Mulch ado about nothing

you. I think that’s ridiculous,“ Shelley said.
    “But very, very sad, too. I simply can’t imagine wanting to live with a dead person, no matter how much I might have loved them when they were alive. My grandmother once had a friend who did that with her son’s room. He died as a child and the room stayed exactly as it was the last time he left it for about forty years. It upset the mother every time she looked in, but she kept it that way anyhow. And the our children resented it enormously. They were all younger and had never even known the dead older brother. Even when they were adults and came to visit, nobody was allowed to set foot in that room, let alone sleep there. My mother’s friend was unhappy all her life.“
    “I’ve heard stories like this before. I can’t grasp why people would do that. Have you ever seen that commercial where the parents are bidding a tearful farewell to their college-graduate son, and the moment he’s out of sight, Mom is measuring his room for where the new hot tub can go?“
    “I laugh every time I see it,“ Jane replied. “And keep thinking about Mike’s room. I want to turn it into my office the minute he graduates so I don’t ever have to go back in the basement. I’ll make the extra bathroom upstairs the laundry room when all three kids are gone. Speaking of Mike being gone, he hasn’t mowed the lawn yet.“
    “Don’t look at me,“ Shelley said. “I’ve made my life’s work not knowing a thing about the way a lawn mower works. And I’m also too stupid to understand the fuse box.“
    “Nobody believes that.“
    “True. But it’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
    When they got home, Shelley’s lawn service was tearing around her yard, using a wide variety of noisy machines. “Want me to loan them to you? Just this one time?“
    “I can’t afford it if we’re going to buy me a television.“
    “I forgot about the television. How could I? Let’s do that now, shall we? We’ll drop the girls off at their cooking lesson first. When Mike gets home, he and a couple friends can haul it upstairs for you. And I warn you I won’t let you be stingy about it. You need a nice big one with all the bells and whistles. Don’t look at me that way, Jane. I know what I’m talking about. The first television we got for the bedroom was tiny and we had to sprawl in bed on our stomachs with our heads at the wrong end to see the picture.”
    Shelley was true to her word. Jane came home with a box that nearly filled half the back of Shelley’s van. The van also contained a new VCR and a cabinet to put everything on.
    “I wish we could haul it out now,“ Jane said.
    “We couldn’t do that if we had six women friends to help. It’s one of those manly things to move televisions and furniture.”
    They went first to look over Shelley’s yard. Freshly mowed, it looked and smelled wonderful. “What’s that vine with the trellis in the big pot?“ Jane asked.
    Shelley walked over and pulled out a tag stuck in the soil. “Brugmansia, it says. Look at the picture.“
    “Good Lord! Those yellow flowers are gorgeous. The size of a child’s head.“
    “And it’s wonderfully fragrant. I saw them once in a Southern California hotel courtyard. They grew clear up to the second-story balcony and smelled divine.“
    “Southern California? That must mean you have to take it inside in the winter.“
    “I’ll make Paul do that,“ Shelley said smugly.
    “I wonder how Stefan’s doing,“ Jane said, gesturing for Shelley to come along inside Jane’s house. “I need a snack.“
    “Stefan probably isn’t a happy camper, I’d guess. And he’s going to be angry that somebody tipped off the police that he was the one who sent the flower arrangement to Julie. He’s sure to make the connection to one of us.“
    “But he won’t know which one of us, will he?“ Jane hadn’t thought of this before and it made her feel like a busy-mouthed tattletale even though Shelley actually made the call.
    “Not unless Mel tells him.“
    “He wouldn’t, I’m sure. He tells us things he probably shouldn’t because he knows we’ll honor his confidence. I’m positive he’ll do the same thing for us. Stefan will probably blame the cops themselves for finding out. Or the florist. Or Miss Winstead.“
    “Stefan didn’t look as upset as I expected when they took him away,“ Shelley said, rummaging in the bottom drawer of Jane’s refrigerator looking for cold soft