Part 163 (1/2)

your grandmother know about all this? Or did you guys

bind and gag her before you threw her in the broom closet?”

He laughed. ”Grandma had to go to the store and she

said we could do whatever we wanted with them. Hey,

Daniel, show Mom that cool tree you just made.”

Daniel held up a tree decorated in wild, somewhat psy-

chedelic, swirls of color. ”It's kind -of weird, isn't it?” He

II-sounded apologetic.

”Actually, it looks like a piece of art you might find in

some new avant-garde gallery in L.A.”

Looking for You All My Life255

”Really?” He rubbed his nose, managing to leave a streak

of bright green frosting on the tip..

She nodded, trying not to laugh. ”You guys are quite the

talented cookie decorators. I can't wait for Barry and

Rebecca to see these.”

”h.e.l.lo there,” called Audrey as she came into the kitchen

and set a bag of groceries on the counter. ”Don't know what

got into me to venture outside in weather like that.” She

took off her coat and hat and shook the snow from them on

the back porch, and then stepped back inside. ”But I sud-

denly remembered that survival list you were making the

other day in case we ever get snowed in or whatever, and I

thought I better go get some supplies-you know, just in

case.”

Maggie laughed. ”I'm sorry. I forgot all about that. Do