Page 195 of Story of My Life
“Ooooh!” my siblings crooned in unison before breaking into a barrage of kissing noises.
“I hate all of you.”
“Be cool. Here she comes,” Gage announced in a stage whisper as Hazel headed for us.
“Just the family I was looking for,” she said, not noticing that my idiot siblings were grinning at her. She brushed her damp bangs out of her eyes and consulted her notebook. “Gage, can you please help the woman in the T-shirt that saysMy Grandson Is a Geniusacross the street to the bookstore? She said her arthritis is flaring up. And flirt with her on the walk.”
“Anything for you, Big City,” he said, showing his stupid dimple.
I gave him a shove. “Save it for Grandma, dumbass.”
Hazel was already moving on to the next item on her agenda. “Levi, can you take a ten-minute shift sitting with the gentleman on the park bench by the dock and just nod while he talks?”
“Sit and nod?” he repeated.
“His name is Lewis, and he forgot his hearing aids at home so he can’t hear a thing, but he’s a retired captain of a catamaran in the Bahamas. He’s pretty cool.”
“On it,” my brother agreed and peeled off toward the designated bench.
“Laura, can you check in with your parents and see if they need more feed for the petting zoo?”
“Already restocked them. And I brought the ice cream stand two new extension cords when theirs went missing. And I restocked the water station by the dock.”
Hazel scratched several swift check marks on her paper. “You’re my MVP of the day.”
“Today and every day,” my sister said airily.
I gave Hazel’s ponytail a tug. “Hey, put me in, coach.”
Her smile was sly. “I’m so glad you volunteered, because we need a bingo caller.”
I shook my head hard enough to send droplets flying. “No. Not happening. There’s nothing under this hellfire sun that would make me get up there in front of the entire town and a pack of elderly strangers.”
“I24.You know what that means, people,” I said into the microphone.
“Keeping score,” the participants chanted.
The bingo teams rained colored ping-pong balls toward the open mouth of the stuffed, upright six-foot marlin.
“I see you blocking shots over there, Horace. Remember, if you cheat…” I pointed to the crowd.
“You get beat!” everyone chanted.
Story Lake’s bingo teams had seamlessly absorbed several seniors and drawn a crowd.
A thin, reedy voice rose over the general ruckus.
It belonged to a tall lanky Silver Haven woman with bifocals and a hairdo one could classify as a beehive. “I think I have bingo!”
Pandemonium exploded and continued through the official verification process. It turned out Ethel did indeed have bingo.
“Thanks for playing, folks. Let’s stretch our legs or whatever body parts we’re dealing with, rehydrate, and pay a visit to the French fry stand. Bishop out,” I said, dropping the mic on the table to a rowdy round of applause.
A beaming Hazel appeared at my side and handed me a cold bottle of water. “You were…”
“Handsome? Sexy? Fuckable after a shower?” I supplied, swiping a forearm over my forehead.
“Amazing,” she said. “And all of the above.”
