Cat in a Kiwi Con by Carole Nelson Douglas

Author:Carole Nelson Douglas [Douglas, Carole Nelson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-10-06T15:45:19+00:00

Chapter 29

"A" Is For Anonymous

"Fancy meeting you here," she said.

Temple smiled as Matt and company almost walked right past her.

"Oops. Sorry," he said. "We're still a little discombobulated from the Wormhole."

Matt looked more than discombobulated to see her. He looked shocked. "And company,"

which was a preteen girl, looked green around the gills. Maybe it was the Wormhole ride.

Maybe it was encountering any competition for Matt's attention. Temple thought the twelve -

year- old was a little mature to be holding onto his hand for dear life.

Matt shook the girl's hand to get her attention as he introduced her. "You remember Mariah Molina," he told Temple.

Mariah's face squinched in embarrassment. "You don't have to use the whole name," she muttered. "I'm thinking of having everyone call me Mari with an 'i.'"

"Why not use the whole name?" Temple said, swallowing her own shock. Having endured a long, dark night of the soul regarding her unusual first name when she was in seventh grade, she was eager to ease anyone else's discomfort with a first name. Even if the last was one . . . grrrr ..

. Molina. "It's a lovely name," Temple insisted. Mariah disagreed by making a face. "I can see it on a diploma or even on a book cover."

"Everybody tries to call me Mah-ree-a, like Latin for the Blessed Virgin."

Temple couldn't tell whether Mariah more feared being known as blessed or a virgin. "That's not who you're named after," she said promptly.

"Who am I named after? Nobody I know."

"Well, it's not exactly a person."

"I knew it was stupid."

"It's not stupid. It's the wind." Mariah's face showed puzzlement. "The wild west wind. They call the wind Mariah.' Mah-r^e-a. It's a song. A very good song."

"I bet you don't know how to spell it."

Temple assumed a classroom performance position, eyes up at the ceiling as if the secret answer were written there, hands clasped behind the back. "M-a-r-i-a-h."

"That's right!"

"Thank you. Do I get an A?"

"Nobody gets an A for spelling just one word right."

"True. I'll have to spell something harder for an A. How about co-in-ci-dence?" She smiled at Matt.

He had relaxed during her byplay with Mariah, and now he looked not surprised but relieved

"Her mother is mile-high in overtime," he explained, "and had promised to take Mariah here, so I, uh, volunteered. But why are you--:

"The simulated motion ride. As a freelance employee of the Crystal Phoenix, I thought I'd investigate what the other hotels are doing now that the Phoenix Action Jackson attraction is getting ready to open." Temple's glibness at inventing excuses for her unofficial undercover work amazed even herself at times. "Maybe this, um, Wormhole thing is only here for TitaniCon, but I wanted to give it a test drive."

"Really?" Mariah was no longer nervous about the red-headed woman who was distracting Matt's attention. Instead, she saw another sucker. "I want to go on again. Go with me?"

"Sure," Temple said, noting that her cheerful sangfroid annoyed Matt a trifle. "Let's queue up, kid, and show those worms what we're made of.

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