Page 9 of A Cozy Christmas Blizzard
Dramatically, LaVonne closed her eyes. “The sight.”
Obviously not understanding, Wynn glanced at K.O., his forehead wrinkled.
“LaVonne took a class this week on unleashing your psychic abilities,” K.O. explained under her breath.
Wynn thanked her for the explanation with a weak smile.
LaVonne’s shoulders rose. “I have been gifted with the sight,” she said in hushed tones.
“Congratulations,” Wynn offered tentatively.
“She can read cat litter,” K.O. told him.
“That’s not all,” LaVonne said, raising one hand. “As I said, it happened again. This morning.”
“Not with the litter box?” K.O. asked.
“No.” A distant look came over LaVonne as she fixed her gaze on some point across the room.
Peering over her shoulder, K.O. tried to figure out what her neighbor was staring at. She couldn’t tell—unless it was the small decorated Christmas tree.
“I was eating my Raisin Bran and then, all of a sudden, I knew.” She turned slightly to meet K.O.’s eyes. “The bran flakes separated, and that was when two raisins bobbed to the surface.”
“You saw... the future?” K.O. asked.
“What she saw,” Wynn muttered, “was two raisins in the milk.”
LaVonne raised her hand once more, silencing them. “I saw thefuture. It was written in the Raisin Bran even more clearly than it’d been in the cat litter.” She pointed a finger at K.O. “Katherine, it involvedyou.”
“Me.” She swallowed, not sure whether to laugh or simply shake her head.
“And you.” LaVonne’s finger swerved toward Wynn. Her voice was low and intent.
“Did it tell you Katherine would do her utmost to make a fool of me at the French Café?” Wynn asked. He scooped up a handful of mixed nuts.
As far as K.O. was concerned,nutswas an appropriate response to her neighbor’s fortune-telling.
LaVonne dropped her hand. “No.” She turned to K.O. with a reproachful frown. “Katherine, what did you do?”
“I...” Flustered, she looked away. “Did... did you know Dr. Jeffries doesn’t believe in Santa Claus?” There, it was in the open now.
“My dear girl,” LaVonne said with a light laugh. “I hate to be the one to disillusion you, but there actuallyisn’ta Santa.”
“There is if you’re five years old,” she countered, glaring at the man on the other end of the sofa. “Dr. Jeffries is ruining Christmas for children everywhere.” The man deserved to be publicly ridiculed. Reconsidering, she revised the thought. “He should be censured by his peers for evensuggestingthat Santa be buried under the sleigh.”
“It appears you two have a minor difference of opinion,” LaVonne said, understating the obvious.
“I sincerely doubt Katherine has read my entire book.”
“I don’t need to,” she said. “My sister quotes you chapter and verse in nearly every conversation we have.”
“This is the sister who asked for my autograph?”
“Yes,” K.O. admitted. Like most men, she concluded, Dr. Jeffries wasn’t immune to flattery.
“She’s the one with the children?”
K.O. nodded.
