Chapter 27

I replaced the vent cover, right after Uncle Bunny left. I looked at my alarm clock and it was five after seven. I didn't usually get up so early on a Saturday morning, but, with what had just happened, there was absolutely no hope that I'd ever be able to get back to sleep. Nothing in Uncle Bunny's demeanor had indicated any great worry, but the very fact that he felt he might need his pistol was of great concern to me. I got dressed and went downstairs.

Hans and Gerta were in the kitchen, finishing up the last of their breakfasts. I asked for poached eggs on toast, and Gerta talked me into having a slice of ham with it. For some reason, both she and Hans preferred ham to regular bacon, although both enjoyed almost any kind of sausage links too. I went and poured myself a glass of milk, and sat down at the table.

"What was Bunny doing here so early? Did he need something from upstairs?" Hans took a sip of his coffee, not really concerned about anything, just making morning conversation with me.

"He came into my room and got a pistol he had hidden in one of the heating vents. The one over by my closet." I said it as much for it's shock effect, as for any other reason. I had been a little curious about the pistol, but not too alarmed. Uncle Bunny really didn't seem like the kind of person who would ever need to use a pistol. If anything surprised me, it was that he had one, and had forgotten to take it when he came to get some of his other personal things, after I was moved into his room. He just didn't seem like someone who would be comfortable around any sort of violence. Guns implied violence to me, because of the TV programs and the movies I'd seen since I was very young.

"Why would he come so early to get that? Did he say anything to you?" Hans seemed concerned.

"He told me to tell Dad that he'd be at his office, and for Dad to call him. He said it was important, but for me not to say anything in front of Mama, or to get her worried."

"Did you go wake up Mr. Parsons, Kenny?" Hans looked like he was concerned now.

"No. Uncle Bunny told me to do it without disturbing Mama. I was going to phone him, and give him the message that way."

Gerta was already reaching for the phone, and began pressing the two digit code for Dad's bedroom. No one picked up the phone. "He's in with your Mama." Gerta pressed Mama's room code. "Bertie, is Mr. Parsons awake yet? Kenny's down here in the kitchen and needed to ask him a question." There was a pause of about fifteen seconds while Mama said something to Gerta. "I think it's something he needs to tell him. Something he forgot to tell him yesterday, about business. He seems worried about it." There was another delay, and Gerta waved me to come over to the phone. She put the receiver in my hand. "Have him come downstairs, Kenny. Tell him it's about business, and it's important. That way, he won't worry your Mama."

Dad came on the line. He sounded like he'd just be awakened from a very sound sleep.

"Kenny?"

"Hi Dad. I need you to come downstairs to the kitchen. It's about business, and it's important."

"Is it so important that it can't wait until I get up? I didn't get to sleep until after two o'clock, Kenny."

"Dad, it's important." I heard him replace the receiver. When I turned to tell Hans and Gerta that he was probably coming, Hans had already left, so I told Gerta. Dad got to the kitchen about a minute later. He had on a robe and slippers, and his hair was all messy. That was the first time I'd seen him when he wasn't dressed and groomed. He seemed older to me, the way he looked there in the kitchen.

"Tell me what was so important that it couldn't wait, Kenny."

"Uncle Bunny was here. He got a pistol out of my room. He told me to wake you up and tell you he's at his office, and for you to call him there. He didn't want me to worry Mama, and he said it's important." Dad turned and left the kitchen. I knew he was headed for his study. A minute later, Hans came back into the kitchen and whispered something into Gerta's ear, kissed her on the cheek and went out the back way, towards the garage. I heard an engine starting a minute later. I assumed it was Hans. I sat back down at the table, waiting for Gerta to make my breakfast. She was just standing there, in the center of the kitchen, looking worried and not doing anything. "Gerta, are you going to make my breakfast, or should I get myself some cereal?" I think she had forgotten all about my breakfast. Ten minutes later, I was just starting to eat my poached eggs, when Dad came back in the kitchen for a quick cup of coffee. He was already dressed, and his hair was combed.

