The House of Seven Mabels

and the Sheetrock. It’ll all have to be treated. While it’s being done, you need to secure the property.“
    “Secure the property?“ Bitsy was at sea. Apparently she thought this was a financial term. “What will that cost me?“
    “It means put new locks on the doors and replace the crumbling plywood in the open windows.“ Wesley was openly sneering now. “Anyone could, and has, gotten in here to commit this act of vandalism.“
    Standing where they were on the sidewalk, Jane and Shelley heard the purr of a car and turned to see an enormous black stretch limo stop in front with no regard to the fact that it was blocking traffic. The chauffeur came around and opened the back door, and an extremely well-dressed middle-aged man with a full and beautifully cut head of pure white hair stepped out.
    He approached, saying, “Bitsy, dear, I was doing some business in the neighborhood and saw everyone standing outside. What’s going on?“ He would have been quite handsome if he hadn’t been smirking.
    Bitsy’s face hardened. “Neville. How coincidental that you are here. Something tells me you know exactly what’s going on.“
    The man looked genuinely surprised. Or maybe it was a good act, Jane thought.
    “How would I know what you’re up to? Is this a picnic of some sort?“
    “Neville, go away. You’re not welcome here,“ Bitsy said and turned her back on him.
    Grinning again, he approached Jane and Shelley. “What do you ladies do? Stencil cute little designs around the tops of the rooms? I’m Bitsy’s ex-husband. The man whose hard-earned money is financing this idiocy. Much against my will, I might say.“
    Before Shelley could draw breath to tell him off, Bitsy screamed, “Neville, leave my friends alone. If you don’t get out of here this instant, I’m calling the police.“
    He bowed to her with mock respect and turned and slowly, arrogantly, let his driver open the door for him. “Have fun, dear,“ he said before it closed.
    Bitsy actually stomped her feet like a child getting ready to have a tantrum.
    Jane and Shelley strolled away. “She’s tougher than I suspected,“ Jane said, chuckling. “I don’t think this is the day we want to put her over the edge.“

Eight

    When Jane and Shelley returned home, Shelley said, “I think we ought to just stay away until the stink’s gone.“
    “Okay by me. There’s no rush,“ Jane replied.
    “It’ll give me time to write up a new contract,“ Shelley said.
    “You’re starting over?“
    “From scratch. It’s going to be a big job to rekey the whole thing into the computer. Making it fair is only one part. Trying to figure out how to make the sentence fragments make sense is another, and the third is correcting the grammar and spelling.“
    “Better you than me,“ Jane said with relief.
    After Shelley went home to start her project, Jane checked the answering machine and found a message to call Todd’s math teacher, Miss Milton. That was ominous. She returned the call and was told the teacher was in class, but would call back on her break. When Miss Milton called, she wouldn’t commit to what she had to say without a face-to-face meeting. They set it up for immediately after school that afternoon.
    Jane did a couple of loads of laundry. Up and down the basement stairs. When all the kids were gone, she was going to convert their bathroom upstairs to a laundry room. Clothes tended to lie neglected in the basement. And they often came up smelling ever so slightly of kitty litter in the winter, when Max and Meow didn’t go outside much.
    What on earth was the teacher after her for? she wondered as she sorted darks from lights and came up with too many darks for one load and too few lights for a full load. Todd’s best grades had always been in math. That wasn’t saying much. They were usually B’s and the rest were C’s. And the way he was staying in his room in the evenings and actually studying... it couldn’t be terrible news, could it?
    Jane hadn’t met this teacher yet. School had started only a short time ago, and the dreaded parents’ night when they had to sit in little chairs and be bored senseless hadn’t occurred yet. But when Jane found the room, the chairs and tables were normal size for the older kids. The teacher met her with a smile as they introduced themselves.
    “Mrs. Jeffry, I’m sorry to inconvenience you this way, but did you hear about our testing this year?“ Meeting a blank look, she went on,