Esther had also made up the story about Astin helping deliver a baby. She just thought she needed to sound like she knew more about him than she truly did.
Esther’s discussion with me at the fish fry was mostly fabrication, too. She wanted to do something to shine a light of suspicion on Vivienne without mentioning the true specifics of blackmail and potential murder. Esther suspected that Vivienne had had something to do with Norman’s murder, but she couldn’t prove it.
The morning Vivienne shot Esther in the arm had started off with a friendly invitation. Vivienne asked Esther if she wanted to take a walk, maybe look at the Express station. Esther said that Vivienne actually apologized to her for bringing up the blackmail idea, that it had been wrong to even consider something so awful. Esther hadn’t even noticed the gun Vivienne had placed in the waist of her jeans that was hidden by a long T-shirt until they were inside the station, and for whatever reason Vivienne brought out the gun to show to Esther. Esther thinks the shooting was what Vivienne had said it was, an accident, but no one is completely sure, of course.
Additionally, and much less important, Esther had never been romantically interested in anyone but Jake. Not even Teddy, even if she did think he was cute.
Jezzie hadn’t been interested in anyone but her boyfriend back home. She was probably the happiest of anyone to get out of town, even if she had missed her family dinner with Cliff.
Orly told me that he hadn’t had romantic thoughts for anyone since his wife had died, certainly not for anyone at a convention. He mentioned, however, that he sure hoped for the chance to know Gram a little better.
No one has figured out how the snake got into the cooler full of fish. I think Vivienne was involved, but I can’t figure out why she’d do such a thing except that some people are just prone to mean and violent behavior, and she’s one of those people.
It seemed that what I’d heard was going on at the convention had been misconstrued and misinterpreted. There’d been arguments and heated discussions, but Teddy hadn’t misbehaved and had actually attempted to help when he thought help was needed. It was easy to understand how the stories got jumbled, what with those lies mixed in with all that beautiful poetry and those moonlit nights.
After Esther was shot, the convention came to a quick close and most everyone went home, except for Cody and Vivienne, who were both arrested.
The biggest mistake Vivienne had made was that no matter how much research she did, she didn’t truly know Orly. She had no idea that he would have stepped up to the plate and made good in whatever way—financially included—that his biological children, or their biological mother, needed him to. He had already set plans in motion for Esther to meet his other two daughters.
• • •
Orly and Esther came through the front doors. Esther’s arm was in a sling, but she walked with a pep in her step and a smile on her face. She would recover fully.
They joined us in the large round booth and we all ordered burgers and fries for lunch. Esther and Jake shared a smile, as Gram and Orly shared their own smile. I was a fifth wheel, and I was just fine with it.
We replayed the whole story again, and Orly smiled at Esther. “Thing is, I’m tickled to my hairy toes to know this young gal’s my daughter, and I’m sorry as can be about Norman. I would have welcomed them both into my family. Shoot, I would have welcomed Vivienne, too, if she’d just come to talk to me and was straight about everything. The biological part wouldn’t have even mattered. I’ve got enough to share. I would have felt responsible for some of her and her mother’s hard times. My kids would have been okay, too. They’re a good group of people.”
We spent some time small-talking our way to the one question we knew Orly had. Apparently, Esther had missed the entire ghostly scene in the stable, so she had no questions about it, but Orly did. Vivienne was in jail, so no one was listening to much of the strange stuff she was spouting. And Jake had been so worried about Esther that he hadn’t appreciated the fact that he got to see three ghosts at once—even more if you counted all the horses. He said he would think on it and appreciate it someday.
But Orly. We were sure Orly wanted the truth, and he finally came around to asking the question.
“Betts, Miz, what happened? Y’all said you would tell me,” he said after the plates with the burgers and fries had been placed on the table.
“Orly, we’ve been chatting, and we’re hoping you’ll be all right with the story that we want to tell you,” Gram said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Orly said.
“Broken Rope has a glitch somewhere. We hold on to our past a little too much. It can bite us in the behind sometimes, surprise us, you know,” Gram said.
“Not really, but go on,” Orly said.
Esther just listened, her eyes wide and curious.
Gram sighed. “Sometimes, the past just demands that things be worked out, and that glitch in Broken Rope allows weird things to happen. In fact, they happen more than we’d sometimes like. That’s what went on in the stable. Some things from the past needed to be worked out.”
