Koala Killer Thirteenth Installment (on the 13th)

She ate as if she hadn't eaten for days. The soft and steamy eggs contrasted wonderfully with the crispy edges on the hash browns.

"Where did you get bell pepper? I didn't have any." A giggle escaped.

"Actually, I used zucchini. Taste all right? What are you giggling about?"

"I was remembering the time you used the word 'ephemeral' in the coffee shop we used to hang out at. Dear me, I seem to have lost my grammatical senses. Anyway, the football jock at the next table thought you said 'effeminate' and he made some stupid comment. Then you said, 'Better to stay silent and be mistaken for ignorant than speak up and prove it.' So he thinks you're apologizing or something and says, 'Yeah, and better to stay in the closet.' We almost choked trying to keep from screaming with laughter."

"That turned out to be a pivotal conversation for me. That 'jock' as you call him recognized me before I had a clue. We thought he was ignorant, but I've amended my opinion since then."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's not get into that tonight. I'll just say that trying to be erudite can backfire if not used sparingly and in the right company."

Mari got through college on a scholarship supplemented by various part time jobs. Her single-parent mother had died of breast cancer right after her graduation from high school. The last job had been at one of the better hotels in Pueblo Valley. That's where she met Cass. He was a bellman. His parents were 'wealthy-with-a-conscience,' as Cass put it. One of the things that attracted her to Cass was his vocabulary, which he claimed he got by osmosis at home. They also shared a love of reading. He recommended most of her books the first year she knew him. After her older stepbrother went into the army, Cass had been like a brother to her. They had tried to put a romantic spin on their relationship back then but it hadn't worked. They finally realized they were just life-friends. Just? As far as they were concerned, and they'd discussed it, a life-friend was more valuable than a romantic relationship. But it lacked something too. It lacked the same capacity for confrontation, even combat, which married couples could find themselves in, and, therefore, it was possible that it lacked depth that being a family could give.

She found herself thinking, "Funny how adversity and depth are connected." It was the kind of thought best explored and discussed with Cass. But right now she wanted to fill him in on what had been going on in her usually dull life.

"I can see you've stopped thinking about your food. Let me clean up and we can go over the action of the last few days. You said that detective is coming tomorrow morning?"

"God, yes. I'm so tired. This has truly been one of the longest days of my life."

"Let's get you ready for, and into, bed. Then you can tell me the basics."

While Cass patted her back, she told him the tale in an emotional weepy way that helped release her tension and fear. The next thing she knew she was groping in the night to get up and use the bathroom. Owen, of course, escorted her. Getting back to sleep was harder. She dreaded that policeman coming and she didn't know why. Owen hopped up to lay on the side of the bed with her.

Koala Killer Twelfth Installment

After Shirley left, she turned the phone ringer off. She pampered herself with a whole box of macaroni and cheese that she kept in the back of the cupboard for emergencies, followed by a generous serving of cherry swirl ice cream. She let Owen lick the bowls. Then she lay down to re-read Dick Francis' "To The Hilt". Just like Scarlet in "Gone With the Wind," she decided to think about it tomorrow. She fell into a restless sleep of car-chasing-her dreams.

Chapter 4

Someone was coming through the rain as she crawled through bloody grass, moaning. Worlds changed and Owen was barking his most piercing greeting. His tone turned to ecstasy yips, so she knew it was a friend. In fact, it was her best friend, Cass. And from Owen's point of view, the true leader of their small pack.

"Are you in pain, honey?" Cass said, sitting on the edge of her bed, looking handsome as ever in a blue starched shirt and faded soft jeans. He smelled of the Aspen cologne she'd sent him for his birthday.

"I was having a dramatic and exaggerated dream of last night's reality, or was that the night before. Anyway, I should thank you for interrupting, the bad guy was winning." Her head was soaked in sweat and she felt grungy.

"Easiest rescue of the week."

"Next rescue is guaranteed more challenging. I need a shower and I'm not supposed to get this cast wet or take the rib wrap off for another day or so. Any ideas?"

"Let's start with a shampoo. That will make you feel better."

First, Cass had to give a few minutes playtime to Owen, who adored him. Owen had both of his dog toys in the middle of the room, nudging them and hopping back in expectation. You would never guess that he would soon be ten years old. After the amenities were out of the way, Cass helped her lean over the kitchen sink where she had a sprayer hose. He gave her a lovely scalp massage and brought her the oatmeal soap from the bathroom for her face.

With her head wrapped in a soft green towel, her face shining and tight, she finally felt more like the girl that loved inside, the one that never aged; the girl with a loving mother who bathed her and put her into a clean nightie and tucked her into bed.

The sun had set and the color spread across the bit of sky she could see out her window. Cass was making them a bite of dinner. The phone rang.

