While Drowning in the Desert

Chapter 17

Dear Diary,

What a night!

After the German fellow left I took a long bubble bath, made myself some dinner out of Natty’s refrigerator, then got all dressed up the way Natty likes. (Blush, blush.)

Sure enough, about an hour later the doorbell rang and I thought it was Natty and he had forgot his key. So I went to the door, flung it open, flung my arms open to show him (blush, blush) the goods, and Surprise! It was a young woman!

At first I was a little upset, Diary, because I thought Natty had himself some young honey and let me tell you, this one is a looker! Thick black hair, gorgeous eyes, and the hips…

Well, it turns out that she’s not looking for Natty after all (A good thing for her. A good thing for Natty!), but for this Neal Carey I met in Vegas. The one who was supposed to be bringing Natty home.

I told the poor dear-Karen is her name-that Neal wasn’t there and the sweet thing starts to cry like her heart is going to break. What else could I do? I brought her in and sat her down and listened to her story.

Diary, the trouble is that this Neal will marry her but not give her a baby. Just the reverse of the usual story. Go figure.

I told her, “Sweetie, you’re going about this all the wrong way!”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

I told her, “Just get him in the sack but don’t tell him that you ‘forgot’ your birth control.”

“I couldn’t do that,” she said. “It wouldn’t be honest. It wouldn’t be healthy for the relationship.”

Honesty, relationship… Young people these days. In our day we didn’t worry so much about honesty and relationships. Girls got pregnant, guys married them, we had families, we made out all right.

Anyway she had a good cry and told me all about her and Neal. Imagine that boy not wanting to have a baby with a beautiful girl like this!

But then we got to wondering, Where were Natty and Neal, anyway? When Karen told me about Natty taking Neal’s car and Neal setting off to find him, I started to get real worried. Then I told Karen about Mr. Schaeffer and Miss Done, and the German fellow, and she started to get concerned.

Then Karen called Mr. Graham, and I got on the extension, and the three of started to get worried together.

What could Natty have seen? we all wondered.

“Unless it had something to do with the fire,” I said.

“What fire?” Mr. Graham asked.

“The one next door,” I said.

“Do you happen to know the address?” Mr. Graham asked.

“I can go look,” I said, and I did. The street numbers are painted on the sidewalks. It was 1385 Hopalong Way, and I told Mr. Graham so.

He said he’d call back. In the meantime Karen tried to call Mr. Schaeffer, but he wasn’t in. She found his home phone number but he wasn’t there, either. I’ll just bet he’s out with Miss Done. There’s a spark there, I think.

Mr. Graham called back half an hour later.

“The condo belongs to a Heinz Muller,” he said.

Diary, that’s the German fellow who said he was Natty’s friend! I should have known that Natty wouldn’t be friends with a German. He won’t even ride in a German-made car! What was I thinking about?!

Suddenly, Diary, I knew what had happened! Natty had seen something in connection with the fire! After all, Natty had spent years playing the Catskill hotels-he’d know arson when he saw it.

I think-Oh, excuse me, Diary! There’s the door! It must be Natty! Thank God! I’ll be right back!