businesses as The Cherico Market, The Twinkle, Cherico Tresses, or the library itself. Happily, The Cherry Cola Book Club was going to be playing to a full house.
Councilman Sparks took a dim view of the party going on full-blast after he had finished schmoozing the Crumpton sisters. Everyone present was eating, chatting, or laughing the way people do on New Year’s Eve or some other carefree occasion. It particularly annoyed him that the library suddenly seemed to have discarded its perennial “just growing mold” personality.
Momentarily, Chunky intruded on his leader’s pique. “Man, this sure is a helluva lot a’ people in here!”
“It doesn’t look good from our point of view,” Councilman Sparks replied under his breath, making sure that no one was within earshot. “I’d guess there are between forty and fifty people in this room. We’ve never had a budget hearing when that many people showed up.”
Chunky leaned in and responded in a half-whisper. “I know you told me not to, but I checked out the license plates around the library anyway. Didn’t see but a couple from out of state, both from Tennessee. Davidson County, I believe it was. But there was a bunch from other Mississippi counties. I can rattle off the different ones if you want.”
“And no bus anywhere to be seen,” Gopher Joe added.
“Oh, never mind all that now. Both of you just go get something more to eat and try to mingle.”
Something told Councilman Sparks that he had better monitor the situation closely, however, so he kept both of his charges within an approachable radius. As it turned out, his concerns were definitely warranted.
“Hi!” Chunky said, immediately approaching one of Renette’s girlfriends even before he’d helped himself to a plate of food. “What’s your name and where do you live?”
The ordinarily extroverted Deborah Benedict shrank visibly from his directness, managing an imitation of a smile. “I might ask the same of you.”
“Well, I hope you voted for me. I’m E. A. Badham, one of your city councilmen. But folks call me ‘Chunky’ most of the time,” he continued, while patting his bulging belly. “I guess you can see why.”
To her credit, Deborah did not pull away further, but neither did she answer his questions. “Well, then, Chunky, I think you should help yourself to more of this delicious food I’m sampling here. I’ve seen you make several trips already, if I’m not mistaken.”
The lurking Councilman Sparks soon intervened, giving Deborah a nod and a perfunctory smile. “If you’ll excuse us for a second, young lady.” Then he pulled Chunky aside and lowered his voice. “Change of plans. You and Gopher Joe just concentrate on stuffing your faces. Forget the socializing. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
There was no denying, however, that most everyone else had the knack of socializing down pat. Especially Maura Beth. From afar, Councilman Sparks watched her flitting around the room with such ease that he actually had to turn away at one point. The library was pulsating with an energy it had never possessed before, and it was all due to the outside-the-box efforts of this unusual woman who just refused to go away. More importantly, it would be difficult to shut down her pride and joy with all this to her credit.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Maura Beth was saying to Becca. They had managed to slip away into the privacy of the meeting room, closing the door behind them shortly before the actual review was about to begin. “Of course I’d be delighted to have you and Stout Fella here doing cooking demonstrations together every month. We need to get as much activity going in the library as possible.”
Becca exhaled and thought one more time about what she had just proposed. “I know it’ll help you out. And Stout Fella promised even before he got out of the hospital in Nashville that he’d do his part, too.”
Maura Beth gave Becca a thoughtful glance. “So what do you think you should call these meetings?”
Becca took her time before a dramatic intake of air. “How about ‘Becca Broccoli in the Flesh’—you know, for those who just can’t get enough of the radio show?”
“I certainly like your idea of becoming visible after all those years of just being a voice on the radio.”
“You know what gave me the idea?” Becca said, smartly raising an eyebrow. “It was all the conversations I’ve just had at the buffet table with some of my fans. They kept saying over and