And did we shop? We found fabulous women’s shoes in Charlie’s size and so many wigs we couldn’t decide, so we bought them all, and we had an appointment with an award-winning cosmetic artist who was going to give Charlie a distinctive look. And at Momma’s insistence, he hired a personal coach to work on his dramatic presentations of Cher, Judy Garland, Beyoncé, and anybody else he felt he might like to lip-sync to. He was good, but he’d have to be drop-dead amazing to break into the really big time as he wanted to.

Momma and Charlie were out shopping again, so I called Holly to see how she was holding up. She told me about Hunter’s accident and the words she’d had with Archie. I was flabbergasted.

“This makes me absolutely sick inside,” I said to her.

“Me, too,” she said. “It’s like something really terrible is going to have to happen before Archie will wake up.”

“Don’t say that,” I said.

“Here’s what I don’t understand,” she said. “Hunter’s accident would’ve been the perfect moment for her to take this banged-up little boy in her arms and say she was so sorry. It could’ve been a turning point for them instead of a hundred more nails in the coffin. But that’s not what she did. This is what happens to people who can’t ever be wrong.”

“You’re right, of course. They always blame the problem on somebody else.”

We were quiet for a moment.

Then Holly said, “Something awful is going to happen. I just know it.”

“You and your premonitions,” I said. “Let’s hope you’re wrong for once.”

“I’d love to be wrong.”

“On a lighter note,” I said, “Charlie is beside himself with all the attention he’s getting from Momma and this army of people they’re calling in to help him literally get his act together.”

“Is she having fun, too?”

“Are you kidding? She’s the stage mother for him that she never was for us,” I said. “She made me laugh so hard yesterday when we were shopping. She said to him, ‘Now, Charlie, remember, the higher the heel, the more flattering it is to your calf muscle.’ I thought I’d lose my mind. Can you believe she even thinks of things like that?”

“We always forget that back in the day, the QB was a stunner.”

“That’s true. She was. Well, Project Charlie is sure resurrecting her.”

“That’s good to hear,” I said. “So how’s it going between you and Charlie?”