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“You’ll have to get more than one,” Mrs. C. says. “She’s chewed up a couple others.”
Hope’s face goes white, and her shoulders slump. “Oh no.”
“I’m so sorry, dear.” Mrs. C. does the thing I couldn’t and puts her arm around Hope. “Charly and I were busy playing, and I didn’t notice Uncle Rad had found them.”
“Oh no,” Hope repeats over and over.
“My grandma has a ton of them, I can get you more,” I say desperately before shooting Uncle Rad a glare.
She’s too happy getting her belly scratched by Charly to notice. Her back leg shakes like crazy while Charly coos to her.
“You don’t understand. These are for the gnome scavenger hunt.” Hope holds up the critically injured gnome again. “I’m supposed to deliver them today to businesses who want to be part of the search. That’s why I stopped by, to see if I could hide one here.”
“Oh, yeah, of course. But really, I can get you more. Today even.” Although grandma is in Arizona, and I’m not sure where she keeps them. Or if she’d actually let me touch them. She’s very particular.
“But these are Mayor Voglmeyer’s. She wanted her ‘special, heirloom gnomes’ to be used, so that we can putsponsored by Darlene Voglmeyeron the clues.” Hope exhales with frustration. “She’s going to kill me. Or, worse, Carson. She gave him specific instructions that he was in charge of them, and they should be hidden out of reach of children.”
“But isn’t the hunt supposed to be for kids?” I ask slowly, wanting to be careful of Hope’s feelings.
But Darlene Voglmeyer is a pain in the neck and always has been. Leave it to her to make a fun kid’s scavenger hunt a marketing ploy that takes the joy out of the whole event.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Mrs. C. says and takes the gnome from Hope. “Darlene Voglmeyer is a menace. Why someone else doesn’t run for mayor and get her out of our hair, I’ll never understand.” She examines every inch of the gnome while she talks. “I can fix this, and she’ll never know the difference. And if she does, you have her come to talk to me. She’s been afraid of me ever since I threatened to have Lyle expelled from the elementary school for pinching girls’ bottoms like some juvenile pervert.”
With her arm around Hope’s shoulders, she leads her toward the front of the store. “Let’s see what the others look like. I don’t think they’re as bad as this poor little feller.”
I tie Uncle Rad’s leash to my belt loop, then hold out my hand. “Come on Charly. Let’s go with your mom.”
She slips her hand into mine without hesitation, and for a second, I wonder if parenting might be easier than puppy training.
Then Charly says, “I poopy.”
I don’t know much about parenting, but I do know kids’ poop requires more than a doggie bag. And I amnotready to tackle that.
Charly and I walk to the front register where Hope and Mrs. C have the gnome patients laid out on the counter.
“It looks worse than it is. I can fix these up in a jiffy,” Mrs. C. says, patting Hope’s back. “Just give me a day or two. You’ll still have plenty of time to get the scavenger hunt set up.”
Hope nods and swipes under her eye. I’m relieved Mrs. C. can help, but Hope is obviously still upset. Which makes what I have to tell her even harder.
I clear my throat and Hope glances over her shoulder at me. “Someone needs her pants changed.” My cheeks warm, which is dumb, because it’s not like this is the first time I’ve ever talked about poop.
“Oh, Charly.” Hope’s chest sinks. “Remember, you’re going to tell Mommy or Miss Gia when you need to go?”
She takes Charly’s hand from mine, then says to Mrs. C. “Potty training isn’t going so great.”
Mrs. C. nods in solidarity. “It’s never easy.” Then she holds out her hand for Charly to take. “Let me handle this one. Your morning has been rough enough already.”
“Oh, that’s okay. You don’t—”
Mrs. C. holds up her hand to stop Hope. “—I’m the reason Uncle Rad got your gnomes. The least I can do is change a diaper.”
“Thank you.” Hope’s voice is full of gratitude as she hands her purse to Mrs. C.
Mrs. C. and Charly disappear down the hall toward the bathroom, and Uncle Rad tugs at her leash to follow. But I’m not letting her out of my sight again. Ever.
I’m also not leaving Hope alone. Her back is to me, and she’s examining the gnomes, but I get the feeling she’s upset with me.
“I think I’m the one to blame here. I shouldn’t have put the box on the floor in the first place.” I take a chance I can make things up to her and move behind her, my chest nearly brushing her shoulder. Uncle Rad curls up at my feet, like she knows I’m in for a long conversation.
