Never Con a Corgi by Edie Claire

Author:Edie Claire [Claire, Edie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2012-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

***

Leigh did not find Maura's mud problems nearly so amusing an hour later, when she found herself trudging along in soggy muck on the opposite side of the pond with her Aunt Bess, Chewie, and an awkward armful of camera equipment.

"Couldn't we wait until the sun dries things out a bit?" she suggested, dropping her aunt's tripod for the second time as the corgi lurched backward, jerking her elbow with him. She looked around the now empty woods, unclipped the dog from his lead, and picked up the tripod again. "Stay close, Chewie," she ordered.

"Oh, don't be such a priss," Bess chastised good-naturedly. "I want to get everything set up and concealed before any more curiosity seekers make it out here. It was quite a show this morning."

Leigh's eyebrows arched. "You mean there were spectators? For a pond dragging?"

Bess frowned. "Well, not so many. But then, not everyone is as devoted to the cause of law enforcement as I am. It was a long and messy process, but ever so interesting."

"You stood out here and watched the whole time?" Leigh inquired.

"Of course not, silly. I brought a lawn chair."

Leigh let that one pass. "What did they find?"

"Oh, all sorts of things," Bess answered cheerfully. "Hordes of glass bottles, as I expected. I pulled a few that might be worth something... if so, I'll give them to Clem. He has a collection, you know. Flashlights, some aluminum cans, some canvas that looked like it might have been a tent, deflated innertubes, a camp lantern, some mangled pieces of metal farm equipment, a drink cooler, three tires, and my personal favorite... a bed pan. It was all very enlightening. I felt like an archeologist!"

Leigh tried to imagine Clem's house containing a curio cabinet of carefully tended antique bottles, but all she could picture was a dusty shelf heaped with broken glass and empty chaw tins. Perhaps she was being presumptuous. Had she not expected Anna's house to contain a canary cage, cutesy china figurines, framed pictures of grandchildren, and perhaps a velvet Elvis? For all she knew, Clem's living room was filled with sophisticated computer equipment and he and Anna had been carrying on a wild affair since the Cold War.

"That reminds me," Leigh asked. "Are Anna and Clem buds? I mean, they're about the same age, and they've both lived out here forever, right?"

"I don't know if 'buds' is the right word," Bess answered, her voice chipper despite the effort of walking in mud that sucked down their boots with every step. "Their fathers were friends; Anna's father sold Clem's father his plot way back when theirs were the only two houses around. Clem and Anna not only grew up together, they were all each other had in the way of playmates. So you could say they're like brother and sister."

"Oh," Leigh said with disappointment. "I guess there goes my 'wild affair' theory."

Bess chuckled. "Well, they do bicker like an old married couple, but that's as far as it goes, I'm afraid.

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