Carol Clark - Burned

“I heard things last night.”

“Like what?” the twins asked in unison.

“Like the woman who drowned might have been murdered.”

Gert and Ev both inhaled sharply. “Who says that?” they both asked at once.

The group all had fixed their gazes on Joy. Ned looked up from his oatmeal. Artie, who had been staring out at the water, finally started paying attention. Francie, who had been applying makeup, put her lipstick down on the table with a dramatic flourish. As usual, Bob and Betsy’s expressions didn’t change. Well, maybe Bob’s did a little. Sometimes Joy wondered if they were alive. Now, as the whole group stared at her, she realized she liked the attention. They don’t think I’m such a baby anymore, she told herself proudly. “I’m not at liberty to tell you.”

“Why do they think she might have been murdered?” Ev asked, her expression steely.

“Because the hotel has had some weird stuff going on. Things going wrong. They think there’s a phantom who is pulling pranks, and just maybe this phantom is getting a little more dangerous. There have been a couple of incidents-problems with food, and people who had a few drinks and ended up much more hungover than they should have been. Now maybe the phantom is stepping things up!”

Gert and Ev looked at each other in horror.

“They made me promise not to say anything,” Joy added.

Artie rolled his eyes. Joy annoyed him because she clearly considered him an old person. “Then why did you? That’s bad karma.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Ned protested. “This is a good hotel, and the manager does a great job. Dorinda Dawes drowned. It’s that simple.”

Gert cleared her throat. “It seems to me that rumors and troublemakers abound. They are everywhere. This is a lovely hotel, and we shouldn’t let other people’s idle gossip destroy it. Perhaps people were hungover because they had way too much of a good thing. Ever think of that?”

Joy shook her head. “I heard one lady had a Shirley Temple and threw up all over the place.”

Ned looked at his watch. “ ‘Surf’s up!’ as they say. I’m disappointed to see that only two of the Lucky Seven are coming with me. Next time I hope to do better. Gert and Ev, you shouldn’t be worrying about other hotels. As you say, this is a good place. The renovation made it even better.” He laughed. “After all, I was hired. Will would be disappointed if he thought you were checking out other places and thinking of going elsewhere. You should come up north with us today. It’s a beautiful drive.”

Gert shook her head. “We’re always looking out for the good of the future trip-takers from Hudville. It’s up to us to make sure there are many. The funds are not limitless, you know. Ev and I are worried that many people will be disappointed because they won’t get to come to Hawaii.”

“That’ll be hard for you two,” Francie said as she inspected herself in her compact mirror. “After going on these trips for years, how will you cope when the money is gone?”

“We have inner strength,” Gert replied.

“Inner strength coupled with the fact that some of the other elderly church members are thinking of leaving some of their money to the Mixed Bag Tour group,” Ev added.

“I didn’t know that,” Francie exclaimed. “Who plans to be so generous? Because let me tell you, if they’re in the Praise the Rain group, I haven’t met them.”

“I can’t divulge that information,” Ev replied quietly. “The potential benefactors wish to remain anonymous.”

“That I’ll never understand,” Francie announced as she picked a piece of mascara from under her eyelid. “I just have two questions about them: Are any of them single? And how close to the end are they?”

Ned laughed. “Francie, find someone your own age to pick on.”

Francie snapped her compact shut. “There are no good ones left my age.”

Get me out of here, Joy thought. This is depressing. I’m only twenty-one.

“You know,” Francie continued, “now that I’ve been on this trip and am out of the running to be in the lottery, I’d like to see what the other hotels have to offer because I would like to come back. Maybe I should go with you today,” she suggested to the twins.

“Francie!” Ned protested. “It’s you, me, and Artie together today.”

But he didn’t have to worry about losing one of his charges. Both twins looked as if they’d been hit in the head. Ev reached over and put her hand on Gert’s. “You see, Francie,” she began patiently, “today is what we call our ‘twin time.’ Just the two of us together.”

“It’s almost as if we speak our own language,” Gert added. “No one else understands it.”

“I guess the answer is no,” Francie said.

“That’s right.”

“But don’t you two live together at home?” Francie asked rhetorically. “If that were me and my sister, we’d be on each other’s nerves. Working together at the store, living together, traveling together. Sheesh!”

“We’ve been blessed with a special bond,” Gert said, trying to make it clear. “We’re not just sisters. We’re best buds.”

I’m going to be sick, Joy thought.

“Francie, you’ll have a great time with us,” Ned said. He looked insulted.

Francie, who recovered in no time, smiled flirtatiously. “I know I will.”

They all got up from the table. Bob and Betsy headed back to their room without saying good-bye. Joy headed for the beach as fast as she could. Ned, Artie, and Francie went out front to look for the van that was picking them up. Gert and Ev proclaimed they were going back to their room to brush and floss before heading out, and waved good-bye.

At the elevator bank Gert looked at Ev and winked. When they got up to the door of their room, Ev pulled out her key. “I thought we’d never get out of there,” she said.

“Oh, I know it. We need our privacy today, don’t we, sister?” Gert asked.

“We sure do.”

The door next to them closed, and they both turned with a start. A blond-haired woman they’d seen a few times in the last week nodded hello to them. They had noticed her going out with a dark-haired woman last night. “Hello,” the twins greeted her sweetly.

“Hello,” she answered politely.

Once inside their room, they looked at each other nervously.

“I’ll be relieved when our special project is finished,” Ev admitted.

“You said it. But we’re about to cross the finish line.”

Ev smiled. “And nothing’s going to stop us.”

T he couple whom Regan talked to on the beach went to bed very late. When they got back to the room, they drank champagne. Then, when it was a reasonable hour on the East Coast, Carla got on the horn. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends and family the good news about her engagement.

Carla’s mother was greatly relieved. “It’s about time!” she declared in a sleepy voice. “I thought he’d propose on your anniversary. All day yesterday I cried. I didn’t like the idea of you living with him at such a young age and wasting your time. He’s finally doing right by you.”

“Thanks, Ma,” Carla said. “I gotta go.” She then called her sisters and her ten best friends. All of whom screamed with joy. All of whom she asked to be bridesmaids. All of whom said yes and said they’d have been insulted if she hadn’t asked.

Jason was lying on the bed with his eyes closed while she squealed the news over and over again. When the phone was finally free, he called his parents, but they weren’t home. He left them a brief message. “Carla and I got engaged. Talk to you. Bye.”

“Aren’t you going to call your friends?” Carla asked in disbelief.