Dead Man Docking - Mary Daheim [106]
“You haven’t checked out,” he said in an irritated tone, “and the yahoo at the desk told me the cruise was canceled. When the hell are you coming home? My cold’s worse. The trial starts tomorrow, so I can’t pick you up at the airport if you’re flying during the day. By the way, we had an earthquake. Sweetums is still hiding under the dining-room table and your mother’s card table collapsed. Unfortunately, she wasn’t under it. Call me.”
“Joe’s mad,” Judith said, dialing the number of Hillside Manor. “I don’t know what to tell him.”
“How about the truth?” Renie suggested, removing a Pepsi from the honor bar. “Or part of it, like having to attend the funeral for Mags tomorrow. Blame it on me, I worked with him.”
Joe didn’t answer. Instead, she heard her own voice on the answering machine. Judith winced and collected her wits. “Hi, Joe,” she began in something less than her normal manner. “One of the reasons the cruise was canceled was due to Magglio’s ill health.” She winced again. “That is, he…died. Renie feels we should go to the funeral tomorrow. In fact,” she went on, sounding more like herself, “we just came from visiting his widow, Connie.” She paused, seeing her cousin drawing dollar signs in the air and pointing to her purse. “Renie wants to stay an extra day or so to see if she can help. We should be back Wednesday, if we can get a decently priced flight. Of course I’m not sure what to do about the original return tickets. I’ll keep you posted. I love you.”
She clicked off, but kept hold of the receiver. “I’d better call Mother. I hope the card table isn’t broken. That’s her primary source of life.”
As usual, Gertrude didn’t pick up the phone until the tenth ring. “Why are you calling me?” she rasped. “Are you seasick? It’d serve you right. All this highfalutin gadabout showing off! The only boat trip I ever took was in a canoe with your uncle Cliff, and it sank.”
“We never…” Judith interrupted.
But Gertrude wasn’t in a listening mood. “You ought to see the mess I was in this morning. Deb told me she’d heard from her idiot daughter, so you know about the earthquake. In fact, Deb’s called about six times.” The old lady stopped. “Come to think of it, she said you two nitwits were still in Frisco. How come?”
“The cruise was canceled,” Judith said. “We’ll be home in a couple of days. Where were you when the card table collapsed?”
“In bed,” Gertrude replied. “It happened around six. I was awake, though. That crummy bed you bought me shimmied all over the place. What’s it made of—twigs?”
“It’s quite solid,” Judith insisted. “Will you have to get a new card table?”
“No,” Gertrude retorted. “Arlene fixed it. The legs just went out from under it, that’s all. By the way, since you were too addled to do it before you ran off to Frisco, I had her cash that movie check for me.”
“Oh! Good!” Judith exclaimed. “I was worried about leaving it around the toolshed for so long. I’m glad it’s safe in the bank. Twenty grand is a large check to leave sitting around. Now you can earn interest on it.”
“It’s not in the bank,” Gertrude replied. “I said I had her cash it, not put it in the bank.”
“What do you mean?” Judith asked, startled.
“I mean I wanted the money, dummy,” Gertrude snapped.
“For what?” Judith asked, starting to worry anew.
“None of your beeswax. I’m hanging up now. Arlene and Carl are coming to play gin rummy with me.” Gertrude banged down the phone.
Renie eyed Judith with sympathy. “What did she do, cash the check and send the money out to the track with Uncle Al?”
“She cashed it all right,” Judith said angrily. “But she won’t tell me what she’s doing with it.”
“Humor her,” Renie soothed. “Maybe she just wants to count it. You know how people of her generation are. They still have that Depression-era mentality. Some of them don’t trust banks because so many failed back then and their customers lost all their money.”
“Mother’s not that nutty,” Judith replied. “She’s got something up the sleeve of her housecoat. Damn, I hope she isn’t being victimized