luck.” She managed to disentangle herself and took
Bruno’s hand. “Come inside, it’s quite safe.”
Dirk lingered at the door. “Twerp,” he muttered.
“Chickenhearted twerp.”
“Why are spiders bad luck?” Judith asked.
Dirk shrugged his broad shoulders. “Something to
do with a spider during the shooting of Bruno’s first
picture. Somehow, one got on the camera lens and ruined a perfect take. The crazy bastard’s never been the
same since.” He stopped and turned quickly to look
over his shoulder. No one was there. “Crazy like a fox,
maybe I should say.” With another shrug, Dirk Farrar
moved down the hallway.
Judith went back to the toolshed, where her mother
was still standing in the doorway.
“What caused that commotion?” Gertrude asked in
her raspy voice.
“The guest you were talking to doesn’t like spiders,”
Judith explained, steering her mother inside. “He’s
okay now. Say, what were you doing out in the rain?
Were you trying to come into the house?”
“Of course not,” Gertrude huffed. “Why would I do
that?”
Judith eased the old lady into the overstuffed chair
behind the card table. “You do sometimes.”
“When Lunkhead’s not there, maybe,” Gertrude allowed, then gave Judith a sly look. “I don’t see his car.
Maybe I wanted to meet those movie stars, like Francis X. Bushman and Clara Bow.”
Judith didn’t feel up to adding her mother to the already motley mix. “How about seeing them tomorrow
when they’re all dressed up and ready to leave for the
premiere?”
Gertrude flopped into the chair. “Tomorrow? I could
be dead by tomorrow.”
“You won’t be,” Judith assured her mother. “Besides, not all of them have arrived yet.”
Judging from the pinched expression on Gertrude’s
face, the effort to reach the house had tired her.
“Well—okay. Who’s still coming? Theda Bara?”
Judith gave her mother’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.
“Someone more recent. I’ll be back with your supper
in just a bit.”
The truth was, Judith hadn’t even begun to prepare
the family meal. Gertrude didn’t mind a TV dinner, but
Joe was another matter. As soon as the hors d’oeuvres
were served, she would start the evening meal.
Arlene, however, had already brought the appetizers
out to the guests: crab cakes, mushrooms stuffed with
shrimp, teriyaki beef on skewers, tea sandwiches with
smoked salmon, and—courtesy of Bruno—an exotic
caviar from a shop and a city Judith had never heard of.