“I see,” Orly said doubtfully. He turned to me. “You kissed that man who saved your life. Who was he?”
“An old friend,” I said carefully.
Orly nodded. He looked at Gram, at Jake, at Esther, and then at me. He smiled. He was a lot like an older version of Jerome, I thought. I liked him. Gram really liked him. He liked Gram.
“Well, I’ll tell you this much, the only reason I’m not going to ask any more questions is because what you are saying is making sense. It looks like I had to come to Broken Rope to work out some things from my past. I’m awful heartbroken about Norman, but there’s something about what you’re telling me that makes me think I just might get another chance to know the boy. Maybe that’s all I need to know.” He looked at Gram.
“Can’t be sure, Orly, but anything is possible,” Gram said gently.
“That’s good enough for me. Let’s eat.” Orly winked at me.
I patted my pocket with my lucky coin, the one from Jerome’s long-ago treasure, the one I found the first time I met him and now kept with me always. I pulled out my phone and texted Cliff, telling him I was excited to see him later. He still hadn’t asked to know more about the distraction between us, but if he ever did, I was ready to tell him everything.
Orly wasn’t the only one heartbroken about Norman; everyone was. But Gram, Jake, and I were going to do our best to enjoy the new people in our lives, even if they weren’t ghosts.
Afterword
The entire but brief history of the Pony Express is wholly fascinating. From the brutal ride across the western United States to the romantic ideals embodied by the riders and their horses, the country and the way its citizens communicated were transformed during the months the Pony Express was in business. Among other challenges, financial troubles, business logistics, and the invention of the telegraph brought the days of the Pony Express to an end in 1861, only eighteen months after it began.
The pieces of actual history I included in If Catfish Had Nine Lives were manipulated a little to fit with the story. In fact, the Southern Missouri location of the fictional town of Broken Rope would not have had a Pony Express station. However, the actual route did begin in St. Joseph, Missouri. The historical stable is still there, and has been turned into a terrific and interesting museum for curious visitors. Also, sending mail via the Pony Express was an expensive venture which made it difficult for the average person to use. Many of the items that rode inside the mochilas were government documents. I like to think that the letters I put in the story were important enough that the characters would have seen fit to pay any amount necessary to get their messages to the proper recipients in a timely manner. Just like real life, though, obstacles can be thrown up and put in the way of good intentions. Important correspondence doesn’t always make it to its destination. And when that happens, everything can change.
Dutch Oven Cooking
Co
oking with a Dutch oven is a fun and tasty adventure. The adventure begins, of course, with the oven itself. Some outdoor Dutch ovens are made of aluminum, some of cast iron. There are pros and cons with each type of oven, but I prefer the heavier, cast-iron variety. Some Dutch ovens have legs; others don’t. I prefer legs, and that’s what you should use outside. There are also Dutch ovens that are meant for indoor use (no legs on these), using your kitchen oven and stovetop. But I’m only going to talk about outdoor cooking.
Learning how to cook using a Dutch oven isn’t difficult, but it takes time, experience, and experimentation. There’s always something special about cooking food outdoors, and using Dutch ovens is a great way to make your outdoor cooking full of flavor and comfort—you just need to have patience and care while learning the ins and outs of the process.
There are lots of books and websites devoted to Dutch oven cooking, but the following is a beginning crash course with some fun recipes. If you’re a beginning Dutch oven cook, you might want to research materials and methods a little more before you dig in. If you’ve cooked with Dutch ovens before, these recipes will be great additions to your repertoire.
MATERIALS NEEDED
Dutch oven—I like cast iron, with legs, shallow, with a 12-inch diameter. The oven should be cleaned and seasoned. There are a number of ways to do this, but I use the heat and vegetable oil method.
A lid lifter
Heavy duty leather gloves
A pair of long-handled tongs for the coals
A bag or two of charcoal
Lighter fluid (some people are against using lighter fluid for the briquettes, but I like having the charcoal light and heat up quickly)
A couple surfaces to cook on. You need two spots that are in the open air and are placed fairly close together. You don’t want to use charcoal in an indoor or closed in space. I work on my back patio. Two surfaces—one to cook on and one to prepare the charcoal briquettes on. These surfaces can be made by using paving bricks or a couple sheets of solid gauge sheet metal. When you’re camping, you can use some hard, clear ground. Soft dirt won’t work. Fire pits are frequently used.
