Jeanne Glidewell - Lexie Starr 05 - Just Ducky Read Free Page A

upside-down cake cooling in the pantry for you to take home for you and Veronica. And, by the way, Stone has threatened to have you issue me a restraining order, not allowing me to get within fifty feet of the oven,” I said.
    “Yeah, I can see why,” he replied, glancing at Stone. “He may have gained even more than I have.”
    “Twelve pounds and counting,” Stone said, patting his slightly protruding belly. Two or three inches below six foot, Stone tended to be slightly too short for his weight. As he had a habit of saying, he wasn’t overweight, just under-tall. But at just five foot two, and a few pounds over my ideal weight, I had a tendency to be under-tall as well.
    “Patrolling all over Rockdale on a daily basis, I hear a lot of things, Lexie,” Wyatt said. “I’ve heard the Meals on Wheels organization is looking for drivers to deliver meals around town, and the nursing home on Spruce Street is always in dire need of extra help. Just something to keep in mind if the librarian job, for some odd reason, doesn’t pan out.”
    I nodded in response, knowing there was no way on earth I could volunteer at the nursing home. It took a special kind of person to work at one, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t quite that special. I couldn’t walk from one end of a nursing home to the other without crying, puking, or both. I had a weak stomach as it was, and something about a nursing home made my stomach roil, and really tugged at my heartstrings. I wanted to visit with every single resident I passed, and sneak them, in their wheelchairs, out the back door, if possible, as if I were breaking them out of prison. I knew nursing homes served a valuable purpose, but I’ve never seen a resident of one that seemed truly thrilled to be there. It was if they had just resigned themselves to reside there while they waited patiently for the inevitable. I knew I’d find it sad and depressing, and I’d opt for boredom before those two emotions. However, the Meals on Wheels idea was definitely feasible. If I could manage to fit a few meals into my little sports car, I could certainly deliver them to disabled and elderly folks around town. It would be very self-satisfying to help the senior citizens who were unable to prepare meals for themselves, and feed the less fortunate.
    “Thanks, Wyatt! That’s good to know, because there’s a good chance they already have someone in mind for the library job.”
    “They do,” he said. “You!”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I ran into Bertha Duckworthy, the head librarian, the other day, and she told me she was going to retire, on or just after the last day of October, if she could find someone to fill in by then. I told her you had volunteered as a librarian assistant for a number of years, and she asked me to mention the opportunity to you the next time I saw you. I was going to do that today, but Wendy obviously beat me to it!”
    “Thanks Wyatt. It sounds promising, doesn’t it?” I asked.
    “It’s right up your alley, and you’re a shoe-in for the job, Lexie,” Wyatt answered. “She’d hoped you apply for the permanent position, but I told her the likelihood of that was remote due to your work here at the inn.”
    “I’m going down to the library this morning to speak with her. What did you say her name was again, Wyatt?”
    “Her name is Bertha Duckworthy, but most people just refer to her by her nickname, Ducky.”
    “She goes by Ducky ? She sounds like she must be a real character.”
    “She’s one of a kind, all right. She’s the type you either love or hate, but to me she’s just Ducky,” Wyatt answered. “I think you’ll get along with her just fine as long as you remember to take whatever she says with a grain of salt, and try not to take any of it personally.”
    I wasn’t sure what to make of Wyatt’s advice, but I was anxious to go speak with Ms. Duckworthy, so I told the men to enjoy their day at the RV and Boat Show, and excused myself to go