CHAPTER 11*

“Rudolph Crawlback, that was a mean, inconsiderate thing to do.”  Ethyl Esther stood in the kitchen doorway with her hands on her hips and a sob in her voice.  “How could you even eat thirty-six puffs?  Shame on you!”

“Thirty-six whats?  What are you going on about now, Ethyl?”  Rude continued wiping the bar, trying to pretend he was alone.

“I had thirty-six pastry puffs resting under a cloth, ready to make eclairs, and now they’re all GONE!”  Ethyl Esther wailed.  “And you took them, you big, fat - guy.”

Rude blew a hissing breath through his bottom lip.  “Calm down, damn it.  I didn’t  take your whatzits,  I would rather have the eclairs, believe me.  Maybe it was that little kid, I chased her and that big wheel thing out of the parking lot after you left, maybe she got pissed and snuck in the backdoor.  I’d never know.”

“Amy?’ Ethyl Esther shook her head vehemently.  “She’s like an angel, with those little curls bobbing around.  Amy would never do anything naughty like that and you shouldn’t yell at her, she just wants to play.”

“Look, I don’t know who stole your stuff and don’t need any little kids hanging around my bar, there are other parking lots she could go to.  Five hundred yards, remember?”   

             

Ethyl Esther pressed her lips together, suddenly remembering the old Crawlback Grudge,  and turned to go. But Rude, having opened up, decided to continue.  “And what’s more, I don’t appreciate being talked to like one of your kids, I would think you’d had enough of that.”

“What do you know about my kids?” At this point Ethyl Esther’s hands began flapping wildly. Rude fixed her with an eye-to-eye stare.  “I know Robert.”  he said leaning an elbow on the bar.

“Oh,” Ethyl Esther hunched her shoulders, looked down at her feet, and turned back to the kitchen.  “Well … “ she murmured as she disappeared.