Optical Delusions in Deadwood Read Online Free PDF

it’s that there’s no stopping you once you get up a head of steam.”

          She handed me back my glass. Ice cubes clinked and swirled in the murky lemonade. I raised it to my lips as the back door crashed open and two dripping kids slid inside with a chicken pecking at their heels.

          “Hi, Mom!” Layne wrapped two wet arms around my hips and hugged my stomach. “Did you bring the glue?”

          My son went through Elmer’s glue faster than a scrapbooking convention. I kissed the top of his head, the only dry spot on him. “I forgot.”

          “Awww, Mom …” He pulled away.

          “You can finish gluing your Zeppelin after supper.”

          “Can Kelly come over tonight?” Addy asked me as I air-dried the damp spots Layne had left on my dress.

          The chicken clucked toward the living room.

          “Addy, what did I tell you about that chicken?”

          “But Elvis is housebroken now.”

          “I’m tired of picking chicken feathers off my pillow. Elvis stays outside or in her cage in the basement, and that’s final.” Addy was lucky Aunt Zoe even allowed the damned bird in her house.

          “Fine.” Addy grabbed Elvis and tucked her under her arm. “But can Kelly come over, please?”

          Kelly was Addy’s best friend. She also happened to be the daughter of Jeff Wymonds, whose place I was knee-deep in cleaning up so I could put it on the market as soon as possible. Jeff’s soon-to-be ex-wife wanted her half of the house’s value immediately. She had big plans for herself and her new girlfriend.

          “I don’t know,” I told Addy. “Let me ask her dad.”

          “Okay.” Addy shifted the chicken to her other arm. “Umm, Mom?”

          “What?” I took a drink of my lemonade, savoring the sweet and sour flavors that reminded me of childhood. Aunt Zoe’s fresh lemonade came in second only to her legendary Christmas Whiskey Slush.

          “Do you want to kiss Kelly’s dad?”

          I nearly choked on my mouthful of lemonade. Gulping it all down at once, I coughed, cleared my throat, and then gaped at my daughter. “What?”

          “Do. You. Want. To. Kiss. Kel—”

          “I heard you the first time, Adelynn Renee.”

          Aunt Zoe snickered and poured lemonade into two smaller cups.

          “Well, do you?”

          “Yeah,” Layne chimed in, his arms crossed. “Do you?”

          Kiss Jeff Wymonds? “No.” The only lips I was interested in sampling were Doc’s. But nobody knew that except me, especially since my best friend, Natalie, believed herself to be in love with Doc, which was a problem I was doing my best to skirt.

          “Good.” Layne’s smile returned, widening further when Aunt Zoe handed him the cup of lemonade.

          Addy wasn’t smiling. “Why not?”

          “Because I just don’t.”

          “Not even a little? Not even like as a friend? Like how Harvey and Ms. Geary are kissing friends?”

          Ms. Geary was Aunt Zoe’s sixty-ish next-door neighbor who preferred to weed her flower beds in rhinestone-hemmed short shorts and fish-net stockings—usually when she knew Harvey was watching. He “watered her flowers” a few times a week.

          “No, not even a little, Addy. So don’t even think about playing matchmaker with Mr. Wymonds and me.”

          Addy made Cupid look like a fumbling fledgling.

          “But Mom, if you and Mr. Wymonds got married, Kelly would be my sister.”

          Ohhhh. Now I understood what was going on. Addy’s mission in life this last year had been to marry me off to the most qualified candidate. “Qualified” by her standards usually meant a love for all animals—especially chickens—and a deep wallet, since she was often concerned about my lack of cash.

          “No, Addy. I’m not