1 Odds and Ends by Audrey Claire

having gotten in some way.
    The doorbell rang, and Nancy floated off to let more guests in. Margot noted the sag of relief in Mercer’s shoulders, and shared a look with Odds. Jimmy entered the apartment along with Kenny and Dottie. Margot strained to see past them to the hall, but Kenny’s mother obviously wasn’t with them, and neither was Zabrina.
    “Oh, isn’t Zabrina coming?” Nancy asked Jimmy, her eyebrows creased in worry. “I made a special dish just for her to try.”
    “Good luck getting her here,” Jimmy said, “but don’t worry. I’ll eat her portion.”
    Nancy frowned. “It’s not for you.”
    “Look,” Odds said. “A man the flirty old lady doesn’t like.”
    “Don’t be rude, Odds,” Margot whispered, but she had seen the expression of distaste on Nancy’s face. She imagined Nancy had only invited him to the party hoping Zabrina would come.
    “Are you talking to someone, Margot?” Mercer asked. She could just see his eyes through the glasses, and they gave her shivers. Staring, wide, but just out of focus. She dipped slow and quiet to the side while staring at his pupils. They never shifted. “Margot? I know you’re there. I hear you breathing.”
    “Oh! I’m sorry, Mercer. I…uh…” She clutched her hands together and cast around the room for an excuse.”
    Meow.
    “Oh, you were talking to the cat,” he said.
    “Yes, but he wasn’t answering back or anything,” she blurted.
    “You’re terrible under pressure.”
    “Be—cause they can’t talk,” she ended, wishing the darn cat had done what she told him.
    Mercer chuckled like he thought she made a joke. “Of course.”
    “What’s funny?” Nancy asked, smiling.
    Margot waved a hand. “Nothing important.”
    Nancy latched onto Mercer’s arm. “Let me help you to a chair, Mr. Mercer.” The bell rang again, and she shouted out, “Come on in,” in order to stay by his side.
    As they made slow progress, Margot watched them go.
    “She’s got a thing for Mr. Mercer,” Kenny said, striding over. “I heard my mom tell her friend that Ms. Nancy met her third husband, and that she was talking about him.”
    Margot gasped. “Third?”
    He nodded. “Mom said she doesn’t know what Ms. Nancy sees in him.”
    “A bald head, big belly, and spindly limbs.”
    Margot covered a laugh with a sneeze.
    “Bless you.” Kenny’s eyes twinkled. She wondered at first if he had heard Odds, but then realized he must think she found his mother’s comments amusing, which she did.
    The first young people Margot had met in the building other than Kenny and his sister entered Nancy’s apartment. A man of average height and build accompanied a pretty young woman who looked like his sister but was probably his wife.
    The couple both had sandy brown hair, but the man had enhanced his ordinary looks by growing a thick mustache that had begun curling over his lip into his mouth, and he had allowed his sideburns to, well, exist. The couple held hands, prim and sweet, reminding Margot of an age long gone by. She guessed this was Greg and Debra Armitage.
    “We’re all here at last,” Nancy called out.
    Were these few all that lived in such a big building with so many doors?
    “All that will come,” Kenny whispered at her side. “Nancy has offended half the neighbors.”
    “Why? She seems like a wonderful person.”
    “Has she walked into your house and taken anything?” Kenny asked.
    Margot had started across the room and stopped. “You’re saying she does that to everyone?”
    “Yup.” Kenny wiggled his hands in the air. “Sticky fingers. She’ll take anything and say she’s just borrowing it if you catch her. If you don’t, you’ll never see it again. Unless you come to one of her parties. Most of us come just to check.”
    Margot couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Surely, Kenny was blowing the situation way out of proportion. After all, look how Nancy had fixed her such an elaborate meal the day before. She had