Cass had moved the phone close to her so she answered it. It was Lt. Wilson. He hoped the hadn't wakened her but could he come by and go over the series of events in the morning, say 9:30AM? She agreed. Then she noticed there was a message on her answering machine. She pushed play.

"Mari, this is Jorge. I can't believe what happened, honey. Please take as much time as you need to get well. Put this whole thing behind you. We'll cover your duties. Give us a call when you feel well enough."

There was genuine caring in his voice that made tears come into her eyes. She'd never been able to handle sympathy. She did better with a 'buck up' kind of response.

Cass was working on the 'feed me' response. He had set up the card table complete with place settings and candles. He'd fixed from scratch hash browns and Western omelets.

"When time are rough, revert to breakfast," he said.

"Who are you quoting?"

"Myself. Who was on the phone?"

"Jorge, the zoo administrator. He told me to take whatever time I needed and get well."

"Good. Eat up, omelets are an ephemeral food."

Koala Killer Eleventh Installment

"I hate to ask you, but, Cass, that's exactly what I want."

"You got it, honey. What hospital?"

"I'll be home soon, so come there okay?"

"How's Owen? He miss me?"

"Bea is looking after him right now. He's probably forgotten all about you just like I have."

"Yeah right."

The uniformed policeman had come into the room to introduce himself. She covered the phone and smiled at him. When she told Cass, he said he had to get going anyway so he could make arrangements. So they hung up.

She felt better already. Then she called her girlfriend Shirley to ask if she could come take her home from the hospital. She told her she'd been in an accident so she wouldn't get too upset.

Shirley told her to call when she was ready so she could take her kids to her mother's. She was still on maternity leave for her second child, Jesus Junior. Her little girl, Brianna was two. No, she was going to be two at the end of this month.

The wheels of hospital paper work and doctor's releases ground slowly but surely to the moment of actual freedom. The, 'you can go home this morning,' translated into 2:00PM. At last Shirley was helping her into the passenger seat of the Honda. Her police guard was there too and Shirley could hardly wait to get her into the car to grill her.

"What's going on, Mari?" she said.

"There's so much going on, Shirley, I don't know where to begin. I do know I don't feel up to going into it in any detail right now. I really will tell you every detail once I've had a rest. Basically, a hit-and-run vehicle at the zoo ran me down and the police were called to look into it. Will that hold you for now, dear friend?"

"You bet, girlfriend!" she grinned.

"Tell me about the high intellectual accomplishments of Brianna and Jesus in fifty words or less."

"Brianna has the temperament of a hyper-active pit boss and never stops talking or moving. Even asleep. Jesus, on the other hand, is calm and mild-mannered. So far. The question is, will his baby personality hold? How many words is that?"

"Well under the limit, I'm sure. Brianna's just trying to wrest control of the household from you, mom, and at an earlier age than most. Don't bother resisting. Having to earn her own living will shut her up soon enough."

"'What are you like?' as Ainsley Harriott would say."

"Who's Ainsley Harriott?"

"I'll tell you when you've rested. He'd wear you out for sure."

"I love talking to you."

"Una vieja amiga es el mejor espejo." She translated, "An old friend is the best mirror."

Shirley wheeled into Mari's sparsely graveled, bumpy driveway. The ground was still damp in former puddle depressions and the middle orange tree had perked up. The sky lingered in shades of gray and white. The sun would win soon and carry on with summer's siege.

Bea came out of her gate with Owen. The strain of trying not to jump up was driving Owen into his usual you're home, you're home, thank god you're home, which included play stance, stand on hind legs, hop, turn, repeat.

She told Bea she was in her debt once more. Bea told her she was glad to do it. "Anytime."

"He's such a good boy, aren't you Owen?"

"He's got you wrapped around his hairy paws too, I see." Mari told her.

Bea declined the offer to come in for a cup of tea.

Shirley drank herb tea on all occasions. Inside, she stood looking at Mari's newly placed picture, a Robert Wood print. The picture is of two campers in front of their lean-to building tending a fire on the bank of a river, at the base of a mountain, as the last light of day fades behind the peak.

"That's cool, almost bracing, in a put-on-a-vest, gather-wood-for-the-fire, kind of way."

"Do you like the canoe?"

"Sure. Why?"

"I added it. I cut it out of a catalog and glued it on. It just happened to fit."

"Get out of here. Isn't that sacrilege or something"

"I didn't do it to an original. It's a print and now it's personalized."

They drank chamomile tea from the English Rose pot Shirley had given her. As Shirley was leaving, Mari told her that Cass was coming down from San Francisco to visit.

"All of a sudden?" she asked.

"I called him from the hospital, just before I called you, Shirl."

"Good , I can get the story out of him. Call me in a couple of days, okay?"