'I don't, but your sister was right. Ghosts are good for business. The phone rang off the hook yesterday afternoon, and everyone that called in for reservations wanted to know if I'd actually seen the ghost. I happened to mention all the new business to Francine, and she thought we should actually have a ghost.'
Hannah stared at Sally in amazement. 'How do you actually have a ghost?'
'Francine offered to float down the hall like a ghost. She's going to put in appearances every couple of nights, just to keep the story going. I didn't want to do it at first. I mean, it's not exactly honest. But Francine pointed out that a lot of big theme hotels have events, and this was just another form of entertainment.'
'That's as good a reason as any. How does Francine float down the hall?'
'She worked out a technique. You've got to see it to believe it. Do you want me to call you before she does her next appearance?'
'Absolutely,' Hannah said, a plan beginning to hatch in her mind. If Sally gave her enough advance notice, she'd bring her mother and Carrie out to the inn for dinner and make sure they had front-row seats for the ghost sighting. If Francine was convincing enough, it might just scare the matchmaking schemes right out of their minds.
LISA'S WHITE CHOCOLATE SUPREMES
Preheat oven to 350'F, rack in the middle position
1 cup melted butter (2 sticks, one-half pound) ' cup white sugar ' cup brown sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 ' teaspoons baking soda ' teaspoon salt 2 beaten eggs 2 ' cups flour (no need to sift) 2 cups (1/2 pound) real white chocolate (or white chocolate chips) 1 ' cups chopped macadamia nuts (measure before chopping)
Melt the butter. Mix in the white sugar and brown sugar. Then mix in the vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs and stir again. Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
If you're using block white chocolate, chop it up into pieces roughly the size of chocolate chips. You can do this in a food processor by cutting the chocolate in chunks and processing it with the steel blade. If you're using white chocolate chips, just measure out 2cups. (You can use vanilla chips, but the cookies won't taste the same.)
Measure out the whole macadamia nuts. Chop them into pieces roughly the size of peas with a knife, or use your food processor and the steel blade.
Add the white chocolate and nuts to your bowl and mix thoroughly.
Drop the dough by teaspoons onto an UNGREASED cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a standard-size sheet. Bake at 350'F for 10 to 12 minutes or until nicely browned.
Let the cookies cool for two minutes, then remove them from the baking sheet and transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Lisa developed this recipe, and it's just like they say in the potato chip commercials ' you can't eat just one.
-20- 'So what are your plans for the rest of the day?' Hannah asked Lisa when they'd finished loading the cookies into the back of her truck.
'I'm taking Dad on a tour of the Ezekiel Jordan House and we're making an appointment to have our pictures taken. Then we're going to the park to watch the family snowman contest.'
'I'll see you there,' Hannah told her. 'Tracey's entered, and since Bill is working, I promised Andrea I'd help. Janie's coming along with me to watch.'
'Tell Janie she can watch with us. I really like her, and I know Dad would like to see her again. I mentioned her name to him and he actually remembered her from years ago.'
'He remembers quite a few things from the past, doesn't he?'
'That's one of the strange things about his memory. Dad can recall things from twenty or thirty years ago, but new things don't seem to register. Every time I take him to the senior center, he gets all excited because he thinks he's going there for the first time.'
'At least he's never bored,' Hannah said, attempting to put the brightest face on things. She knew Alzheimer's was a terrible disease, and that it was degenerative. The time could come when Jack Herman might not even remember his daughter.
'Don't be sad, Hannah.' Lisa reached out to touch her arm. 'I know Dad's prognosis, but at least he's happy now.'
'He's very lucky he's got you,' Hannah said, giving Lisa's hand a comforting pat. 'And thanks for offering to entertain Janie while I'm off making a fool of myself.'
Five minutes later, Hannah was zipping down the road toward her first venue. She was dropping off cookies at Jordan High, and the parking lot at the school ice rink was already dotted with cars. When she pulled in, she saw a familiar face, or at least part of one. It was Craig Kimball, and he was wearing a blaze orange ski mask.
'Hi, Miss Swensen!' Craig hailed her as she got out of her truck. 'Do you need some help with your cookies?'
'Are you offering? I've got a bag of new cookies you can try if you are.'
'You bet.' Craig's eyes crinkled at the corners, and Hannah knew he was smiling behind all that orange yarn. 'Just let me rope a couple of my friends into helping and we'll only have to make one trip.'
Hannah opened the back of her truck while Craig jogged over to a group of Jordan High seniors. Before she had time to pick up the first box of cookies, she had six eager helpers. They carried the cookies over to the warm-up tent, and Hannah was amazed to see about a dozen spectators already in the bleachers that surrounded the rink. They were huddled in the front row in a tight little group, drinking steaming cups of coffee.
Once she'd paid off her volunteers, Hannah turned to Linda Nelson, who was running the counter. She was a senior, and Mrs. Baxter had told Hannah that she was the best homemaker in the class. 'It looks like you've sold some coffee already.'
'We sold one whole urn and we just made the second,' Linda told her. 'It's cold out there.'
'What time does the speed-skating competition start?'
'At one o'clock. Some of the parents came early to see the warm-ups. You should come back to see it, Miss Swensen. Barry Withers is just incredible. If he can shave off a tenth of a second, he'll break the school record.'
Hannah took one look at Linda's shining eyes and figured that a little romance might be brewing right along with that fresh urn of coffee. 'I'll come back if I can. Right now I've got tons of cookies to deliver.'
'Would you like a cup of coffee for the road?'
'I'd love it, thanks. And if you see Barry, tell him that I'm rooting for him.'
Less than five minutes later, Hannah was back on the road, a fresh cup of coffee resting in the plastic carrier between her seats. The town baseball field was her next destination, and she was right on schedule.
As she pulled into the parking lot, Hannah saw that there was a flurry of activity out on the field. Two parka- clad teams of students were building snow forts at opposite ends of the field. In less than an hour, the 'Great Snowball War' would begin, and the preparations were underway. Gil Surma, Jordan High's counselor and the assistant coach of the basketball team, was the general of the blue army stationed at first base. His team wore blue ski masks. The boys in the rival red army, which sported red ski masks, were engaged in building a fort by third base. They were commanded by their principal, Mr. Purvis. Both 'generals' were out on the field, supervising the stockpiling of munitions to make sure that no foreign objects, such as rocks or chunks of ice, were rolled into the snowballs that were being stacked inside the forts.
Hannah parked as close to the warm-up tent as she could and got out to open the back of her truck. She stacked up as many boxes as she thought she could carry in one trip, picked them up with both arms, and headed for the entrance to the tent.
'Steady, Hannah.' A familiar voice greeted her and strong arms reached out to take the top three boxes. 'You were getting a little wobbly there.'
Hannah smiled the moment the boxes were removed and she could see who her rescuer was. 'Hi, Norman. How are you feeling?'
'Fine. My headache is gone and Doc Knight took off that bulky bandage. He says the stitches are already starting to heal.'
'That's good. Did he say it was all right to judge the contest?'
Norman shook his head, and Hannah noticed that he winced slightly. No doubt his head was still sore. 'I'm not judging. I came out here to take a couple of pictures for the school photography club.'
