Souvenirs of Starling Falls

“I was trying to make you happy,” he said, sneering.

“I’m going to bed,” I told him.

Just then, despite that it was nearly ten o’clock at night, our doorbell rang. Muffinseed and Hopscotch jumped off the couch and went running to

the front door. Tom and I got up and followed them. We didn’t have to ask one another who it could be. It was, of course, the McGhees. One or both of them stopped by unannounced almost every day.

“Hello,” Tom said. They took his opening of the door as an invitation and stepped inside.

“Hi,” I said, trying to fluff my t-shirt a little so it wouldn’t be so obvious that I wasn’t wearing a bra.

“We were out for a walk and saw all your lights on,” said Priscilla.

“That’s a lot of electricity! You two aren’t that big on saving the environment, are you?” joked Barnaby.

“Deuce!” Priscilla said, slapping him on the butt. She smiled at us. “We saw you were up so we thought we’d say hello.”

“Do you want to sit down?” asked Tom.

“Sure!” said Priscilla. We all went to the library where the sofas at least matched one another.

“Would you like anything to drink?” Tom asked them, as he settled down onto the sofa.

“Sure,” said Barnaby.

“Grab me another one while you’re up, would you?” Tom said to me, without bothering to look my way.

“Need any help?” asked Priscilla.

“No, I’ve got it,” I said.

When I came back from the kitchen with an armload of glasses of water and bottles of beer, she was gushing about how exciting it was that soon we might have not one set of new neighbors, but two.

“Did you see the list prices of both houses?” asked Tom. “Don’t you think houses like these are worth more than what they’re asking?”

“Well,” said Barnaby, “we certainly paid more than that, but ours is turn-key.”

“It’s a nice night for a walk. We should have gone for one too,” I said, attempting to change the subject. “Was there anything interesting happening around town?”

“Isn’t it a beautiful night?” sighed Priscilla. “We had dinner up on the hill at the Starling Falls Supper Club, and then we walked through downtown on our way home. Have you two eaten at the Supper Club yet?”

“Not yet,” I said. “How was it?”

“Oh, you know,” said Barnaby. “Standard fare. A charming salad bar with crocks of ham cubes, turkey cubes, hard-boiled eggs, and frozen peas on ice alongside a bowl of iceberg lettuce and some French dressing. What else did you have, Prissy? Oh, wait, I remember now: hard breadsticks in wrappers along with orange cheese spread.”

Priscilla giggled. “He’s making fun of me. I like salad bars like that. They remind me of being a little girl.”

“We’ll have to check it out,” said Tom.

“Why don’t the four of us go?” asked Priscilla. “How about tomorrow night?”

“Hopscotch has a grooming appointment, I’m afraid,” I said, doing my best to look disappointed.

“Where do you take her?” asked Priscilla.

“We’re going to try the vet up on Pine Street. I’d do it myself, but for what they charge, I figured I might as well have someone else do it.”

“If you don’t like them, I’ve heard Nancy Peabody does a wonderful job. She’s over on Gates Street. I can find her number if you want me to,” said Priscilla.