"Tell Bertie that I needed to go out on business. Kenny, you stay here, with your mother. Don't leave until I get back. If Walt Connor shows up here, tell him that Georgia and Brenda aren't here. Ken Dyer is sending one of his men over here to park on the street by the driveway. At three o'clock this morning, someone fired some shots through a bedroom window at Bunny's house. Elizabeth was shot in the arm, but she's wasn't hurt that badly, more of a scratch according to Bunny. Bunny thinks it might have been Walt."

"Why would Mr. Connor want to shoot Elizabeth?"

The shots were fired into Bunny's bedroom." Dad was smiling when he told me that.

"Elizabeth was in Uncle Bunny's bedroom?"

"Apparently. Listen, if your mother gets wind of any of this, tell her that Georgia and Brenda aren't in any danger. Bunny spoke to Georgia an hour ago, and they're both fine, at the apartment in Bolling. They aren't going to be letting anyone in there either."

At noon, Dad came back home. When Mama had come downstairs at ten, she had been expecting that all of us would be going to the club for golf like we usually did. I told her that Dad had gone out on business, but she said we'd go play without him. That's when I told her that Dad said we had to stay inside. Mama got upset when I couldn't answer any of her questions, but Gerta took her aside and talked to her. I'm not sure what Gerta said, but Mama settled down after that. As soon as Dad came through the door, Mama was all over him, alternating between being mad and demanding information, and being worried and demanding reassurance that everyone was all right. Dad told her that Walt Connor had been arrested, then released, because he had an ironclad alibi. He and Richard were in Linden, visiting with Mr. Connor's sister. They had spent the night there. Constable Dyer had phoned over to Walt's sister's house, and was satisfied from what she said, that Walt had been telling the truth.

After it had gotten light out, the police went into Uncle Bunny's back yard, looking for any evidence left by the person doing the shooting. What they found there were several deep indentations, concentrated in the area of the ground that was directly in front of Uncle Bunny's window. The investigator told Uncle Bunny it looked like it might be the heel impression from a woman's high heels. when Dad told Mama that, she said one word: "Georgia". Dad nodded to her that he agreed.

Mama went to the living room and picked up the phone, dialing a number. She was on the phone for ten minutes before hanging up. When she came back to the library, she told Dad she was sending Hans to Bolling to pick up Georgia and Brenda, to bring them back to our house. That's when Dad told her that Hans was with Uncle Bunny.

"What's he doing with Bunny?"

"Making sure that nobody shoots him. He came over to Bunny's office, carrying several weapons, including a wicked looking knife and a pistol. He looked like he knew how to use them too. I wouldn't want to try to get past him, I know that much."

"Someone has to go get her. She's too upset to drive herself."

"Is she upset because she missed?"

"Thomas! Just for that, you can go get her. Take Kenny with you, and take his new car. Hurry up too, because I'm afraid she's going to attempt something stupid. You know how emotional she gets."

"Bertie, think about this, before you have me go traipsing off to bring her closer to Bunny. Suppose she wants to try it again?"

"Thomas, if you won't go, I'll go get them myself. She needs to be around people who care for her now. She's hurt and confused. This has been a terrible time for her. First Walt, and now this situation with Bunny and Elizabeth. Is it any wonder that she isn't thinking that well?"

"How long are you planning on having them here, and where do you plan on putting them?"

"As long as it takes, and we'll put them in Kenny's room. That would be the easiest. Kenny, you don't mind sleeping downstairs for a few nights, just until we sort this all out, do you?"

"Brenda's going to live here? In my room?"

"It's only temporary, just until we can find her a nice home of her own. She's always lived in Ridgeline, Bolling isn't any place for Georgia and Brenda to live. We'll get this little misunderstanding settled, and then we'll find her a nice little home of her own. If we had paid more attention to her, none of this would have happened. This was just a cry for some attention."

"It was attempted murder, Bertie, and that's not my idea of a cry for attention. Bunny or Elizabeth might have been killed."

"But they weren't, were they? You're a man, you couldn't possibly understand what something like this can lead you to contemplate. Are you going to go get them, or must I?"

"No, I'll go. If she takes it in her fool head to shoot Kenny or me, I hope you won't think that was only another cry for attention from her. I had a lot I needed to get accomplished this weekend, Bertie. Having a houseful of weeping, vindictive women isn't going to be conducive to my being prepared for a full schedule of important meetings this next week."

