A Myrtle Clover Cozy Mystery

Chapter 3

“I suppose you’ll be needing a ride,” said Miles, looking resigned.

“Of course. It would be quite a walk over there. And there’s a chill in the air.”

Miles raised his eyebrows. “It’s 60 degrees Fahrenheit.”

“Well, compared to our usual 80 degrees, it’s a bit nippy. But let’s finish with the tree before we go. I’ll play Christmas carols.”

Wanda was looking at the Christmas tree with a wistful expression on her face. Myrtle turned on the music and said, “Wanda, will you help us out? Many hands make light work.”

“Ain’t done this in a while,” Wanda said as she peered into the ornament box.

“Decorated a Christmas tree? You and Dan don’t put one up?”

Wanda shook her head sadly. “For a while, there was too much junk in the house to put a tree up. Then I couldn’t find the tree. Buyin’ another one was too expensive. Then we got out of the habit.”

“Well, you can share in this one.”

The three of them put up Myrtle’s old ornaments. Miles carefully hung the more objectionable homemade ornaments toward the back, Wanda put each one up with a great deal of thought, and Myrtle quickly slung ornaments on the boughs as fast as she could. In the background, Bing Crosby crooned about being home for Christmas.

“There!” Myrtle said finally. “The ornaments are all up.” She frowned, glaring at the tree. “Something doesn’t look right. Something is completely wrong.”

Miles stood back, looking at the tree critically. “It looks all right to me.”

But Wanda said in a hesitant voice, “Ain’t there supposed to be lights on it?”

“For heaven’s sake,” said Myrtle. “Miles, we forgot the lights!”

Miles looked very much as if he had a terrible headache. “There weren’t any strands of lights out anywhere.”

“We must have left the box of lights in the hall closet,” said Myrtle. “Now we’ll have to take all the ornaments off to get the lights on it.”

“Perhaps it doesn’t need any lights,” suggested Miles. “Perhaps it looks great just the way it is.”

“Of course it needs lights. Wanda and I will want to see their cheerful glow when we’re here at the house drinking hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music.”

Sometime later, the tree was undecorated, strung with lights from the forgotten box in the closet, and redecorated.

“It does look much better this way,” admitted Miles. “Despite all the bother. And now, if you’re wanting to shop, we should go ahead and head out. That wedding is quickly approaching.”

Miles drove them to the consignment store.

“Aren’t you coming in?” asked Myrtle. “I was planning on having Wanda do a fashion show.”

Wanda looked as if she’d rather not do a fashion show. Miles gave her a sympathetic look. “I think I should go to the coffee shop if I’m planning on being awake during the wedding. And perhaps the shopping will go quicker if Wanda decides which garment works best while she’s still in the dressing room.”

Myrtle looked doubtful at this but said slowly, “I suppose so. We lost a bit of time with the tree. I have my phone, so I’ll just call you when we need to head to the dollar store.”

Myrtle and Wanda walked into the store. Myrtle eyed the racks of clothes with a critical eye. “I’m thinking you need a variety of different things. A few tops, a couple of pairs of pants, something slightly dressy, something to hang around the house in, undergarments, and pajamas.”

Wanda looked worried. “That sounds like a lot. Mebbe we should get Miles to drive me back home after all.”

“Nonsense. Each piece of clothing is three dollars at the most. According to my mental calculations, we should be able to do this fairly cheaply.”

A saleswoman wearing red glasses and a pair of reindeer antlers cleared her throat. “We’ve also got a Christmas sale going on. Everything is thirty percent off.”

“Gracious! I can’t even do the math on that, but that means everything is a good deal lower. Let’s get cracking.”

It wasn’t long before Wanda had a complete, if limited, wardrobe in a cheery plastic consignment store bag. And some of the lines of worry had eased from Wanda’s features.

Myrtle had called Miles right before they headed to the checkout counter, and he was in the parking lot by the time they exited the building. The next stop was the dollar store where Wanda picked up any toiletries she needed and Myrtle found a few stocking stuffers for her grandson, Jack. Myrtle pulled out her purse to buy Wanda’s purchases, but Wanda shooed her hand away. “I got this one,” she said with her gap-toothed grin.

Miles was dozing in the car when they joined him. He yawned and said, “Back to the house? I was just getting a little nap in since we’re up late tonight with the wedding.”

“Let’s head back to the house. We should watch our soap opera. I love it when the show is all Christmassy. Would you like to watch it, too, Wanda?”

Wanda considered this. “How about if I sorta watch it and sorta play solitaire?”

“That sounds like an excellent plan for someone who doesn’t know all the convoluted backstories of the show,” said Miles.

So that is what happened. Myrtle and Miles watched as Felicity and Adrian, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, hooked up rather implausibly at a family Christmas party. The family Christmas party, naturally, was at a mansion done up with a tremendous tree that took up most of the set. They were all wearing fabulous red clothing.