Michael Malone - Weebly

forward again.
chapter 39
Polly Hedgerow had biked to town from her private
throne on the bank of the Rampage, where she'd left
Anna Karenina in tears.
Miss Dingley was to meet her and Luke Packer at
the pharmacy.
Next door, Mr. Smalter was having his regular
three o'clock coffee at the Tea Shoppe. "Wait outside,"
Luke said. "I'll just go tell him I'm leaving."
His thin circle of yellow hair bent over a book he
had propped up against the edge of his table, the
druggist sat alone across the room from where in a
back corner Mrs. Haig, all in black, sat with Mr.
Abernathy. From the window Polly watched Smalter
look up, as if relieved, to see Luke. He began talking to
him. Then, quickly finishing his coffee, he took his check
to Miss Lattice. He hesitated, Polly noticed, before
waving at Mrs. Haig, who nodded in return. Mr.
Abernathy twisted around in his chair, smiled, then
leaned back toward the postmistress. As Mrs. Haig