stiff, too.” Suddenly, she jumped out of her chair. “The
bathroom! We’ve got to get to the bathroom!”
“So you mentioned,” Renie smirked. “How about using
that wastebasket?”
Judith stared at Renie. “I don’t mean that,” she responded,
going to the door. “Help!” she screamed. “Help! Help!”
“What in the…?” But Renie was at her side, pounding on
the heavy pine panels.
The cousins were almost hoarse by the time Margo and
Gene came to the rescue. “We thought the yelling came from
outside,” Margo said. “What’s wrong?”
“Outside?” Judith blinked at Margo. “No, it was us.”
Their captors didn’t argue when Judith and Renie asked
to be locked up in their own room. They needed access to a
bathroom and also wouldn’t mind if someone brought them
a couple of sandwiches. After escorting the cousins upstairs,
Margo and Gene promised to deliver food.
“You didn’t tell them the phone worked,” Renie said after
the cousins were alone. “How come?”
“Because,” Judith explained, scurrying into the bath-
room, “I wanted to stall for time. Obviously, the OTIOSE
gang was in the dining room when the phone rang and they
didn’t hear the kitchen extension.”
“So what good does it do us?” asked Renie. “Now we’re
shut up in here.”
“With a much simpler lock,” Judith called out over the
flushing of the toilet. “The only problem is, we don’t have
access to a phone on this floor. I forgot about that.”
“Crazy,” Renie muttered. “What did you mean when you
said ‘bathroom’?”
Judith was washing her hands. “What? I can’t hear you.”
“Never mind.” Renie collapsed onto the bed and lit a cigarette. “I’m sure I’ll find out.”
Judith entered the bedroom. “I’m glad Mother is okay. It
sounds as if I’ll lose some money with the cancellations, but
I can’t do anything about that. And, as usual, Arlene is
coping very well.”
“It’s a good thing this is a three-day weekend,” Renie
pointed out. “Bill doesn’t have to teach and nobody has to
work. Maybe by Tuesday, things will get back to normal.”
A knock sounded at the door. Ava and Max had arrived
with chicken salad sandwiches, chips, and the carrot and
celery sticks Judith had cut up early Friday morning. Only
two days had passed since then, but to Judith, it felt like
much more.
The cousins thanked Max and Ava, who both seemed extremely subdued. “How’s everyone doing?” Judith asked, her
usual compassion surfacing.
“Lousy,” Max retorted. “Honest to God, we have this sense
of impending doom.”
“But Max,” Ava said, giving his sleeve a little tug, “it
