Mom appeared about five minutes after I called her. A call I place two seconds after I found Mary and Betty Jones had left me-abandoned me-only to phone and tell me so in no uncertain terms.
"Not going to happen," Mary grunted at me after delivering her initial "We're so out of there for the duration of the festivities" message and I babbled something along the lines of please don't abandon me at a time like this. Not my proudest moment.
Instead, she informed me in no uncertain terms they would be keeping their distance until Willow and Skip and all the craziness that went with them was gone from Petunia's. I gaped at the handset as Mary firmly turned me down no matter how much I begged, the sound of the TV blaring in the back ground. I could see the both of them in my mind's eye. Pictur
