“It could be she covered either Andy’s death or else the election. The election’s more likely.’
Leann thought about that for a moment. “Doesn’t not having any privacy bother you?”
“It goes with the territory, I guess,” Joanna answered.
“Well,” Leann returned, “it’s never happened to me before. If they put the part with me in it on the news, it’ll be my first time. As soon as we get home, I’m going to call my mother. Maybe she can tape it.” Leann paused. “What about your mother? Won’t she want to tape it, too?”
“It’s a Phoenix station,” Joanna returned, “Their signals don’t get as far as Bisbee. With any kind of luck, my mother won’t see it.”
“Why do you say that? Will it upset her?”
“Are you kidding? The way I look on TV always her.”
Leann laughed. “Still, I’ll bet she’d like to see it. If Mom tapes it, I’ll have her drop the tape by campus tomorrow. Or else I’ll be seeing her sometime over the weekend. That way you can show it to your family if you want to.”
“Wait a minute,” Joanna said. “You said sometime this weekend. You mean you’re not going to your mother’s for Thanksgiving dinner?”
Leann shook her head.
“Why not?” Joanna continued. “She lives right town somewhere, doesn’t she?”
“Just off Indian School and Twenty-fourth Street,” Leann answered. “But there’s this little problem with my brother and sister-in-law. It’s better for all concerned if I don’t show up in person for holiday meals. That’s all right, though. Mom always saves me a bunch of leftovers.”
They drove in silence for the better part of a mile while Joanna considered what Leann had said. “So what
Leann shrugged. “Who knows? There’ll be restaurants open somewhere. I’ll have dinner. Maybe I’ll go to a movie. As a last resort, I suppose I could always study. I’m sure good of Dave Thompson isn’t going to let us off for the holiday without a hundred-or-so-page reading assignment.”
“Why don’t you come to dinner with us?” asked impulsively. “With Jenny and my in-laws and me. We’ll be staying at the Hohokam, right there on Grand Avenue. We have a five o’clock reservation in the hotel dining room. I’m sure we could add one more place if we need to. Where are you going to be for the weekend, then, back in Tempe?”
Leann shook her head. “I’m between apartments right now,” she said. “I figured that as long as the APOA was giving me a place to stay for the better part of six weeks, there was no need for me to pay rent at the same time.”
“That settles it, then!” Joanna said forcefully. “If you’re spending the whole weekend here on campus all by yourself, you have to come to dinner with us.”
“I shouldn’t,” Leann said. “I shouldn’t intrude on your family time.”
“Believe me, you won’t. Besides, you’ll love Jim Bob and Eva Lou Brady. Unlike my mother, those two are dyed-in-the-wool SOEs.”
“S-O-E?” Leann repeated with a questioning frown. “What’s that, some kind of secret fraternal organization?”
Joanna laughed. “Hardly,” she said. “It means salt of the earth. They’re nice people. Regular people.”
