Free Runny03 - Loose Lips by Rita Mae Brown Page A

organist, a family friend, Aunt Dimps.
    Terrified that Yoyo would feel compelled to play the organ, Aunt Dimps stood, her back to the organ, her arms outstretched.
    The sight of Dimps in this strange posture caused Yoyo to reflect upon her actions. She sat stock-still, cocked her head to one side, and then walked toward her.
    “Good girl, good kitty, Yoyo.” Aunt Dimps reached down to pick up the animal, who sauntered toward her.
    Yoyo sidestepped those outstretched hands, leapt up, and landed
kerplat
on the keyboard. A dreadful screech boomed through the pipes, which so scared Yoyo she scooted off the organ, charged through the balcony aisle, and scurried down the back stairs, which emptied into the vestibule. She saw Buster and Juts out on the steps so she collected herself and walked out.
    Juts, hearing the organ cacophony, had put two and two together. She crumpled on the steps, more from merriment than from shame, just as St. Rose of Lima’s opened its doors, the worshipers spilling out like children let out of school.
    O.B. Huffstetler, sharp-eyed, guiding his most pregnant wife down the steps, noticed Juts. He called back for Louise, who was coming out the door. “Louise, something’s wrong with Juts.”
    Her eyes followed the direction of his finger, as did everyone else’s.
    As quickly as she could in her high heels, Louise ran downthe steps, her orchid corsage bobbing with each step. Pearlie and the girls, now alerted, followed, charging across the square.
    Breathless, she knelt down by her sister. “Juts, Juts, are you all right?”
    Juts laughed so hard she was sobbing. She couldn’t respond.
    “Aunt Juts.” Mary also knelt down by the aunt she loved.
    “What are Yoyo and Buster doing here?” Maizie asked.
    That sent Juts into renewed sobs of laughter.
    Pearlie bent over and gently put his hands under his sister-in-law’s arms. “Uppie-do.” He lifted her to her feet, where she sagged against him.
    “I think we’d better get the doctor,” Pearlie said.
    “No.” Julia shook her head, tried to say something, and then fell apart all over again.
    By now the congregation of St. Rose’s, as well as St. Paul’s Episcopal, was gathering on the steps of Christ Lutheran.
    “Is she all right?” asked Junior McGrail, who secretly hoped she wasn’t.
    Juts nodded.
    “Well, what’s wrong?” Popeye Huffstetler, ever the reporter, bluntly asked.
    Juts kept laughing and pointing to the dog and the cat.
    Junior, now upon them, remarked in a stage whisper to Caesura Frothingham, her best friend, “Imagine, Easter Sunday and she’s got dirty fingernails. I wouldn’t want someone to do my hair with dirty fingernails.”
    Try as she might, Juts couldn’t scrub out the dirt from planting tulips and bushes all night.
    Juts blinked back the tears. “Junior, you only have two hairs on your head.”
    Obviously, Juts was recovering.
    Christ Lutheran’s service ended and out rushed the rest of the congregation. Within seconds the details of Yoyo and Buster’sadventure were being told. Most laughed. A few holier-than-thou types were scandalized.
    Chessy, Cora, Celeste, Ramelle, and Fannie Jump howled with each detail of Yoyo’s rampage being told.
    Chester picked up a purring Yoyo. “Bet the devil made you do it.”
    This sent everyone into peals of laughter again.
    Junior scanned the park. “I don’t remember azalea bushes there.” She pointed a pudgy finger.
    “Oh.” Ramelle shrugged.
    “They’re interspersed with tulips. As president of the Sisters of Gettysburg, I planted that with my girls, and it was solid tulips,” Junior babbled.
    “Hey—” Caesura, a former president of the S.O.G., exclaimed, “George Gordon Meade’s statue is desecrated.”
    “He’s listing to port,” Popeye observed.
    Fannie Jump Creighton, serving president of the Daughters of the Confederacy, carefully held her hands behind her back. “Always said Meade was tilted.”
    “You started the war!” Caesura