Granny shook her head in disgust and grabbed the shovel. “It’s time for bed. My dreams have to be better than this.”
“We have to talk, Mom,” said Thor. “Mavis, you might as well get George and come along too. It will save Mom having to relay all the news and I can lay the law down to all of you at once.” Thor walked across the street after Granny. “Come on, Baskerville––you too.”
Baskerville, instead of following Granny and Thor, planted himself firmly on the steps leading into Silas’s house and gave a loud howl.
“Leave him there, Thor. He’ll come when he wants to,” Granny advised. “Serves Silas right if he howls all night, and keeps that cantankerous old man awake.”
George and Mavis arrived at Granny’s house minutes later, brushing snow off their feet while Thor and Granny searched the house for Fish, Little White Poodle, Furball, and Tank.
“No sign of ‘em,” Granny announced, “they must have decided the weather was good enough for their nightly rounds again. They’ll head to Franklin’s after that and get back to their usual routine. Mrs. Bleaty seems to have made herself comfortable on my bed and is snoring away.”
Granny took one look at George and let out a large laugh. “Star Wars fan are ya, George?” referring to the flannel pajamas that George hadn’t bothered changing out of when Mavis woke him to come to Granny’s.
George ignored Granny’s jibe. “What’s going on, Thor?”
“Just wanted to tell you that we are putting extra patrols in the neighborhood again because of the body found in Mom’s back yard. Although we know the body was tossed there before it snowed, it had to have been put there in the last couple of days because last night was our first snow storm of the year. We might be looking for a grave robber.”
“Why would they dig up Ferdinand’s grave?” Granny asked in puzzlement.
“They didn’t,” Thor answered.
Granny jumped up from the chair she had been sitting in, standing up so quickly that the chair went backwards and would have fallen over had Mavis not grabbed it. “Then how did your dad get in my back yard, Thor?”
“They didn’t rob his grave; they robbed yours.” Thor backed away a little from his mother, waiting for her reaction.
“My grave! I don’t have a grave. I’m here. I’m not dead, in case you haven’t noticed,” Granny informed him as she stomped one foot on the floor.
“Well––the mausoleum was broken into and the interior crypt that you bought when dad died was broken into. Apparently, dad was buried in there.”
“I didn’t buy myself no grave. I kind of have this aversion to death, and I wouldn’t do that until I figured out what epitaph I want on my tombstone. And if your father was in my burial crypt that I didn’t even have, then who is in his grave? Who did we bury there? I threw dirt on that casket after they lowered it in the ground. Who did I waste my dirt on?” Granny asked, her voice getting louder and more upset with each question.
Mavis walked over to Granny and handed her a glass of wine that Mavis had dug out of Granny’s hiding place. Granny looked at the glass. “You know about my hiding place, too?”
“Drink up, Granny,” Mavis advised. “It was a stressful time when your husband died. Maybe you forgot that you bought a place in the mausoleum.”
“Mavis, I think you and I had better go on home and grab Baskerville from Silas’s doorstep. Granny might need him tonight to protect her,” George said as he grabbed Mavis’s arm leading her to the door. “Thor, it might be a good idea if you lock Baskerville’s side window door so no one else can get in.”
“Good idea, George,” Thor agreed.
Granny raised her eyes at all of them being so concerned. “Since I’m alive and the criminal appears to be a grave robber, I suspect I’m in no danger. Besides, he already robbed the grave I didn’t know I had.” Granny walked over and followed Mavis and George outside.
Thor followed Granny. “And what are you doing now, Mom?”
Granny grabbed the shovel she had set down outside the door on the porch. “I’m getting my trusty shovel. Never know when it might come in handy to ding a digger.”
Thor took the shovel out of his mother’s hands, “Or to shovel Silas? Good night, Mother.” Thor walked down the steps carrying the shovel in his hand. “Think I’ll keep this at my house for all Fuchsia citizens’ safety. Call if you need it.”
