Nobody Knows Your Secret

43

Hadley's phone rang.

"Hadley!" Maury said, "Bill and I had supper over at The Spoon, and you'll never guess what who I saw!"

"Bogart and Bacall! Sinatra and Gardner!" Hadley said, gnawing on a carrot.

"No, silly," said Maury, "although I would like to lay eyes on beautiful people like that before I meet my Maker. But no. We saw Ruth and Doctor Haaamp-toooons. And they looked like they were out on a date! All smiles and lovey-dovey. I swear to you, Sis, those two were neckin' in the back booth!"

"Great day in the morning!" Hadley said. "If that don't beat all! That what's-his-name, Doctor Wilson, has got to be a good catch! He better not throw Ruth back in the stream if he's got a lick of sense."

"They looked happy," Maury said, "We were only there a few minutes. A call came in, and Bill had to take it."

Maury hesitated.

"What is it?" Hadley asked.

"We were in our personal car. Bill didn't want to leave me out in the street, so I rode out with him to check it out. Don't say anything, okay?"

"Maury, you know I can keep a secret."

"Better than I can, that's for sure. It was Cleve 'n' Virgie. Domestic disturbance."

"Oh, my stars!" Hadley said. "As if that poor woman doesn't have enough burdens to bear!"

"Actually," said Maury, "Cleve called the cops."

"He what!" said Hadley.

"Virgie was like a hurricane!" Maury said. "I've never seen her so mad. She was chasin' Cleve around the house with an iron skillet. She kept sayin' it was high time somebody knocked some sense into Cleve's hard head!"

"I would have loved to have seen that."

"Bill said he was glad for a woman's presence. I was able to talk to Virgie, you know, woman to woman. She calmed down a right smart. It wasn't funny in one way, but Bill and I laughed the whole way home. If you could have seen the hound dawg look on old Cleve's face!"

Both women laughed.

"Cleve refused to press charges," Maury said. "After all that Virgie's been through, I guess whatever it was that Cleve did that set her off was the straw that broke the donkey's back."

"Virgie's a good woman," said Hadley.

"Yes, she is," said Maury, "but drivin' back, Bill decided to swing back through town. I can't be sure, Hadley, but I think I saw some kids dealin' drugs in front of The Band-Aid."

"Oh, no," said Hadley.

"Right there on Main Street," Maury said. "They scattered like mice when they saw the car. But that's what Bill thought, too."

"That's just too scary to contemplate," said Hadley.

"I never thought I would live to see anything like that in my life," Maury said. "Did you lock your doors?"

"No," said Hadley. "But I will."