But when we entered the house, we found Gran and Scarlett, busily baking pancakes, with Grace the very excited recipient.
Unfortunately Grace was also a co-chef, and had been put in charge of dispensing flour to the two ladies. The upshot was that the floor was dusted in a thin layer of white, and it now looked as if it had been snowing in the kitchen.
“Gran, what are you doing!” Odelia said under her breath.
“Making pancakes, or what does it look like?” said Gran.
“Is it true that you and Mom and Charlene have been organizing a secret art class?” she asked now, the deceit obviously still rankling.
“And me,” said Scarlett. “I was also there.”
“I haven’t forgotten about you,” said Odelia, giving her grandmother’s friend a frosty look.
“Honey, you have to understand we did it all for your dad,” said Gran. “We didn’t want to hurt his feelings by making him think we didn’t like his modeling.”
“But we don’t like his modeling,” said Scarlett.
“Yeah, I don’t know what it is about your dad, but he simply doesn’t inspire us to create great art, you know.”
“I think it’s his face,” said Scarlett. “When I look at your dad I see my doctor. Probably because he is my doctor. And he reminds me of the time I had my appendix removed. I mean, who wants to think about their appendix when they’re trying to create art?”
“And who wants to see their son-in-law?” Gran chimed in.
“And Bronson Shagreen inspires you, does he?” asked Odelia.
“Yes, he does, actually,” said Scarlett. “Bronsonis a work of art.”
“The kid looks like a sculpture,” said Gran, a blissful look appearing on her face. “Heis a sculpture. A regular Adonis.”
“I want you to come clean and tell Dad,” said Odelia.
“But, honey!” Scarlett cried.
“No, it’s not fair, the four of you sneaking behind his back like this.”
“But he’s going to ruin everything!” said Gran.
Scarlett nodded emphatically.“Yeah, this whole thing started when Tex found out that Marge was going to her art class, and that Dylon was modeling for us.”
“It’s all Ida’s fault,” said Gran. “If that woman hadn’t blabbed, none of this would have happened. Tex would have been blissfully ignorant, and we would have happily been drawing away to our heart’s content.”
“Look, if you don’t tell Dad, I will,” said Odelia, really putting her foot down on this one.
“Oh, all right, but if anyone tells him, it should be Marge,” said Gran. “She is, after all, his wife.”
“Fine,” said Odelia.
“Fine,” said Gran with some vehemence. Clearly she wasn’t at all happy with this state of affairs and Odelia meddling with her career as an artist. Then she gave her granddaughter a keen look. “I saw that you and Chase were talking to Charlene? Did she say anything about my contribution?”
“Or mine?” said Scarlett anxiously.
“No, she did not,” said Odelia, who wasn’t about to divulge classified information to these two ladies. Also, she probably had no idea who Charlene would pick.
“I wonder if they know that they both entered the exact same project,” said Dooley. “And not even an actual painting but a reproduction.”
“And that a lot of others probably did the same,” I said.
And as Odelia continued to clear things with her nearest and dearest, Grace had fun‘helping’ her great-grandmother by lightly sprinkling more flour on the floor.
And then of course the inevitable happened: the little tyke caught sight of me and Dooley, and since she felt we shouldn’t be exempt from a good dusting with this fairy dust she was happily sprinkling about, she came waddling up to us, and threw a handful of the stuff on me!
“Hey, what are you doing?!” I cried. But human infants being what they are, she refused to respond, and instead dug her hand into the bag and threatened to sprinkle some more of the stuff, like a miniature fairy godmother..
And since I absolutely did not want to be turned into a snowcat, I skedaddled, chased by this ardent child, who was a lot quicker than I would have thought!
Luckily I managed to escape through the pet flap, which was too small for her. I could see her head poking through, but that was it: no matter how hard she squirmed, she couldn’t follow me out. Which of course caused her to let rip a scream of frustration, followed by a bout of frantic crying. At which point her mother seemed to realize what was going on, and dragged her away from the pet flap, and I was finally at peace again.
Dooley now emerged through the flap, took one good look at me, and asked,“Max? Why are you suddenly white?”
“Because Grace covered me in flour,” I explained.
“Oh, I thought you had such a shock your hair had suddenly turned white,” he said, greatly relieved.
I now saw he had some flour on his own coat of fur, as well, though with him it was less noticeable, since Dooley is one of those very fluffy cats, with beigeish-grayish fur.
And as I stared at him, suddenly a thought occurred to me. It was one of those sudden flashes of inspiration that do so much to mar one’s peace of mind.
“What’s wrong, Max?” asked Dooley. “You look like you’re suffering from an acute case of constipation.”
“I need to think, Dooley,” I said.
“And you also need a good wash,” my friend added. “Cause that flour isn’t going to wash itself off, you know.”
“No, you’re right,” I said, but suddenly my personal hygiene was the last thing on my mind.
CHAPTER 37
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Algis and Matilda Twine were watching television that night, along with their one and only daughter Laia. It was one of those family nights that neither partner had ever thought they’d share together again. But now that Laia was back home, the balance had been restored, and all was well again.
The show that was on involved famous people singing and dancing, dressed up in elaborate costumes that effectively masked their identity, with a jury that had to guess who was concealed underneath the mask.
It was all a little silly, Matilda thought, but it was still good fun, and Laia loved it, which was all that mattered.
“I’m so glad you’re home again, sweetie,” she said, patting her daughter’s arm. “I really missed these cozy family evenings in front of the TV.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Laia.
“And me!” Algis piped up, as he dug into a bag of chips.
“There is one thing I wanted to ask you, though,” said Laia.
“Shoot,” said Matilda, who hadn’t been in this good a mood since before Laia had announced she was moving in with that loser Jay Green.
Suddenly, and to Matilda’s shock, her daughter spirited a necklace from the pocket of her jeans. “Is this what I think it is?”
Matilda darted a look of annoyance at her husband.“Algis?” she said sharply.
“Yes, honey?” said Algis, not meeting her angry stare.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Yes, Daddy, what do you have to say for yourself?” asked Laia, twirling the necklace around her fingers.
“Careful, sweetie,” said Algis. “That thing is worth a small fortune.”
“Oh, I know it is, Daddy,” said Laia. “But what was it doing in your safe?”
“I… I have no idea,” said Algis.
“I told you not to put it in the safe, you idiot!” Matilda couldn’t help but exclaim.
“I didn’t think!” said Algis.
“Okay, you need to explain something to me, cause this is all very confusing,” said Laia. “This necklace was stolen from Jay’s apartment by Dylon Pipe, yes?”
Matilda didn’t speak, and neither did Algis.
“Before mysteriously disappearing. And now it suddenly turns up in the safe. So what does that tell us?”
“Sweetie, it’s not what it looks like, “ said Algis.