I frowned at her and picked up the piece of paper on which I had written “Holden Crawford” and the name of his church, “Jesus Is Our Life and Heaven Hereafter.” Beside the name of the church, I had put a question mark since Luke hadn’t been sure that was right.

“You know,” I said, “if the man lives near Gadsden, then we can look him up in that area. We can find him on the computer.”

“And tell him to send Virginia home? Ha.” Sister pushed her chair back. “I need to get the velvet bag you smuggled through customs.”

“What?” The hair on my neck tingled. “I smuggled something through customs? You said it was your pearls and you forgot to put them with your jewelry.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly my pearls. I don’t guess it’s smuggling, though, when it’s right there and they don’t pay any attention to it.”

“You let me bring something in that could have gotten me in trouble? Arrested?”

“Oh, I knew you’d be all right. You look honest.”

The only thing I had to throw at her was the piece of paper that I crumpled up.

“Well, don’t get testy. Where’s the bag? Still in your purse?”

“No. And whatever it is, I’m not going to give it to you, Miss Smarty.”

“Why?” She looked genuinely puzzled at my reaction.

“Because it’s mine since I’m the one smuggled it in. Whatever’s in it is mine. What is it, anyway?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I do.”

“It’s a testicle.” Sister had put the sweatshirt back on and the frogs were dancing again.

“What the hell do you mean, a testicle? You had me smuggle a body part into the country? My Lord, Mary Alice, where did you get a testicle?”

“From Philip. He sent it to Debbie.” She motioned to a chair. “Sit down. It’s not a real one. You probably didn’t even break the law.”

I sat and glared at her.

“You’re pursing your lips,” she said.

I didn’t bother to answer.

“It’s real simple,” she continued. “They had some prosthetic testicles at the Warsaw medical school, but they were made out of silicone and they weren’t using them any more. At least the surgeons weren’t. But this obstetrician had a brainstorm. He’d give one to the women in labor to squeeze when they’d have a contraction. Philip said it worked wonders, cut the labor time in half.”

“Are you serious? Philip sent Debbie a silicone testicle to squeeze when she’s in labor?”

“He says it feels like the real thing. Has a marble or something in it.” Sister looked at me. “Don’t you wish you’d had one when you were in labor?”

“I wish they’d had epidurals when I was in labor.”