Town in a Blueberrry Jam Read Online Free PDF

back, okay?” He gave her a wave, and then he was gone.
    A few moments later, Candy heard the old Ford pickup truck sputter to life and watched out the window as her father drove down the dirt lane toward town.
    “Ohh,” she muttered to herself as she lifted the phone back to her ear, “I’m gonna kill him.”
    “Kill who?” Maggie said. “What did I miss? Tell me everything—and don’t leave out a single word.”

FOUR

    Half an hour later Candy was out in the rickety old barn, cursing loudly as she struggled with a four-by-eight sheet of plywood, when she heard a truck in the driveway.
    “Dad, you’re back!” she blurted as she poked her head out the barn door.
    But it wasn’t her father.
    “Oh, Ray, it’s you,” she said as the local handyman climbed out of his tan Toyota pickup, which was nearly as old and beat up as her father’s Ford.
    “Howdy, Miss Candy.” Ray Hutchins greeted her with a tip of his well-worn Red Sox baseball cap, revealing a mop of uncombed dark hair that was starting to go gray. “Doc said I should stop by to help you out.” He pronounced it hep . “Says yer building somethin’. What are ya up to?”
    Trying hard to hide her disappointment, Candy waved him into the barn. “It’s a new booth for the festival tomorrow. Might as well come on in, long as you’re here.”
    Ray’s head bobbed happily. “Sure, Miss Candy, be glad to,” and he grabbed his toolbox from the back of the truck and ambled over to the barn with that odd gait of his. It was as if the bones in his shoulders and legs had been fitted together all wrong, making his body seem disjointed. The way he walked reminded Candy of a marionette.
    Ray was about ten years older than she was, tall and lean, with an innocent smile and droopy eyes that seemed ready to slide off the sides of his face. Thirty years ago he would have been called something cruel and unfortunate, but these days when folks around town talked about Ray, they often referred to him as being “special” or “mentally challenged.” Even that was hardly accurate, though. Ray would never be considered an intellectual giant, true, but he’d finished high school, and he had more common sense and life knowledge than many gave him credit for. More important, he was a gentle, kind soul who made his living with his hands as a talented carpenter, capable plumber and electrician, and overall handyman.
    Doc had him out to Blueberry Acres every few weeks or so, fixing one thing or another—building shelves in the den or putting in a few extra electrical outlets in the basement or repairing some of the outbuildings. Ray didn’t seem to have a problem doing any of those things when he was working for Doc. But when he got around Candy, all his carefully honed skills seemed to leach right out of him, and he often was reduced to the level of a shy, awkward schoolboy.
    Which was one problem Candy didn’t need today.
    “Have you heard about Jock?” Ray asked as he followed her into the barn.
    Perhaps a bit too distractedly, she said, “I’ve heard. It’s a terrible tragedy, really.”
    “Sure is. Terrible, terrible.” Ray pronounced it turrible .
    He shook his head sadly. “Jock and me was related, you know.”
    Candy stopped and looked at him curiously. “No, I didn’t know that. Were you two cousins?”
    Ray blinked shyly and his face reddened just a bit. “Sort of. His mama’s husband was my mama’s second cousin.”
    “Oh. I see.” Candy had to think about that a moment. “So he was, what, your second or third cousin-in-law?”
    “Um, yeah, I guess.”
    “So did you and Jock see each other much? You guys talk a lot?”
    “Oh no. He was a real busy person, you know. Real famous. We didn’t get together much. But when we was younger we used to hang out sometimes at the diner. He tried to fix me up with a girl once.”
    “I bet you’re going to miss him.”
    “Yup. Yup I am. He was a real good man.”
    “He sure was.” Candy fought an