Schifflebein's Folly

CHAPTER 9: CHARLEY

Inside the house, Lloyd had playground blueprints and spec sheets spread all over the living room floor as he crawled from page to page, mumbling and making pencil notations on the corners of the documents. He responded to the knock at the door without stopping his project.

"Come on in!"

The door opened and the delivery person stood in the doorway, visible only as a silhouette of coveralls and cap against the bright backlight of the opening.

The delivery person raised a clipboard and read from it, "Perlman Estate Liquidators for Mr. Swiffledime."

Lloyd didn't look up from his work. "You're early. Swiffledime's not dead yet."

"No, yeah, I know," said the delivery person. "I've got a delivery for him."

Lloyd stopped crawling and jotting, and he squinted at the backlit silhouette. "Perlman, you said? We got a neighbor drives a truck for Perlman Estate Liquidators. You probably know him. The guy on the corner. Baines, I think it is."

The delivery person stepped forward into the room, and the ambient light revealed a pretty face shadowed by the baseball cap and a slender, feminine form hidden under the ill-fitting coveralls. "Bates," she said with a smile nothing short of angelic. "Charlotte Bates – but they call me Charley. I'm 'the guy on the corner.'"

Lloyd's pencil teetered in slack fingers as he sat back on his haunches, staring, open-mouthed and stunned.

Charley Bates stared back at Lloyd. Then she yelped and jumped back a half step, looking frantically at the floor.

"That's Montalban," said Lloyd absently. "He's just tasting your shoes. He's gone now. You scared him."

Suddenly a window-rattling shriek split the air, and a startled Charley yelped again, turning toward the sound.

Over the incessant shrieking, Lloyd said calmly with a smile, "Let's have some tea, and you can show me what you brought."

Charley shouted above the noise, "That won't be necessary. You can just sign for it, and I'll go."

The Teapot stopped as if to draw breath, then shrieked more.

Lloyd grinned and shrugged an apology. "You might as well give in. Nobody gets any peace until you say yes."

Teapot shrieked even louder.

Charley looked at Lloyd and received an earnest look in return. Her shoulders slumped in resignation.

"Okay," Charley said with a sigh. "Let's have tea."

The shrieking stopped.

Silence.

Nobody had moved toward the kitchen.

Charley looked at Lloyd. His earnest face simply looked back.

"How'd you do that?" asked Charley.

"Do what?" he said.

A short time later Lloyd and Charley finished their tea at the kitchen table. Nearby, Charley's hand truck and cardboard boxes stood in a corner of the room.

Lloyd rose, put his teacup in the sink, and knelt to open one of the cardboard boxes.

"So, let's see what you've got here."

Charley looked at the clipboard lying beside her teacup on the table. "Miscellaneous items from the estate of one Mona Zapruder."

Lloyd stopped as if stung. His spine stiffened, and his voice was strained. "Who?"