Peppermint Pandemonium: A Cozy Mystery (Sweet Home Mystery Series Book 5)

by Constance Barker

Maria Gratia plena

  Maria Gratia plena…

  The sun emerged from a mostly cloudy sky to backlight the girls like angels, as if on cue, and their angelic voices reached heights I had never experienced in person before.

  …Ave Maria

  Ave Maria Mater dei

  Ora pro nobis pecatoribus…

  It was almost as if the Latin words of the familiar prayer needed no translation: Hail Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners. Every soul felt cleansed of its sins, and every heart was touched and lifted with joy as the girls, led by Ezzy, finished the song:

  …In hora mortis nostrae

  Ave Maria!

  There was a long pause when the final refrain was done, and the people gently floated back down to a kinder and better earth. Then, all at once, the patrons stood, giving their applause and loud cheers. Joshua took a deep bow, which got some laughter, and the girls stood there with gentle smiles as the sun once again took its place behind the clouds. An elderly woman with a cane walked up in tears and snatched the restaurant bill from my hand. Then she sat back down in her booth.

  The short ride back to the Coffee Cabana was fairly silent. I don’t think the children fully understood their ability to move and inspire people.

  “Well, one thing is for sure,” I told them as we got out of the car in front of the coffee shop. “People love you. Don’t ever doubt that.”

  Inside the shop it was business as usual. The morning regulars and early lunch crowd were keeping Hildie and Essie busy.

  “Hey, Essie, you’re looking just like Rosemary Clooney in the movie with your black dress today,” Toe told Auntie as she came by to fill up his cup.

  “And you’re a big fat liar, Toe Thompson,” she answered, with a grin that indicated she liked the compliment.

  “Nope. You really do. And your hairdo isn’t that far off either.”

  Hildie whispered to her sister as she returned to the counter near the kids and me. “I told you that dress would catch some attention today.”

  I lined the kids up at the counter, got them each a cold beverage, and introduced them to my aunts.

  “Oh, my. You look like very smart children,” Hildie said. “What’s the capital of Czechoslovakia?”

  “Haha! You’re silly,” little 8-year old Mirasol said. “There is no Czechoslovakia anymore. It was divided into The Czech Republic and Slovakia after the Iron Curtain fell.”

  Hildie looked at me, doubting that was correct, but I nodded. The girl was right.

  “And the capitals are Prague and Bratislava,” Venus added.

  “Is Rome still the capital of Italy,” Hildie asked as she went back out to the tables.

  Little Joshua was staring at Essie, who was on our side of the counter standing by the kids. She had a long but childless marriage, and always loved being around kids.

  “Oh, I’m not really Rosemary Clooney, little guy – I just look like her today.” She smiled and squeezed his shoulder.

  “He thinks you look like our grandma,” Ezzy said. “He never met her, but there’s a big black and white picture of her in Mom and Dad’s room. Her dress and hair and face are just like yours.”

  Joshua whispered something to his big sister, and she shook her head. “No, Joshua. That wouldn’t be polite.”

  “What is it, dear?” Essie asked the green-eyed beauty.

  “Oh, Joshua wants to give you a hug.”

  Essie seemed to get a very emotional look on her face. “Come here, Joshua.”

  She lifted the young boy and held him in her arms as he wrapped his little arms tightly around her neck.

  “I love you, grandma,” he said and kissed her on the cheek.

  A single tear streamed down Essie’s check as he hugged her tightly again.

  She rubbed his back, kissed his cheek, and set him down on the stool. “Well, the Christmas wish I asked for so many times finally came true today.”

  She walked into the back room to regain her composure. It was very rare to see Essie emotional like this, but I’m sure the bittersweet moment made her day.

  The bell on the front door, along with a red ribbon of jingle bells that Jules had hung there, tinkled as the door opened. It was the blonde ponytail lady, Cora Applegate. She seemed to be filled with the spirit of the season today as she approached the counter. She and Dr. Dawson had been taking turns stopping in lately to get coffee to go.