The way you cook the food is by placing the Dutch oven over or on prepared briquettes, and by also placing prepared briquettes on the top of the lid. The underneath briquettes should be placed in a circular pattern, but with no briquettes underneath the very center of the oven. The lid briquettes should form a circular pattern moving inward from the outside of the lid. I also put a briquette on each side of the handle. So, on one of your surfaces, you light the briquettes. When they’re ready, you use your tongs to move them to your cooking surface. You always want to be preparing at least a few new briquettes, in case you need more heat or some of your first briquettes don’t last long enough.
Following is a temperature/number of briquettes chart using a 12-inch Dutch oven. It should be fairly accurate, but when you’re outside other factors can come into play—wind, humidity, elevation, etc. Of course, always check your food to make sure it’s prepared thoroughly. Again, experimentation is a big part of Dutch oven cooking.
TEMPERATURE (FAHRENHEIT)
TOP BRIQUETTES
BOTTOM BRIQUETTES
300º
15
7
325º
16
7
350º
17
8
375º
18
9
400º
19
10
425º
21
10
450º
22
11
500º
23
12
I’ve never cooked with any temperature higher than about 375 degrees.
Have fun!
Recipes
PEACH COBBLER
2 cans peach pie filling, or equivalent fresh peaches
1 package vanilla cake mix
1 stick margarine or butter
2 cups water
Empty the pie filling into greased Dutch oven. Sprinkle the dry cake mix over. Cut up the margarine and dot over cake mix. Pour the water over all. Don’t stir. Bake at 350ºF for an hour. Serve with whipped topping or ice cream if desired.
You can use any kind of pie filling with any complementary cake mix flavor, such as cherry filling with German chocolate cake.
Serves 4–6
APPLE CRISP
6 apples
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
Slice apples. Mix the apple slices, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter to make the crust. Press half the crust into the bottom and sides of the Dutch oven. Pour the apple mixture over the crust, and cover mixture with the remaining crust mix. Bake covered about 45 minutes at 350ºF, until top crust is light brown and apples are tender.
Serves 6–8
BEEF POT ROAST
3-pound rump roast or pot roast
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 big potatoes, peeled and halved
3 carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 onions, halved
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup water
Place the vegetable oil in the Dutch oven. Add the roast and brown on all sides—you do this without a lid and by placing the oven on prepared briquettes. Remove the roast from heat. Place half of the vegetables in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Place the roast on top of the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Add remaining vegetables and water. Cover and cook at 300ºF for 3–5 hours, depending on how well-done you like it.
Serves 6–8
COWBOY STEW
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, diced
3 potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 15-ounce can green beans
1 15-ounce can baked beans
1 15-ounce can black beans
1 15-ounce can tomato soup
1 15-ounce can corn
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
Preheat Dutch oven to 350ºF, using just the underneath briquettes. Brown the ground beef and onion in preheated oven. Add all potatoes and canned items (don’t drain). Add spices to your taste. Cook for about 45 minutes, until potatoes are soft, stirring contents every 5 minutes or so.
Serves 6–8
MONKEY BREAD
2 cans Pillsbury biscuits
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1 stick butter, cut into pieces
Preheat kitchen oven to 350ºF.
Tear the biscuits into quarters. Mix the sugars and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Drop biscuit quarters, one at a time, into the bag. Shake and coat well. Place all coated pieces into the Dutch oven. Place butter pieces over the tops of the biscuits. Bake for 35 minutes.
Serves 6–8
HONEY MUSTARD PORK CHOPS
8–10 pork chops
touch of oil, if needed
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
Brown the pork chops in the oven at 400 degrees (16–20 briquettes, bottom only). A little oil might be needed. Mix together the rest of the ingredients until well blended. When the chops are browned, pour sauce over the top and cover and cook. Move two thirds of the briquettes to the top of the lid. Cook 25–30 minutes or until the chops are tender. Add more broth if needed wh
ile cooking.
Serves 4–6
If Catfish Had Nine Lives (Country Cooking School Mystery) Page 24
