today's agenda was grading papers, not his favorite, and the scenery downtown
might be amusing with all the beards.
Lucius sat, then bounced right back up again and started walking back the way they had just come.
“Hey? Hello?” Peter called, starting to get worried as he followed. “I thought
you wanted to sit.”
Lucius gave him a quizzical look as he hurried on. “What's that?” He was clearly acting strangely. Early-onset Alzheimer's? Missed medication?
Lucius shook his head. “Oh. I thought I'd get some…glue. From the Stop-n-
Pop.”
Glue? Maybe that was it. Lucius had been sniffing glue. Dr. Lucius Potter
was a glue-huffer.
Peter jogged to catch up. For a sixty-four-year-old, glue-sniffing Alzheimer's
sufferer, Lucius could sure move fast when he wanted to.
* * *
Kate was struggling to keep up with Carol's pace. “Tell me again why we needed
to come to the square?”
Carol was chugging along like a pint-sized freight train. “Oh, it's such a beautiful day for a walk.”
A walk maybe. Kate hadn't planned on a run though. She also hadn't planned
on a flat tire on her car. She'd gone out to move it into Carol's driveway and noticed that the left front tire was on the ground. Must have hit something on the way into town. She'd tried not to see it as an omen for her visit.
A jaunt downtown wasn't what she had planned for the afternoon either. Or
ever. The air was cool, but she was sweating. The last thing she wanted was some local to recognize her and then have to lie about how great it was to be back in good ol' Golden Grove.
Jinx. A woman walking a tiny dog was approaching them, smiling in recognition.
“Carol! Hi,” the woman said as she approached, then turned her attention to
Kate. “Is that Katie Brady?”
Oh, geez. It was happening. “Hi,” Kate said, totally not recognizing the woman with whom she was shaking hands. The dog was sniffing her ankle, his
wet nose tickling.
“Francine Butler?” the woman said, still holding her hand. “I was your
Sunday school teacher, in grade school.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Kate said, plastering on a smile. “Mrs. Butler. How could I forget?”
“We're just on our way uptown to Ray's,” Carol offered.
We are? This was news to Kate.
“Oh, I won't keep you then,” Francine said. “Nice to see you again, Katie.
Take care.” She trotted on, pulling her dog, who was extremely interested in the
smell of a stop-sign post.
One down, and hopefully no more to go, Kate thought.
“Let's go,” Carol said, already marching on. “I have a craving for a pie shake.”
They were moving through the business district of downtown. The
Accidental Florist flower shop, Betty's Beads & More. A make-your-own candle shop? That was new.
Ah, Golden Grove, smiling, happy tourist trap. Nestled along the limestone
bluffs of the Mississippi, so safe and secure. The only crime in the last month was probably someone littering their Vander Zee's-cruller wrapper on the pristine
grass of town square.
