Just as the café was quieting down, Rowena came in for a takeout of sweet tea and Miss Marple Scones. While I packed up her order, she browsed the bookshelves and came back with a hardcover of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.
“Says here she wrote ‘The Lottery.’ That was required reading in my high school. Chilling.” She shivered involuntarily. “This the same kind of story?”
I told her I supposed that it was a different kind of chilling, but chilling all the same. “Give it a try. If you don’t like it, the library is always looking for these classic books. You can give it to Sally as a donation. She’ll put the Emporium on a bookplate.”
Head librarian Sally Caldera was a savvy fund-raiser. If you donated a usable book to the library, she’d put a “dedicated by” sticker on the inside cover. If you owned a business, Sally would put the name of your business on the bookplate. And since she, and she alone, judged which books were acceptable, I found local merchants often asked me if this book or that would meet Sally’s criteria.
Sure enough Rowena decided to try the Jackson book. I took her payment and went to offer a high chair to a couple coming in the door with an active toddler. The mother accepted gratefully.
A few minutes later Bridgy was standing behind the register waving a book in hand. “Are we holding this for someone?”
Rowena had forgotten her book. I told Bridgy to put it under the counter and if Rowena didn’t come back for it by closing, we’d drop it off on our way to the vet.
Later that afternoon, I was sitting in the Heap-a-Jeep and I didn’t mind that Bridgy was in Rowena’s longer than I thought she should be, because Bow was purring softly in the carrier. I fancied she was getting used to me. When Bridgy came out of the Emporium, she was waving a length of blue ribbon exactly the color of Delia’s special dress.
“Look what I found.”
I grabbed the ribbon from her hand.
“I love it! Bow, look what Auntie Bridgy found for you. When Doctor Mays gets you cleaned up, you’ll be such a pretty girl.”
Of course I made the mistake of holding the ribbon in front of the carrier, and Bow took a swat at it, hitting the carrier doors and yowling her discontent.
Bridgy ignored the cat. She was focused on Rowena.
“You know what’s odd? Rowena was redoing her display of Skully’s shell jewelry. Besides the wire designs, she had a lot of his fishing line jewelry. I had no idea he’d sold her that, too.”
“Lucky for her she arranged the consignment while Skully was still healthy enough to sign it. Now who knows?”
But the mere mention of Skully jiggled loose the question I thought of earlier . Why was Skully mooring his boat at the Point, when he mostly used Tony’s landing, less than forty yards away?
We turned north out of the parking lot, ready for Doctor Mays to give Bow her examination and spruce-up, so we could tie her new ribbon around her neck and let Augusta know she was fine and dandy. Of course, where Bow would live was another problem entirely.
Chapter Twenty-two ||||||||||||||||||||
The Island Veterinary Center was a melon-colored stucco building that fronted Estero Boulevard. Bright yellow shutters with cutouts of kittens and puppies added a warm and welcoming look. As soon as we got out of the car Bow perked up. She started to meow and tapped the carrier door as opposed to the forceful swatting she’d been doing from time to time.
The waiting room was empty except for a grandmotherly type sitting behind the counter. She looked up from her computer monitor and gave us a friendly smile. I guess she pressed a button somewhere on her desk, because the door behind her opened and a tall African American woman came through. A black and gray striped blouse tucked into a bright red skirt peeked out from under her crisp white medical coat. She gave us a generous smile but, intent on her patient, bent to the carrier immediately.