Page 29 of A Rose of Steel
“It is. But these are the ones we made for the wedding party to wear.”
“Bumper and Jorianne had been homecoming king and queen during their senior year in high school,” Josephine Gail said, “and they were going to be honored.”
“Not you too, Josephine,” I said. “I didn’t know you were part of the booster club.”
“I’m not. Just giving Babet a helping hand.” She was all smiles, having come out of her last depression soon after we solved the first murder. I looked at her. Bad dye job on her probably gray, but now yellowish-colored hair. Her eyes bright, cheeks rosy, I hoped that the murder that was starting to brew in my mind, didn’t give her flashbacks and send her over the edge again.
“I could use as many hands as I can get,” Auntie Zanne said and patted the chair next to her.
“We’re only about halfway finished,” Josephine Gail said. “We’ve still got to make the new ones.”
“You’re making more?”
“Yes,” Auntie said. “More somber. Less festive.” She held up the one she was working on. “I had even thought of using black mums.”
“Oh my goodness,” I said. “That would be morbid.”
“That’s what I told her,” Josephine Gail said. “I had to stop her from picking them up at Michael’s when we went up to Houston.”
“Why do you need to redo them, anyway?” I asked.
“The wedding party is still coming to Homecoming, only now we’re doing a tribute to Bumper.”
“Couldn’t you just reorder the ones you need instead of trying to do this yourself?” I knew she must’ve used one of the many mum companies to get the ones she had for Homecoming.
“The JOY Club made them,” Auntie said.
JOY, an acronym for, Just Older Youth, was a Tri-County’s senior group. The club had a hand in most of the annual activities that happened. Manning booths, decorating, making phone calls. They had been in existence since I could remember, even before it was popular to show that people could still be active in their sixties and beyond.
“It was the first thing they’d done after Doc Westin died, and you know he was more than just a member, he was their doctor and leader,” Auntie Zanne explained. “This homecoming was hard enough for them, because it was his favorite time of year. He loved football. I just didn’t want them to know that we were taking apart all the work they’d put in while they were grieving, and what had been done in his honor.”
“They really miss Doc Westin,” Josephine Gail said. “Maybe you could see to them?”
“Me?”
“Not join the club,” Josephine Gail said and chuckled. “I know you’re not that old. But you could be their doctor seeing that you’re taking over his practice.”
My brow creased. “Doc Westin had a practice?”
“Not really,” Auntie Zanne said. “He just cared for the members of the JOY Club, or if they sent someone to him. A lot of them couldn’t afford all the doctoring they needed. He just supplemented.”
“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t know that.”
That must be what was in all those boxes, I thought. Doc Westin’s patient files. I’d definitely have to go through them, I wasn’t sure what he’d charted would be in any of their other patient files. Their other doctors should have all of their medical information.
“Lots of things around here you don’t know about,” Auntie Zanne. “But stick with me and I’ll school you.”
“Yeah,” Josephine Gail said. “She knows a lot about a lot of things.”
I saw Auntie squint her eyes and surreptitiously shake her head as if she didn’t want Josephine Gail to mention something.
“Oh!” Josephine Gail said. “You had two people stop by already this morning looking for you,” she said. “Maybe you’ll have a date for Homecoming.”
“Who?”
“Catfish and Rhett,” she said.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think they were looking for me,” I said. “Or wanting to take me to a high school dance.”
