GRYDER'S COVE TALES: HOWLERS

the end of the end...

Morning found Gail and Olivia in the highest, fluffiest queen size bed ever seen. Their heads were resting against a mountain of the softest pillows, their bodies draped over with thick comforters and a plush blanket underneath. The room looked like a combination of a country arts and crafts fair and a library and smelled of cinnamon and apples. Even her own bedroom wasn't this comfortable, and Gail was thinking of just rolling back over and going back to sleep, surrounded by all this warmth and happiness, but then the question of exactly where the hell this bedroom is began to nag at her. She sat up slowly, still sore and achy from the night before, but not as bad as most mornings. Fumbling around under the edge of the bed, hoping whoever put her here thought to...yes, sure enough, she found her purse, consequently her Pericodin. She opened a bottle of water on the nightstand and took the pills individually, being as her throat was still sore from being choked nearly to death by an evil witch.

Attempting to wake Olivia would be pointless, so Gail decided to wander into the next room and see if she could figure out where she had landed. She made her way down the hallway, past pictures of geese, farm scenes, and people she didn't recognize until the hallway opened up into the familiar living room of Rev. Horace and Maudine Swafford.

Horace was sitting in his easy chair reading the morning's newspaper. He heard Gail's knees pop as she stepped into the room and turned his head in her direction, greeting her with a broad smile as he stood.

"Mornin', Ms. Stevens. Slept well, did ya?"

"Um, yeah, yeah I did, Reverend, thank you. How did we get here, by the way?"

He put down his paper and walked over to her.

"Maudine an' Judy brought you two in and put you to bed, with a little help from me, of course. I pretty much had to carry that red-haired girl. She sleeps like the dead."

"Yeah, I know," Gail giggled. She noticed the scent of breakfast hanging heavily in the air, and heard Maudine puttering around the kitchen. "Watch this, though," she told the reverend, walking back down the hall to the bedroom and opening the door. Sure enough, there was Olivia, still snoring and drooling away the morning. She walked back to the living room, picked up a big pillow from the couch and began fanning the scent down the hall. In only a few seconds, Olivia came stumbling into the living room, her shirt all twisted up, pants slipping down, her blazing red hair a wreck, eyes blinking hard and trying to adjust to the light.

She rubbed her eyes and mumbled, "Izzat biscuits an' gravy an' sausage and stuff? Izzit like mornin' a'ready?"

Gail and Horace looked at each other and tried not to laugh out loud. Gail walked over to Olivia and put her hand on her shoulder.

"C'mon, sleepyhead. Let's go say good morning."

There it was, spread out on the dining room table; big, fluffy biscuits, thick, meaty gravy and enough sausage and bacon for several people. Maudine was busy pouring coffee from her old percolator into a white decanter. She looked up and saw the three entering the kitchen and smiled at them.

"Morning, everyone. I trust y'all have your appetites this mornin'? Y'all head into the bathroom and wash up now. I'll get the orange juice outta the fridge, then we can get started."

Olivia was suddenly much, much more awake, already feasting on the huge meal with her eyes and looking sorely tempted to reach out and start filling a plate, but opted to wait until she had washed her hands, being as she had been through all she had the night before. Olivia was the first back to the table, followed by Horace. Gail was soaping up her hands, thinking about the previous night's events. She put her hands under the warm water and rinsed away the lather, watching it go down the drain, musing to herself about how she half expected it to turn to blood as a sign that Elsie hadn't been destroyed.