Read Online Julia 03 - Miss Julia Throws a Wedding by Ann B. Ross - Free Book Online

have him evicted first thing Monday. Who is it?”
    “No, ma’am, it’s not anybody living here. At least, we don’t think so, since everybody’s been here for so long and this has just started.” She’d calmed down by this time, but I could hear the concern in her voice. Still, she had a nerve calling me over something even the sheriff couldn’t handle.
    “Well,” I said, “if you don’t know who it is, what can I do about it?”
    I heard her take a deep breath, then she said, “I would think that, as the owner of this place, you’d want to take some measures to increase security. The pole lights’re out all the time, so that it’s pitch-black at night. There’s no fencing anywhere, so that anybody can come in anytime they want tofrom any direction. Why, when I have to go out at night to see one of my patients, I never know who’s going to be hiding in the bushes. It’s dangerous out here, Mrs. Springer, and, well, we need something done about it.”
    “I’ll have Mr. Carter replace the lights as soon as I can reach him, and I’ll tell him to keep them in good repair. But, as far as a fence is concerned, Miss Wiggins, I believe there’re several acres out there. Do you know what it’d cost to enclose all that?”
    “Mrs. Springer,” she said, and I could hear her voice getting tighter. “I just know that everybody out here has had things stolen from them, and I know that sooner or later somebody’s going to get hurt. And a lawsuit against you would cost more than any fence, I don’t care how many acres it went around.”
    “A lawsuit! Young lady, are you threatening me?”
    “No, ma’am, I’m not. I’m just passing on what I’ve heard others say who live here. Just come out here, Mrs. Springer, and see what we have to put up with.”
    “All right, I will,” I said, determined to stop this little matter in its tracks. Just nip it in the bud, before she disrupted my already busy week with more phone calls. “I’ll come right now, even though I have my hands more than full here. How will I find you?”
    She gave me directions to her trailer, and I put the phone down with a trembling hand. A lawsuit! I declare, everybody and his brother was suing people right and left. But, to sue me ? The idea of being threatened with civil action made my blood boil. Mr. Carter had a lot to answer for, and believe you me, I intended to see that he did.
     
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    By the time I drove to Delmont and beyond, out Springer Road toward the Hillandale Trailer Park, I was even more incensed. Little Lloyd accompanied me, sitting in the passenger seat, occasionally cutting his eyes at me with concern.
    “Little Lloyd,” I said, “I’ll tell you one thing. It is a heavy responsibility to own things. If it’s not a roof leaking, it’s a furnace that’s out. And as the owner, you are responsible for seeing that it’s fixed, even when it’s an act of God, as the insurance people say. And does it come at a convenient time? No, sir, it does not. Just let yourself get busy with something important, and here comes another complaint. Or insurance bill. Or tax bill. Well.” I sighed. “Heavy hangs the head that bears the burden.”
    “Ma’am?”
    “I’m just saying that I’m glad you came with me. It’ll be good for you to see what you’re in for as a property owner. Eventually, you’ll be taking care of what you own, and maybe mine as well. In fact, if I remember right, this is one of the properties that belongs to both of us. So take note.”
    I turned in at the gravel road that ran through the middle of Hillandale Trailer Park. Gravel had run off the side, leaving ruts and ridges in the road, and I had to slow considerably. Dust boiled up behind us, settling across the trailers as we passed.
    “I guess,” I murmured, “I ought to have this scraped and more gravel put on.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Little Lloyd said, as he looked out his window at the grassless yards and the metal trailers baking in