  “Two big ones, please!” she ordered with a nice wave to Essie, as she emerged from the backroom and took her post behind the counter.

  “Is the promotional stuff at the markets bringing you any new business, Cora?” I asked, just to make conversation.

  “Oh, I think so, Lily! We get a few coupons everyday, and word seems to be spreading around Sinking Springs too. So many cats in this town!”

  “Yeah, probably more cats than people.”

  “Hey, Cora,” Harvey called out from his table nearby, “Miss Pickles is not well again today. I gave her one of those special chews with the medicine, but she’s still pretty sick.”

  “Well, you just bring her over to my house at about 3:30, Harvey. I’ll be getting off work a little early today, and I can give your precious kitty just what she needs then.”

  Hildie turned her head and shot a suspicious frown at the woman.

  “I’ll go with you, Harvey. You can’t bring the cat in your golf cart anyway.”

  That seemed to satisfy my aunt, and she finished bringing out an order.

  “Well, see you later!” she said in her little pixie voice, and went out the door with her cups of hot coffee.

  The kids were a big hit with the old-timers and others in the coffee shop for the next hour. Harvey wowed Joshua by pulling his thumb off, and Toe tried to impress the girls by pulling a quarter out of their ears. Of course, the older kids turned the tables with some pretty amazing slight-of-hand, taking Toe’s wallet and wristwatch and having them end up in Harvey’s shirt pocket. The girls wanted to see a real mall, so we got ready to head out at noon, which would give us plenty of time to get back to take Harvey and Miss Pickles to Cora’s house by 3:30 and get the kids back home by 4:00.

  “Toe, you and Harvey should go and pick up Miss Pickles at 3 o’clock or so and bring her here.”

  “Yessir, Sarge!” he said with a salute.

  “Miss Lily,” Venus asked, “are you everybody’s boss?”

  Okay, so I should think a little more about how I come across to people. But these were my people – my family. So I put my hands on Venus’s shoulders, looked her right in the eye, and then spoke so everybody could hear me. “Yes, I am, honey!”

  It was almost like watching the von Trapp children as they sang their way out the front door singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

  I really marveled at how the 19-year-old Ezzy seemed so mature in her palm-reader act yet so much like an early teen, innocent and playful, with her brother and sisters. I figured the little indoor mall in Sabina would be the most fun for them, since it was all decorated for the holidays. They could ride the bumper cars and still do a lot of window-shopping and try on a few fancy outfits. It was like the Pretty Woman music montage on Rodeo Drive, but without the spending!

  “You’ve got to promise that you won’t tell your mom and dad about the cotton candy, the hot dogs, and the ice cream cones!” I said as we got back into the car, each with a double scoop. “Well, unless they ask.”

  Little Mirasol was having the most fun of any of them. “Are you sure that you’re not a Traveller, Miss Lily? ’Cause you don’t seem like a buffer…I mean, a settled lady.”

  “Thank you, Mira.” Their Gypsy spirit was infectious, and it broke my heart to think that I would only know them for one more weekend. “There are a lot of times that I wish I had a life more like yours, always moving and meeting new people.”

  Ezzy looked at me like I was crazy. “And we always think about what it would be like to stay planted in one place with a school and friends we would have forever.”r />
  I guess that made sense too.

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  Chapter Seven

  The after-school crowd of young customers was swarming in when we arrived back at the Cabana a little after 3:00. Trevor was behind the counter with Moira, who would soon be going over to Jules’ shop next door.

  “Hey, Trev, set my crew up with a couple of raspberry-peach smoothies and four glasses, please!”

  “Yes, Miss Parker. Do we have that?” He looked in the little refrigerator and found the ingredients for our newest flavor. “That sounds pretty good. I’ll have to try it.”

  Trevor had his back to us as he went about making the smoothies, but Moira couldn’t stop looking at Esmeralda. I could have introduced them all, but I just wanted to watch how the natural interaction would unfold.

  Without taking her eyes off Ezzy, Moira leaned close to Trevor and whispered, “That girl is so…”

  “You’re really pretty,” Ezzy said to Moira.

