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Father Tim rises to settle his check “Hello, Gwen, love, how are you today? Don’t you look smart in that lovely shade of yellow,” he says to Mrs Jensen, who simpers in pleasure He sht, won’t I?”
“That’s right,” I answer Imyself to Mass, but Father Tie to shake my head at myself Bible study My social plans for the week Well, it’s not like I’ away dozens of suitors Sadly, Father Ti I’ve had in some time
“Nancy Ringley’s bringing the snack?” Father Tim frowns
“No,” I shter’s under the weather, so she called me”
His face lights up “Ah, wonderful! About the snack, at any rate Not her dear little daughter I’ll see you later, then, Maggie” He patslust and exhilaration to flon my arm, and turns for the door I love you, I mouth I can’t help myself
Did he hear lances back atout into the cold He waves as he crosses the street, ever kind where I’lares at me I narrow my eyes in return She doesn’t fool me We suffer from the same disease?I’m just a little more obvious
It’s a frigid March day, the wind howling off the water, slicing through the thickest wool hats and loves Only a few brave souls venture out, and the day drags We don’t get more than a handful of people at lunch I wait for Judy to finish her crossword puzzle before sending her home, as she’s really only here for show, anyway Octavio takes off his apron as I scrape the grill
“Tavy, take the rest of the pie, okay? Your kids will like it,” I tell him He has five children
“They will if they get to taste it I already had two pieces” Octavio grins his engaging gap-tooth smile
I grin back “Did Judy get any more ballots?”
“I think she gave out a few”
“Great” I’ve been relentless in asking my patrons to fill them out Last year we lost by two hundred votes, so I need every one who crosses the threshold to pitch in “Have a nice afternoon, Octavio,” I say
“You, too, boss”
“Here, take these cookies, too” My cook grins his thanks, then goes out the back door
Colonel knohat tiets up fro his big head against ood boy, aren’t you?” He wags in agree I’ll be a while yet
I flip the Open sign to Closed and wipe down the last table This is one of my favorite times of day…three o’clock We’re done for the day Joe’s opens at six, though I usually don’t roll in until seven (the joys of ownership), but Ieach afternoon I’m proud to say that Joe’s desserts are locally famous, especially the pies and coconut macaroons
Joe’s is a Jerry Mahoney design Red-and-crea on the outside, red vinyl seats, cream-colored walls and a black-and-white tile floor on the inside Ten swivel stools are bolted to the floor at the counter At one end is the requisite pastry display case where my sweets tempt the patrons There are seven booths with nice deep backs and seats that are just bouncy enough At sorandfather had those little jukeboxes installed and, as kids, we loved flipping through to see what the new selections were The kitchen is through a swinging door with a porthole, and there’s a tiny supply roon blinks those timeless words, Eat at Joe’s
For the next half hour, I add up the receipts, check the inventory, print out more ballots andwith Aretha and the Boss Finally, I go back into the kitchen and start baking the desserts for toht
Since Father Tihtened when he heard I was on snack duty, I decide to do so special In the tiny kitchen, I take out the necessary ingredients and set aboutapricot squares, one of his favorites Once those are in the oven, I roll out a few pie crusts and throw together a couple of blueberry pies
Colonel’s tail starts thuet up off the tile floor I reduce the heat on the pies and her shelf so the botto, I know my sister is about to come in
I’ the baby stroller in through the door We haven’t seen each other for three entire days, which is a long spell when it co the door for her
“Hey, Mags,” she answers She glances at me, then does a double take “Oh, for God’s sake” She wrestles the carriage the rest of the way in, Violet sleeping undisturbed, and pulls off her hat “Me, too”
Mysi for each other’s hands at the same moment
Christy and I are identical twins And we are quite identical still, though Christy had a baby eight h exactly the same, have the same bra size, shoe size, pants size We each have a htly crooked pinky on our right hands Though Christy dresses a little better than I do, most people can’t tell us apart In fact, only Will, Christy’s husband, has never once confused us Even our parents goof once in a while, and, Jonah, who is younger by eight years, doesn’t try awfully hard to distinguish us
We often call each other only to get a busy signal because the other had the saet each other the same birthday card or pick out the sa If I buy tulips for ood bet that Christy has done the sa
But once in a while, in order to create soe to try so new And so, on Monday when the diner was closed, I went to Jonesport and got hts put in Apparently Christy had the saht Once more, we are identical
“When did you get yours done?” I ask
“Yesterday You?” She smiles as she reaches out to touch my new ’do
“Monday, so the haircut is really rin as I say it I don’tmistaken for Christy “I wear mine in a ponytail most of the time, anyway,” I say “Plus, you have better clothes”
“Unstained, anyway,” she s at the counter She takes off her coat and drapes it over the next stool I go over to the stroller, which is one of those couard to a cappuccinoel,” I whisper, worshiping her perfect skin and feathery eyelashes “God, Christy, she gets more beautiful every day”