Make Quilts Not War - By Arlene Sachitano Page 0,30
Jenny said and turned away.
Harriet talked to a steady stream of potential customers during the morning, two or three of whom she thought might actually follow through. The rest loved her work but wanted to pay a fraction of her lowest rate. Most of them were new enough to quilting to not realize how much work it was to quilt a bed-sized quilt, no matter what sort of machine you used.
“Anything interesting happen while I was gone?” Lauren asked when she arrived just as the last customer of the morning was leaving the booth. She had on hip-hugger denim bell bottoms with a white patent-leather belt and a red-and-white-striped long-sleeved T-shirt.
“Nice get-up,” Harriet said.
“I’m still going for the folksinger look. Did I make it?”
“Your long bangs and pageboy are right there, but I’m not sure about the shirt.”
“The bangs are driving me nuts, but they did sort of define that era, don’t you think?”
“Definitely,” Harriet said and laughed.
A series of half-hour talks about the culture and history of the nineteen-sixties would be starting in the auditorium in a few minutes and continue until just after lunch. Traffic would be light in the vendor area for the duration.
“I need a distraction after the morning I’ve had,” Lauren said, changing the subject. “I swear some people should have their license to operate a computer revoked.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Not really. You’re probably one of them.”
“I saw an interesting encounter this morning on my way in,” Harriet said, ignoring the dig.
“Do tell.”
Harriet related the scene she’d witnessed between Jenny and the tattooed man.
“Well, that is interesting. Any clue as to who he is?”
“None at all, and Jenny was no help. I tried to give her the mon-ey—like I’d just found it by her car when I went by. She shied away from it like it was poison. After my ruse, I couldn’t easily go back and tell her I’d seen her arguing with tattoo guy and had seen her drop the money.”
“Well, that wasn’t very clever of you,” Lauren said.
“I know that now, but thanks for pointing it out. I suppose you could have handled it smoother.”
“I was just saying—”
“I wish we could find tattoo guy,” Harriet said.
“Why can’t we?”
“Time, space, too many people. Stop me if any of this resonates.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Lauren said. “Think about it. He’s not here—we don’t have a big enough crowd yet to conceal someone so unique. If he was trying to get money from Jenny and wasn’t successful, he’s probably still around.”
“You’re right,” Harriet said. “If he’s sticking around, he’ll either end up at the youth hostel downtown or the homeless camp at Fogg Park.”
“Or he could be hanging out around Jenny’s place waiting for her to show.”
“If he knows where she lives, wouldn’t he have gone there this morning instead of looking for her here?”
“I have an idea,” Lauren said and pulled out her smartphone. She tapped a message into the device and sent it.
“Who were you contacting?”
“I teach classes to a group of computer geeks who hang out at the internet cafe downtown. I asked if anyone has seen our tattoo guy and, if yes, to text me. They’ll go out and look. It’s just the sort of mission that appeals to their inner nerd.”
“Then what?”
“Then we go talk to him, of course.” Lauren said and smiled at Harriet.
“Can you watch the booth a minute so I can see if Connie can come babysit when the call comes?”
“Yeah, but let’s not count our chickens and all that.”
“Don’t you have faith in your nerds?”
“Yeah, but still…”
“You’re right. Someone like that will be obvious, and your guys are perfect. He’ll never suspect them of spying on him. Everyone always ignores geeks.”
“I think I resent that remark. Technically, I’m one of them,” Lauren said.
“You are not a geek, Lauren. I don’t care how much you know about computers.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Harriet was halfway across the exhibit hall when she saw Connie approaching from the north vendor area.
“We closed down the raffle station, since everyone’s gone to the lectures or lunch,” she said when they reached each other.
“I was just was coming to see if you could watch my booth in a little while.” Harriet explained the scene she had observed with Jenny and about the plan Lauren had set in motion.
“I feel bad that Jenny doesn’t feel like she can talk to any of us about whatever it is she’s dealing with,” Connie said.
“And she’s clearly dealing with something,” Harriet noted.