Fiends and Festivals by S. Usher Evans

Author:S. Usher Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sun's Golden Ray Publishing

Chapter Thirteen

Bev and Ida parted ways when they reached town, Ida taking Merv's blanket to the town hall and Bev and Biscuit heading back toward the inn. For a moment, Bev thought Biscuit might follow Ida and the delicious-smelling blanket, but after a few breaths, he turned and trotted after Bev.

"Was worth a shot," Bev said.

Her good deed for the day done, Bev set to her afternoon chores. The weather was on the warmer side, so she propped the back and front doors open to allow more airflow as she worked in the kitchen. Sometime during the afternoon, Biscuit disappeared from his blanket bed, but she didn't think much of it. Perhaps he'd finally gotten tired of hanging around the inn and found his former master.

Bev popped in to visit Vellora and pick up her daily meat order, hearing another earful from the butcher about her absent wife, and how Vellora was having to do all the work. As before, Bev listened and nodded and didn't say a word about it because it wasn't her business.

Everything was in the oven by mid-afternoon, and the kitchen was preemptively cleaned, so Bev decided to take a turn around the festival to get some fresh air and enjoy one of the last warm days of the season. She once again admired the leather boots, reminding herself she didn't need to spend her gold on something so frivolous, and visited more of the farmers who'd set up shop in the vendor space. Alice had finally brought her baking pumpkins out, and Bev purchased a few to make a soup for the following day, along with some heads of garlic and other things.

"Quite nice to walk to the town square to grab my goods instead of going all the way out to the market," Bev said with a chuckle.

"Nice for you," Alice replied as she handed over the pumpkins. "I still have to lug all this stuff here—and you know there's no room for my wagon."

"True." Bev smiled. "Speaking of pumpkins, the gourd contest is coming up soon, isn't it?"

"Not a moment too soon, if you ask me," Alice said. "Yesterday, I heard yelling from across the fields and saw Herman chasing Trent with a shovel."

"What in the world was Trent doing on your side of town?"

"Scoping out the competition, probably? Who knows. Either way, I'll be happy when they go back to hating each other from a distance."

With her tote heavy with produce, Bev returned to the inn to drop off the gourds. The dog still hadn't returned from whatever mischief he was getting into. She checked her compost pile and Sin's oats and didn't see him anywhere, which was a little odd.

"Not odd, Bev. He probably went home," she replied.

She was about to go sit in the front hall when loud voices echoed from the yard. With a frown, she walked out to see what the commotion was and found Mayor Hendry, Ida, Claude, and Petula arguing as they came up the small side road.

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