  “Me?” Moira was still a little dumbfounded. “Compared to you, I look like a dog’s butt.”

  The Gypsy girl laughed and extended her hand. “I’m Ezzy. I love your hair and those dark eyes. What’s your name?”

  “Moira. You should let your hair down. I’ll bet it’s long and beautiful.”

  Ezzy took the combs out of her hair and shook her head until her lush blonde locks fell over her shoulders, the reddish tint glistening like a mystical aura.

  Venus leaned over and whispered to me, “Uh oh…that boy is going to fall down when he looks at Ezzy now. They always do.”

  “Okay…here’s the first smoothie,” Trevor announced as he turned around, stirring the fruity mixture in the blender cup. “I made it extra big, so it should fill two tall glasses, and the other one…”

  He set the steel blender cup on the counter and then looked up, directly into Ezzy’s hypnotic emerald eyes. Yup, he was like a deer in headlights. One of his knees buckled, but Moira pushed him forward to help him keep his balance.

  “H…Hi. I’m…”

  “He’s Trevor,” Moira said punching him softly on the arm, “and he’s going to get your glasses and the other smoothie now.” She physically turned him around and grimaced at the grouped of kids.

  The poor girl saw her life flashing before her eyes, convinced that Trevor would completely forget who she was, with this new girl in town.

  “Moira, grab yourself a bottle of tea or lemonade, and come around and sit,” I told her. “I want you to meet all of these kids. I texted Jules to let her know that you would be there in 15 minutes. We have to leave soon.”

  Moira got a bottle of something orange and came around the counter. The kids all stood up for the meet and greet.

  “Moira, meet Joshua…Mirasol…Venus…and you’ve met Ezzy. Their family runs some booths at the Christmas Markets, so they’ll just be in town through the weekend.”

  That brought a smile to her face, knowing that her competition would be gone soon.

  “Why don’t you two sit at a table?” I said to Moira and Ezzy. “I’ll help get all the smoothies set up.”

  The two girls soon created their own little bubble of a teenaged girl world, leaning in toward each other with smiles, questions, giggles, and something that looked very much like true friendship. It was a joy to listen to them talk.

  “19? Really? I thought your were more like 16. I’ll be 15 in April.”

  “Really? I thought you were older than me.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Do you go to a big school with a lot of kids and dances and proms and things?”

  “It’s not so big – only like 300 kids, maybe. Maybe next year I can start going to dances.”

  “300? Wow.”

  “And I’m editor of the school newspaper and a reporter for the community paper too. Do you work in the booths?’

  “I’m a singer and a fortune teller, mostly, and I help set everything up and take it down. We’re always traveling.”

  “A fortune teller? Really? Were you close to the place where all that crazy mischief and graffiti happened?”

  Saved by the bell. The front door opened with a jingle-jangle, and Toe walked in first with Harvey and Miss Pickles close behind. He had her in a sort of sling made out of an old-fashioned white flour-sack dishtowel and tied around his neck. She didn’t look good, and neither did Harvey.

  “Hi, guys. We’ll go in about five minutes, okay?”

  They nodded and sat quietly at a table near the door.

  Aunt Essie looked like a revitalized Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning, handing a bag of cookies to each of the three kids at the counter and smiling like God had blessed her with a deep and special happiness.

  “Moira…Ezzy…start saying your farewells. We have to go soon.”

  Watching Essie was a most unusual but wonderful sight to behold. She scooped little Joshua up in one arm so that he was sitting on her forearm facing forward. I could almost see the little guy on her shoulder exclaiming, “God bless us, everyone!”

  Moira gave Ezzy her cell phone number, but Ezzy didn’t have her own phone yet.

  “You better come and see me before we leave town, Moira.”

  “I will. And, oh – Trevor is only 17, you know, so he’s a lot younger than you.”

  Ezzy smiled. “And he likes you very much.”

  “Oh, he doesn’t really pay much attention to me.”

  “Hey, I’m a fortune teller, remember? But be patient. I know he’ll be in college or probably working, but when you ask him to your junior prom in a couple of years and he sees you like a woman for the first time, he’s going to like you a lot more, but…”

  “But what?”