Granny watched Thor walk across the street to his house, shovel lowered, shoveling a path to his house. Baskerville trotted over from his post outside of Silas’s door, following George, who lured him across the street with a steak and preceded Granny into her house. “Thanks, George,” said Granny, acknowledging his act of kindness. She went inside the house, locked Baskerville and Mrs. Bleaty’s door, turned out the lights and headed back to her bedroom.
She made sure her special weapons––her knitting needle, cane, and umbrella––were by her bed in case she needed protection during the night. Mrs. Bleaty was snoring softly on the side of her bed. Granny sat down on her side, intending to change her clothes but it had been such an exciting day that she lay back for a moment to catch her breath and instantly fell asleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
A howl, then a bleat, broke into Granny’s dream. She opened one eye and then quickly opened the other. Instead of being snuggled in her blankets, she was still laying half on, half off the bed. She hadn’t moved all night since falling asleep. Granny sat up and since she hadn’t taken off her fuzzy slippers, she jumped up and hustled down the hallway to see what the noise was all about.
Mrs. Bleaty was head butting the side glass panel door that was over the pet door. Baskerville was howling, trying to open the large pet door before Mrs. Bleaty butted her way through it. So much for keeping me safe, Granny thought. The pet door might have kept grave robbers out, but it kept the two animals in. It was a good thing they were very well house trained or someone would have to pay for them going to the bathroom in the house and it wasn’t going to be her.
Granny checked the clock on the wall in the kitchen––9:00 a.m.––way past the time she usually got up. She looked down at the red sweatshirt and jeans that she still had on from yesterday. Granny decided they weren’t really her style. Since she didn’t have to pretend that she was senile and limpy anymore, perhaps it was time to get a new wardrobe. Maybe she would ask Mavis to go shopping with her in Allure. After all, Mavis hadn’t done too badly with her makeover last fall. Besides, she needed to get something to wear for the wedding shindig when Thor and Heather got married. Granny couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the fact that she and Franklin were getting married that day, too.
The sun gleamed through the cracks in the curtain. Granny pulled the curtain aside and looked out onto her front lawn. Her snowmobile was parked right by the stairs to her porch and it had acquired a cover. After her shower, she would take a ride downtown and possibly through the cemetery, to see the place where apparently she was supposed to have been buried.
Granny grabbed her coffee before heading to the shower. She turned on her radio so she could listen to Wedding Bell Blues sung by the Fifth Dimension and other music she might want for her wedding. She was still humming Wedding Bell Blues as she exited the bathroom and dressed in red corduroy pants and a velour top with a picture of a steaming coffee cup on the front announcing, “You Steam It, I’ll Cream It!”
“Are you ready?”
Granny jumped and almost fell back into the bathroom at the voice. “What are you doing here?” Granny grabbed the door to steady herself.
“I thought we would go downtown and finalize our wedding plans. I have a surprise for you,” Franklin said with a wide grin on his face.
“You’re going to ride with me on my snowmobile?”
“No––I thought we would go in my car. We can stop by Runner’s Skids and Skis and see if Fred will take your snowmobile back.”
Granny moved past Franklin in a huff. “You worried I’ll run over you?”
�
��It’s dangerous––a woman of your age driving a snowmobile.”
“What’s dangerous is what will happen to you if you think you can take my snowmobile away,” Granny warned as she put on her coat and boots.
Franklin dropped his shoulders in defeat. “We’ll talk about this some other time. I have something for you to see.” Franklin relented, as he held the door open for Granny.
“Can we go through the cemetery?” Granny asked as she buckled her seatbelt in the front seat of Franklin’s four-wheel drive Escalade. “Where’s your ‘57 Chevy?”
“Don’t you remember? I parked both of our cars for the winter. This one will get us through the thick snow when we need it. We are not going to the cemetery. Thor would be livid and you are on a need-to-know basis. We know what you need to know––and the cemetery is not on the need-to-know list.”
