Chapter 12

In the middle of Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo, Detective Lands called and asked Brad and me to come down to the station to sign our statements. Brad drove and we got there around one. Afterwards, Brad wanted to go check on his grandmother.

When we got to the nursing home, we were met in the front hall of the lock-down area by Ethel Smith who was worried about missing her train. A petite ninety year-old with lots of vigor, her only health issue was the advancing dementia that left her confused. Brad and I both hugged her and assured her that the train wouldn't be arriving for another couple of hours. She laughed cheerfully and walked with us until she decided she needed to go check her babies.

Granny Brown's room was the last room on her hall and by the time we reached it, we had hugged several necks and made assurances to those who needed them. Both of us were in tears, and we stopped outside the door to dry our eyes before going in. Granny was sitting in a chair at the window that looked over one of the flower gardens planted around the privately owned facility that felt more like a home than most places I'd visited.

Brad had asked me to speak first and when I did, she turned around and there was a big smile on her face as she said, "Agnes! I'm so glad to see you! It's been ages!"

I glanced at Brad to get a clue as to who Agnes might be and he shrugged his shoulders.

Hugging her, I replied, "How've you been, girl?"

"Just wonderful! We had a tornado and me and Toto got blown away and ended up killing the Wicked Witch of the East when the house fell on her."

"Oh, my goodness!" I sat down in the chair across from her. Brad was sitting on the edge of the bed. In spite of the tears flowing down his face, his face was glowing.

"I'll say! Her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West, pitched a hissy fit, but the good witch Glinda gave her what-for and she went back home. Of course, she had the final word, saying I hadn't seen the last of her."

"What happened then?"

"The Munchkins had a party for me and then I started down the yellow-brick road to the city of OZ so that the Wonderful Wizard could help me get back home. I hadn't gone too far when someone spoke to me and when I looked the only thing I could see was this scarecrow a hangin' in the corn-field. I told myself, 'Dotty, you're havin' a spell.' But then that old lump of straw winked at me and asked if I minded helping him down off his perch."

"I think I'd've fainted dead away if a scarecrow had talked to me."

"I thought about it, myself." She giggled. "But figured there's a time and a place for hysterics and this wasn't one of'em. He was a friendly sort and just wanted to go with me to ask the Wonderful Wizard for a brain. But that's not the half of it!"

"Do tell!"

"We come across this here apple tree and I tried to pick an apple, cause I was gettin' a might hungry; what with killing witches and helping scarecrows off perches. And would you believe that old tree grumped at me like a bear gettin' woke up too early for spring? He also tried to hit me with his branch."

"No."

"Yes. And it made the Scarecrow mad, but being mad wasn't helping us any. And the next thing I knew that old scarecrow made the tree mad and he started throwing apples at us. In all the excitement of picking up apples to eat and put in my basket, we come across this here man made out of tin. He was rusted, but we soon fixed that with some oil from his can. He thanked us for helping him and asked what we were up to. When we told him, he wanted to come along to see the Wonderful Wizard and ask him for a heart."

She talked for a couple of more hours, telling us the rest of the story -- the book version -- and had us all laughing ourselves silly at some points. She was almost finished when Andrea, one of the volunteers, came to take her to supper. She waited until the story was finished and said, "Granny, are you ready for your treat?"