Читать книгу The Case Of The Good-For-Nothing Girlfriend - Mabel Maney - Страница 18

“A red nine goes on a black ten,” Cherry said under her breath as she scrutinized the cards lying in a neat progression in front of her on the bed. “One, two, three,” she counted out the cards from the stack in her hand. She flipped the third card over. It was the jack of clubs.

Cherry shivered a little. She got up to get her sweater, taking care not to wake her sleeping chum. It had been almost an hour since Velma had gone to see Midge, and in that time, Cherry had rinsed out her lingerie, scrubbed Nancy’s handkerchiefs until they were squeaky clean, and selected an attractive yet comfortable travel outfit for the next day: a generous full skirt of the prettiest violet with practical front patch pockets and a cream-colored cotton dotted swiss short-sleeved blouse that was simplicity and coolness personified.

“Velma and Midge are probably out enjoying the refreshing evening mountain air,” she thought as she opened a window and took a deep, cleansing breath. But what could have possibly happened to Lauren? Cherry was tempted to go and see for herself, but quickly changed her mind. What if Nancy awoke and found herself alone in this strange cabin? No, it was best to stay put, Cherry decided. She ducked her head out the door and looked around, but her chums were nowhere to be seen.

“I’d best go ahead and wash my hair,” she thought, realizing with alarm that if she didn’t do it soon, her hair would be damp when she retired for the evening. She looked longingly at the soft, warm bed and the sleeping girl curled up on one side. It had been an especially long day, she thought, barely stifling a yawn. But before she could give in to temptation, she came to her senses.

“One is never too tired nor too busy for good grooming,” she scolded herself as she gathered up her travel kit containing her cold cream, shampoo, brush, comb, toothbrush, and bobby pins and marched into the bathroom. Ten minutes later, she had washed and towel-dried her thick, curly hair, pinned it off her forehead, applied a thick layer of cold cream to her face and neck, and was happily splashing about in warm, sudsy bath water.

“Jeepers,” she thought. “Mel said she’d be back here at the crack of dawn with our car, and I’ll bet it’s ten o’clock already. If I’m going to be fresh for the morning, I’d better hurry!” She felt good knowing their car was in Mel’s strong, capable hands. “She’s awfully nice,” Cherry smiled to herself. “So eager to help a girl in need!”

Cherry hummed a gay tune as she gave every inch of her body a rigorous rubbing with her soapy washcloth. When she was finished, she was truly exhausted and ready for bed! “I won’t even wait for Velma and Lauren to return,” Cherry decided. “We can do our hair another night.” She jumped out of the tub and into the pale yellow nightie, neatly trimmed with lace, that she had selected from among Nancy’s many lovely things. After wiping the cold cream from her face, she gave her teeth a good scrubbing, gargled with a mild antiseptic, and put a dab of rose water behind each ear. A pretty yellow satin ribbon tied atop her head completed her look.

Cherry stifled a yawn. She could think of nothing nicer right now than slipping between fresh sheets and falling fast asleep.

Suddenly, she heard the door to the room creak open. For a moment Cherry thought Lauren might have returned, but changed her mind when she realized the boisterous young girl was incapable of being so quiet. “Why, Lauren even makes noise when she’s standing still,” she smiled.

Cherry knew Lauren, as a typical teen, was prone to the hormonal urges and emotional conflict that afflict all girls. Luckily, Cherry had taken a human development course in nursing school, and so felt equipped to really understand Lauren!

“Velma must be back,” Cherry realized. “That’s funny, though. She was going to knock three times to warn me she was coming in. Well, it’s just as well that Velma forgot to use the secret code; she might have waked Nancy.” Good thing she had left the door unlocked so her friends could come in quietly!

Cherry opened the bathroom door and tiptoed out to greet her friend. “Did you two have fun?” she whispered, before realizing that the person standing in the middle of the room wasn’t Velma at all! It was the casually dressed, middle-aged, blond-haired woman from the restaurant, the one Cherry had nearly knocked over earlier that evening. And right next to her was her helpful husband, Harold!

“Eek!” Cherry cried as she dropped her travel kit and hurriedly folded her arms over the front of her nightie. “Why didn’t I don the matching robe?” she chastised herself.

The couple looked as surprised to see Cherry as she was to see them. Their mouths dropped open at the sight of the startled nurse.

“We must have the wrong cabin,” they chorused in alarm.

Cherry pointed to her sleeping chum and signaled for them to be quiet. To her great relief, they understood and immediately lowered their voices.

“We took your suggestion and decided to stay here for the night,” the man whispered as he backed out of the cabin.

“I’m terribly embarrassed,” the woman said, taking care to keep her voice low. She sounded truly alarmed! “Our cabin must be the one right next door. I must have mixed up the numbers on the door,” she smiled, explaining, “It’s awfully dark out.”

“The manager should really put more lights outside,” Cherry agreed. “Why, a person could fall and get hurt!” After tossing on a robe, Cherry borrowed Nancy’s flashlight from her purse and pointed the couple toward the correct cabin. “You were really lucky to get a cabin,” Cherry whispered to them. “And how odd that it’s the one right next to ours.”

They all agreed it was a happy coincidence.

“And lucky for us, we opened your door by mistake,” the woman gasped. “What if we had wandered into some else’s room? Someone we didn’t already know. Why, they might have thought we were thieves!”

They all had a good laugh at the thought. Cherry bade them a good night. “I must get back indoors. Wet hair and cool mountain air are a sure prescription for a cold,” she explained.

“You know best. After all, you’re the nurse,” Harold agreed. “Goodnight, miss, and thank you, once again, for all your help,” Harold said.

Once back in the room, Cherry took care to lock the door before slipping into bed next to Nancy. Velma had the key and could let herself and Lauren in. Goodness knows how many people could walk into their cabin by accident!

“I could be directing people towards their rooms all night,” Cherry thought sleepily. She had to giggle at the thought. In the course of her career, she had been many things. A Cruise Nurse on a ship bound for the high seas, a Department-Store Nurse called in to handle the fainting spells at a big girdle sale, even a Dude-Ranch Nurse for a summer. But she had never been a tour guide, or a Cabin Nurse, for that matter, although she would most certainly throw on her uniform and come running whenever and wherever a call for help reached her ears!

Her thoughts drifted toward the friendly couple staying next door. At first she hadn’t thought they were very nice and had been put off by their cheap, garish clothing. But they had turned out to be lovely people. “To think I accused them of being those awful people in that dusty brown Impala who passed us by,” Cherry admonished herself. “It just goes to show, you can’t judge a book by its cover.” It struck Cherry as funny that they had run into each other two times in one day. “By now we’re practically old friends!” she chuckled to herself.

“Mother was right. You do meet the nicest people when you travel,” she thought as she snuggled up to Nancy and planted a little kiss on her soft neck. Nancy didn’t respond, so Cherry closed her eyes, and a few minutes later, she, too, was sound asleep. So sound asleep, in fact, that she didn’t hear the urgent whispering going on outside her door, or the rattling of the knob, or the angry cries followed by retreating footfalls.

All Cherry knew as she drifted through layers of sleep was that she was in her beloved home state with her true love by her side. What more could a girl ask for?