“I want to find out where I’m supposed to be buried. I want to see my final resting place. I always thought I would be scattered over Blue Bird Pond or perhaps in the underground streets. Then maybe I’d come back as a ghost and catch crooks that way.” Granny laughed as she considered the remote possibility.
“We have more important things to do today,” Franklin informed Granny.
“Such as……?”
“You’ll see. Details, my dear Hermiony, details.”
Franklin drove through the main street of Fuchsia, having to stop a time or two as the street crews were lifting the snowmen and reindeers that would be lighted up for Christmas onto the light posts of Fuchsia.
“Look, Franklin! Angel will love these decorations. This will be her first year to celebrate Christmas in Fuchsia,” Granny remarked.
“Mine, too, Hermiony. What are those wires for?”
“The snowmen glide up and down the poles and the reindeers travel from pole to pole on the wires. Our decorations are animated.”
“What is happening on top of all the buildings?” Franklin asked in confusion.
“Every building has a Christmas tree that is lit up on top of it. Each tree plays a different Christmas tune and the trees take turns with the music,” Granny explained.
“That’s a little over the top, isn’t it?” Franklin commented.
“Wait till you see it. Christmas in Fuchsia is unforgettable. Where are we going? We are clear across town.”
Franklin drove to the very edge of town and pulled into a circular driveway in front of a large Victorian house with turrets and a wraparound porch.
“Why are we visiting the Mayor?” Granny asked.
“We aren’t. The Mayor sold this house to me,” Franklin said as he turned to look at Granny.
Granny eyed the house. “Did you buy this for Heather and Thor?”
“No, I bought it for us.”
“Us? But we both have houses.” Granny pointed out.
“We can sell them and move in here when we get married.”
Granny opened the car door and stepped out. She looked at the house and turned back to Franklin who was still sitting in the car. “Well, I hope you’ll be happy in your house,” Granny said sweetly as she started to close the door, “because you’re going to be living here by yourself.” Granny slammed the door to the Escalade and started walking down the street toward town.
Franklin quickly started the Escalade and drove out of the driveway and after Granny. When he caught up with her, he slowed down so he could talk to her since she wouldn’t stop. “What’s the matter with you? It’s a beautiful house. I did it for us. I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, I guess the surprise was on you. Did it ever occur to you that I might not want to move? Did it ever occur to you that the shysters might not want to move? Did it ever occur to you that you are not my husband yet!” Granny yelled in frustration.
At that moment, a car pulled up to the curb near Granny. Granny saw that it was Franklin’s daughter and Thor’s fiancée, Heather, along with Franklin’s granddaughter, Angel. Granny moved to the open window of the car. She loved little Angel.
Franklin called out to his daughter, “Heather, can you talk some sense into Granny? I have to get to the police station.”
Granny gave Franklin a glare and got into the car with Heather and Angel as Franklin drove away. “Granny, did you and my grandpa have a fight?” Angel asked innocently, as innocently as a four-year-old does.
“Honey, we were just having a slight difference of opinion, nothing for you to worry about,” Granny reassured Angel.
“My momma said that you two are hot heads. Can I feel your head? Is it hot?”
“What are you and your momma doing today, Angel?” Granny asked, turning the conversation to another topic.
“Momma is going to take me to find a dress for the weddings because I am going to be her flower girl and your flower girl. Can I have two dresses for two weddings?”
Heather and Granny laughed. Heather advised her daughter, “I think we better find one dress first. Do you want to go along, Hermiony?”
“No, I believe I need to stay here today. You heard what happened last night?” Granny answered, forgetting that Angel was listening.
“No; what happened, Granny?” Angel asked giving Granny a wondering look.
“Nothing to worry your little head about, dear,” Granny assured Angel while trying to think of an answer to the question. “Mr. Crickett just had a little snowmobile accident, but he is fine.”
Heather raised her eyebrows at the answer. “Anywhere we can drop you, Granny?”
