awfully remote.”
“I have wonderful neighbors.”
“I know! But you also have an acre of ground. The neighbors aren’t close enough to hear you holler, and they can’t see the house for all those trees.”
Aunt Nettie sighed. “I guess you have a point. And if you’re nervous about staying out there . . .”
“You’re not staying alone!”
We never made any progress beyond that. She wasn’t leaving her home, and I wasn’t leaving her. I did call the nonemergency number for the Warner Pier Police Department and request a few extra patrols of our area. The dispatcher—or whomever I talked to—assured me that Chief Jones had already laid that on.
“So if you see a police car in your drive,” the dispatcher said, “don’t worry.”
We left it at that. We were spending the night in our own beds.
Aunt Nettie left the shop around eight-thirty p.m. At eight-forty, p.m. I started cleaning the big front window. At eight-forty-five, p.m. a car stopped in front of the shop and a man wearing a funny mesh vest with lots of pockets got out. He leaned back inside his car and pulled out a camera.
I yanked the shade down on the window and turned to Tracy and Stacy.
“Let’s close up early,” I said.
I pulled the shade on the other big display window, then locked the front door. I stood by it while Tracy and Stacy finished up with the last two customers. The man with the camera came to the door and rapped, but I ignored him.
I opened the door just a slit for the customers. They had barely squeezed through when a second man draped with photographic equipment came running down the sidewalk.
“Hey!” he said. “Did the fatal chocolates come from here?”
CHOCOLATE CHAT:
ORIGINS
• The first chocoholics believed that the cocoa bean was the gift of a god. The god was Quetzalcoatl, a benign deity of the sometimes blood-thirsty Aztecs. According to legend, Quetzalcoatl stole the cocoa plant from the “sons of the Sun” and gave it to the Aztecs. They made the beans of the tree into a drink seasoned with pimento, pepper and other spices. They called it tchocolatl.
• Quetzalcoatl may have done the Aztecs a favor in giving them chocolate, but their belief in him helped end their empire. When the conquistador Cortez arrived in Mexico in 1519, he came in wooden sailing ships unlike any the Aztecs had ever seen. The Aztecs thought Quetzalcoatl had returned and greeted Cortez with open arms—and gifts of chocolate. Cortez—obviously not a man who went for spicy, bitter drinks—traded the chocolate for gold, and the Aztec empire began to fade away. The Spanish took chocolate to Europe.
• The myth of chocolate is echoed in its scientific name—Theobroma Cacao—which translates as “food of the gods.”
Chapter 8
S tacy and Tracy were staring at me.
“Let’s clean up fast and skedaddle,” I said. “And you girls may get tomorrow off. I’ll call you if it looks as if we’ll be open.”
They were still staring, so I went on. “And you’ll get tomorrow off with pay if you don’t talk to those reporters outside.”
That seemed to suit them, and the three of us did the final cleanup—sweeping out, scrubbing down the counter, and restocking the showcase—in record time. We ignored repeated knocks on the front door; the crowd seemed to be growing. I scooped the cash from the register and left it unbalanced, although that almost crushed my accountant’s soul. I stuck the money in a bank sack and put the bank sack in my purse. Tracy and Stacy waited at the door to the alley while I turned out all the lights but the security light behind the counter. Then I made my way to the back of the shop.
Tracy’s eyes were big, and her hair looked stringier than ever. “Do you think they’ll be waiting in the alley?”
“I hope not,” I said. “I’ll go out first, and I’ll take you girls home.”
They both assured me this wasn’t necessary, but I insisted. I didn’t want them waylaid; they were
“I have wonderful neighbors.”
“I know! But you also have an acre of ground. The neighbors aren’t close enough to hear you holler, and they can’t see the house for all those trees.”
Aunt Nettie sighed. “I guess you have a point. And if you’re nervous about staying out there . . .”
“You’re not staying alone!”
We never made any progress beyond that. She wasn’t leaving her home, and I wasn’t leaving her. I did call the nonemergency number for the Warner Pier Police Department and request a few extra patrols of our area. The dispatcher—or whomever I talked to—assured me that Chief Jones had already laid that on.
“So if you see a police car in your drive,” the dispatcher said, “don’t worry.”
We left it at that. We were spending the night in our own beds.
Aunt Nettie left the shop around eight-thirty p.m. At eight-forty, p.m. I started cleaning the big front window. At eight-forty-five, p.m. a car stopped in front of the shop and a man wearing a funny mesh vest with lots of pockets got out. He leaned back inside his car and pulled out a camera.
I yanked the shade down on the window and turned to Tracy and Stacy.
“Let’s close up early,” I said.
I pulled the shade on the other big display window, then locked the front door. I stood by it while Tracy and Stacy finished up with the last two customers. The man with the camera came to the door and rapped, but I ignored him.
I opened the door just a slit for the customers. They had barely squeezed through when a second man draped with photographic equipment came running down the sidewalk.
“Hey!” he said. “Did the fatal chocolates come from here?”
CHOCOLATE CHAT:
ORIGINS
• The first chocoholics believed that the cocoa bean was the gift of a god. The god was Quetzalcoatl, a benign deity of the sometimes blood-thirsty Aztecs. According to legend, Quetzalcoatl stole the cocoa plant from the “sons of the Sun” and gave it to the Aztecs. They made the beans of the tree into a drink seasoned with pimento, pepper and other spices. They called it tchocolatl.
• Quetzalcoatl may have done the Aztecs a favor in giving them chocolate, but their belief in him helped end their empire. When the conquistador Cortez arrived in Mexico in 1519, he came in wooden sailing ships unlike any the Aztecs had ever seen. The Aztecs thought Quetzalcoatl had returned and greeted Cortez with open arms—and gifts of chocolate. Cortez—obviously not a man who went for spicy, bitter drinks—traded the chocolate for gold, and the Aztec empire began to fade away. The Spanish took chocolate to Europe.
• The myth of chocolate is echoed in its scientific name—Theobroma Cacao—which translates as “food of the gods.”
Chapter 8
S tacy and Tracy were staring at me.
“Let’s clean up fast and skedaddle,” I said. “And you girls may get tomorrow off. I’ll call you if it looks as if we’ll be open.”
They were still staring, so I went on. “And you’ll get tomorrow off with pay if you don’t talk to those reporters outside.”
That seemed to suit them, and the three of us did the final cleanup—sweeping out, scrubbing down the counter, and restocking the showcase—in record time. We ignored repeated knocks on the front door; the crowd seemed to be growing. I scooped the cash from the register and left it unbalanced, although that almost crushed my accountant’s soul. I stuck the money in a bank sack and put the bank sack in my purse. Tracy and Stacy waited at the door to the alley while I turned out all the lights but the security light behind the counter. Then I made my way to the back of the shop.
Tracy’s eyes were big, and her hair looked stringier than ever. “Do you think they’ll be waiting in the alley?”
“I hope not,” I said. “I’ll go out first, and I’ll take you girls home.”
They both assured me this wasn’t necessary, but I insisted. I didn’t want them waylaid; they were
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