In a small bed and breakfast near Flathead Lake in rural
Montana, there lived two sisters and a tabby cat. The sisters' names were Tammi
and Tina Carmody, and the cat's name was Esmie. Tammi and Tina got along well enough, but the sisters could
not be more different.
Tammi, the older sister, approached her forties with
gentility and ease. With a slim, graceful figure and a full head of dark hair
with elegant streaks of silver only just beginning to show, Tammi seemed verily
an embodiment of those two words. She maintained the flowerbeds around the yard
and provided the quiet amusements for their guests, such as reading or art or
needlework.
Tina, on the other hand, was still as rambunctious at thirty
as she had been at twenty. If Tammi led the outdoor excursions and poured the
tea, Tina provided the music and led the dancing. She would not let a single
auburn hair on her head turn to grey, and rarely missed an appointment with the
hairdresser to ensure this.
Tammi liked to wear soft sweaters and muted colors. Tina
preferred bright fabrics and plenty of jewelry. Tammi liked to sit and think
about things. Tina would far rather talk about them.
The name of their bed-and-breakfast was Pierce House, after
their grandparents, John and Paulina Pierce. It had a sitting room in the front
with wide windows overlooking the flower beds and the lane leading from the
main road to the little house, and a parlor in the back where stood a stately
upright piano, flanked on the walls by two portraits, one of John and Paulina,
the other of Paulina's Scottish cousin, Butterfly Whistlestop and her husband,
Horatio.
[...]
On this particular morning, Tammi was reading a heartwarming
novel, Mr. O’Grady’s Impossible Flight,
at the dining room table when her sister’s voice floated from the parlor.
“Tammi? When will the first guest arrive?”
Tammi set down her novel and rolled her blue eyes in mild
irritation. Marking her place with a delicate finger, she called back to her
sister, “If you’re writing letters, dear, the calendar should be posted right
over your head.”
“Oh…” Tina’s voice faded abruptly as the truth of her sister’s
words dawned on her. Suddenly, Tammi heard the snap of Tina’s shoes as the
energetic woman charged into the dining room with a paper in her hand.
“Wait—“ she blustered, “If we have someone coming on
September the fourth, then how does this happen?”
She showed her sister the paper.
Tammi put down her book a second time. This time, she didn’t
bother leaving her finger there; when Tina had a problem, it wasn’t usually
answered with a sentence or two. She glanced at the bulletin in her sister’s
hand. It advertised a traveling circus coming through the area, and it would be
during the same weekend as the new arrival—and both of them knew that new
boarders always took at least two days to settle.
“I suppose the new guest won’t be having any of your
circus,” Tammi mused, thinking that perhaps, after all, she could return to her
novel sooner than anticipated.
“But Tammi!” Tina protested. “It’s a circus! Don’t you recall how long it has been since either
of us has been to see a circus? And now one is coming to us! Right here to
Flathead Lake! How could we miss such a grand opportunity?”
Tammi snorted, “Your grand opportunities are a dime a dozen,
dear sister!” she remonstrated Tina. “I am sure you’ll find another one more
suited to the guest’s taste.”
Tina dropped into the nearest seat in a decidedly unladylike
fashion. “What could you presume to know about the personal tastes of this S.
Morton?”
Tammi smiled demurely. “I know, my dear, because I know he
is a schoolteacher. That is why he is boarding here.”
“A schoolteacher? Where?”
“The Academy across the brook—you remember! It was one of
the reasons mother thought this bed-and-breakfast boarding house would be a
good idea at this particular location, because the unique teaching methods of
the school would attract a number of students, and they would need somewhere to
stay, if not on the grounds of the school itself—thus, we would be the
likeliest option, since most of the provided housing would go to the students,
which meant that the faculty would be needing somewhere to stay.”
“And where else but Pierce House?” Tina’s eyes sparkled and
she grinned at her sister. “Well, all right, then, no circus—but the next event
that comes along…”
Tammi nodded, “You can plan away to your heart’s content.”
She picked up her novel again and flipped to the page she had bent to mark her
spot. “Now, hush! I’m nearly finished with this chapter.”
Tina snorted, "I guess you can keep our guest
entertained well enough! You two have something in common, unless I miss my
guess." She nodded to the book in Tammi's hand.
The woman blushed a little. "I highly doubt a studious
Academy teacher will have any desire for entertainment, anyway!" she
blustered. "And he's German," as if that was the final straw. Tammi
buried her red face in her book. "Don't you have letters to write, or
calls to make on the telephone?"
Tina smiled a knowing smile and left the room. The house
lapsed into silence as the sisters became engrossed in their respective
activities. By afternoon tea, Tina had finished the solicitations and filled
the reservations, and Tammi had verified that the house was still very clean
from the last time she had scrubbed and dusted and swept. She also finished Mr.
O'Grady's Impossible Flight.
Tina and Tammi sat in the front sitting room, enjoying their
tea and listening to the gramophone play the music of legendary New York
crooner Cal Parker warble his latest songs like "Stella Luna," a song
dedicated to his daughter Bella and the sisters' favorite.
"In the gray of cold December,
On the streets of old New York,
Stella Luna, I'll remember,
And our walk through Central Park.
Don't forget me, Bella Luna,
Even though we're far apart,
You'll be always in my heart,
Stella Luna."
"Such a pretty song!" Tammi sighed as Tina leaned
over and adjusted the needle.
"Indeed—especially the fact that he made this recording
because he wanted to show how much he loved his family," Tina remarked. As
Cal's voice began again, she pouted mischievously. "Too bad he's already
obviously married and happy; we could have invited him out to Montana."
Tammi nearly dropped her teacup in alarm. "Tina!"
she cried. "How can you say such a horrible thing?"
Tina smiled without the slightest hint of remorse or
embarrassment. “What? We aren’t getting any younger, my dear… haven’t you ever
thought about having a family? Or would you rather Pierce House fall into the
hands of some unscrupulous stranger who would raze it upon our deaths?”
Tammi set her cup and saucer on the tea tray, and her hands
trembled. “You do say the most disturbing things sometimes, Tina.”
But her sister was not listening. For once, Tina Carmody did
not have the last word. Tammi glanced up to see if she had suddenly fainted,
but Tina’s eyes were wide open. She was staring at something out the window.
“Tina,” Tammi began softly, “what—“
“Hush!” Tina snapped, her eyes fixed on whatever it was. She
raised a finger to the glass and pointed, “Who is that?”
Tammi followed the tip of her finger. Pulling down the long
gravel lane was a Ford Model T.
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