“Nail’s Hardware. I heard it has a new owner and I need to pick something up.”
“Maybe you should wait with that. Let me drop you off at home,” Heather advised.
“Why would I want to do that?” Granny asked. “Why shouldn’t I go to Nail’s Hardware?”
“You won’t like the answer, Granny,” Angel piped up, just as her mom stopped in front of Nail’s and grabbed Angel’s shoulder lightly and gave her a look that said she was not to say anymore.
Granny turned and blew Angel a kiss. “Have fun shopping, Angel. I guess I’ll find out what I don’t like.” With a final wink at Heather, Granny closed the car door and waved them off.
Granny listened as the nail wind chimes on the door of Nail’s announced her arrival. She heard a voice call from the back of the store. “Be right with you.”
As Granny waited for someone to help her, she started fingering the snow shovels, lifting each carefully and pretending she was shoveling snow. She also tested the weight of each snow shovel to see if she could lift it over her head.
“Can I help you?” A familiar voice asked.
Granny turned around to stare straight into the face of her son-in-law Butch, Penelope’s husband. “What are you doing here?”
“Um…ah….we were going to tell you soon. This is my first day.”
“Tell me what? Why aren’t you over in your own town running your security business?”
“Because he bought Nail’s Hardware and we are moving to Fuchsia,” Penelope informed her mother as she walked to the front of the store from the backroom.
“You didn’t think to tell me, your own mother?”
Butch shuffled around, a little nervously before answering, “Actually we were going to tell you yesterday, but there was this blizzard. You remember the blizzard, where you ran over Penelope’s father?”
Penelope started sniffling as Butch put his arm around her. Penelope kissed him on the cheek and walked over and hugged her mother. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Mom. You must be so upset. If we live here we can help you out more.”
Granny gave Penelope a quick hug back and backed to the door. “I….ah….have to have a little time to get used to this news. We’ll talk later.” Granny hurriedly left the store. Once back on the street, she pulled out her cell phone. “Heather, have you left town yet? Good. Can you swing by and pick me up? I think I will help you out with the shopping for Angel, and I need to stop at the hardware store in Allure and pick up a new snow shovel.�
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CHAPTER EIGHT
“Bye, Granny; thank you for letting me get two flower girl dresses. I can’t wait till your wedding,” said Angel.
Granny removed the pink shovel out of Heather’s trunk, and turned to Heather and Angel still in the warm car. “Thanks for the lift. I appreciate it.”
“That certainly is a strange shovel, Granny,” Heather commented, “I have never seen a shovel with a rubber cover that will make it stand on end. And pink on top of it.”
“They customized it just for me,” Granny said proudly. “It’s a good thing it took you gals a lot of time to make up your mind in choosing your dresses, so I don’t have to go back to Allure anytime soon.”
Heather, noticing cars parked by Granny’s house, said, “It looks like you’ve got lots of visitors, Thor included, Granny. I think I’ll get Angel home to bed and let you take care of your company.”
“Can’t we stay and help Granny with the shysters, Mom? There’s Grandpa, and they’re in the back of his car,” Angel pleaded.
Heather––seeing her dad, Thor, Penelope, Penelope’s husband Butch, Starshine, Granny’s other daughter, and Mr. Crickett, all converging outside of Granny’s house––said, “It looks to me like home might be the best place for us right now. Bye, Granny.” Heather drove away without giving Angel the chance to beg to stay some more.
Granny, seeing all the people who were now waiting for her on her porch, walked to the porch and leaned on her shovel with the flat-bottomed cover holding up part of her weight. She didn’t imagine anyone was here for a party.
“Could you help me up the steps? Hurt my ankle a little. Shopping is hard on the bones. I think I need to lie down and rest. It was real nice of you all to check up on me. You can go home now, once you help me in the house. I’m going to lie down and rest. We can all talk some other day,” Granny informed her company.
3 Granny Snows A Sneak Page 4
