Harriet Beamer Takes the Bus Read Online Free PDF

Prudence asked once they were out of the airport and onto the highway. She cracked a window and let the early spring air into the car.
    “About what?”
    “Your mother. Should we check the bus schedules? I suspect she’ll be taking Greyhound. We could go online and see if a bus from Philadelphia is arriving today.”
    “Oh, not today. It will take longer than a day to travel clear across the country.”
    Prudence made one of her noises. “Oh, that’s right,” she said. “I didn’t even think about that. Who knows when she’ll be arriving?”
    Henry reached over and squeezed Prudence’s shoulder. “Look, we’ll check the Greyhound website when we get home. If she left today after Humphrey’s flight, she’ll be arriving here in a couple of days I would imagine.”
    “I hope so, Henry. You know how much I love your mother, but I’ve got the election coming up and this big case. I don’t need the distraction.”
    Henry sighed. “Leave it to my mother to do something so harebrained as this.”
    “Whoa,” Prudence said. “I didn’t say that. Harebrained? Okay, okay, the bus might not have been her smartest move, but Ibet she thought long and hard about this. She sold her house and most of the furniture all by herself, not to mention shipping what needed shipping — including her entire salt-and-pepper-shaker collection.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “She called yesterday and said the FedEx driver just picked up the boxes.”
    “Oh. I didn’t know.”
    “And don’t forget she arranged for storage for everything else and got Humphrey on an airplane. Harriet Beamer is not a hare-brain. Just … unconventional.”
    “All right, all right. You made your point.”
    Prudence smiled and touched his cheek. “I’m sorry, honey. I’m just worried and … and stressed. Running for the council and —”
    “I know,” Henry said, “but who has the best legal mind in this car or any of those cars out there?”
    She kissed his cheek on the same spot Humphrey licked. “Dog germs.”
    “Everything will work out. Mom will get here unscathed, Sandra Day will grow to love Humphrey, and you will be elected to the city council and then who knows — the Supreme Court. Unless of course you’d rather start thinking about having —”
    “Oh, not the baby discussion. I’m … just not ready. My career is —”
    “I know, honey. I know.”
    Prudence stared out the window. The trees whizzed past at seventy miles an hour. “I hope Harriet knows what she’s doing.”
    Humphrey whimpered and closed his eyes.

Chapter 4
    H ARRIET LOOKED AT THE CLOCK ON THE KITCHEN WALL — she was leaving it behind for the new owners. “Two o’clock. Humphrey must have landed by now.” She sighed. “I hope he’s okay.”
    She finished wiping down the counters and made certain the refrigerator was clean and smelled fresh. As excited as she felt about her decision to take the scenic route and see the country, she also felt nervous, scared to death at times about traveling alone. But she wasn’t about to admit that to anyone, including Martha. God knew her anxieties and that was enough.
    “Ah, fiddlesticks,” she said to the clock. “Maybe I should just get on an airplane. I mean what the heck. So I’ll never see the country — what’s so great about a salt-and-pepper-shaker museum anyway?”
    She flopped onto the kitchen chair just as her cell phone chimed.
    “Henry,” she said. “Did you get Humphrey? How is he? Is he terribly nervous?”
    “Yes, Mom. He’s here. He’s fine. But I wish you had come with him.”
    “I’ll be there soon. I —”
    “Listen, Mom,” Henry said. “Just take the plane. Taking the bus is crazy. It’s nonsense.”
    Harriet felt her eyebrows arch like a gothic cathedral. “Nonsense? Crazy? It’s not nonsense. And I am not crazy.” Harriet felt a twinge of courage resurface. “I … I want to see the country before I die.”
    “But Mom, alone? Why not wait until next summer, and