Free Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 03 - Valentined by Patricia Rockwell Page A

as soon as it gets
here.  Of course, he always gets here in the morning.  I’ve never known the mailman
to arrive any later than noon.  And usually no later than, let’s say, eleven.”
    “Hmm,” said Essie, pondering this information.  “No later
than eleven.  And how early might he arrive?”
    “That’s a good question,” replied Phyllis.  “Of course, he
couldn’t get in the building before six because it’s locked.  But I don’t
believe he’s ever been here that early!  Probably the earliest he’s ever been
here was…maybe nine or eight thirty.”
    “So, the window for the mailman’s arrival is somewhere
between nine and eleven,” said Essie almost to herself.  “A two hour window.” 
    “Yes,” said Phyllis, “that sounds about right.  Why do you
ask?”
    “It’s that old curiosity of mine again,” laughed Essie. 
“You know us old ladies; we don’t have much else to do with ourselves than
calculate the arrival time of the local postman.”  She gave Phyllis a forced
laugh.  Phyllis joined in for a moment.  As she was about ready to depart,
Essie turned from the front desk as Santos whizzed by her with a covered food
tray heading towards her hallway off the family room again.  Essie said
farewell to Phyllis and pushed her walker after the waiter and down her
hallway.
    As she turned into her hallway, she saw Santos at the far
end where the hallway dead-ended.  He made a quick turn to the left.  Essie
contemplated whether to continue to her own room which was a few doors down on
the left or follow Santos.  She quickly decided to follow the waiter.  She
wished Santos had turned right because the hallway on the right continued only
a short distance.  There were just a few apartments down that portion of the
hallway and Essie knew all the residents in them.  Unfortunately, Santos had
turned left.  Taking this route led him down a segment of hallway that ran the
full length of the Happy Haven building.  Essie thought she knew a good number
of the residents who lived down this hallway but she wasn’t exactly certain
which room went with which resident. 
    She rolled her walker quickly down the corridor to the end
where Santos had disappeared from sight.  Cautiously, she peeked around the
corner and glanced surreptitiously down the left-hand side.  She saw Santos’s
back walking in the distance.  As she followed him with her eyes, he suddenly
stopped and knocked on a door on the left.  The door opened immediately and
Santos slipped inside. 
    Now whose apartment is that? thought Essie.  Did she
dare roll down the hall and read the resident’s name on the door?  No ,
she thought.  Santos will probably just drop off the tray and then come back
out.   She waited and waited.  Several minutes went by and Santos did not
come out of the room.  Now, why is he staying so long after delivering a
food tray? she asked herself.  She counted the number of doors down the
hallway where Santos had entered.  Keeping the location of the apartment firmly
in her mind, she turned around and pushed her walker back towards her own room
and past it and out to the family room where she snatched a comfy,
inconspicuous chair.  She sat down and waited, her eyes on the hallway, waiting
for Santos to return.
     
     
    Chapter Ten
    “Nothing takes the taste out of
peanut butter quite like unrequited love.”
    —Charles M. Schulz
    As she sat in the family room, totally focused on catching
Santos when he returned from delivering the food tray, she failed to notice a
group of card players at a table nearby.  As her eyes continued to squint
towards the end of the corridor watching for the waiter, she began to recognize
the voices of several residents she knew.  She saw several residents and staff
members enter and exit the hallway, but no Santos.
    “Essie Cobb!” called out a familiar voice.  “You can’t hide
over there in that big chair!”
    Essie glanced over and immediately saw Dave