showing American castles when the phone rang for so long, I couldn’t ignore it. I was lying on the sofa and I reached behind me and knocked the whole phone off the end table.

Muffin went skittering into the kitchen, and Fred opened one eye then closed it.

Damn. Damn. I got down on my hands and knees and found the receiver under the table. This had better not be one of those call-every-night-at-suppertime charities.

I thought whoever it was might have hung up, but when I answered, a woman said, “Mrs. Hollowell?”

“Yes.” I waited to hear that their truck would be in our neighborhood next week picking up discards, but the woman surprised me.

“This is Louellen Conway. Bonnie Blue Butler said you were asking about me today. Are you all right? Would you rather that I call back some other time?”

“Oh, no. This is fine. I just knocked the phone off the table. We got back from Europe a few days ago and I’m still a little jet-lagged.”

A slight tinkly laugh. “I know how that is. They say it’s a day for every decade of your age.”

I glanced over at Fred whose mouth was open. “At least.”

“Well, Bonnie Blue told me about your wreck and the snakebite. She said you wanted to know about Eugene.”

“We heard he killed you.”

“Almost. It’s taken a lot of Prozac and a lot of years to get over that episode in my life.”

“Well, do you mind telling me what happened? There are two little children living in that house now that I’m frightened for.”

“Susan’s children. I read about it in the paper. Why are you frightened for them?”

“Because I think there’s a distinct possibility that either Terry or Betsy might have killed their mother.”

“Oh, I doubt that seriously. Why do you think so?”