After placing the large order, Renie beamed at Judith. “Bubba’s has chained up their delivery vans.
They’ll be here in forty minutes. Oh, happy day!”
116
Mary Daheim
“For you, maybe,” Judith said with a grim expression. “Not for some other people.”
“Right.” Renie didn’t look particularly moved.
“Say,” Judith said, “how are you going to get the fried
chicken past the front desk this time? You didn’t give
any special instructions.”
Renie slapped at her forehead. “Shoot! I forgot.” She
thought for a moment. “I’ll go meet them at the door.”
“You can’t walk that far,” Judith pointed out. “Even
if you could, you can’t carry that great big order with
only one hand.”
Resting her chin on her left fist, Renie thought hard.
“I know,” she said, brightening, “I’ll ask Tubby Turnbull to meet the delivery guy and bring it up to us.”
Judith cocked her head at Renie. “You’re going to
ask the general manager of a major league baseball
team to deliver a box of fried chicken? Are you nuts?”
“No,” Renie replied. “Wouldn’t you like to talk to
Tubby? Not that he’ll say much. He’s Mr. Ambiguous.”
“Well . . . I suppose I can’t miss the opportunity,” Judith said. “I’ll time his visit with Addison. Sister
Jacqueline told Tubby to keep it to ten minutes.”
“That’ll be twenty,” Renie put in. “Tubby talks and
moves in low gear. That’s why he never makes a trade
deadline.”
“Okay,” Judith agreed. “I figure a little over five
minutes have gone by.”
Renie’s phone rang. She picked up the receiver and
smiled. “Hi, Bill. You’re using the phone. What a nice
surprise . . . Yes, I realize you can’t come up tonight.
It’s snowing hard here, too . . . What?” Renie’s face
froze. “You’re kidding! Did they call the cops? . . . Joe
reported it? . . . Good . . . Yes, sure . . . Now don’t get
too riled . . . Okay, will . . . Love you.”
SUTURE SELF
117
Renie hung up and stared at Judith. “Joe took Bill to
pick up Cammy at the Toyota dealership,” Renie said,
her face pale. “Cammy wasn’t there. She’d been
stolen.”
EIGHT
“HOW,” JUDITH DEMANDED, “does a car that’s in for
service at a dealership get stolen?”
“That’s what Bill and I would like to know,”
Renie said angrily. “We’re a one-car family. We’re
stuck.”
“Your kids each have a car,” Judith pointed out,
hoping to assuage her cousin’s distress.
