Stray Affections by Charlene Baumbich

Author:Charlene Baumbich [Baumbich, Charlene Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-45829-2
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2009-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

Burt glanced at the clock on the shop wall. It was two flank steaks past four pork chops. “Ten after four already. Where does time go?” For the first time in eight years, he wondered what on earth he’d been thinking when he’d had the clock special ordered. Clearly, he hadn’t. “Sometimes you’re two ounces short of a pound of sense.”

“Talking to yourself again, Burt?”

“Who else is going to tell me what I already know?”

Ken burst out laughing, causing Burt to do the same. When the two heartiest laughers in Wanonishaw erupted together, it was loud, and Naomi, the day-care mom Cassandra described as a drama queen, slammed her hands over her son Ben’s ears when they entered the shop.

“What’s so funny?” she asked Burt as she grabbed for a number, although Ken was the only person ahead of her. Customers knew to be safe rather than sorry and grab a number, as the crowd could swell, and people were always in such a hurry that they feigned not noticing they weren’t next. However, if Betty Kamrowski was in the shop, everyone knew you could count on her to set the perpetrator straight.

“What’s so funny?” Burt asked, repeating her question as he extended a large knife toward Ken, who plucked the slice of Braunswager from the end of it. “We are!” More laughs from the men.

“Off work early, Ken?” Naomi asked, nodding toward the clock.

“Yes, just claiming a little comp time. I had to put in a few hours over the weekend.”

“Poor Cassandra,” Naomi said.

“Poor Cassandra? Poor Cassandra? Burt Burt. How is it that the little women get to stay home eating Milanos all day while the kids entertain each other, and we macho men don’t get a bit of sympathy for all the hours and after hours we have to put in?”

Naomi drew in a deep breath. “Little women? Eating Milanos?” Her cheeks flushed and her jaw tightened. “I think you have forgotten, Ken Higgins, that I go to work, too, and that I pay your wife to watch my son”—she pulled Ben toward her, as if to prove he really existed—“for the excellent care she gives to him. And if I pay her, that means she’s working. And—”

“Naomi,” Ken said, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender, “remember when Burt said we were funny? I was just pulling your chain.” He shrugged toward Burt. “I guess I just sounded rude instead. My sincere apologies. I meant no harm. I can only blame it on the Braunswager.”

He smiled at Burt, who enjoyed watching someone else squirm for a change. Burt’s quirky sense of humor had landed him in his own share of trouble over the years, especially with Betty. But at long last even Betty was catching on to it, or lightening up herself.

Naomi smiled, looking a little sheepish. “Blame it on the Braunswager. Sounds like a good book title.”

“What’ll you have today, Ken—aside from the heap of trouble you got yourself into?” Burt said, smiling at Naomi.

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