Paws for Alarm by Marian Babson Page A

evil little eye feebly glittering.
    I took a few more deep breaths, trying not to retch. I saw with relief, out of the corner of my own eye, the cashier slip the sickening object out of sight beneath the counter.
    â€˜Heh-heh –’ Arnold tried, too late, to turn it into a cough.
    â€˜I hate you, Arnold Harper!’ I stormed. ‘Some day I’m going to do myself a favour and divorce you. And, when I do, I’ll make damned sure you get custody of those rotten little monsters!’

Eleven
    â€˜Please forgive me for telephoning so early, but I just had to know – ?’ Hazel’s voice throbbed with concern. ‘Are you all right? Is everything all right?’
    â€˜All right?’ I looked at the telephone receiver blankly. Arnold and I were having a lazy Sunday morning. I’d made coffee, toast and scrambled eggs and brought them upstairs on a tray. We were in bed surrounded by an assortment of Sunday papers, the twins curled at the foot of the bed with what passed for the comics in a couple of the papers, and even Esmond had joined the party and was disposing of his share of scrambled eggs and coffee cream. Things couldn’t have been more all right.
    â€˜Everything’s just fine.’ I didn’t bother to disguise the puzzlement in my voice. ‘Why shouldn’t it be?’
    â€˜Oh, forgive me. I’d heard –’ She broke off abruptly.
    â€˜Heard what?’
    â€˜Oh, I’m sorry. Someone said – Obviously, she’d got things wrong. Just forget I said anything.’
    â€˜Oh no you don’t. Come on, Hazel, you might as well tell me. The more you don’t say, the worse I’ll think it was.’
    â€˜I suppose so. Oh, dear,’ she wailed, ‘I should have known it was just silly gossip.’
    â€˜Hazel –’
    â€˜Oh, it’s nothing, really. I mean, I know that now. It’s just that one of my neighbours was standing in the queue behind you at the supermarket yesterday and she heard — She thought you were serious about ... about a divorce. And she knew that we were friends –’
    â€˜Relax,’ I said. “That was yesterday. I kind of lost my temper. I guess I’ve got a pretty short fuse –’
    â€˜Wouldn’t have you any other way, Babe.’ Arnold patted my thigh. I leaned back against him, rolling the earpiece to one side so that he could hear the other side of the conversation. No one would have been worried about the state of our alliance if they could have seen us now.
    â€˜And they were all deliberately plaguing me –’ I went on.
    â€˜Heh, heh, heh,’ Arnold snickered.
    â€˜Anyway –’ I gave him a moderately heavy thump on one of the few uninjured parts of his anatomy. ‘There’s no problem. We’re not getting a divorce. Forget it.’
    â€˜I’m so glad!’ Was she? A faint note in her voice didn’t ring true. Inevitably, it brought back the memory of her arms around Arnold under the porch light. Had she called to establish her place in the succession if I was abdicating?
    â€˜We kid around a lot,’ I said firmly, giving Arnold a dirty look. He responded with a look of injured innocence, not knowing the reason for my sudden hostility.
    â€˜Of course, that isn’t the only reason I called.’ Hazel had recovered herself and was proceeding smoothly.
    â€˜There’s quite a delightful outing coming up this week. It’s been on the stocks for some time, but I’m not sure if anyone has thought to tell you about it.’
    â€˜No.’ I was intrigued. ‘Nobody’s said anything to me about any outing.’
    â€˜I was afraid not. I know Lania has booked for it, but I wasn’t sure that she’d thought to tell you.’
    â€˜I suppose we can’t be surprised that she isn’t rushing to let us in on any treats.’ Nevertheless, I felt gloomy about it. ‘I guess