Free It Must Be Magic by Jennifer Skully Page B

feast for the eyes.” A neat band of frosty white hair circled his head from ear to ear, and a thick beard covered his chin. He looked like a Santa Claus.
    His eyes were a tad hazy with cataracts, so Lili wasn’t exactly sure how he could tell she was a feast for the eyes. “That’s so sweet, thank you.”
    “Let her go, Linwood,” Roscoe said, then drew her to the middle man. “Chester Pawson.”
    With the same white fringe of hair, he was also in his midseventies, though with fifty less pounds on him, not counting the medals, than Linwood Daniels. Chester stared at her in wide, green-eyed wonder and picked up the hand Linwood had released, giving a gentlemanly brush of a kiss on the back. “You look like Deanna Durbin. I made a movie with her back in the heyday. It was destined to be a classic. We knew it even then.” He cocked his head at Roscoe. “What did you say her name is?”
    “Lili Goodweather.” Then Roscoe whispered in her ear, “Every woman he meets looks like Deanna Durbin.”
    “It’s such a wonderful compliment, Mr. Pawson. Deanna Durbin was magnificent.” She hadn’t a clue but didn’t care as Chester’s eyes glowed. He squeezed her hand. “She was incomparable,” Lili added.
    “Oh, she was, she was. I was only seventeen at the time, but I will never forget those glorious days. If it weren’t for her encouragement, my career would never have gotten off the ground.”
    Lili was afraid it hadn’t gotten off the ground at all, so all she did was smile. Chester squeezed her hand harder. He had remarkable strength for his age. “Say, aren’t you the young lady who talks to animals? We’ve seen you at the Coffee Stain.”
    It was Lili’s turn to flush pink. Lord. She realized now the two oldsters she’d seen that very morning at the Stain were none other than Linwood and Chester. “Ah, yes. That’s me.”
    “Lili’s here to talk to Fluffy.” Erika beamed. “He had a bad fright Wednesday night, and Lili’s giving him therapy.”
    “That’s enough about Fluffy until we’ve finished the introductions. Drop her hand, Chester,” Roscoe ordered. “Last but not least, this is Professor Hiram Battle.”
    A tall beanpole of a man, he shook Lili’s hand with so much vigor, her teeth almost rattled in her head. “Nice meeting,” he said in abbreviated reply.
    “You, too. You’re a professor up at the college?”
    “University.” He rubbed his fingers in his steel-wool cap of hair. “College implies either a technical school or something of the junior variety.”
    Translation: something of inferior quality.
    Lili decided not to mention that she hadn’t attended either university or college. That hadn’t been in her life plan. Not that she had a real life plan. “Erika tells me you’ve written a book. That’s marvelous.”
    “It’s a literary novel, required reading in many halls of higher education.”
    “That’s wonderful.” Then she edged around them before she made a mistake and backed toward Erika on the couch. “It’s so nice meeting all of you, but don’t let me disturb you. I’m going to see how Fluffy’s doing. He hasn’t been feeling well.”
    “That’s because he pinched a Vienna sausage right off Roscoe’s table. I saw him,” Linwood said. “Then he dragged it behind the couch like a pirate with his booty.”
    “That’s crap, Linwood. He’s been behind the couch since I got out the card table, which was before I put the sausages out.”
    “Then it must have been a rat. A long, gray thing. You’d better tell your son to get rid of the rats. I hate rats.”
    Oops. It wasn’t a rat. It was Einstein. That naughty cat.
    Chester jumped into the fray. “Skunks are worse. You ever had one blow off outside your window? Enough to gag a maggot.”
    Linwood snorted. “Maggots don’t gag.”
    “It’s an expression, you old fart.”
    “There are no rats in this house,” Roscoe declared.
    “Gentlemen, are we going to play cards or are you three