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."
"Hello 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
vou need help bringing anything in?"
"Maybe Spence could go get the other two bags." Audrey
leaned over to examine their work. "Very interesting. I see
you guys mixed up some new colors." She held up a custard
cup containing what looked like gray mud. "What's this sup-
posed to be?"
"We were trying to make purple," explained Daniel.
Audrey shook her head. "Well, I've never seen cookies
quite like these before."
Maggie smiled. "I was just telling them that Rebecca and
Barry would probably appreciate them as some sort of
modern art."
"Oh, that reminds me," said Audrey as she began
unloading the bag, handing items to Maggie as she spoke.
"Barry called today and said he'd decided to drive since there
were so many flight connections just to get into Byron. He
was worried that he might get laid over somewhere. Anyway,
I suggested that perhaps he could coordinate his schedule
with Rebecca's and pick her up at the Portland airport."
"What a brilliant idea, Mom. Was he okay with that?"
"He sounded just fine. I found her number in your book
and gave it to him. He's going to work Out all the details." L 25~Melody Carlson
L!. .Maggie poked her mother in the arm. "Hey, did you sud-
denly decide to play matchmaker after all?"