Free Stardust A Novel by Carla Stewart

shorter than me, with a nervous tic in his jaw.
    “Aw, Mrs. Peyton, I presume.”
    I greeted him and handed over the death certificate, my driver’s license, and our marriage certificate, which he hadn’t mentioned but I’d thought of at the last minute.
    Avril tugged on my sleeve, a twinkle in her eye. “Is he the real Zaccheus? I don’t see no sycamore tree.”
    “It’s any sycamore tree, sweetie, and no, this isn’t Zaccheus. The real one lived a long time ago when Jesus was alive. Mommy has to talk to Mr. Baxter now, so I need you to be still.”
    Clyde Baxter cast a look at Avril like she was a boil on his backside and took a seat. I sat in the only other chair and pulled Avril onto my lap. As Mr. Baxter bent over the folder I assumed was O’Dell’s file, the brown coil of hair atop his head unwound and hung down, covering one eye. He pushed it back into place and withdrew a piece of paper, which he slid across the desk.
    A certificate.
    Clyde’s jaw twitched when he said, “O’Dell was the top salesman for the winter quarter. Normally, we’d honor him at a sales meeting and present him with a set of sterling cuff links, but the meeting was last week, and since O’Dell was indisposed…”
    “Excuse me? He wasn’t indisposed. You have to be alive to be indisposed.” I felt sorry for the guy in an odd way, but how he’d risen to the manager level was beginning to concern me. “Do you have the cuff links?”
    “I didn’t think you would have any use for them.”
    “Me? No, I wouldn’t, but it would be nice to present them to his mother. She is indisposed. Not well at all. Grieving. As you can imagine.”
    “Of course. I wasn’t thinking.” He reached in his drawer and pulled out a velvet pouch with a gold cord. “It’s not much, but…” He handed it over. Avril slipped off my lap when I took them.
    “I appreciate it. Now, about his commissions?”
    “Yes, well… the news there is not very encouraging, I’m afraid.”
    A queasy feeling rose to my throat. “As in?”
    “O’Dell’s sales for this quarter are, shall we say, slim. We’ll honor his current orders, but we’ll have to send one of our other employees to pick up the merchandise from the warehouse and make the deliveries. The expense of that will come from O’Dell’s commissions, I’m afraid.” The jerking in his jaw was more pronounced, making the leaders in his neck protrude with each twitch.
    Avril had crept closer to him and now stood at his elbow, squinting her eyes at him. “How do you make your face wiggle like that?”
    “Avril!” I jumped from my chair and in two giant leaps was behind the desk. I snatched her up, my face flaming. “Oh, sweetie, it’s not nice to ask personal questions of strangers.”
    She dipped her head, burrowing into my chest. I hefted her to my hip and looked at Mr. Baxter. “I’m sorry. Now, you were saying?”
    He had his own sheepish look and said, “The final check is probably less than you were hoping for. He only had commissions coming for five weeks.” He pulled an envelope from the folder and slid it across the desk.
    Inside was a check for two hundred and twenty-three dollars. Good gravy. I swallowed the O’Dell-size lump in my throat. What did I expect?
    I forced a smile and thanked him for his time.
    He extended his hand. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
    Juggling Avril on my hip and holding the check in my hand, I didn’t have a free hand to shake his. I nodded and turned to go. When I reached the door, he said, “You do have the cuff links.”
    I sailed out the door and put Avril in the front seat of the car, went around, and let myself in. As I jammed the key into the ignition, a twitch came in my own jaw. And rather than spit nails, which is what I wanted to do, I turned to Avril.
    “How about we find ourselves an ice-cream parlor? ’Twould be a shame to come all this way for nothing.”

[ CHAPTER 10 ]
     

     
    A fter supper I took the girls over to see Mary