ladies room. As she opened the door she heard the sound of someone being very sick. A moment later there was a flush, and Sherri came out of a stall.
“Are you okay?” Hannah asked her.
“I think so.” Sherri headed for the sink and splashed some water on her face. She dried it with a paper towel, washed her hands and dried them, and then she turned to face Hannah. “Did Perry send you to check on me?”
“It was my idea, but Perry seemed glad that I offered.”
“He worries too much. I’m really a lot better now. I can go back to my seat.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor?” Hannah asked, reaching out to feel her forehead and hoping that she wouldn’t take offense. “You don’t feel hot. I don’t think you’re running a fever.”
“I couldn’t be running a fever. I’ve been taking aspirin every four hours for a week now.”
“Maybe you’d better see Doc Knight and find out what’s the matter. If it
“I don’t think I need a doctor. I should be okay now. I took some antacid for my stomach.”
Hannah wasn’t a great believer in over-the-counter remedies, but she decided not to say that. Instead she handed Sherri a tissue from the dispenser. “You’d better fix your makeup. Your lipstick’s smeared.”
“Thanks.” Sherri turned to the mirror to wipe off her lipstick and apply new. “I think you’re right, Hannah.”
“About what?”
“Food poisoning. I made some tuna salad and I forgot and left it out on the kitchen counter. I stuck it in the refrigerator the next morning, and I ate it for dinner that night. Maybe it went bad. I heard you’re not supposed to leave things made with mayonnaise out in hot weather.”
Hannah shrugged. “I guess that could be it. How long ago did you eat the tuna?”
“I don’t exactly remember. Maybe a week ago, or a little longer? I just bet that’s it.”
“It could be,” Hannah said, but she doubted it. As far as she knew, a mild case of food poisoning didn’t last a whole week. Or maybe it did. She’d studied literature, not medicine.
“We’d better go.” Sherri turned from the mirror and slung her purse over her shoulder. “Perry gets nervous if I’m gone for too long. I think it’s the twin thing. We were all we had for so long, and he looked out for me in the Home and everything. He forgets I’m grown up now and I can take care of myself.”
There was a knock on the ladies room door and Hannah opened it to find Perry standing there. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine, Perry,” Sherri said, giving him a big smile. “I just had a little stomach trouble, that’s all.”
“Okay. As long as you’re sure you’re all right.” Perry waited for her to exit the ladies room, and then he took her arm.
“Are they ready to show us the wings and the dressing rooms?” Hannah asked, following the pair to the hallway.
“Yes. They’re going to take us in groups of five. The first ten have left, so we’d better hurry.” Perry turned to Sherri. “Ready?”
“You bet! I’m…” Sherri stopped and Hannah watched in horror as her face turned pasty white again. “I have to go back in. I’m so sorry. I’m sick again!”
Once the ladies room door had closed behind Sherri, Hannah turned to her twin. “Take her to the doctor,” she said. “I think this is more serious than mild food poisoning or the flu.”
“Me, too.” Perry said, looking more than a little frightened. “I should have taken her earlier.”
“It’s not your fault. She didn’t want to go. But you should take her now. And tell Doc Knight to put it on my bill.”
“That’s not necessary. You don’t have to pay our bill. I know Doc’ll let us pay him something every month until we can…”
“No,” Hannah interrupted him, thinking fast. It was obvious that Perry wouldn’t accept what he thought was charity. “I need a few things done at The Cookie Jar, and you can do them whenever you have a spare minute.”
“Like what?” Perry looked a bit suspicious, like he wasn’t quite sure if Hannah had real work for him or not.
“You can mix up concrete, can’t you?”
“Sure.”
“I need my back step repaired. It’s got a crack and it’s only going to get worse this coming winter. And then there’s the pantry.”
“What about the pantry?”
“We’re reorganizing it and we’ve got heavy bags of flour and sugar, and great big containers of various supplies. I don’t want to lift them, and Lisa shouldn’t lift them either.”
“How did they get in the pantry in the first place?”
“Most of our supplies are trucked in from a warehouse and the driver carries them into the pantry for us.”
“Okay,” Perry said, and he seemed to accept her explanation. “I can pour a new back step for you and help you move things around in the pantry. When does this have to be done?”
“The step should be finished by the end of September. The pantry can take longer, say by the beginning of November. We need to get everything set in place before our holiday rush.” Perry began to look suspicious again and Hannah figured she’d better not be so generous with her timelines. “Of course I’d like everything done before then, but that’s the longest I could wait.”
I’ve got Wednesday afternoons free,” Perry told her. “How about next Wednesday at one? I can do your back step then.”
“That’s just fine,” Hannah said, even though it wasn’t. There wasn’t a thing wrong with her back step and she’d have to figure out some way to crack it so that Perry could repair it. “I’d better get back to Herb. It’ll be our turn to go backstage pretty soon. Do you want me to tell someone that Sherri’s sick and you took her to the doctor?”
Perry shook his head. “I know this stage like the back of my hand and so does Sherri. I can’t even count the number of times we’ve danced here. If anybody asks, just say we’ll see them tonight.”
“Okay. Tell Sherri I hope she’s better soon.” Hannah gave a little wave and went back into the auditorium. As she walked toward her seat, she realized that now she’d have to take time out of her busy schedule to reorganize their perfectly organized pantry. It was time she really couldn’t spare, especially since it was an unnecessary task.
There was a low whistle and Hannah turned to look. Herb was standing at the rear of a line that had formed in the center aisle. She’d been so deep in thought she hadn’t even seen that the seats they’d occupied earlier were now vacant.
“Did Perry take her to the doctor?” Herb asked when Hannah had joined him in line.
“Yes. She was really sick.”
“With the flu?”
“I don’t know. I felt her forehead. I don’t think she was running a fever, but she said she’d taken aspirin.”
“How did you ever get her to agree to go to the doctor?”
“I didn’t. I told Perry I thought he should take her, and he agreed. I promised to pay for it.”
“Perry’s touchy about taking charity. How did you get him to agree to that?”
“I told him I had a job for him at The Cookie Jar and he should consider it an advance on his salary.”
“
“I do now.”
Herb reached over to pat her on the back. “That was a really good deed, Hannah.”
“Thanks.” Hannah gave a fleeting thought to all the extra work she’d created for herself in her attempt to manufacture a job for Perry. And as the line moved forward, she muttered, “I should have known that no good deed goes unpunished.”
