Page 11 of A Christmas Duet

“It was,” Thelma concurred.

“I flipped the switch inside by the front door and nothing happened.”

The woman glanced past Hailey at the customers lined up, eager to make their purchases.

Turning to look herself, Hailey noticed four people.

“Did you check the panel?” Thelma asked.

“No, I…”

“That figures. Let me deal with these folks and I’ll get back to you.”

“Sure thing.”

With her basket in hand, Hailey moved to the end of the line.

Thelma seemed to have all the time in the world for each customer, chatting up local news. She smiled and wished each one Christmas greetings. The older woman appeared to know everyone.

When it was her turn again, Hailey felt she needed to explain that she wasn’t completely dense. “I would have been happy to check the electrical panel if not for a rather major problem. A rabid raccoon has taken up residence and he didn’t much care for the intrusion. If I hadn’t gotten out when I did, I think the beast might have attacked me.”

The last thing Hailey expected was for Thelma to bust out laughing. Apparently, she didn’t find much amusement very often, because her laugh sounded loud, deep, and rusty. She slapped her thigh and shook her head as if this was the funniest thing she’d heard in weeks.

Hailey wasn’t nearly as entertained.

“Frightened you, did he?”

“You could say that. He didn’t appear to be the friendly sort, either.”

Thelma wiped tears from her eyes. “Bet you near peed your pants.”

“It was close,” Hailey admitted.

“You determined to stay?” she asked, as if one annoyed raccoon was enough to make her turn tail.

The question set her back. Hailey straightened her shoulders and said, “Of course I’m staying.”

Thelma nodded approvingly. “You got grit, girl. We’ll see just how long it lasts.”

For no other reason than to prove Thelma wrong, Hailey was determined to stick it out.

As Thelma rang up her purchases, she said, “Jethro will be busy for the next half hour or so. He’ll meet you up at the Stockton place. You should wait in your vehicle for him there; he shouldn’t be much longer than that.”

“Will do.” Hailey felt she had something to prove not so much to Thelma, but to herself. She was made of sterner stuff than to let one measly raccoon scare her off. Of course, there might be more than one, perhaps an entire family. Several generations, in fact. A commune.

“Jethro’s home?” the woman in line behind her asked Thelma.

“Yup,” Thelma said. “Been missing my son. Glad to have him back for a while.”

Jethro?

Hailey could well imagine what Thelma’s son would look like. He was probably a homegrown hillbilly. Really, who would name a boy Jethro in this day and age? Poor guy. Hailey decided not to linger in town, afraid she might miss the promised help.

She paid for the cleaning supplies and smiled as she made her way back to her car and headed out of town. As she passed the frontiersman with the silver boa, she had to wonder if Jethro wore a coonskin cap himself.

The ride back didn’t seem to take nearly as much time as it had earlier. Once back at the cabin, Hailey followed Thelma’s instructions and waited inside her vehicle with the heater on. The temperatures had dipped below freezing and minute flakes of snow began to drift down from the sky. Hungry now, Hailey reached for a protein bar and munched on it until truck lights showed in her rearview mirror.

Eager to get inside the cabin, she opened her car door and climbed out.

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