Fat Cat At Large

ELEVEN

Monday was humming along and Chase was feeling that she would make it through the day. She watched the clock in the afternoon. The hour hand crept toward six. At seven thirty they would close up and the rush time would be over.

She had brought plenty of aspirin and Tylenol downstairs to the shop today and alternating them was helping her back pain. Her mood was better because of that, she was sure.

Anna and Chase had stocked the shelves for the last time at five and were both working the front of the store. Many last-minute freshmen were moving in and finding they needed something sweet to tide them over until dinnertime. Vi had asked to take an extra break at five, an inconvenient time given the number of customers in the shop right then. Chase wondered if Anna would try to replace both of their sales clerks.

At five forty-five, Vi was returning when Ted Naughtly showed up. Chase’s good mood was fast evaporating. It was time to be direct.

She stood in front of the young man and blocked his way. “You are not welcome here, Ted. Please leave.”

“I don’t want to stay. I just need to tell Laci something.” He glanced over his shoulder, out the front window, to the sidewalk.

Chase followed his gaze. A young woman closer to Ted’s age than Laci’s, maybe midtwenties, dressed in a very short skirt and very high-heeled shoes, stood on the sidewalk, her nose in the air, seeming interested in the top of the gingko tree that grew through a round hole in the pavement in front of the Bar None. Her bosom threatened to spill from the low-cut top.

“I promise I won’t be back,” he said.

Something in his manner made Chase stand aside and let him pass. Laci was near the rear of the store, holding a stack of boxes for a student’s matronly relative who seemed to be stocking up for winter. The poor, slight girl struggled to contain the cartons in her thin arms as the woman, unconcerned, piled on a few more.

Chase watched as Ted walked to Laci’s side. Laci turned her head and gave him a huge smile, bobbled, but didn’t drop the boxes. Ted put his head near hers, as he always did. This time it had a different effect. He couldn’t have said more than a dozen words before her smile vanished. Her expression continued to deteriorate as Ted left the store.

The young woman on the pavement took his arm and snuggled against him as they disappeared down the street without a backward glance from either of them.

Chase turned at the sound of a crash. Laci lay on the floor in a dead faint, surrounded by the scattered boxes she’d been juggling.

After a split second of shock, Chase rushed to her inert form. She knelt and shouted Laci’s name a few times. Anna rushed in from the kitchen. Vi stood frozen for a few minutes, then grabbed the showcase for support.

“What was that noise?” asked Anna. “It sounded like something hit the—” She spied the two of them on the floor, one unconscious, and whipped out her cell phone. Chase breathed a sigh of relief that Anna was taking charge. Now everything would be all right. What else could go wrong that day?

Not more than two minutes passed before an ambulance pulled up, sirens blaring and lights flashing. Laci’s eyelids fluttered and she turned her head. When she tried to struggle up, Chase put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t get up, Laci. Wait until the EMTs check you out.”

The uniformed medics rushed into the shop and started working on Laci with the tools of their trade. One pumped the blood pressure cuff while another inspected her eyes, skin, and heartbeat.

Within a few minutes they decided to transport her to the hospital for observation. “Her blood pressure isn’t what it should be,” said the crisp blonde woman with the cuff. “She may be dehydrated.” Her partner, the guy with the stethoscope looped around his neck, brought in a gurney and they carefully lifted Laci onto it. Chase and Anna followed them to the rear of the ambulance. Anna thought to ask which hospital she was being taken to. It made sense that she was being transported to the nearby University of Minnesota Medical Center.

“I’ll drive,” said Anna. “Come through the shop.”

Chase started to follow Anna inside so she could go to the parking lot where Anna’s car was, but a hard hand clamped her forearm.

“Where did they say she was going?” It was Ted.

“Ted, what happened?” Chase shook off his hand. “After you talked to her she passed out. Right after you went out the door. Do you know if she’s sick?”

“Oh no. I did it.”

“What did you do?”

“Don’t shout at me,” he growled. The buxom miniskirted woman lingered in the crowd of gawkers that had gathered, her wary, puzzled eyes on him. “I told her I was breaking up with her. I’ve been trying to tell her, subtly, but she wouldn’t get the message. So I brought Krystal with me so Laci could see her, and I told her flat-out.”

“She’s . . . delicate, you know.”

“Boy, do I. Where are they taking her?”

“U of M.”

Ted hurried away. Chase, after calling to Vi to mind the store, ran through the two rooms and out the back door to Anna’s car. As they sped southward, toward the hospital, Chase’s cell phone rang with a call from Vi.

“Chase? Miss Oliver?” What was wrong with everyone? Now Vi sounded distressed, like the world was ending.

“What is it, Vi?” She knew she had snarled at her. She softened her voice. “We’ll be back before closing.”

“The health inspector is here. He says he needs to reinspect.”

“Now? He has to do it now?” She could hardly expect the inspector to know that her employee was being rushed to the hospital. “Can he do this later?”

“He says not. His schedule is tight.”

Chase told Vi she’d be there in ten minutes. She told Anna to drop her back at the store. When would she learn to quit asking herself what else could go wrong?