Midnight in Suburbia

NaNoWriMo Day 11: Chapter 11 - Appointment with a Cousin

Chapter 11: Daniella's
Appointment with George Cartwright

George stared at the lettering on the door of the glass fronted office. "Preston And Coffey Art Connoisseurs," he read aloud. Well, he though setting his brief case on the ground before checking his watch. It looks like Cousin Daniella had did real good for herself. He picked up his brief case, opened the door, and went in.

"Good morning, Sir," said Rachel smiling politely. "May I help you?"

"Yes," he returned the smile. "I'm George Cartwright and I have an appointment with Ms Coffey at 11:00 am."

"Please have a seat, Mr. Cartwright," she indicated the light green couch to the left of the reception desk. "I'll let Ms Coffey know t hat you're here."

"Ms Coffey," she said into the intercom. "Mr. Cartwright is here to see you." She switch off the intercom and got up. "This way, Mr. Cartwright," she said guiding him to Daniella's office. Rachel opened the door, stood aside as he entered the office, closed the door, and went back to her desk.

"Please have a seat, George," Daniella indicated the chair in front of the desk. "What brings you to Las Vegas?"

"I'm here on business, but I came to talk to you about our little problem." He held the briefcase on his lap, as if it contain precious art.

"I gather you mean Dolly and my mother."

"Yes," he shook his head, "and I'm not sure who has the problem. Sometimes I think it's Amity and sometimes I think it my mother."

"George, would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Yes, thank you Daniella."

"Cream or sugar," she as getting up from her desk to pour the coffee.

"No thank you."

Placing the coffee cups on her desk, Daniella sit down. "Your mother wrote me and did say something about Mom being senile."

"I'm not sure if senile applies in this case," he placed the briefcase beside his chair and took a sip of his coffee. "They've always been hostile to each other, but in the last three or four month's it's gotten worse."

"What's gotten worse?"

"The bickering and the accusations," he took another sip of coffee. "Amity accused Mom publicly of stealing her silver on September 4, about a week later I began to notice new silver spoons appearing at odd place throughout the house and yard."

"What do you mean odd places," Daniella took a sip of her coffee. "What is the silver pattern?"

"The first place I found some spoons near the front porch in the rose bushes. The next day I found them in the pantry hidden in a canister of coffee."

"What'd your mother say?"

"My mother said that Amity must have left them when she was in the house," he took another sip of coffee before picking his briefcase off the floor. "However, the only time I've know Amity to enter the house was on a special occasion, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas."

"I gather your mother wasn't having a party or anything like that."

"No," he opened his briefcase and took out several silver spoons. "These are to spoons I found, but considering the mood Aunt Amity's been in for the past three months I didn't think it was a good idea to return them to her."

"What mood?" Daniella took one of the spoons and examined it closely.

"When she accused Mom of stealing the spoon, she denied it and..." he sighed. "Amity began hitting her and calling her a lair. It took Miss Emily and Cora to pull her off Mom."

"These aren't part of Grandma Hattie's set," Daniella's brow wrinkled. "I thought the only silver ware set Papa Larry and Mom had was those that Grandma Hattie left."

"Great," he drink the rest of the coffee. "Now I have to figure out where Mom's getting the spoons."

"Are you sure it's your mother hiding the spoons and not one of your brothers?"

"I suppose it could be Freddie," he frowned. "He's the only one of my brothers that been to the house in a couple of years."

"Well," Daniella smiled. "Freddie does have an odd or perhaps I should say weird sense of humor."

"Freddie's a fool," George shook his head. "He'll believe anything Mom tells him and then act on it."

"What are you going to do," she handed the spoon back to him.

"I have no ideas." he put the spoon in his briefcase and closed it. "I'll do the best I can to keep them apart until you get their Christmas and then..."

"I'm going to be in Blackwell on Thanksgiving."

"Why the change of tradition?"

"The letter from your Dolly and a conversation with my mother." She finished her coffee, "I also got a letter for Uncle Rodger and it seems that Mom upset him with a phone call."

"Will he be in on Thanksgiving as well?"

"I think so, at least the letter suggested he would be there. Of course, you know how his plans suddenly change sometimes."

"Yes," he got up. "It was nice seeing you again, Daniella."

"You too, George." She escorted him to the door. "I'll see you at Thanksgiving."

"Of course, Cousin," he left.

Daniella went back in her office and poured herself another cup of coffee. As she sit down at her desk , she heard a knock on the door. "Come in," she said.

"Well," said Rachel, closing the door behind her. "That didn't go so bad."

