I Shall Not Want

'I'm looking out for her future. And if you thought a little bit more about her and less about yourself-'

'Oh!' Janet stepped toward him, her eyes-the same eyes he had inherited from their father-blazing hot blue. 'All those years you were gallivanting all over the world in the army, who was looking out for her then? I was! I was the one who stayed here in Millers Kill and spent every Sunday with her year in and year out when the only thing she'd see from you was a postcard!'

'And that gives you the right to get her involved in this idiotic-ow!'

Janet let out a similar screech of pain. Margy had reached up-way up, since they had also both inherited their dad's height-and pinched hold of their earlobes.

'Ow! Ow, Mom, stop it!'

'Not until you two stop behaving like a pair of brats fighting over a lollipop.'

Russ hadn't heard that voice from her in years. He had no doubt she would tear his ear half off if he didn't back down. He raised his hands in surrender. Janet did the same. Their mother let go. They both stumbled back a few steps, rubbing their respective injuries.

'Russell, I'm sorry you don't approve of my investing in Janet and Mike's farm, but I've been handling my own money for nigh on thirty-five years, and I'm not about to start having somebody else make my decisions now.' Janet's tense shoulders relaxed until Margy turned on her. 'Janet, if you're trying to tell me the reason you stayed in Millers Kill after you graduated was to keep me company-'

'No! I mean… no.'

'Good. Didn't think so. One of you stayed and one of you went and it never made no difference in how I felt about you. So don't start with that now.'

Janet shook her head.

'Russell?'

'Yes, ma'am.'

She sighed. 'I think you better go on home, after all. Give us all a chance to cool off. Mike'll drive me back after supper.'

'Yes, ma'am.' Jesus. Fifty years old, and she could still dress him down like he was a kid. He glanced at Mike, who had gotten very interested in one of the heifers during the argument, and then at Janet. She looked at him warily. He knew he ought to apologize, but he couldn't. It was selfish and stupid to drag Mom into such a risky venture. 'I guess I'll see you later,' he said.

Janet nodded. He beat a retreat, out the byre, through the barn, into the frosty evening. Opened his truck door and stood for a moment, trying to settle. Across the road, a car had pulled into the bungalow's driveway. A woman got out.

A woman in black clericals.

Oh, no. Not this on top of everything else.

But a second later, he realized the woman was too short and slight to be Clare. She turned, maybe attracted by the light spilling out of his pickup, and he could see she was the new deacon from St. Alban's. What was her name, Groosvoort?

'Chief Van Alstyne? Is that you? Is there some trouble?'

'Uh, hi'-the name came-'Deacon de Groot. What? You mean because I'm here? No. No trouble.' He kept his voice neutral. 'My sister and her husband-uh, farm around here.'

'Well. How nice to see you again.' She pushed at her immaculate mass of ash-blond hair. 'Excuse my appearance. I've been at the Glens Falls hospital since this afternoon.'

She didn't do hospital visits, did she? Wasn't that Clare's job? Had something happened to-'I hope everyone's all right,' he managed to squeeze out.

'Our sexton, Mr. Hadley, had an acute myocardial infarction.' She said it with the careful pronunciation of someone repeating what she was told. 'Poor man had to have a quadruple bypass. I stayed until he was moved to the ICU. No visitors there, so I figured it was time for me to come home.'

'Home?'

Even in the half-light, he could see her charmed smile. She pointed to the bungalow with pride. 'No more commuting down to Johnstown for me. I've just bought the Petersons' house.'

EASTERTIDE April and May

I

Kevin Flynn was checking himself out in the mirror. He tried combing his hair down flat, then dragging his fingers through it until it stood up in spiky chunks. Flat? Chunks?

Behind him, Lyle MacAuley finished his business and zipped up. 'For chris-sakes, Kevin, it's the morning briefing, not a beauty contest.' He went to the sink beside Kevin and turned on the water. ' 'Sides, either way you wear it, kid, it's still red.'

Eric McCrea emerged from one of the stalls, singing, 'It's Howdy Doody time!'

'Like you ever saw Howdy Doody.' MacAuley shook off his hands and yanked a paper towel from the dispenser.

'Just trying to provide a reference you could get, Dep. If I compared our young officer here to one of the Weasley twins, you wouldn't know what I was talking about.'

'I knew a couple strippers called themselves the Beaver twins, but no, I never heard of any Weaselies.'

'Harry Potter?' Kevin said. 'Everybody's heard of that.'

MacAuley made a face. 'Kids' books.'

'I like 'em.' McCrea twisted a faucet on. 'Last one came out, I read it before my son did.'

'Grown-ups reading kids' books,' MacAuley said with disgust. 'It's no wonder we're importin' men from Mexico to do our work for us. We're all getting too dumb to know one end of a hammer from the other.' He reached for the men's room door handle, only to be squashed against the wall when Noble Entwhistle pushed it open. Kevin, doing a last check to make sure none of his breakfast was on his teeth, grinned.

'Chief says, where'n the hell is everybody?' Noble reported.

McCrea twisted the faucet off and dried his hands. 'If you step back from the door a ways, Noble, I think Lyle might be able to get out.'

Noble shoved his wall-like frame through the door. 'Sorry, Dep.'

Kevin and McCrea snickered as MacAuley and Entwhistle did the doorway dance. Finally the deputy chief squeezed past Noble and disappeared into the hallway, a string of profanities marking his passage.

'What's taking you guys so long?' Noble asked. 'You know what they say. If you shake it more'n three times, you're playing with it.'

'Nah. We're just giving Kevin some beauty tips. Much better now the fuzzy thing on your chin is gone, Kevin.'

'Goatee,' Kevin muttered. It would have been a good one, too, if the chief hadn't squinted at him in the dispatch room last week and barked, 'No beards. Shave it off.'

Noble rolled his eyes. 'I got a tip for you. Don't be late. If the chief don't notice her,'-he wagged his head toward the hall, where the former public restroom had become the women's room-'he sure ain't gonna care how pretty you are.'