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.“Are you coming?”“In a minute.”“Just suck it up and get it over with.Maybe if you beg she’ll give you a shorter sentence.”“You’re my least favorite cousin,” I informed her angrily.“That will only last until Thistle pisses you off and we both know it,” Clove said absently.“You’ve been dead to me three times this month and she’s been dead to me two times this month – which I guess means that she’s due.”My family has some pretty faulty logic in the grand scheme of things.Despite my rampant misgivings, I reluctantly followed Thistle and Clove into the kitchen.I glanced around the room nervously.My mom was at the stove stirring what looked like gravy.Marnie was at the counter mashing potatoes.Twila was at the other counter transferring stuffing from the skillet to a big serving bowl.“Mm, something smells good,” Clove murmured, inhaling excitedly.“Is that meatloaf I smell?”“Yes,” Marnie said.“We thought, given all that’s going on in the town, people would feel better if we had some nice, old-fashioned comfort food.”You can’t argue with food logic – especially when it’s spot on.Who doesn’t love mashed potatoes?I saw Thistle lean over the pan of meatloaf and wrinkle her nose distastefully.“I don’t like meatloaf,” she complained.“Then eat the mashed potatoes, stuffing, creamed spinach, salad and the peach cobbler we made for dessert,” Twila frowned at her.“You’ll hardly starve.”Thistle looked appropriately abashed.I thought now might be a good time to distract everyone by making them look at something else – like Thistle.“Didn’t you say you were thinking of becoming a vegetarian?” I said the comment innocently enough, but Thistle knew exactly what I was doing.“No,” she said through gritted teeth.Marnie had practically dropped the handheld masher into the bowl when I’d uttered the words.“A vegetarian?” The horror in her voice was evident.She was reacting like I said Thistle had decided to become a pedophile or something.This was a good start.“That’s not true, is it?” Twila looked equally upset.“Bay is just trying to distract everyone because of Aunt Tillie,” Thistle shot back.“I bet Aunt Tillie won’t want to hear the news about you becoming a vegetarian.” I winked at Thistle cheekily.Thistle narrowed her eyes at me dangerously.“I think she’ll be more upset when she finds out that it was your idea for Edith to come up here and bug her,” Thistle shot back.“I already know that,” a cranky voice grumbled.Crap! Aunt Tillie had just swung into the room like a tiny little Energizer Bunny on a mission.“Thistle’s becoming a vegetarian,” I boldly announced.Aunt Tillie froze despite herself.“A vegetarian? Meaning you’re only going to eat rabbit food? Like you’re going to walk around munching on carrots?”Point for me.“No,” Thistle said harshly.“I just said that I don’t like meatloaf.I never said I was going to become a vegetarian.Bay is just trying to distract you.”“Not true.Didn’t you say that the venison stew they made last week tasted like feet? And it made you want to not eat meat for an entire week, didn’t it?”Thistle froze.She had said that.Thistle glared at me harshly.It was all out war now.“Bay told Edith the best way to get you was to sing when you’re trying to sleep.”That was a blatant lie.“Thistle said that eating a burger is like murdering a child.”Okay, that was a blatant lie, too.“Bay told me that you guys used to have a pot field behind the herb garden!”Whoa, where did that come from?Mom, Marnie and Twila all reared back in shock.I turned to see Chief Terry standing behind all three of them.He had obviously walked in at the tail end of the conversation.His face had turned bright red.“Who told you that?” Marnie hissed, turning on me aggressively.“Apparently it’s common knowledge,” I lied.I refused to even look in Chief Terry’s direction.They would know if I did.Aunt Tillie had narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]