No one Kurt encountered early the next morning hinted they knew what he’d been up to the previous night. It wouldn’t surprise Kurt if someone had seen Max and Sven sneak down the back stairs at dawn. Perhaps no one had. Then the town journalist, Randy “Tick” Tock, showed up at the museum to deliver his own newspaper, The Egbert Enquirer. If there was gossip, Tick made sure everyone knew.
“What’s the word?” Kurt asked as Tick handed him a paper.
“You tell me, Kurt,” Tick said, eyebrow raised. Okay then, the whole town knew. “Who’s your new man?”
Ah, he said man” singular. “Do you mean the gentleman from out of town who visited the museum?”
Tick gave Kurt an unfriendly smile. “I saw you walk to work. You’ve got a hitch to your gait like something back there is mighty sore.”
Kurt swallow
