Runabout by Pamela Morsi

she would, but Luther spoke up first. Bringing his arm more possessively around her shoulder, he gave the old man a wink. "My Tulsy is not here for business, but pleasure."
    }Seeing the young man's proprietary manner, Haywood raised an eyebrow in surprise. Then he gave Luther a nod of approval. "Well, it's about time, if I'm allowed to say so. Why don't you park that old autobuggy under the maple tree over there," he said, indicating a spot some distance from the rest of the vehicles. "A young couple may need to find themselves a quiet, shady place if the afternoon gets too hot." He gave Luther a knowing wink.
    }Tulsa May's face was flaming as she drove into the shade. "How embarrassing!"
    }Luther looked at her, puzzled. "What on earth was embarrassing about it? Old Haywood is just showing us the consideration as a courting couple he approved of."
    }She sighed loudly as she pulled down the throttle and allowed the engine to die. "Surely he knows we are not really a courting couple."
    }Luther reached over and gently squeezed her prettily gloved hand. "Courage, Tulsy," he said as his thumb traced the brown embroidery. "If Haywood believes, the whole town will. I don't think they are going to be nearly as hard to convince as you believe."
    }Tulsa May shook her head, flustered. "It just seems so unlikely."
    }Jumping down, he sauntered to her side of the Runabout. Grasping her familiarly at the waist, he lifted her to the ground. "It just seems unlikely to you," he insisted. "I know you think of me as a brother, but nobody else in this town has any idea what you or I might be thinking. It's all what it looks like. If it looks like we are courting, then we are."
    }"I'm sure it just looks incredibly foolish," she insisted as she glanced around nervously.
    }"Courting is a rather foolish business." His smile was wide and warm. "To my thinking, nothing could be more foolish than a burst of sunlight like you wanting to settle down with Moldy Doc Odie Foote. But everyone in town believed it, including you."
    }Tulsa May tried to think of a snappy retort, but when she looked up into his flashing grin, she could only smile back.
    }Respectfully he offered his arm and she laid her hand formally atop it. With chins high, they walked together toward the festivities.
    }The loud piping of a calliope cheerfully tooting "Turkey in the Straw" caught their attention, making them walk faster to the picnic grounds.
    }The knoll, which overlooked the flower farm and the family home of the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Jedwin Sparrow, was dotted with gaily colored tents, a platform for speeches and music, and booths displaying every type of ware and food imaginable.
    }As they walked through the lane of booths, a small boy darted between them, a huge piece of chocolate cake stuffed in his mouth.
    }"Woody Sparrow!" Grace Panek called after him in a scold. "Don't you be snitching one more piece of this cake or I'll blister your backside."
    }Young Woody didn't even bother to look back as he rushed on, pausing only for a quick stop at Lily Auslander's table to make a sticky, chocolate-fingered grab for a wiener and roll loaded with Lily's special sauerkraut.
    }The fair had never been more elaborate. Booth after booth featured displays of flowers, both fresh and dried, food, drinks of sweet milk, buttermilk, spring water, and lemonade. Games of chance were absent but a shooting gallery was set up with targets, and a horseshoe tournament was already under way.
    }The crowning touch stood at the very top of the small hill, overlooking the Cimarron River. There sat a brightly painted and gaily mirrored merry-go-round. The steam-powered selection of gaudily festooned wooden horses traveled up and down and all around, as the excess steam was pumped into the calliope.
    }"I can't believe it!" Tulsa May's eyes were as round as saucers. "How could everybody in town be talking about the crowning of a Spring Blossom Queen while they managed to keep this a secret?"
    }"Maybe that's