“Oh dear,” Annaliese muttered as she tried to rein Moe to a stop, the donkey turning contrary and picking up his pace instead. As she gave another tug of the reins, Pippin took that moment to scurry down the steps, followed by her two siblings, Wiggles and Fidget. Following the ferrets was Agent Pearson, the Pinkerton, who held a pistol in his hand as he raced after Irma.
Before Seth had the presence of mind to do more than sit forward on the seat, Annaliese handed him the reins and leapt from the still-moving wagon, the parrot giving a squawk as it fluttered from her shoulder and landed on his head. There was no time to contemplate that unusual situation as his attention stayed on Annaliese, who was dashing off in the direction of her mother, yelling at the top of her lungs for Agent Pearson to not shoot the monkey, words the agent evidently didn’t hear because a blast from his pistol sounded a second later.
Eight
Truth be told, Annaliese was beginning to feel as if she was experiencing a drama-filled day that was never going to end, especially when, after Agent Pearson shot his pistol into the air, the monkey picked up her pace before she hurled herself up and onto Irma, who wasn’t exactly a lady who enjoyed animals hurling themselves on her in general.
Instead of jumping off Irma the moment Annaliese’s mother started shrieking, though, the monkey began trying to relieve Irma of the Merriweather diamond necklace encircling Irma’s neck, earning additional shrieks from Irma in return as she tried to wrest the necklace away from a monkey that was obviously skilled in the ways of relieving a person of their valuables.
To add an entirely new level of drama to the situation, Pippin, along with Wiggles and Fidget, began circling Irma, chirping in a fashion that could only be described as menacing.
“Pippin, stand down,” Annaliese called when she was five feet away from her mother, a demand that had Pippin freezing on the spot, Wiggles and Fidget doing the same after she shot them her stern look. Ignoring the dejected looks she was now receiving from ferrets that rarely earned that particular look from her, she strode closer to her mother, who now seemed tobe in the process of being strangled by a monkey that appeared determined to get possession of the necklace.
“Let ... go,” Irma huffed as she continued tugging on the necklace.
“I think you’re going to have to let her have it, Mother, before someone gets hurt, and I don’t think that someone’s going to be the monkey,” Annaliese said.
A side-eye was Irma’s first response to that as she continued her tugging. “Agent Pearson only just retrieved this necklace from that horrid Mrs. George Bend. If you’ll recall, Mrs. Bend was first in line at the Sotheby’s sale we had to hold months ago when our fortune was stolen.”
“And while that was not well-done of Mrs. Bend to scoop up your jewelry for a fraction of its worth, I’m not suggesting you let the monkey keep it. Just hold it for a moment or two.”
“How do you know she’s not going to take off into the woods with it and never show her monkey face here again?”
“Perhaps we should simply find something she’ll find more enticing than diamonds,” Seth suggested, moving to stand beside Annaliese.
Her lips couldn’t help but curve when her gaze settled on him because the parrot was now firmly attached to Seth’s head, its long talons gripping his hair in what had to be a painful grip, not that Seth seemed bothered by that.
“Mr. McCormick,” Irma exclaimed before Annaliese could remark on the parrot. “What are you doing here, and why, pray tell, do you have a parrot on your head?”
“It’s been quite the interesting day, Mrs. Merriweather,” Seth returned. “But before Annaliese and I regale you with the details, let me see if I can figure out how to get that monkey off your back.”
With that, Seth stuck his hand in his jacket pocket and began pulling out an assortment of odd-looking contraptions that hepromptly dumped on the ground. He then bent over and began sorting through everything.
Interestingly enough, while he sorted, the monkey stopped tugging on Irma’s necklace, her monkey gaze fixated on Seth, who took that moment to hold up the artificial eardrum, which the monkey all but scoffed at as she gave the necklace another tug.
“Thought it was worth a shot,” Seth murmured before he returned to his gadgets, his lips curving as he held up a brightly polished silver box, one that had a clasp on it and was not much bigger than a calling card. “What do you think about this?” he asked the monkey, who immediately began chattering up a storm, something that left Irma turning rather pale.
“Ah, you like this, do you?” Seth asked as the monkey held out her paw, earning a shake of the head from Seth in return. “You need to let go of the necklace first, or better yet, how about if you come over here next to me?” Seth held out his hand. “I assure you, you’ll enjoy what’s called a sovereign change purse far better than that necklace because this dispenses coins. I have a feeling you like coins.”
A bit of additional monkey chatter commenced before she gave yet another tug on Irma’s necklace.
Seth smiled. “Ah, I see you don’t believe me. Allow me to show you the marvel of this purse, although...” His smile faded as he shot a glance to Annaliese. “Perhaps she’d cooperate more if we were calling her by name because, if it’s escaped your notice, she has remarkably intelligent eyes, and we might be insulting her by not addressing her by name, or worse yet, calling hermonkey.”
Something that felt exactly like a flutter of butterfly wings took that moment to settle in Annaliese’s stomach, a feeling that rendered her speechless, until her mother began looking at her oddly right before a smidgen of what seemed to be calculation flickered through Irma’s eyes.
Having been the recipient of that exact look anytime Irma found a gentleman who hadn’t been apprised of Annaliese’s dismal reputation during her disappointing debut, and not caring to experience Irma turning relentless if she thought there was a viable suitor on the horizon, Annaliese shook all butterflies aside.
After summoning up a smile, and hoping it wasn’t overly bright since Irma would definitely decide that was an encouraging sign, she inclined her head Seth’s way. “That’s an excellent suggestion, and since you came up with it, any thoughts as to what we should name her?”
Seth’s eyes went distant for a long moment before he nodded. “I recently had the privilege of meeting Harriet Russell Strong, a progressive lady if there ever was one, who’s been studying water shortages along the Colorado River and has some rather impressive ideas regarding how to control floodwaters and water storage.” He smiled. “Seems to me, since you’re a progressive lady as well, that Harriet might be an appropriate name for your monkey.”
The butterfly fluttering returned with a vengeance, something Annaliese tried to ignore by turning to the monkey. “What do you think, darling? Want us to name you Harriet as you seem to be a progressive monkey, just like Harriet Russell Strong is a progressive lady?”
The monkey tilted her head and then began chattering away, quite as if she was in full agreement that Harriet would be a more-than-appropriate name.
“Harriet it is, then,” Seth said, but before he could do more than hold out the change purse again, Irma shook her head.
“We can’t name her Harriet as Melinda Anderson’s mother is named Harriet. I very much doubt that lady is going to appreciate sharing her name with a monkey.”
