Island Blues Read Free Page A

fifth grade telling her “immature” was pronounced “eye-ma-turd” and getting her to repeat it to all his friends to their hilarious delight. “Is
land
Om
bud
sman.”
    It didn’t help. The five smiling faces continued to smile, and now they were nodding too.
    Sabrina knew the best way to deal with this type of situation was to nod along and look intelligent.
    â€œAh! What an interesting idea!” She was happy to see that this answer pleased her audience.
    â€œWe knew you’d agree, Sabrina.” Sondra Lane of Sweet Island Music pushed back her veil of long dark hair. “You’re the perfect person for this job. A former schoolteacher who is great with people, what more could we ask for? I knew it the minute Mary came up with you as a possible candidate.”
    Sabrina narrowed her eyes a bit as she looked over at Mary Garrison Tubbs, who sat smug and satisfied at the end of the table. Mary’s idea? That put a different spin on things. Sabrina would have to be sure to look for the floating surprise in the punch bowl.
    â€œAnd everyone knows you’re between jobs, Sabrina, so this works out perfectly. Can you start right away?” Nettie Wrightly, small, round, and twinkly, was the newest member of the council. As Sanitary Concessionary, in charge of distributing the highly sought-after septic permits, she was arguably one of the most powerful people on Comico Island. Without her say-so, nobody could build a new house or add on to their existing one.
    â€œPlease? Oh, um…I would like to hear a bit more about what the job would entail, if you wouldn’t mind.”
    Sabrina squirmed in the child-size desk, but no matter which direction she turned, there was no way to avoid having her thigh squeezed or her rump pinched. She suspected Mary had had a hand in the set up for this meeting. The five town council members were lined up in a row of adult-sized chairs at the head of Mrs. Lowry’s third grade classroom, while Sabrina’s tiny desk was positioned in front of them. She felt like a prisoner in front of a parole board.
    â€œWe only have ten more minutes before the children return from recess, so we need to make this expeditious,” Bill Large said, frowning at his fellow board members. “I want to note for the record that I still think this whole idea is ridiculous.” Bill was a very important man—to Bill. He represented the Lighthouse Estates contingent of Comico Islanders, recent transplants who lived in their expensive mansions in a gated community by the sea.
    â€œWe really don’t care what you think, Bill,” Mary announced. “Hill, are you going to conduct this meeting anytime soon?”
    â€œAh, yes,” Hill said, on cue. It was the first time the mayor had spoken since Sabrina arrived, in a curious frenzy to know why the town council wanted to see her at ten o’clock on a sunny Monday morning. “You’ve seen the article, I suppose?” He asked the question vaguely to the back of the room, and Sabrina resisted the urge to turn around and see if there was someone standing behind her.
    â€œI’m afraid not. What article?”
    â€œBut even
you
have noticed that relations between islanders and our visitors have been strained?” Mary asked, though her tone made it clear she was not at all certain of Sabrina’s powers of observation or even her ability to butter bread without help.
    â€œOf course. There’s been a lot of them lately, and so many seem miserable. How can you be unhappy when you’re vacationing on such a beautiful island?” Sabrina beamed at the group, but only Sondra smiled back.
    â€œOh, they have plenty of reasons to be unhappy if Vicki Carroway is booking their vacation. And she’s booking more than half of the rooms and houses on the island now,” Nettie said, her face crinkling so it resembled a crumpled paper bag. “She’s making it