I covered the phone with my palm. “What’s that, Myra?” I threw my pencil at Myra. It hit her shoulder, and she finally looked away from her screen.
I waved the pad at her and mouthedplease.
Myra just shook her head at me like I was being childish and went back to her work.
The big meanie.
“No, Myra,” I said. “You’re not getting that time off you wanted because we are sobusyhere.”
Myra flipped me the bird without looking up.
“Sorry about the interruption,” I said to Bertie. “Where were we?”
“I do not have an assistant.”
“Oh-kay?”
“This season I will be three times as busy as usual. But I do not have an assistant. I have a standard to uphold. I alone deal with every detail of every event. Did you know that, Delaney?”
“Yes?”
“Did you know my time is not limitless? There are only so many ‘missed calls’ I will tolerate.”
Crap. She was angry. I opened my mouth to give her a real apology, but she cut me off.
“I need you to do something for me.”
Oh, gods. This was what I’d been avoiding. Bertie was in charge of all the community events, festivals, and fundraisers. She’d been doing it almost longer than Ordinary had had its name. She always needed volunteers.
“Ihavebeen busy. I’m not sure how much help I can be, other than what we usually sign up for.”
I always helped with the events. The whole department worked to keep an eye on crowds, help lost kids find their parents, make sure no out-of-towner was stomping through someone’s flower beds. We handled fender benders, traffic management, de-escalated arguments before fights could break out.
Saturday’s festival was coming up fast. Flyers plastered every window and bulletin board in Ordinary. Colorful flags and banners had been pulled from storage and installed in front of shops. Flowers were planted, watered and trimmed. The big event was pulling together without a hitch as far as I could tell.
“As you well know,” Bertie went on, as if we’d just started the conversation, “we have a very important festival this weekend. It begins Saturday.”
“Yes.”
“Saturday is day after tomorrow.”
“I’m aware.”
“Are you also aware the Ordinary Show Off is an event residents mark on their calendar months in advance?”
To avoid, I mentally noted. “Yep. Yes. Talent show. It’s on my calendar too.”
To avoid.
“It is much more than a talent show, Delaney Reed. It is a chance for everyone to come together and reacquaint themselves. It is vital. Lifeblood. If anything were to stop it, Ordinary would be a shell of itself, gasping for air.”
“I don’t think Ordinary needs CPR, Bertie.”
“Of course it doesn’t. We have the talent show for that.”
“Is this about Boring?”
Bertie had always been a bit militant about Ordinary’s events. But ever since she’d found out her sister Valkyrie, Robyn, had nested in Boring and was going directly head-to-head with Bertie for the tourist dollars by throwing identical festivals at identical times, Bertie had been a little extra-extra.