"One weekend without working isn't going to kill you, Thomas."

"No, but it might end up costing all of us several million dollars. I have had my eye on a whole new line of business for us, restaurant food supply. I have three meetings set up to interview people who have worked in that area, staggered over this coming week. I don't want to go into those meetings unprepared, and I brought home a lot of information that needs to be read and digested, before those meetings take place."

"Then I better go pick them up. You stay here and do what you need to. You should have said something sooner about this, Thomas. Daddy talked about us breaking into that market years ago. He said that organized crime was too entrenched in it to allow it to be safe or profitable."

"He was talking about competing with them. My idea is to try to supply those companies that already do compete with them, and let them continue to handle the distribution, and the problems that might be associated with competing in that market. It's growing too fast for us not to have a share of it."

"Isn't that still dangerous? I mean, it is organized crime."

"Bertie, organized crime is business. It's just that they operate under a different business model than we do. They depend on customer loyalty just like we do, they just offer their customers a different incentive to stay loyal. The restaurant supply business has grown so large now, it's difficult to differentiate between one company and another. They're all legitimate as far as the products they deliver. Some just open their accounts differently. If you were to look at five different operations, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the so called legitimate corporations, and the ones supposedly run by criminals. Those distinctions become blurred with time."

"That's all very interesting I'm sure, Thomas. I better run, Georgia's expecting someone to pick them up. If we do decide to get into that business, promise me you won't bring any of your new business associates home for dinner. I don't want our good silver stolen." Mama grabbed my arm, and started us towards the front door.

"I don't have my car keys, they're up in the room. I don't want to go with you anyway. Why don't you take Jane?"

"You go get your keys, Kenny. Georgia and Brenda need us, and they're our family."

"This isn't what you agreed to, Mama."

"Brenda told me last night that you told her you were willing to forget the past. I don't want her to be all alone on the trip here, Kenny. You know it will start trouble if I ask Jane to accompany me." I went up to get my keys. I had said that to Brenda, but I didn't really mean it. I wanted to say something to relax her at the party, to let her know I wasn't going to be making a big scene. I wanted us to stay apart.

We got to the apartment in Bolling in thirty minutes. My new car rode like a dream. I had helped Mama take the top down, and it was nice driving like that, with the wind from the speeding car keeping us cool, and also blowing our hair all over the place. When we got there, neither of them were packed. It took Mama another thirty minutes to convince Mrs. Connor that going to the house with us was the right thing for her to do. Brenda had her things ready even before her mother had been talked into going by Mama. Several times she tried to get conversations started with me, but each time I managed to answer her in a way that closed off further talk on that particular subject. Finally she found a topic I was willing to talk about.

"Shirley seems very nice. She's so tall."

"She is nice, very nice. Her whole family is tall."

"You seemed to like her, a lot."

"I do. She plays golf, and she's very thoughtful of other people, and concerned about their welfare."

"I care about other people too, Kenny. I spent nearly all my time trying to figure out what you wanted, and how I could get it for you." I looked over at her, and I just had to smile.

"You have a very convenient and flexible memory, Brenda."

"Are you having sex with Shirley?" That ended that topic of conversation. I got up and went over to stand by Mama. When Mrs. Connor came out into the living room five minutes later, she was carrying a large suitcase. I took it from her and took it down to the Cadillac waiting at the foot of the stairs. Mama had the keys, so I sat it by the trunk. It took a few more minutes, but finally they came out and locked up the apartment and came down the stairs to the car. Brenda set her own suitcase next to her mother's. When Mama opened the trunk for me, I lifted both cases into the trunk and closed the lid. All three of them were already in the car. Mama and Mrs. Connor were sitting in the front, and Brenda was in the back, on the driver's side, an expectant smile on her face. When I went to get in, Mrs. Connor leaned forward and pulled the seat back forward, so that I could get through to the back seat. I could have complained, but I knew it wouldn't do any good, or accomplish anything anyway.

"Thank you for giving up your bedroom for us, Kenny. I've been dreaming about sleeping in your bed again." Brenda wasn't done with making her pitch for full reinstatement.

