Fat Cat Takes The Cake

“She played Bloody Mary in the summer theater production of South Pacific a few years ago and she loves the song ‘Happy Talk.’”

“Of course,” Chase said.

Mrs. Yardley started and Chase joined in, when she could remember the words. There were a lot of them. Mr. Yardley hummed along and Julie was the spectator.

Chase wondered what the nurses and orderlies in the corridor thought.

“Wait! No, keep going,” Julie shouted. More softly, she added, “See? Her brain waves.”

The line was getting ziggier. Chase and Dillon’s mother kept singing. Mrs. Yardley tightened her grip on her daughter’s hand and Mr. Yardley had the other one. After two verses, Dillon’s eyelids fluttered.

Everyone in the room held their breath.

Dillon’s eyes closed again.

A nurse rushed in. “We have new activity.” She seemed excited, too.

Chase gaped when she saw the line on the EEG machine jumping up and down, bouncing like a manic yo-yo. She blinked to keep her tears from falling.

Dillon’s eyes opened again, found her mother’s face, and her lips moved. She mouthed the word “Mom,” then gazed slowly around the room.

The nurse looked at Chase and Julie apologetically. “I’ll have to ask you to leave. We’ve called the doctor. We’ll need to do an assessment.”

“Good luck,” the two women called to Dillon’s parents as they walked out the door. Two white-coated doctors rushed in a few seconds later.

Chase and Julie high-fived and left for Anna’s.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Anna did indeed want to get her mind off the coming Minny Batter Battle, Julie told Chase, but she wanted to do it her own way. She had cooked up a huge pot of savory beef stew for the three of them.

Chase always loved being at Anna’s little white house with the pastel blue shutters on Nokomis Avenue. Today, even more so, as the smells of hearty stew and baking bread drifted from the kitchen to the living room when she stepped into the house. She and Julie sipped a rosé. It wasn’t Chase’s favorite kind of wine, but Anna loved it.

They tried to help in the kitchen, but Anna made them sit in the living room while she finished setting the kitchen table.

“Okay, soup’s on,” Anna called.

“Stew’s on, you mean,” Julie said.

Anna stood ladling it out into thick crockery bowls as they took their seats at the small round table. The pale yellow bowls, with their plates beneath, sat on green-and-yellow-checked placemats. Fat carrots and potatoes, onions and cabbage floated in the thick, brown stew.

Anna wore a vest of vermilion and chartreuse over a yellow long-sleeved T-shirt. She stood out like a beacon against the pale mint green walls of her kitchen.

When they told Anna about Dillon Yardley waking up, Anna got tears in her eyes, and so did Chase—again. Anna was less pleased about Chase going off with Eddie Heath when she thought he might be a killer, and was downright upset about Bart Fender attacking her outside her own home.

“Grandma,” Julie said, “it’s all turned out all right. The detective took him in and a killer is locked up, awaiting trial.”

“Is there any way he’ll be found not guilty?” Anna asked.

“I suppose anything can happen,” Julie said. “But it would be very unlikely. There will be traces left from Ron’s body in his car. Juries love DNA.”

“I hope baking juries love blueberry muffins,” Anna said, worry creasing her brow.

Julie and Chase looked at each other. That was the subject they were trying to avoid.

“Isn’t that courtroom drama on tonight? The one you like so much?” Julie asked.

Anna frowned at her granddaughter. “You’re trying to distract me; don’t think I can’t tell.” She softened her words and patted Julie’s hand. “And I appreciate it. But I don’t think anything is going to get my mind off the battle. I won’t feel better until tomorrow night when this is all over.”

“I almost forgot to tell you,” Chase said. “It flew out of my mind. Right before I left Bar None to get Julie, Mallory told me that Grace Pilsen was in earlier.”

“She came to our shop today? The gall of that woman!” Anna huffed.

“Mallory said she didn’t look well. She was flushed and sweating and her eyes were red. She only stayed a moment. As soon as she was in the door, she started having a coughing fit and had to turn around and leave.”

“She’s sick again?” Julie said. “Maybe she won’t show up to compete.”

“Maybe,” Anna said, trying not to smile. “One can hope.”

Anna made hot cocoa and they sipped it, watching the tense drama unfold. The television show distracted Anna to some extent, Chase thought. She knew Anna wouldn’t sleep much, but there was nothing she could do about that.

In the morning, the sun broke through the clouds that had covered the city for days. Chase and Julie, plus Bill and Jay, were all going as spectators. Bill drove Anna and helped carry in her supplies. Chase would have asked Mike, but she knew he was working at his clinic today.