New Beginning 98

“So you’ve actually gone and done it!” Deborah said.

Through the static on my cell phone, I couldn’t tell whether she sounded delighted or shocked. I wandered toward the rear of the house in search of better reception. Taffy followed, his claws clicking on the wooden floor.

“I told you I was going to,” I said. I stepped out the back door onto the little porch and the static on the phone faded. I held the door open for Taffy. He paused on the threshold and sniffed suspiciously before stepping out. “Didn’t I tell you?”

“Well, yes,” Deborah said, “but …”

“But what?”

“I didn’t take you seriously. That was — what, two weeks after the funeral? At a time like that, you expect to hear some crazy things — oh, Ellen, I’m sorry! That just came out wrong. I didn’t mean crazy.”

I laughed. “It’s okay, Deb. Crazy’s fine with me. Whatever it takes to make the little kids in the neighborhood cross the street when they have to walk by my house.”

"But how on earth did you get approval from the city?"

I followed Taffy outside, then along the flagstone path that led to the front yard. There was George, right where I'd left him perched on the porch swing in his Sunday suit.

"What," I said, "now I need city approval for yard decorations?"

Taffy leapt up onto George's lap. Turning three times, he settled himself across George's thighs and began to nibble on a mottled black and grey finger. George didn't seem to mind.

"But--but Ellen," Deb spluttered. "You need somebody's approval to exhume a body, even if it's your husband's!"

"No, you don't," I told her, sitting beside George and leaning my head on his leathery shoulder. George's lips were pulled back from his teeth in that smile I loved so much. "All you need is a shovel."


Continuation: Karen Straughan