“Nana’s plant is extinct again?”
“No! If it was there yesterday, it has to be there today. They’re not looking hard enough. A plant of that size doesn’t disappear overnight, not unless someone dug it up deliberately. And who would have done that? No one even knew it was there until I phoned Limeburner.”
Which wasn’t precisely true. The person who stole Nana’s photo knew the plant was there, so they could have done the digging. But I’d like to think that if someone had dragged a large chunk of landscape onto the bus yesterday, I might have noticed.
“Sorry to make you wait so long, Connie.” Ellie bustled over to us. “They ran out of paper towels in the ladies’ room, so I had to blow dry my hands. The buzz is that they offer stagecoach rides here. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“I have to use the facilities,” he said in a dull voice, “and return Henry’s phone.”
“I’ll do that.” I stood up. “I’m headed in that direction anyway. But would you do me a favor? If you see Etienne and Duncan while you’re in there, would you tell them I’m heading up Main Street, so they can look for me there?”
Henry was still at the turnstiles, passing out tickets and maps. I took my place at the back of the line and tried not to think about how disappointed Nana was going to be when she heard the news about her angiosperms. Was Dr. Limeburner right? Had Conrad simply identified them incorrectly? Was it possible that a renowned expert could be so wrong about something?
I scanned the shop while I waited, my gaze lighting on Diana Squires’s ponytail as she hefted a huge backpack onto the PACKAGE CHECK counter at the opposite end of the room. Yikes. That thing was big enough to hold a gas tank! I gave myself a mental slap as I gaped. Had she been wearing it earlier today when I talked to her? Had she been wearing it yesterday? Was I blind in one eye and unable to see out the other?
I handed Henry his phone in exchange for my ticket, then idly studied my site map while Diana passed through the turnstile.
“Where are you off to?” she asked, her map already open. “Panning for gold sounds like fun, but that involves water, and I’d prefer not to get wet. Accidents can happen even in shallow water.”
Hmm. The Wicked Witch of the West had melted when she got wet. I wondered what would happen to Diana Squires. “Did you bring a change of clothes with you?”
“We’re on a nine-hour tour. Why would I do that?”
She’d obviously never watched Gilligan’s Island . “That backpack you left at the package check counter was a pretty good size. Looked like you could fit your entire wardrobe into it.”
“Just the essentials. You know how it is. The older you get, the more essentials you need.”
“Were you wearing it yesterday?”
“I wear it every day when I’m on vacation. I guess you were one of the few people I didn’t sideswipe with it. How’d you luck out? I get some pretty mean looks when I move the wrong way.”
“Were you wearing it at the wildlife park earlier?”
“Sure was.”
“How did I not notice something that big strapped to your back?”
“Because it wasn’t that big earlier. It’s expandable. I buy the expandable model of everything, but I’m downsizing at the moment.” She patted the fanny pack at her waist. “I turned the wrong way in the ladies’ room and pulled something in my lower back, so I’m giving my muscles a rest.” She whacked my arm with her map. “The aging process. See what you have to look forward to?”
“In the oft-spoken words of my grandmother, it beats the alternative.”
“Speaking of your grandmother—” She snugged her hand around my forearm and spoke to me from the heart. “I’m afraid I might have scared her off with the price of our product, which is too bad, because it’s women like your grandmother—elderly ladies living on fixed incomes—who could benefit most from what Perfecta has to offer.”
“Actually,
“No! If it was there yesterday, it has to be there today. They’re not looking hard enough. A plant of that size doesn’t disappear overnight, not unless someone dug it up deliberately. And who would have done that? No one even knew it was there until I phoned Limeburner.”
Which wasn’t precisely true. The person who stole Nana’s photo knew the plant was there, so they could have done the digging. But I’d like to think that if someone had dragged a large chunk of landscape onto the bus yesterday, I might have noticed.
“Sorry to make you wait so long, Connie.” Ellie bustled over to us. “They ran out of paper towels in the ladies’ room, so I had to blow dry my hands. The buzz is that they offer stagecoach rides here. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“I have to use the facilities,” he said in a dull voice, “and return Henry’s phone.”
“I’ll do that.” I stood up. “I’m headed in that direction anyway. But would you do me a favor? If you see Etienne and Duncan while you’re in there, would you tell them I’m heading up Main Street, so they can look for me there?”
Henry was still at the turnstiles, passing out tickets and maps. I took my place at the back of the line and tried not to think about how disappointed Nana was going to be when she heard the news about her angiosperms. Was Dr. Limeburner right? Had Conrad simply identified them incorrectly? Was it possible that a renowned expert could be so wrong about something?
I scanned the shop while I waited, my gaze lighting on Diana Squires’s ponytail as she hefted a huge backpack onto the PACKAGE CHECK counter at the opposite end of the room. Yikes. That thing was big enough to hold a gas tank! I gave myself a mental slap as I gaped. Had she been wearing it earlier today when I talked to her? Had she been wearing it yesterday? Was I blind in one eye and unable to see out the other?
I handed Henry his phone in exchange for my ticket, then idly studied my site map while Diana passed through the turnstile.
“Where are you off to?” she asked, her map already open. “Panning for gold sounds like fun, but that involves water, and I’d prefer not to get wet. Accidents can happen even in shallow water.”
Hmm. The Wicked Witch of the West had melted when she got wet. I wondered what would happen to Diana Squires. “Did you bring a change of clothes with you?”
“We’re on a nine-hour tour. Why would I do that?”
She’d obviously never watched Gilligan’s Island . “That backpack you left at the package check counter was a pretty good size. Looked like you could fit your entire wardrobe into it.”
“Just the essentials. You know how it is. The older you get, the more essentials you need.”
“Were you wearing it yesterday?”
“I wear it every day when I’m on vacation. I guess you were one of the few people I didn’t sideswipe with it. How’d you luck out? I get some pretty mean looks when I move the wrong way.”
“Were you wearing it at the wildlife park earlier?”
“Sure was.”
“How did I not notice something that big strapped to your back?”
“Because it wasn’t that big earlier. It’s expandable. I buy the expandable model of everything, but I’m downsizing at the moment.” She patted the fanny pack at her waist. “I turned the wrong way in the ladies’ room and pulled something in my lower back, so I’m giving my muscles a rest.” She whacked my arm with her map. “The aging process. See what you have to look forward to?”
“In the oft-spoken words of my grandmother, it beats the alternative.”
“Speaking of your grandmother—” She snugged her hand around my forearm and spoke to me from the heart. “I’m afraid I might have scared her off with the price of our product, which is too bad, because it’s women like your grandmother—elderly ladies living on fixed incomes—who could benefit most from what Perfecta has to offer.”
“Actually,
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