On a Wing and a Chair by Louise McBain

Author:Louise McBain [McBain, Louise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2022-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Gnat Line

“I can’t believe you’re actually doing this,” Syd told Deb, and then dove to the ground when a tennis ball came whizzing at her head, followed by a Labrador retriever. “Watch out, Ray,” Syd yelled, but the dog was long gone, streaking across Deb’s lawn after the ball.

Deb looked pleased. “This should get me to ten thousand steps,” she said, her eyes tracking the black wristband attached to the dog’s harness.

“How long has this been going on?” Syd asked, rising to her feet. She swiped at the cloud of tiny black bugs buzzing her face. It was gnat season in Beaumont and being outside meant dealing with swarms of insects whose sole purpose in life seemed to be to fly up Syd’s nose.

“It was Ray’s idea, actually,” Deb said, digging a bug out of her eye.

“Don’t pin this on Raymond,” Syd said, spitting out a gnat. Syd loved her hometown but did not miss living below the invisible geographical boundary that divided the state. It was one of the reasons she’d chosen to move to Atlanta and not the college town where she’d grown up. Syd was already in a mild state of annoyance, and the bugs did not improve her mood. The Georgia Gnat Line, or GGL, started in the middle of the state, on the western side, and tracked northeast on a sweeping diagonal. On one side of the GGL, gnats were a huge nuisance, on the other side, they were barely noticeable. The farther south you went, the worse they became. May in Beaumont was ground zero.

“I promise, it was Ray,” Deb assured her. The dog came bounding back into view and Deb bent to one knee.

“No way,” Syd said, refusing to believe it. “Putting your step counter on the dog to increase your numbers is too devious. If you’d told me Toby thought of it,” she said, referencing Deb’s eight-year-old tabby cat, “I might believe you.”

“It was Ray,” Deb assured her, and slapped at a bug. “You know how he chews socks.”

“Yeah.” Syd nodded. The pet was a notorious fabric thief, known to steal any scrap of cloth that smelled like the family. Syd had learned the hard way always to keep her suitcase closed. Owen still referenced the time he’d found Syd’s briefs under the dining room table and thought they were a dinner napkin. “Sock chewing doesn’t explain how it was Ray’s idea to cheat the step counter,” Syd said and picked another gnat out of her eye.

“If you’ll just be patient, I’ll explain everything,” Deb said. She pressed a button on the step counter and frowned. “I need him to fetch one more.”

“Can we please go inside?” Syd asked. “The gnats are driving me crazy.”

“Calm down, and listen to my story,” Deb said, and threw the ball again. Ray went racing after it, and she looked pleased. “A few weeks ago, I needed to shower at the gym, so I put the step counter in my sock.”

“Okay,” Syd said, picturing the narrative.

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