Pancakes & Pandemonium - Culinary Competition Mystery #6

Chapter 13

(Carla)

The knock on the door paused Macy's baby gibberish commiseration with her pink teddy bear. Now that her cold was easing up, the restrictions of being stuck at home in the living room with her momma seemed to be trying her patience. So she was sitting on the couch, telling her currently favorite stuffed animal all about her problems. Carla wasn't exactly having fun either, chasing around her daughter who bolted toward the space heater every single time her feet touched the floor. Since Macy thought that no was a request that should be ignored, Carla had resorted to constructing a baby gate barrier around their only source of heat.

"Who is it?" Carla called as she scooped Macy up and deposited her into the dreaded portable crib, which was the equivalent of a jail cell to her increasingly mobile daughter. She had just begun to walk a month earlier, but her coordination was improving every day.

"It's me...Mom."

A chorus of gurgles and screeches, most likely the infant equivalent of profanity, competed with the constant drone of the generator that was sitting outside on the patio. Carla jogged to the front door. Maybe a surprise visit from Grandma would improve Macy's mood.

"Somebody can't wait to see Grandma," she said as she opened the front door.

"And Grandma can't wait to see her," her mother said as she stepped into the foyer. She waved at Macy, who was peering at her through the crib's netting and clapping her hands. "How's she doing?"

"The cold is subsiding, but now I think she's bored from hanging out in the living room with me all day. I have read all of her books to her at least twice at this point."

"I know, it's terrible having your life turned upside down, isn't it?" her mother asked as she walked across the room. She leaned over the side of the crib and picked up Macy. "Do you miss your friends at daycare?"

Carla chuckled when her daughter responded with a definite yes. Her communication skills were progressing at lightning speed too. "There's your answer! Are the roads getting cleared up more? We've just been hanging out here waiting for the electricity to come back. I think we'll both feel better once we can get back to our usual routines of work and daycare."

Her mother sat down on the couch. Macy wiggled off of her lap and deftly landed on her feet on the floor. She spun around to make a break for the forbidden space heater. Unfortunately for her, Carla had sat down on the floor in front of it. Partially to act as a guard and partly because the heat felt good on her aching back. The hideaway bed's mattress was lumpy and thin.

"The roads, or at least the ones I've driven on today, are all cleared. Now everything seems to be piled on the curbs waiting to be hauled away. I've heard people saying that the electricity should be on soon, within a few days. There are power line crews all over town."

Carla glanced at the generator as it sputtered a bit. She'd come to realize that meant it was running low on fuel. Filling the tank was the inconvenient trade-off to having it power the space heater and refrigerator. But generators couldn't be run inside a living area, especially not a small apartment like the one her mom lived in. After witnessing the conversation with Mick about living arrangements—that had included way too much information about their private lives—Carla was afraid to ask, but she did anyway. "So how are you staying warm?"

"I moved into the vardo with Mick. He was right—it's so warm and cozy. I love it. Rather perfect for an old hippie like me."

"I'm glad you're comfortable." Carla didn't know what else to say. She really didn't want to know how cozy they were getting. Her mother's sex life was a topic that made her squeamish. There were just some things that she would rather not know about her parents. "If you two can live peacefully together in that small of a space, you should be fine after you get married."