Page 5 of The Party Line

“Let’s go get some Holy Spirit,” he grinned.

“I probably need a double dose this morning,” I told him as I opened the passenger door for him.

He raised an eyebrow. “Front seat?”

“Of course,” I said. “Why do you ask?”

“Me and Gracie thought it best not to rock the boat, so I rode in the back seat. She was one to keep things proper so rumors wouldn’t get started.”

“Well”—I patted him on his bony shoulder—“let’s rock the boat this morning.”

Chapter Two

My old bones will hurt tonight, but they feel pretty good right now.” Jasper eased into the front seat of my SUV after the Sunday-morning service, but he seemed to have a little more spring in his step than he had had earlier.

I closed the door for him, rounded the back end of the vehicle, and slid in behind the steering wheel. “That was a really uplifting service, but why do you expect your bones to feel bad tonight?”

“I smell rain in the air. Good for the earth. Good for the strawberries. Bad for the old bones,” he answered.

“That sounds like something Aunt Gracie used to say.”

“Yep, it does,” he grinned. “She always loved spring. Declared that it took ten years off her age.”

The mention of her name brought back so many memories of spring when I was a little girl. How we would sit on the porch swing and she would tell me stories. I could feel my brow drawing down. In all those wonderful days, why hadn’t she ever told me a single thing about the secret?

“Do you know what Gracie’s big secret is that folks have talked about all these years?” I blurted out. He’d know.

“Your aunt would have told you if she’d wanted you to know,” he declared and cut his eyes around at me.Foiled again!“Let’s go get a hamburger and maybe a slice of chocolate cream pie if there’s some left at the café. It goes fast on Sundays. It’s a big treat for me to get to go tothe café. Gracie wouldn’t let me renew my license because I had trouble getting my foot from the gas over to the brake ...”

I shook my finger at him. “You are changing the subject.”

“Yes, ma’am, I surely am, and I will every time you ask me that question about the secret,” he said with a curt nod. “Someday that’s not even going to be something that folks remember to tell their kids about, and it will die.”

The café parking lot was full, so I let Jasper off right in front of the place. I made a couple of rounds and finally snagged a spot between two pickup trucks. Big white fluffy clouds floating lazily in the sky sent my thoughts back to a time when Aunt Gracie and I lay flat on our backs in the yard. We would take turns telling each other what kind of animal the clouds were shaped like. Mine were always puppies or kittens. Hers were teddy bears, church steeples, and sometimes even cowboy hats.

I stepped inside expecting to find Jasper waiting to be seated, but he waved from a booth back in the corner. I made a beeline toward it, grateful he hadn’t had to stand for a long time. A couple of times I noticed folks whispering behind their hands, as usual with Aunt Gracie. I was halfway across the floor when an elderly lady reached out and touched my arm.

“You are Sarah Evans’s daughter and Gracie Evans’s kin, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am, I am,” I said with a nod. “Were you a friend of hers?”

“Not really, but my grandmother knew her, and when I was a teenager, we picked strawberries on her place a few times. Poor old darlin’ was such a recluse after she sold her dress shop, but she seemed to enjoy folks coming out to Ditto to gather berries,” she replied.

I stuck out my hand and tried to control my anger. This woman was fishing for gossip—and how dare she call Aunt Gracieold. “I’m Lila Matthews, and yes, I’m kin to her.”

“Edith Johnson,” the woman said as she shook my hand. “Glad to meet you. I saw you and Jasper in church this morning.”

“It was a very good service.” I dropped her hand and hurried back to join Jasper at the booth.

“If you lie down with dogs, you might get up with fleas,” he said under his breath.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“There’s some folks who like to spread rumors.” He pulled the one-page menu out from between the napkin dispenser and the salt and pepper shakers, and shifted his eyes toward the table where Edith and her friends were whispering.

“Are you talking about ...” I slid a sly glance their way, and felt I’d been right in my judgment of the woman.

He nodded. “Did you see any of them at the graveside service or bringing food to the house?”

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