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patience with people. Never has. She’d take her cane and lambaste both Mariah and Flo.”
    Kenda said conspiratorially, “That might be just what they need.”
    “You’ve got a point there.” Inez glanced at her watch, which sported a big round dial, making it easy to read, then called out, “Ladies, let’s get back to it.”
    Kenda whispered, “Good luck.”
    “The thing is, they both want what’s best for William Woods. I try to bear that in mind. And you know, Kenda, you work with the tools you’re given. Does no good to complain.”
    “Right.” Kenda admired Inez’s outlook.
    Two hours later, an exhausted Inez approached Fairchild Alumni House. She noticed the new Volvo station wagon parked by the curb.
    Tally flung open the front door of the house as Inez neared. She’d been watching from the front window.
    “Chickpea!” Tally threw open her arms, cane in one hand.
    “Blossom!” Inez embraced her old friend. “We are going to have the best time ever.”
    “Always do. Step in. Nasty cold.”
    “Yes, it is.” Inez closed the front door behind her as Tucker raced to meet her, sliding halfway down the short hall.
    “Inez!”
The corgi rejoiced at the older woman’s presence.
    “Tucker.” Inez, with difficulty, knelt down to pet the dog.
    “We can all get down. The trick is getting up.” Tally grinned.
    “Give me your cane and I’ll make it look easy.”
    Tally handed over the cane with the silver hound’s head for a grip. “Need another one?”
    “I do not.” Inez put both hands on the hound’s head, steadied on the cane, and then rose without a wobble.
    Tally slipped her arm through Inez’s. “We’re still upright.”
    Harry emerged from the kitchen. “Inez. I’m fixing tea. Like a cup?”
    “Indeed. I took a chill walking back from the administration building.”
    Mrs. Murphy and Pewter shot out of the kitchen.
    “Inez!”
Mrs. Murphy rubbed against Inez’s leg.
    “Aren’t you the pretty kitty.” Inez liked Mrs. Murphy. She then spoke to Pewter. “Off your diet, I see.”
    “I’m not fat. I have large bones.”
    “Oh la,”
Mrs. Murphy sassed.
    Pewter reached over to box her ears, but Mrs. Murphy easily eluded that paw.
    Tally steered Inez toward the living room. No sooner had they settled down than Harry reappeared with a tray full of sandwiches. She placed it on the coffee table, then returned with the teapot and two cups. She called upstairs to Big Mim and her daughter, Little Mim, but they called back that they were unpacking.
    Trudy Sweetwater had filled the fridge with all the necessities.
    “Aren’t you joining us?” Inez asked.
    “Thank you, no,” Harry politely declined. “You two need to catch up.”
    By their second cup they’d done just that.
    Tally leaned back in the comfortable wing chair. “What do you think?” She meant about the hostility between Mariah and Flo.
    “I don’t think Mariah is stealing, but, Tally, my fear is those two will again divide the board into two camps. Happened five years ago, and we finally solved that problem when some of the more partisan people rotated off the board, while others, more open, came on to serve. Nothing will get done as each side jockeys for power.”
    “I fear that, too, Inez.”
    Inez nodded. “You see where gridlock brought Congress and the country. I don’t want it to happen to us. There’s got to be a way to stop it.”
    “What was it Professor Chuck Jones used to say?”
    They both said in unison, “Trust your instincts and don’t expect life to be logical.”

F armer that she was, Harry checked the Weather Channel. She could read the radar accurately for a layperson. A mighty clump of green with a yellow center and red spot bore down on Fulton, Missouri. From the speed with which it moved across middle America, Harry surmised it would arrive in central Missouri’s lovely Callaway County by late tomorrow afternoon or early evening. If she wanted to explore the campus and visit the barns,