A Baked Ham Read Online Free PDF Page A

kitchen.
    “It’s just about the best thing I
ever ate in my life,” I said, and then to prove it, I took another bite.   Wow, it just got better and better.   “You really need to teach Greg how to do this.”
    “Your husband’s gravy is just
fine,” Mom said, defending her fellow short order cook.
    “His still can’t touch yours, as
good as it might be, and he knows it just as well as I do,” I said.
    Mom blushed slightly, but she was
clearly pleased with the compliment.   I
was about to take yet another bite when I heard our front door open.   It took real effort on my part to turn away
from my breakfast and face our first customer of the day.   I was surprised to see Garret Wilkes, a tall,
heavyset man with a shock of white hair.   What was he doing here?   He rarely
came into our little diner, and never this early.   I had to wonder if the reason he was stopping
in at The Charming Moose now had more to do with what had happened last night
than with our food, since Garret was the producer and director of The Last Man
Left .   For his day job, he ran Wilkes
Jewelry, but I knew that theater was where his passion lived.
    “Is Moose around, by any chance?”
Garret asked me as I approached him with a menu.
    “No, he hasn’t been in this early since he ran the place
himself.   By the way, I’m sorry about the
play last night.”
    “Unfortunately, these things
happen.   We’re adding another show in two
nights and making tonight the play’s debut, so we’re getting the word out to
the community that last night’s tickets will be good for either performance on
a first come, first serve basis.”
    “Why skip a night in the middle
of your performances?” I asked.
    “Unfortunately, the theater was
already booked for a magic show before we planned any of this,” he said with a
frown.   “Would you mind if I put a sign
up in your window about it?”
    Normally I tried to discourage
that kind of thing, since it had a tendency to escalate quickly, and before I
knew it, I wouldn’t be able to see out, but this was different.   “How about if we put it up here?” I suggested
on the posting board near my wooden moose.   “It’s near the register, so folks will see it as they pay their bills.”
    “Yes, but if we put it in the
window, they don’t even have to eat here to get the news.”
    I laughed.   “Garret, if they don’t eat here, I don’t
really care that much about them in the first place.   I’m offering you a prime spot, just this
once.   Take it or leave it.”
    “I’ll take it,” he said with the
hint of a smile.   “You are as tough a
bargainer as your grandfather.”
    “I’ll take that as a
compliment.   Is that why you wanted to
see Moose?   You should know that I’m the
one who handles things here these days.”   When my grandfather had first retired, my dad had run the café for a
limited amount of time before he’d realized that he hated it, and I’d gladly
taken over after that.   After all, it was
a family business.
    “No, this is about something else
entirely.”
    “Just as long as you don’t accuse
him of what happened to Benny, I’m sure that he’d be glad to talk to you about
anything.”   I saw Garret’s face grow a
little bit gray when I mentioned the dead actor, so I added, “Garret, here’s a
piece of friendly advice.   Unless you have
a death wish, I wouldn’t say a word to my grandfather about Benny Booth.   If he brings it up first, fine, but I’d leave
that up to him if I were you.”
    “I wasn’t going to blame him for
the murder,” Garret said.   “I just wanted
to know what Benny said to him at the theater before he died.”
    “You could always ask me.   After all, I was standing right there when
they had their confrontation.”
    Garret’s eyes lit up.   “What did they talk about?”
    “Mostly it was about my
grandmother’s bottom,” I said.
    “I heard that rumor, but I
thought it was some kind of joke,” Garret