Death by Chocolate

there?”
    “Probably better than you.”
Gran laughed again, and the sound went through Savannah, more warming and
comforting than any luxury bath. “How’s it going with Cordele being there?”
    “Oh, okay. We went to the
mall today, did a little shopping.”
    “She didn’t talk you into
buying her a dog, did she?”
    “We had the discussion, but
no, I didn’t.”
    “Good, ‘cause I’d be the
one who’d wind up taking care of it.”
    “You? Why would you....?”
Savannah thought it over, then the lightbulb came on in her head. “Gran, did
Cordele move back in with you?”
    “Sure she did. About a
month ago. Didn’t you know that?”
    “No-o-o. She failed to
mention that she’s living with you again. Is she contributing any money for
food or utilities or anything?”
    The silence on the other
end told Savannah more than she wanted to know. Granny Reid was, once again,
allowing her grandchildren to take advantage of her.
    “Cordele’s awful busy,”
Gran finally said. “She’s always on the go. I hate to ask her to get a job
while she’s going to college and all.”
    “She’s been going to
college for the past ten years. She’s making a career of it. The only problem
is it doesn’t pay. And speaking of money, are you footing the school bills,
too?”
    Again a heavy silence.
Then, “Well, you know she got a scholarship, and that helped some. Cordele
makes really good grades. She always has.”
    Savannah thought of her
octogenarian grandmother struggling to make ends meet in that tiny, rural
Georgia town. Her ramshackle, shotgun house that was cozy, but far too small
for the Reid clan, especially now that some of the nine kids had acquired
spouses and children of their own.
    Gran had always been
generous to a fault, opening her heart, her home, and her refrigerator to
everyone who dropped by. And they did—several times a day.
    “Gran, I thought you were
through with letting those kids sponge off of you. You laid the law down and
told them that—”
    “I know. I know, and I’ve
pretty much been stickin’ by it. But I make an exception for Cordele. She’s
trying so hard to get her master’s degree.”
    “She’s not been trying that hard. Taking one class per semester isn’t exactly working your tail off.”
    Gran sighed. “But she’s got
all those meetings she goes to. She calls them her support groups.”
    “How many does she go to?”
    “Oh, she’s out to one or
the other ‘most every night. I think she goes to a couple of them on Saturday.”
    “Maybe she could cut back
on a few of those and get a part-time job at Wal-Mart. Then she could hand you
a few dollars for groceries now and again.”
    “No. I don’t reckon she
could do without those meetings. They’re mighty important to her. Cordele’s
always been the nervous one of the bunch, you know.”
    Savannah growled under her
breath, ‘Yeah.... works out pretty good for her, too.”
    “What did you say?”
    “Nothing.”
    There was a long and
awkward lag in the conversation. Uncomfortable pauses frequently occurred when
Savannah and her grandmother discussed the topic of her spoiling the
grandchildren and the “greats,” as she called their offspring.
    “I was just worried about
you, Savannah,” Gran finally said. “When Cordele told me she was gonna surprise
you with a visit, that she wanted to work out some—what did she call
them—familial issues with you, I was afraid you and she were gonna have some
trouble.”
    “Don’t you worry about a
thing, Gran.”
    “Promise me you won’t fight
with your sister.”
    “I won’t make her bleed or
break any of her bones. I promise. But I might tell her to get off her lazy
backside and either get a job or get that degree, one or the other.”
    “Oh, mercy. That’ll go over
good. You’d better look out, Savannah girl, or you might be the one to end up
bloody and broken. I’m here to tell you, there’s more to Cordele than meets the
eye. She ain’t the tender buttercup she makes out to be.”
    Savannah grinned. “Don’t
worry, Gran. I’m bigger than Cordele, and I’ve got a gun. If she gets to
aggravating me too much, I’ll just pack her up and send her back to you.”
    “Those sound like famous
last words if I ever heard some.”
    Savannah sighed and watched
one of her votive candles flicker and go out. Her suds were about gone, too.
“Yeah, don’t they, though?”
     
     
    By the time Savannah
arrived at the Maxwell estate the next day, it was