The Ears of Louis by Constance C. Greene Read Free Book Online Page B

arranged them in a nice little fan. “I bid one white,” he said.
    â€œI’ll raise you two,” she said, leaning toward him.
    Louis held his cards against his chest.
    â€œI’m just getting comfortable,” she said. “I’m not peeking.”
    â€œI didn’t say you were,” he said.
    Louis won the next two hands. Mrs. Beeble got up and turned around three times. “That’s to change my luck,” she said. “How about taking your charm off and giving me a chance?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Louis said slowly, “I don’t really think I want to.”
    â€œI was only kidding.” She won the next two hands. “See?” she chortled. “Three turns in the direction of the west wind does it every time.”
    â€œI think you make some of those things up,” Louis said.
    â€œSometimes I do but not always.”
    â€œDid you have a nice time when your niece and her husband came over?” Louis asked politely.
    â€œThey ate me out of house and home,” Mrs. Beeble announced with satisfaction. “If my niece opens a can of soup, she thinks she’s Betty Crocker. And does he ever like to eat! My lands! They took after my steak and kidney pie and didn’t speak a word until the dish was empty. It did my heart good to see them. They want me to come and live with them,” she said.
    â€œAll the time, you mean?” Louis said.
    â€œAll the time,” she answered. “But I know what’d happen. I’d be chief cook and bottle washer and that I don’t aim to be. Mr. Beeble never lifted a hand around the house but he was a hardworking man and entitled to his creature comforts. But my waiting-on days are over. I like living here by myself, doing what I want to do when I want to do it. I told ’em no in the nicest possible way. They say I’m too old to be living alone and to that I say ‘Phooey!’”
    â€œYou know what?” Louis said, “I think you’re gutsy too, Mrs. Beeble.”
    â€œWell, thank you, Louis,” she said. “It’s a good way to be.”
    When Louis left Mrs. Beeble’s, he headed for the old man’s house. He wanted to tell him about his touchdown.
    He knocked on the front door. There was no answer. He went around back and when there was no answer there, he pressed his nose against the glass. He pulled back fast. A large white thing lay on the floor. For one horrible moment Louis thought it might be Agnes stretched out, her eyes on the ceiling. Then he realized it was a table or a couch, covered with a cloth to keep the dust out. He ran around to the front and looked in the window. Suppose Agnes was hiding inside, looking out the window right smack in his face? Louis shuddered at the idea.
    â€œIf you’re looking for them, they’re gone,” a woman leaned over the fence and told him. “Pulled out yesterday in a U-Haul-It.”
    â€œWhere’d they go?” Louis said.
    â€œWho knows?” the woman shrugged. “Maybe Florida, maybe California. Some place warm, I shouldn’t wonder. She was always complaining about her arthritis. If anyone asked me, I’d tell ’em I thought the bill collectors were after ’em.” She sniffed and pulled her sweater close. “A man would come calling every so often. Looked like a bill collector to me.”
    â€œWhat’s a bill collector look like?” Louis asked.
    â€œHow would I know?” the woman said angrily and went inside her house, slamming the door.

14
    â€œI have this neat idea,” Matthew said. “You guys come over on Saturday and we’ll try it out. It’s really cool but I need help.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Louis said.
    â€œMy mother said she wants me out of the way all day Saturday,” John said. “She’s cleaning closets and waxing floors and all like that.” He slipped a thick slice of cucumber doused