my voice. ‘He was pushed!’
There was a silence on the other end of the line. ‘Oh, come on, Willis! I’m not going to go rushing back to Austin to solve the case! Give me a break!’
‘Every time I give you a break, you take a mile,’ he said.
‘That’s an inch, idiot. And besides, who the hell are you to
give
me anything? I am woman!’
‘Don’t roar,’ he said. ‘Please don’t roar.’
‘Then don’t start that sexist crap on me now!’ I said. ‘I called you because we were following the story, and this is a new development! That’s all. Now I’m hanging up.’
‘Please, don’t hang up on my accou—’
I think he was going to say account, but I really didn’t want to hear it. The issue of me getting involved in murder cases had not been resolved. We just didn’t talk about it. Since the upheaval of the summer there hadn’t been another murder so everything had been hunky-dory up until now. Now there was a murder. But we were very, very peripherally involved. So peripherally involved as to be totally uninvolved. So what was his problem? Did he really think I was going to jump in my Audi and rush off to Austin to SOLVE THE CASE? Jeez, was I Nancy Drew?
But jumping in my Audi and rushing off to anywhere wasn’t out of the question. That would be fun. I sat a while, the TV on mute, contemplating places I could rush off to in my Audi. Some would include Willis rushing with me, some not. As was so often the case, I wished I had a close girlfriend I could rush off with, but since the death of Terry Lester, Bess’s birth mom, there hadn’t really been any to speak of. Elena Luna, the Codderville cop who lived next door, was the closest thing I had, but we spent most of our time sniping at each other, like an old married couple. Hell, Willis and I have been married for close to twenty-five years, and we don’t snipe at each other as much as Luna and I do. Over the summer I’d got sort of tight with the woman who lived across the street, but the family had moved.
So basically I had no girlfriend to jump in the shotgun side of my Audi and rush off to have an adventure with somewhere. I suppose I could take one of my daughters, or even my mother-in-law … I got up and took my lunch dishes back into the kitchen. For obvious reasons, neither of those two ideas would work. I couldn’t take just
one
daughter, I’d have to take all three; and my mother-in-law? Really? Where had that thought come from? I mean, yeah, we’ve gotten along better over the past few years, but still and all. Why would I even
think
that? Luckily she was either in D.C. or on her way for some Baptist thing, so I couldn’t even be tempted. Getting up, I thought again about cultivating a friendship with Lacy Kent, who I’d bonded with at the school yesterday. She seemed like fun.
I headed back into my office under the stairs to have my heroine, Naomi, the passionate and exotic Jewess, seduce young Daniel, the heir to the throne of Maldovia.
It was a couple of hours later when all three girls came running in the back door screaming, ‘Mom!’
It was so loud and so forceful that the phrase I was typing, ‘width and breadth’ came out ‘width and brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.’ I jumped up and ran into the family room.
‘What?’ I yelled back.
But they were already through the family room and into the living room at the front of the house. When I got there, they were standing to the side of the front window, peaking out at the street one at a time through a crack in the wooden Venetian blinds.
‘What?’ I said.
‘Shhhhh!’ Bess said, index finger to mouth. She hit the floor and crawled below the windowsill to the other side of the window, where she stood up and peeked through a crack in the blinds on that side.
Alicia, who was the odd girl out at the moment, ran up to me, took my hands and forcibly lowered me to the sectional sofa.
‘Mom, listen!’ she said in an excitable stage whisper. ‘Those men in the blue
There was a silence on the other end of the line. ‘Oh, come on, Willis! I’m not going to go rushing back to Austin to solve the case! Give me a break!’
‘Every time I give you a break, you take a mile,’ he said.
‘That’s an inch, idiot. And besides, who the hell are you to
give
me anything? I am woman!’
‘Don’t roar,’ he said. ‘Please don’t roar.’
‘Then don’t start that sexist crap on me now!’ I said. ‘I called you because we were following the story, and this is a new development! That’s all. Now I’m hanging up.’
‘Please, don’t hang up on my accou—’
I think he was going to say account, but I really didn’t want to hear it. The issue of me getting involved in murder cases had not been resolved. We just didn’t talk about it. Since the upheaval of the summer there hadn’t been another murder so everything had been hunky-dory up until now. Now there was a murder. But we were very, very peripherally involved. So peripherally involved as to be totally uninvolved. So what was his problem? Did he really think I was going to jump in my Audi and rush off to Austin to SOLVE THE CASE? Jeez, was I Nancy Drew?
But jumping in my Audi and rushing off to anywhere wasn’t out of the question. That would be fun. I sat a while, the TV on mute, contemplating places I could rush off to in my Audi. Some would include Willis rushing with me, some not. As was so often the case, I wished I had a close girlfriend I could rush off with, but since the death of Terry Lester, Bess’s birth mom, there hadn’t really been any to speak of. Elena Luna, the Codderville cop who lived next door, was the closest thing I had, but we spent most of our time sniping at each other, like an old married couple. Hell, Willis and I have been married for close to twenty-five years, and we don’t snipe at each other as much as Luna and I do. Over the summer I’d got sort of tight with the woman who lived across the street, but the family had moved.
So basically I had no girlfriend to jump in the shotgun side of my Audi and rush off to have an adventure with somewhere. I suppose I could take one of my daughters, or even my mother-in-law … I got up and took my lunch dishes back into the kitchen. For obvious reasons, neither of those two ideas would work. I couldn’t take just
one
daughter, I’d have to take all three; and my mother-in-law? Really? Where had that thought come from? I mean, yeah, we’ve gotten along better over the past few years, but still and all. Why would I even
think
that? Luckily she was either in D.C. or on her way for some Baptist thing, so I couldn’t even be tempted. Getting up, I thought again about cultivating a friendship with Lacy Kent, who I’d bonded with at the school yesterday. She seemed like fun.
I headed back into my office under the stairs to have my heroine, Naomi, the passionate and exotic Jewess, seduce young Daniel, the heir to the throne of Maldovia.
It was a couple of hours later when all three girls came running in the back door screaming, ‘Mom!’
It was so loud and so forceful that the phrase I was typing, ‘width and breadth’ came out ‘width and brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.’ I jumped up and ran into the family room.
‘What?’ I yelled back.
But they were already through the family room and into the living room at the front of the house. When I got there, they were standing to the side of the front window, peaking out at the street one at a time through a crack in the wooden Venetian blinds.
‘What?’ I said.
‘Shhhhh!’ Bess said, index finger to mouth. She hit the floor and crawled below the windowsill to the other side of the window, where she stood up and peeked through a crack in the blinds on that side.
Alicia, who was the odd girl out at the moment, ran up to me, took my hands and forcibly lowered me to the sectional sofa.
‘Mom, listen!’ she said in an excitable stage whisper. ‘Those men in the blue
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