"No," Daniella laughed. "For once George and I were able to have a conversation without one of his brothers interrupting us."

"Is everything all right in Oklahoma?"

"I don't think so, Rachel. I think it may take me longer in Oklahoma then I thought."

"What's up?"

"I get the feeling that there's more wrong with Mom then I thought." She sighed, "George said Mom attacked Aunt Dolly in September and that isn't like my mother. True, she can be stubborn and beligerant, but normally she doesn't hit people or call them a liar in public."

"Well," said Rachel. "You take as long as you need. I'm not going to leave town until my vacation in January, so if Preston needs a hostess or someone to assist with his mother, I'm here." She started to leave, but turned around at the door. "Do you need me to check on your house while you are out of town?"

"I have a neighbor to keep an eye on the house and feed the animals, but if you want to stop by go right ahead. Jesse will be back in town around December 1."

"I'll do that," Rachel left the office.

Daniella checked the time on her cell phone, then picked up her purse, and left the office. She stopped at the reception desk, "Rachel, I going to use that spa gift certificate you gave me and then I think I'll go home and relax. Let Preston know where I am."

"Will do, Boss," Rachel smiled as Daniella left the office.

Amity and Emily's Afternoon Tea Conversation

Amity set the antique tea set on her dining room table. She then placed an emborderied cloth on the table in front of each of the chairs. Next she sit a teacup, saucer, teaspoon, and desert fork at two of the place setting. After finishing her table, she went into the kitchen part of the kitchen-dinning room area, filled the whistling teapot put the from the facet, put the teapot on the stove and turned the gas on. Going to the pantry she removed a package of thin wafers from the top shelf and took them to the cabinate next to the stove. She sit the package down and removed a serving platter from the cupboard next to the sink.

She arranged the wafers around the edge of the serving tray and then went to the refrigerater where she took out a container of cream cheese and carried it to the table. When she returned to the kitchen, she took a container of chocolate cookies from the top shelf of the refrigerator and placed them on the serving tray. Shen then carried the tray to the table and sit it down. At that moment the door bell ring, so she went to the front door and without looking through the peep hole she opened the door.

"Good afternoon, Emily," she said as she unlocked the security screen and opened the screen door.. "Our tea is almost ready."

"That nice," Emily carrying a pint container of rainbow sherbert entered the house and walked quickly through the foyer to the dining room. "I brought some sherbert to go with our tea and cookies."

"Just sit it on the table," Amity replied as she went to the kitchen to remove the whistling teapot from the stove. Back at the table she poured the hot water into the teapot that sit on the table. She took the metal pot back to the kitchen, removed a pitcher of cream from the refrigerator, and picked up the sugar bowl as she left the kitchen.

"So," Amity said as she sit the items on the table. "What shall we discuss today?"

"Your missed doctor's appointment," said Emily as she opened two teabag and placed one in Amity cup and the other in her cup.

"What missed doctor's appointment," Amity poured the hot water into the cup. The she opened the pint of sherbert and put a couple of spoon sized portions in her desert dish. "Would you like some sherbet, Emily?"

"Yes," she watched as Amity put the desert in her dish and then placed a thin wafer in with it. "You missed a doctor's appointment in September and you never called to inform the doctor."

"I did not miss any appointment in September," she glared at her friend before taking a sip of her tea. "I have kept every doctor's appointment I've had this year."

"All right," Emily smiled nervously. Then she took a bit of her sherbert followed by a nibble of the wafer. "It's just that when I called the Doctor Jones' office yesterday, to inquire about your next appointment, her office assistant said you had missed your last appointment."

"Why did you want to know about my next appointment?"

"Well," Emily sighed she knew that no matter what she said it would make Amity angry at both Daniella and her. "Daniella was worried that you may be having some sort of reaction to your medication and she wanted me to talk to the doctor about it."

"Oh, well that's sweet of Daniella to worry about me, but it isn't necessary." Amity finished her sherbert, picked up a chocolate cookie, and spread cream cheese on it. Then she took a bit, chewed it carefully, and swallowed, "Emily, do you think these chocolate cookie taste odd."

Emily picked up a cookie, ate it and then took another. "No, Amity, without the cream cheese on them they taste like normal chocolate, but I haven't tried them with cream cheese." She then put cream cheese on the chocolate cookie and ate it. "They don't taste odd with cream cheese on them either."

"Well," Amity sighed, "I'm glad I told the doctor it was alright for both you and Daniella to receive medical information on me. I hope now the two of you can stop worrying and conspiring against me."