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Run up and knock on the door, Joanna told Jenny. Ask Marianne if it s all
right for us to come in, or would it be better if we came back later? Jenny
clambered out of the Blazer, slamming the door behind her. And if you can
avoid it, Joanna added, don t tell her what you re doing out of school so
early. I want to tell her myself.
She probably already knows about it, Mom. Doesn t Mari-anne read the paper?
Damn Marliss Shackleford anyway!
Jenny bounded up the steps and rang the doorbell. Mari-anne opened the door,
and the two of them spoke briefly before Jenny turned and motioned for Joanna
to follow. Then the child disappeared into the house while Marianne waited on
the porch.
Sorry I missed your speech at Kiwanis this morning, Marianne said. 1 was
feeling so rotten that I told Jeff to go on without me.
How are you doing now?
A little better, Marianne said.
But not much, from the looks of you, Joanna observed. Jeff tells me you
haven t seen a doctor yet, either.
Come on in, Marianne said. Is that all you came by for to chew me out?
Tommy s been out of town on vacation for the last two weeks. He went home to
visit his family back in Taiwan. He s due back tomorrow. I have an appointment
scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Tommy was actually Dr. Thomas Lee, a Taiwanese immi-grant doctor who had come
to Bisbee s Copper Queen Hospital as a way of paying off his medical-school
loans. Once the loan obligation was repaid, he could easily have gone
elsewhere. Instead, he had decided to make Bisbee his permanent home.
After Jeff and Marianne brought their adopted twins home from mainland China,
Dr. Lee had become Esther s primary physician. In the process of caring for
the seriously ill child, he had become a close friend an uncle almost to the
rest of the family. In order to help Ruth stay connected to her roots, he was
teaching the family to speak two separate Chinese dia-lects. He was also
helping turn Jeff Daniels into a passable expert in home-cooked Chinese
cuisine.
Well, Joanna said, that s a relief. I m surprised he didn t insist on you
seeing him long before this.
I didn t tell him, Marianne said, smiling wanly. But I thought you d be
glad to hear that I was taking some of your advice, and not just about seeing
the doctor, either. I was supposed to do housework today, but I ve spent most
of the morn-ing working on the Thanksgiving sermon.
The parsonage s once pristine living room was a shambles. Toys, books, and
papers were scattered everywhere. The couch was almost invisible beneath a
mound of unfolded laundry. On the floor, smack in the middle of the debris
field, lay Ruth and Jenny. Frowning in concentration, the two girls were
building a structure out of a set of pre-school-sized Legos. Joanna and
Marianne picked their way through the mess as far as the couch. There they
took seats on opposite ends of the couch and heaped the clothing into an even
higher mound between them. Once seated and without a word of discussion, they
both began folding clothes.
If you re working on a Thanksgiving sermon, Joanna said, that must mean you
plan to stick around long enough to deliver it. What s the title?
Stop Digging .
Stop Digging , Joanna repeated. What does that mean?
You should know, Marianne said. You re the one who told me to talk about
the black hole. To stop digging is the first rule for getting out of holes.
You really are taking my advice.
Marianne smiled. I told you, she said. Glancing at her watch, she frowned.
What s Jenny doing out of school so early? She s not sick, is she?
She s been suspended, Joanna replied matter-of-factly. For fighting. Have
you read today s newspaper?
The Bee? Marianne asked. No. I just didn t feel like it. Why? What s in
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it?
Do you happen to have a copy?
It s probably still in the box down by the street. I ll go get it.
No, Joanna said. Let Jenny.
Minutes later, Joanna unfolded the paper, opened it to the page containing
Marliss Shackleford s Bisbee Buzzings col-umn, and began to read aloud:
A reliable but unnamed source tells us that Cochise County Sheriff Joanna
Brady, a widow, will soon tie the knot with Bisbee newcomer Frederick W.
Dixon. Dixon, a former tavern owner, is currently un-employed.
That witch! Joanna exclaimed, carefully choosing one word over another
because of the listening children playing on the floor. How dare she say he s
unemployed. Butch spends at least four hours every morning working on his
book, and he looks after Jenny every afternoon after school. Not only that,
he s spent the better part of the last three days taking care of Junior.
Who s Junior? Marianne asked. You didn t adopt another dog or horse, did
you?
Briefly Joanna brought Marianne up-to-date on the Junior dilemma.
And who s the unnamed source? Marianne asked, look-ing at the newspaper
column again when Joanna had finished telling the Junior story. Your mother,
I presume?
Marianne and Joanna s friendship a relationship that dated all the way back to
junior high held very few surprises for either of them.
You guessed it, Joanna said. And that s why Jenny got in a fight at school
today. Some of the boys were teasing her about my getting married. She didn t
think it was true because I hadn t gotten around to telling her.
Marianne smiled a genuine smile then. Naturally she beat them up. Given that
kind of provocation, I probably would have, too. So it is true then? You and
Butch really are getting married?
He asked me yesterday, Joanna replied, and I said yes.
That s wonderful. Congratulations.
Thanks. That s one of the two things I came by to discuss you. If you re
going to quit the ministry, you can t do it [t least after the wedding.
Which is when?
I don t know. We haven t had a chance to talk about that yet. I ve been too
busy.
And the other thing we need to discuss? Marianne asked.
Marliss Shackleford. How do I keep from killing her the next time I see her?
Marianne glanced toward the children. Jenny and Ruth teemed totally engrossed
in their building project, but Marianne knew better than to trust to
appearances. Maybe we d better go into the kitchen, she said. I ll make a
fresh pot of coffee.
An hour later, feeling as though an interior pressure valve had been released,
Joanna packed up Jenny and headed home. We d better stop by Butch s house and
let him know you won t be there after school today.
But Butch Dixon wasn t home. Parked in the Outback s spot in his carport was a
decrepit bronze Honda.
Hey, look, Jenny crowed in delight. The Gs are here. Grandpa s still in the
car.
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