The Mystery at Sag Bridge

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Cora forced the crumpled, near-empty toothpaste tube into its holder on the bathroom counter, took off her nightshirt, and with trepidation began her monthly full-body exam. Plagued by skin cancers, the less-dangerous kind fortunately, she had procrastinated. She didn't trust her observations, was fearful of finding something new, running to the dermatologist with a false alarm, or worse, ignoring something important.

The need to do this made her feel old. She hadn't gained weight since retirement, but she could stand to lose twenty pounds. Okay, twenty-five. Thirty? More disturbing were the sags, the wrinkles and dimples on her arms and thighs, these especially because exercise would have little effect-she was stuck with them for life.

She finished the exam with her face: no new lesions, but pouches under her eyes and drooping cheeks. She wished she could stay between fifty-five and sixty-the perfect age: plenty of experience and confidence, a comfortable lifestyle, and nothing hurts or droops yet. She sighed-she'd never see sixty again.

Something else she saw in the mirror-her mother's face looking back at her. Well, not her mother's face, but the familiar expressions her mother had worn now appeared on Cora's own face, showing worry, or irritation. Heredity? Or being together for a lifetime? Images of the adjacent rooms, the bedroom, bath and sitting room her mother had occupied, now guest rooms, filled her head and reawakened grief. Eyes shiny, she turned from the mirror.

Like Grandma used to say, it's hell to get old. She stepped into the steaming shower.

When Cora left the shower she almost stepped on the crumpled tube of toothpaste. Startled, she looked at the ceramic holder still in place near the vanity mirror, behind her hair dryer and a folded towel. A chill went down the nape of her neck, and her stomach clenched, a moment of terror, thinking of Janet Leigh in Psycho. Who's here?

It was an ordinary thing, only a used tube of toothpaste for God's sake, but eerily frightening, more menacing because she was standing there nude and vulnerable. Okay. How did it get there? Her mind sought logical causes. She was alone in the house-she thought...Cisco went golfing...did someone break into the house?

Why would an intruder throw my toothpaste on the floor and leave?

Not taking time to dry herself, she threw on a robe and searched the house. As expected, no one was there, and Cisco's car was gone.

I know the tube was in the holder-I'm positive. It couldn't roll...how did it get over the towel and hair dryer?

Angel again? Whoever, whatever, if there was an Angel. But this morning it wasn't the same warm, comforting Angel; no, it was more alarming. Maybe her friends were right and she had to take this more seriously.

But Angel's never been threatening-why?

Cora said aloud, "Angel, I'm getting tired of your nonsense! Cut it out already!"

Of course, nothing happened. It never did.