  “But…” she continued slowly, “you’re going to see him as the same guy he is now…but you’ll see yourself as an editor of a big fashion magazine or a brain surgeon or something. You might outgrow him, Moira. That’s all. He’s a great guy, but your lives might go in different directions, so don’t tie your feelings to someone until you know who you both are.”

  Moira was silent and thoughtful. Her mother had told her the same thing a hundred times, but it really seemed to hit home when her friend said it.

  “Okay, it’s almost 3:20. Time to go!” I clapped my hands twice, and the kids and the old boys stood up.

  “You’re a good boss, Miss Lily,” Mira said. “Everybody listens to you!”

  Moira and Ezzy hugged, already fast friends after only a few minutes. Then Ezzy began singing O Holy Night, and her siblings gathered around her, adding a beautiful harmony as we walked toward the door. Essie had her hand on her heart and a small smile that lit up her usually dim eyes. Her sister, Hildie, seemed to be very happy for her. With a volley of waves and a blown kiss from Essie, we were out the door.

  “I’ll take Harvey and Miss Pickles in my pickup,” Toe said. “You’ve only got enough room for the kids. Just follow me. I fixed the sink at Cora’s place last year.”

  Toe was the town’s handyman, so he knew every address in town and had repaired something at most of them. We turned left on Adeline Street and went several blocks to Elm, where we turned left again. It was only a block closer than Harvey’s street, but it was lined with tall shady Elms that blocked out much of the sun.

  “This is a creepy street,” Venus said. All of the kids looked a little tense.

  “It’s just not so sunny because of the big trees,” I countered.

  “No, it’s more than that,” Ezzy said without expression. “I smell death.”

  Wow. Well, the cemetery was only a couple of blocks behind the row of houses. Maybe this girl really does have some supernatural gifts. We pulled to a stop in front of a cute little bright yellow Tudor house that looked like it came right out of a storybook. It had a stone chimney and a red brick foundation with beautiful flowering bushes on either side of the front steps. T
hey looked like bushes of violet sweet briar roses like my mother had when I was a girl, but those only bloomed in June and July – and it was December.

  Mirasol was looking very nervous. “This is the house of the lady that’s going to cook us in her oven!”

  Venus stroked her little sister’s head and kissed her on the forehead. I guess it did look like a house from a Grimm’s fairytale, but it looked pretty cheerful to me. Cora Applegate looked quite cheerful too when she opened her front door and came out onto the stoop. Toe and Harvey were already going up the steps.

  “You kids can just wait in the car. I’ll be right back, and then I’ll get you back home.”

  “Be careful…and hurry,” Ezzy warned.

  As I stepped up the curb onto the boulevard I had to step over a dead squirrel near one of the big trees. Near Cora’s steps there were three bowls of water under her shrubs and a dead bird. It did feel a little ominous, but it’s not a totally unusual sight this time of year.

  “Come in!” Cora said to all of us with her usual friendly and enthusiastic smile. “Let’s get the little kitty all fixed up.”

  The floral shrubs smelled quite nice, but I could tell now that they weren’t sweet briar roses. We walked through the living room, which was quite dark with that typical “grandma” smell, old oak furniture, doilies, and a lot of knick-knacks that had accumulated over a lifetime. We moved through to the dining room, which wasn’t much brighter, where there were a dozen vases of cuttings from the bushes outside. The water had a murky tint, but the fragrance was like roses and bubblegum.

  “I’ve smelled this smell before,” Harvey said as he laid Miss Pickles on the table.

  “Yes, Harvey, you have.” Cora inhaled deeply. “Isn’t it lovely? I have an oleander plant at the clinic too.”

  So that’s what it was. Nice.

  Cora took a small scoop of some kind of mash from a small vial with a tiny spoon that looked like something a drug-user might use, and put it on the end of her finger. She offered it to Miss Pickles, who lapped it up.

  “There you go, Harvey. She’ll be chasing rabbits in 15 minutes!”