Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
The geese came running, which was better than flying, honking, and flapping, but still intimidating, and the tourists, smartly, turned tail and ran for their lives.
Of course they went directly to the police station, where Lorne informed them they’d been trespassing and that the geese in question were not pets because that was against the law. As if Lorne was going to do anything to those sweet geese Rita loved. Ridiculous.
“The geese are scary,” I concurred with Father Dennis.
“They are, and really, going to the house would be foolish. But attacking Troy in public, making trouble either at the booth or the store, that would be a problem for his business. I can see Diana or Ken or both doing that.”
“It’s good of you to try and head that off.”
“Well, I’d rather not have to involve Lorne if we don’t have to.”
I agreed.
Once we were close, I realized that the crowds walking with us toward the carnival, and those leaving, exceeded by far what was normal for a Friday night in July.
“You need to get your Moses action on,” I teased Father Dennis, “and part the sea.”
The look he shot me, it was lucky I wasn’t drinking anything or I would have choked to death.
“Oh, c’mon, that was funny,” I said, chuckling, already tired of dodging people, so I stepped off the curb to walk in the street. He quickly joined me.
“I think Moses action, as you call it, would be overkill in this situation, don’t you agree?”
He said it so deadpan. I started laughing again.
“Really, Xander Corey, the things you find funny.”
But he put his hand on my shoulder as we walked, so he couldn’t have been that annoyed.
There were two lines to get in, and after we both paid our dollar, we listened to the cashier tell us where we could get food-and-drink tickets, as well as the ones for the rides, and then got a stamp on the back of our hands to reenter if we left the midway.
I grinned at the cashier. “I bet you’re so sick of saying all that.”
“You have no idea,” the man said, smiling back.
“Have you ever seen the carnival this packed?”
“No, but you gotta figure that most of these folks are tourists. There’s not much to do in this tiny town after six when the sidewalks roll up for the night.”
True. Besides Eleanor Powell’s Bread & Butter diner, my friend Declan’s bistro, Waxing the Moon, and Cinerama, the movie theater which was technically a movie house—as there were no rows of seats, just a big room with furniture that had been old when I was little—the town was dead long before the sun went down.
“You’re not wrong,” I said with a shrug. “Do you know where the non-food booths are?”
He gave me directions, smiled at Father Dennis, and then we started walking, rejoining the crowd.
“You know,” Father Dennis began, hand on my shoulder again so we wouldn’t get separated, “Jericho is keeping the Wounded Lamb open a bit later these days. He told me he’s going to midnight until the fall.”
“That’s what I heard.” I didn’t add that Lorne wasn’t thrilled about the only pub in town staying open that late. He felt that drunk tourists wandering around a darkened town at night was a recipe for disaster.
I had told him to try not to worry. That as far as I knew, there was nothing out there in the night feeding on people at the moment. He didn’t think I was any funnier than Father Dennis did.
We finally made it through the throng, past the rides, the games, and all the food stalls, back to where the booths were. I was surprised to see Delia closing up already. She smiled and waved when she saw us, and I saw Cass there as well, with Rufus, feeding him what looked like a regular ice-cream cone.
“That better be frozen yogurt,” I told her.
“Of course it’s yogurt,” Delia called over. “You think I want him barfing on my shoes? It’s the doggy one they make at Wags. They have a booth next to the churro one.”
I turned to Father Dennis.
“I am not eating a churro,” he groused. “Seriously, when did you get this annoying?”
“Been like this for years.” I waggled my eyebrows.
He groaned, then looked at Delia. “Are you all out of honey and everything else?”
“Yessir, we are,” she replied with a grin. “Uncle Troy was just here collecting money and receipts. He’s taking it all to the store and then coming back for us after the show.”
“Is it magic this year or dancing?” he asked her.
“I’m pretty sure it’s both,” Cass chimed in. “I think that’s what the flyer said.”
“Do I need a ticket?”
“Yes,” Delia told him. “But so do we, so you can come with us.”
He was pleased to be invited, and I begged off quickly, not wanting to get stuck inside a tent for an hour when I could be meeting the man I loved instead.