Tea Cups & Tiger Claws Read Online Free PDF Page B

sign the papers, you can’t change your mind and say ‘no.’”
    “That’s fine Mr. Pugh , just so long as you can show me in writin’ where I said ‘yes’ in the first place.”
    “ Sheriff Fowler, I’m afraid your assistance is needed over here,” said Pugh.
    The sheriff, a n older man with a sagging stomach and two chins, stepped up to the car door. He looked down at Ermel, and she looked up at him. He cleared his throat a few times and said, “Mrs. Railer, you don’t want to go and make a scene. Just think about it for a second. If you make a scene, and there’s a scuffle, the baby might get hurt. You don’t want that now do you?”
    “No sheriff, I don’t , and I’m ready to give over the baby just as soon as Mr. Pugh proves that I agreed to it. That ain’t so difficult. It’s all put down on paper, ain’t it?”
    “Yes it is, and I’ve seen the papers. Everything is in order.”
    “I want to see them too.”
    “Mrs. Railer, I’m only going to warn you—”
    “No, no, sheriff. If she wants to see it, I’ll show it to her. It will only take a moment.”
    Pugh walked briskly back toward the house , leaving behind the fading sound of gravel crunching beneath his feet. The sheriff backed a step away from the motorcar and looked around at nothing. The policemen went back to shoe watching. After a minute, the crunching gravel returned and Pugh stood with a document in his outstretched hand. Ermel took it from him and flipped through the pages.
    “Sheriff Fowler, can you help me please?” said Ermel. “What did I write at the bottom of this page?”
    “Your name, just like Mr. Pugh said.”
    “That’s right. I put my name, and I give my signature, quite a few times if you care to look. That’s for baby Judith. Now look here. What’s that say?”
    “‘Ermel Sue Railer.’”
    “That’s right. I give my signature all over the place for baby Abigail. Ain’t that so?”
    “Yes, Mrs. Railer.”
    “Now tell me sheriff, what’s it say right there?”
    The sheriff glanced at the document, started to say something, then bent forward and looked again. He stood up straight and looked at Mr. Pugh.
    “I know you can read it sheriff ‘cause I wrote as clear as can be. What’s it say?”
    The sheriff didn’t say a word.
    “‘I say no .’ That’s what it says,” said Ermel. “And here, where it says to give my signature, I said ‘no’ again. If you count ‘em all up I said ‘no’ six times and never once said ‘yes.’”
    Jeb groaned. The young cops standing around the motorcar looked at each other. Mrs. Vigfusson hissed something under her breath and ran into the house.
    “Give me that,” said Pugh, as he leaned in and grabbed the document from Ermel. “I saw you sign it with my own eyes.” He flipped quickly from page to page.
    “No , Mr. Pugh. You saw me sign the other ones, but when I come back from the powder room, you and that tight-ass clerk stopped payin’ attention. I coulda done a finger painting if I’d had the hankerin’.”
    “ This is deceit! We had a verbal agreement, and that proves your deceit! Your own husband is a witness to that agreement. Jeb, are you just going to sit there and lose everything you worked for. Stand up and take charge! Get control of your wife before it’s too late!”
    “Him?” said Ermel with a laugh. “It was too late the day he was born. Now you run along and tell the duchess she ain’t gettin’ Dorthea , the one with the pale blue eyes. She’ll especially want to know that.”
    From inside the house came the unmistakable sounds of distress. Mr. Pugh’s head jerked up as he tried to make out the words. After some garbled emotional whispering and hissing, everyone heard, “…didn’t sign the papers? How can that even be possible? That’s his job. You go and tell him to get me that baby, like he promised. And tell the sheriff to do his job!” A few moments later, Mrs. Vigfusson came scampering down the porch steps.
    Pugh