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the others within the small audience with their eyes and ears strained.
    "What's going on?" Mary Jo attempted to whisper as her husband's eyes bulged to know as well. "He exploited her, when she run naked from a bat." This bit of information came from ol' Jesse, who was retired military. Like those originally with him, he basically hung out around town, going from one shop to another looking for excitement. He'd chosen well this afternoon.
    "Oh my! When did this happen?" she asked, turning to look at Sylvia and Everett, who was staring at the group stunned and incredulous.
    "Hold on a minute here! I did not exploit her!" Everett defended as Sylvia bit back another angry accusation, suddenly shoving him out of her way.
    "Now do you see what you've started?" she railed, turning and heading for the door. Everett turned back to the group, just as Sparky spoke up. "That's what she say, you explot her."
    Frank shook his head, rubbing his hand over his face. "It's exploit, Sparky. Not explot!" he corrected the older man.
    "Oh...okay. What that mean, by the way?"
    "It means to take advantage of someone in a bad way!" Mary Jo explained with accusing eyes on Everett.
    "Ma'am, I did not exploit her! Arrgh! Excuse me!" he blasted, turning for the door after Sylvie, who was marching down the small downtown sidewalk heading for home.
    "Sylvie! Sylvia! Will you wait! Would you at least let me explain?" he shouted to her, jogging to catch up to her.
    "As far as I see, there's nothing to explain. What took place is quite obvious," she fired out, never breaking her stride.
    "Sylvie, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to come out and offend you. It was funny, and I simply shared the humor in it. I didn't mean for them to know about your state of undress; that just came out, kinda...I don't know." He shrugged with the lift of his hands, keeping with her purposeful strides. "Will you stop and please listen to me!" He leapt in front of her, stopping her forward motion. "Come on, Sylvia, you must admit...it was funny...I couldn't resist," he petitioned for her to understand.
    "No! You listen to me, Everett Styles. You may be oh-so-cute and fascinating to all the other women you've encountered in your life, and I'm happy for you. But as for me, leave me alone! Stay away from me, and keep me and my stupid blundering acts out of your conversations. I, sir, will do likewise where you're concerned. Now excuse me." She stepped around him and continued down the road leading out of town.
    Everett stood watching her walk away, then blurted suddenly, shouting so that she would hear him, "You know what, Sylvia Payne? The name fits! Fine...I'll stay on my side of the road and you stay on yours! And the next time a bat comes at you...you better have your clothes on, because you'll be outside until someone else comes to your rescue! It won't be me!" and quietly added, "That's tellin' her boy." to himself, giving his own personal, little pat on the back.
    Sylvia stopped, turned with her hands on her hips. "That's perfectly fine with me, Everett Styles! That's perfectly fine with me!"
     

Chapter Five
     
    Two weeks later…
    "Grandma, grandma...look at me. See, look what I can do," Sylvia's three year old grandson called out to her as he did several summersaults, showing her his gymnastic abilities. She was pulling bulbs from the soil in the flower bed along the front of her house, which badly needed her attention. She was trying to decide if she'd be doing this again next fall. She hadn't counted on what had started out as four bulbs, being this difficult to pull up. Her friend Erica had told her that the bulbs would multiply, but for heaven’s sake! She was on the third cluster, which had originated from one of the four bulbs, and she had now been digging around it for ten minutes.
    The other two had taken her fifteen minutes or more to dig out. To her amazement, they had produced what appeared to be fifteen to twenty more bulbs each. Her back was aching and