The Cat Who Moved a Mountain by Lilian Jackson Braun

Author:Lilian Jackson Braun
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780613063791
Publisher: A Division of Sanval
Published: 1992-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

TEN

BEECHUM HAD BEEN right again. It rained all night, charging in like a herd of elephants, battering the trees, beating on the roof, soaking the earth. By Tuesday morning the downpour had abated leaving the trees dripping, the atmosphere soggy, and the ground muddy. Qwilleran doubted that the carpenter would show up to work on the gazebo.

While he was preparing his breakfast coffee and thawing a four-day-old doughnut, the telephone rang, and a man’s voice said genially, “How are you, Qwill? Getting settled? I hear you had dinner at the club last night. This is Colin Carmichael.”

“Let’s say that I participated in a farce that masqueraded as dinner,” Qwilleran retorted in a bad humor. “How did you hear about it?”

“They called me because I sponsored you.”

“If they want to apologize, it’s too late. I’ve torn up my card.”

“It’s not exactly an apology. It’s an explanation,” the editor said. “They thought I should explain the situation to you. To put it bluntly, you brought a Tater to the club as your guest, and the members don’t care for that.”

“That’s what I suspected,” Qwilleran said belligerently. “Tell the members they know what they can do. Editors excluded, of course.”

“Honestly, I hated to call you, Qwill. Sorry it happened.”

“So am I. It tells me something about Spudsboro that I didn’t want to know.”

“Don’t hold it against me. How about lunch?”

“I think it would be better if I dropped into your office. There’s something I want to discuss with you, and I’d like to see some back copies while I’m there.”

“Sure. Any time after two will be okay. We’re putting a special to bed at two, and it’s quite important. I want to be on top of it.”

“What kind of special?”

“Sixteen pages of June brides, heavy on advertising, of course.”

“Of course,” said Qwilleran. “See you after two.”

To his surprise, the red pickup with one blue fender pulled into the lot, and he went to the building site to greet the carpenter.

“Morning, Mr. Beechum. That was quite some rain we had last night.”

“Gonna git worse.”

“Hmmm . . . well . . . but the job is shaping up nicely. I didn’t know it was going to be hexagonal, though.”

“Hex what?”

“It has six sides instead of four.”

“Figgered to git you sumpin’ special.”

“I appreciate that.” Qwilleran sauntered around with his hands in his pockets. “Nice view from here. You were right about that, too.”

“Lotsa purty sights in the mount’ns.” The carpenter straightened up and pointed with his handsaw. “They’s a purty trail down thataway.”

“Thanks, but I’m not taking any more chances on getting lost in the woods.”

“Iffen you git lost, jes’ keep on goin’. You bound to come out somewheres.”

“I admire your philosophy, Mr. Beechum. What about the caves? I hear there are some interesting caves in the mountains. Do you know anything about the caves?”

“Fulla bats. You like bats? Know a feller was bit by a bat. Kicked the bucket.”

“I gather you don’t recommend the caves. How about the spectacular waterfall at the cove?”

“Purty sight! Lotsa

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