“you have been a couple of very naughty girls," said the duke. "but i have something here which will teach you to mind your manners."
mr osgood thought he heard something at his window. he did not think it was rain, as he had checked the weather forecast before making his evening sandwich, as he always did.
he carefully placed his french novel, face down with the pages open, on the wide arm of his comfortable chair. he got up and went to the window.
he lifted the shade and looked out. he could not see anything, but it was difficult to tell with the light from his tall lamp reflecting in the window.
rather than return to his chair and turn the lamp off, which seemed to him somehow ridiculous, he went to the front door and opened it.
it was not raining, and he stepped out and walked slowly around the side of the house to the window at which he thought he heard something.
he neither saw nor heard anything, and feeling relieved but a bit foolish - he could hear his late wife saying, what an old woman you are, albert - he returned to the front of the house.
and noticed a car pulled up in front of the house, on the opposite side of the street. had it been there before?
it took a couple of seconds for his brain to register that it was a police car, and then two policepersons stepped out of it.
a man and a woman. they both looked familiar. mr osgood did watch television on occasion, although he did not enjoy television shows nearly as much as he enjoyed french novels, and he knew what the police were like.
the woman was a good looking blonde, with a no-nonsense look on her face. she would be in charge .
the man was a big moon-faced dufus. he would be her foil.
“do you have a problem, sir?” the woman asked mr osgood.
“it appears to be nothing, officer,” mr osgood replied. “ i thought i heard a noise at my window, and came out to check, but nothing seems to be amiss. it might have been a bird.”
“there are not too many birds around at this time of year, sir,” the woman replied.
“do you mind if we look around, sir?” the man asked, in a somewhat squeaky voice.
“no of course not,“ mr osgood told him. he started to add, it is your job, isn’t it? but thought better of it.
the two police officers produced small but powerful flashlights and began walking around the house, pointing the flashlights around randomly .
mr osgood was afraid they might trample the flower garden which he had neglected since his wife died, but thankfully they seemed to ignore it.
the pair returned in a few minutes, snapping off their flashlights.
“do you mind if we look around inside, sir?” the man asked. “just to be on the safe side.”
“we do not have a warrant to search your premises, sir,” the woman added. “but we would appreciate it if you would invite us in.”
“no, come in by all means,” mr osgood answered with his best smile. did they really think he was going to refuse them?
the two officers followed him into the house. the woman made straight for mr osgood’s chair and picked up the french novel lying flat on its arm.
“what have we here?” she said. she picked it up and began to read -
“you have been a couple of very naughty girls," said the duke. "but i have something here which will teach you to mind your manners."
miranda began to whimper.
cecily covered her eyes in shame.
just then there was a knock on the door.
“who can that be”? the duke muttered grimly. “stay right here, you two.” he got up from his armchair and marched to the door and flung it open.
it was mrs nottingham, the neighborhood busybody and the president of the neighborhood improvement association.
“do you mind keeping the noise down?” mrs nottingham demanded of the duke. “this is the third night in a row there have been complaints.”
“why, you damned old cow,” the duke began , but his attention was diverted -
for miranda and cecily had taken the opportunity to turn into birds, and flew over his shoulder and out the door over mrs nottingham’s head and into the night .
they flew over mr osgood’s house. “it was a shame what happened to poor mrs osgood,” miranda said, “we should look in on mr osgood and see if he is suffering from any guilt.”
“that is a good idea,” cecily agreed.
mr osgood thought he heard something at his window. he did not think it was rain, as he had checked the weather forecast before making his evening sandwich, as he always did.
he went to the front door and opened it.
it was not raining, and he stepped out and walked slowly around the side of the house to the window at which he thought he heard something.
he neither saw nor heard anything, and feeling a bit foolish he returned to the front of the house.
and noticed a car pulled up in front of the house, on the opposite side of the street. had it been there before?
it was a police car, and then two policepersons , a man and a woman, stepped out of it.
“do you have a problem, sir?” the woman asked mr osgood.
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