Down by the River Read Online Free PDF

and see if John needs me. I don’t imagine June’s going to be much good to him today.”
    “I heard her say she had to take Jim out to Myrna’s for a looking over,” Sam said.
    “I’d like to see how that goes, but I wasn’t invited,” Elmer said, hefting himself out of the booth. “We having poker at the parsonage on Thursday, Harry?”
    “You bet. Is everyone in? Even Myrna?”
    “I’m sure wild horses wouldn’t keep her away.”
    Harry made a face and shook his head. “Nobody loves Myrna more than me, but if she doesn’t miss a poker night one of these weeks, I’m going to have to file for bankruptcy.”
    “You’re preaching to the choir, Reverend,” Elmer said, making his departure. It was a well known fact that Myrna had been cleaning up at poker for many a year. She rarely had a downslide.
    “Is the mail dependable around here, Sam?”
    “I wouldn’t know, Harry. No one ever writes me.”
    “I can’t tell if it’s the post office or my friend. I made a loan to someone a few months ago and, well, I know he’s good for it…. Or maybe he’s not and I was foolish. Anyway, he said he sent it, but—”
    “Don’t say another word, Harry,” Sam said, pulling a thick wad of bills out of his pocket and folding out some twenties. “I can give you a little something to tide you over.”
    “That’s awful nice of you, Sam. I hate to take advantage….”
    “Think nothing of it, Harry. Since Justine passed away, I have no one and nothing to spend it on.” Hecounted off a hundred dollars and put it on the table in front of Harry. “Anytime I can be of help.”
    “Much appreciated, my friend. I’ll get it back to you the second my check arrives.”

Three
    P erhaps the most beloved resident in Grace Valley was Myrna Hudson Claypool. June’s aunt Myrna had lived in the valley longer than any other resident, having been brought by her parents at the age of four. Her father, Charles Hudson, had been a successful Bay Area banker who had built a mansion for his much younger wife, where they could live in comfort, raise a large family and entertain lavishly. In so doing, Charles had founded a town, though he didn’t get to live in it long. Eight years after moving into Hudson House, Myrna’s mother died giving birth to her second child, Elmer, and two years after that, when Myrna was barely fourteen and Elmer but two, Charles joined his wife in eternity.
    For the next seventy years Myrna lived an eccentric and fascinating life. Rather than playing with other little girls or being courted by young men, she raised her younger brother from infancy and sawhim through a college education and medical school on the generous funds left to them by their father. All through this period of single parenting, she devoured books; reading saved her from loneliness. When Elmer was gone from the house to further his education, she began writing novels—first Gothic, then mysteries and finally suspense stories. By the age of eighty-four she had published more than sixty books and was still hard at it.
    Though no one knew the measure of Myrna’s wealth, she had extended her generosity to the town as though it was a part of her family. She gave a piece of land for a town cemetery, carried a million-dollar note to fund the building of the clinic, and just last summer at the Fourth of July picnic, surprised June with a brand new ambulance. She employed the sixty-five-year-old bickersome Barstow twins, Endeara and Amelia, simply because no one else would and without work they would be destitute. And she did this despite the fact that they weren’t much help around the house and couldn’t cook any better than Myrna, whose cooking was legendary for its inedible quality, a fact that had never prevented her from having large dinner parties.
    One of the quirkiest and most entertaining stories about Myrna was her marital history. She didn’t indulge until she was in her forties and then married a stranger to the town.