The sergeant from the town police had hair that was more silver than gray. As he sat in he armchair that had been placed at the table, he eased off his gunbelt to give himself room. The color of his skin reminded Jean Johnson that she had not had the Hershey bar she had promised herself.
"Now that Suzie Harris here has introduced us, Miz. Johnson, maam, tell me what happened that made you call the ambulance. Take your time. Its easiest to start at the beginning. What brought Sam Perkins to your house?"
"Well sergeant, he has been a friend of my husbands and mine for a long time. But he came as he does - did every other Thursday for Suzie. I had put him down for her third slot today."
"I dont quite follow, maam."
"Sam was one of our earliest members you see. He only comes - came twice a week this year, and for him it was always Dot or Sally on Mondays, and Ellen or Suzie on Thursdays. He made scheduling very easy for me."
"Im still not quite clear maam. What is it you schedule?"
"Oh. I thought the town police must know. I schedule shags for our members every weekday."
"Members of what, maam?"
"Chivas, that is our society. The good causes we are raising money for this year are the visiting nurses and the girls basketball team. We are only a little group. Apart from my Jim as president and me as Organizer, there are only 15 male members and five female. All our men are retired people."
"And the ladies maam?"
"All housewives, I wont say exactly how old but two have children at elementary school, and none except me are retired."
"And just what is it you schedule, maam?"
"Shouldnt you be writing all this down sergeant?"
"Well leave that to when I follow you better, maam. You said shags, like the birds?"
"Yes. We say shags rather than fucks in case the wrong people overhear, but the words have the same meanings." Suzie struck in. "So you see Pete - sorry, we have to keep this formal, dont we? So you see sergeant, Sam was my thi... Læs hele novellen
