Read Online Loco Motive by Mary Daheim - Free Book Online Page A

There. I’ve said it.” She smiled wryly. “You let people run right over you, including Joe, Gee-Gee, Aunt Renie, and even Mike. That’s why you should reflect on your lack of self-esteem. It’ll get worse with time. Society shuns older people, ignoring their wisdom and experience. We live in a youth-obsessed culture, but by valuing yourself and exuding confidence, you needn’t become invisible.”
    â€œThanks, Kristin,” Judith said, feeling as if her face had frozen.
    â€œI’ll think about that. If I agree with you, I’ll let you know.” And no thanks for making me feel like a lowly, worthless worm. If, as you suggest, I had more spunk, I’d wring your neck and stuff you in the Dumpster. “Now I have to look for some missing guests.” Before Kristin could respond, Judith started up the back stairs.
    Phyliss was coming out of room six, which was where one of the two Alaskan couples was staying. “Are these Eskimos checking out today?” she asked, setting a trash bag down in the hall.
    â€œNo,” Judith said. “All of the Alaskans are staying another night. And I don’t think they’re Eskimos.”
    Phyliss glowered at Judith. “They’re from Alaska, aren’t they?”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter what they are,” Judith said. “I’m looking for the couple in room three. Are they up yet? Breakfast is nearly over.”
    â€œWhat couple?” Phyliss responded. “I thought that crazy blasphemous sinner was hauled off to the hospital.”
    â€œNew guests arrived last night. Did they go out to breakfast?” Phyliss stared at Judith.
    â€œI don’t know anything about them. The room looks just the way I left it yesterday. Neat as a pin.”
    â€œThat doesn’t make sense,” Judith said. “Let me have a look.”
    â€œGo ahead,” the cleaning woman said. “Have I ever told a lie?”
    â€œNo,” Judith admitted. “Maybe I’m going insane.”
    â€œIt happens to a lot of people I know,” Phyliss said. “Straight to the booby hatch. I’m taking out the trash. If you see phantom guests in room three, keep it to yourself.”
    Phyliss was right. Room three was pristine, as if no one had occupied it since the previous day. Judith checked the wastebasket, the bathroom, the closet, and the bureau drawers. There was no sign of the Z s. They seemed to have evaporated into thin air. Am I delusional? she wondered. But she recalled putting the $220 cash payment in the strongbox. She also remembered that the Gauthiers had arrived just as the Z s headed upstairs. The vanishing act baffled her, but at least she hadn’t been stiffed for the room fee.
    Judith closed the door. In her fifteen years as an innkeeper, there had been many strange, puzzling, and even tragic incidents. People were unpredictable. They came and went. She’d probably never cross paths again with Dick and Jane Z. Going back downstairs, Judith dismissed them from her mind. They were gone and might as well be forgotten.
    She was only half right.

Chapter Four
    T he next two days passed in a blur of activity for Judith. That was just as well. There was little time to worry about the Z s’ disappearing act or reveal her impending departure to Mike and Gertrude, or to figure out who’d lost a gold band. All the guests who had been staying at Hillside Manor during the week had checked out by Sunday morning, but their vacated rooms were filled with newcomers. Mike and Kristin had taken the boys to the zoo and the aquarium on Thursday, returning Mac and Joe-Joe to their grandparents’ care while they dined at a waterfront restaurant. The McMonigles spent Friday visiting a haunted house, a corn maze, and a pumpkin patch. Saturday morning Kristin took the boys to see a play based on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at the nearby children’s theater. In the afternoon,