"That's all right. Mama says it's only for a few days. I'll be sleeping in Bea's old bed, and it's a nice one too." One of the things that Brenda had always resented was knowing that I had slept with Bea, all over the house for awhile. I wanted her to think she wasn't any more important as a memory to me than Bea was.

"What do you like best about Shirley? I mean she doesn't have that good of a figure, especially up on top." Brenda was determined to get right into this. I knew her, and she wasn't going to stop until something stopped her.

"I like it that she's a decent person. She doesn't go around screwing every boy she meets." that brought Mrs. Connor and Mama wading into the conversation. Both of them told me I needed to apologize to Brenda. "Why should I apologize to her. I'm not the one who did anything wrong. Tell her to leave me alone and quit talking to me, or asking me questions about my friends."

"Kenny, Georgia and Brenda are more than our guests. I expect you to treat them as part of our family."

"Mama, I don't want to make you feel bad, but I really don't want to have to put up with Brenda at all. Since it's only going to be a few days, maybe I can go stay over at Uncle Bunny's, just so we don't keep having everyone get all upset."

"You'll do no such thing. I'm willing to accept what you've said, that you and Brenda have differences that cannot be overcome. I'm sure that all Brenda wanted was some clarification about what form your relationship was going to take from now on."

"I would prefer we be strangers, but if that isn't an option, I'd want us to just ignore each other. I offered to be on normal terms with her, but Brenda doesn't want to accept that. She seems to want to have things go back to how they were. They never will, and, if she doesn't accept that, I don't want her anywhere around me."

"Brenda, given all that has transpired, dear, Kenny's request seems reasonable to me. It was you that fouled the nest, after all, and you have to accept the results of those actions. I did promise him that I'd accept his decision regarding any future the two of you might have together."

"I told him I was sorry. I told him it wouldn't ever happen again. All I want is one more chance."

"Brenda, you aren't a child, and I refuse to allow you to put forth a child's argument, or plea for further consideration from him. You betrayed Kenny's trust with two different boys, at least with two that you've admitted to. He forgave you for the first one. What you have done isn't some minor infraction. You made a choice, and because of that, Kenny now gets to make his own choice. He's made it abundantly clear what his choice is. None of this should have happened, but it did. You need to accept it and just live with it, and you need to start doing so right now." There was steel in Mama's words, and for the first time, I think Brenda realized there weren't going to be any further chances, at least none with me. "Georgia, I'm telling you exactly the same thing. You've spent too many years now, playing one side off against the other. Patch things up with Walt, or divorce him. What you did this morning was inexcusable. It was something only a crazy person would even contemplate. You've had a long run with this little juggling act you had going. It's time now for you to be an adult, you need to let Bunny go."

I waited to see if either Brenda or her mother were going to say anything further, but neither of them spoke. When we got to the house, I opened my trunk, and pulled out both bags. I carried both of them into the house, and up the stairs to my room. I gathered together all the things I'd need for the week, and put them into my own suitcase, carrying them downstairs into Bea's old room. I looked around in that room, and knew I wouldn't miss my room that much, not as long as it was only temporary.

I was wondering how Jane and Grace were going to take to having Brenda and Mrs. Connor staying with us. I didn't have that long to wonder. We had been there no more than fifteen minutes when Jane came downstairs, looking for me.

"I thought you were kidding, Kenny. They're moving into your room?"

"Just until they get their own house. Mama says a few days. I'm leaving to go back to school in a little more than two weeks. When are you guys moving to your place in Bolling?"

"We were going to start moving in gradually, starting around August tenth. We might have to move that time up now, if Brenda's going to be here. Can you ask your mother the earliest we can have the apartment? It would be easier to drive here from Bolling every morning, than to live here and have to worry about Brenda being so close."

"You aren't really worried are you? I mean, I know you love Grace. Brenda could never be anything like what you have with Grace."

"Kenny, temptation doesn't know anything about love. It isn't even that I'm so worried that I'd give in to it. It's Grace, and how worried she'd be. She knows how tempted I'd be, and she knows I'm not like she is. If something did happen, it would mean a lot more to her. It would end it for us. She wouldn't be able to sit still, or to trust that nothing would happen. I know her, and she'd do something, just because she couldn't stand to wait and see."