Cornucopia by Melanie Jackson Read Free Book Online

promised to bake in the shape of Santa’s sleigh. The cake had to be finished in time to be brought to a party at Agatha and Lawrence’s place on Christmas Eve where it was to join up with the reindeer cupcakes being brought by Margie Livingston. With all of this on my mind the last thing I needed was the interruption of a trip to the dentist, but such an interruption squeezed itself onto my schedule all the same.
    It all began with me sitting with Blue in Mel’s Diner, forced to lunch inside because of the inclement weather. Christmas music was playing on a radio behind the counter and I was periodically warming my hands over a hot cup of apple cider. While eating a ham sandwich on sourdough I watched out the front window of the tiny restaurant as shoppers dashed from store to store in a last-minute buying frenzy. The parking meters on Main Street had been wrapped in red ribbon to resemble candy canes by yours truly. The city works department had hung Christmas wreaths from the street lights and strung lights and garlands along the roof lines of the storefronts. All in all it was a pleasantly festive scene to occupy myself with while I finished my lunch. I was feeling happy and at peace with the world when I bit down on something hard in my sandwich. I heard something go crack in my mouth and felt a sharp pain shoot through my jaw.
    It wasn’t very ladylike of me, but I spit the mouthful of sandwich out onto my plate. I didn’t even need to poke around in the expectorated gob of bread and ham to spot something shiny winking up at me from the surface. I fished the silver chain from my sourdough with a finger and lifted an inexpensive metal charm attached to it from out of my sandwich. On one side of the medallion were the two halves of a broken heart joined. As the medallion slowly spun before my eyes I saw that the other side was engraved. Brad and Christie Forever the engraving read.
    As I examined the necklace more closely I felt another sharp pain shoot through my jaw. I ran my tongue along the molars in back and found that one of them had been cleaved in half by the engraved metal plate hidden in my sandwich. I walked to the counter to share my find with Melody, the shop owner.
    “Look what I just bit into in my sandwich,” I mumbled, holding out the trinket.
    “Good Lord, how did that get into your food?” Melody exclaimed, accepting the chain from my outstretched finger. After she read the engraving on the medallion she displayed a knowing look before turning and calling to the back of the shop, “Christie, get your butt up here to the register.”
    Christie was a young girl who had only been working at the diner for a few months now. She slowly ambled to the front of the shop in response to Melody’s call—but then she seemed to do everything slowly. Melody held the piece of jewelry out for her to examine.
    “Where did you find my necklace?” Christie asked.
    “In this woman’s lunch,” Melody responded tersely.
    “Oh, so that’s where it went,” Christie replied, taking the chain. “What’s this mess all over it?”
    “Bread and cheese,” I mumbled, holding my jaw.
    “ Ew , gross!”
    Right then I was struck by another stabbing pain that went shooting through my jaw. I turned away from the counter, holding onto my throbbing face while Melody had words with her employee. Seeing no other choice, I reached into my fanny pack and retrieved my cellphone so that I could call for emergency food-side assistance. With a few quick stabs at the keypad I was able to retrieve the phone number of Dr. Bester, my dentist. Dr. Bester had only recently become my dentist after Dr. Marley, my previous dentist, had been crushed to death under the weight of a giant pumpkin. I had to wait for several rings before the phone was answered.
    “Hello, Dr. Bester’s office,” the doctor himself said over the line.
    I was sorry to have to call him on such short notice; he sounded harried, but my face was already