Read Clam Wake for Free Online Page B

again. “Don’t you want to be informed?”
    â€œNo. No, no, no.” Renie viciously speared a lettuce leaf with her fork. “You think I haven’t had to work on designs for conning people into voting whatever way I was dragooned by earning big bucks from whichever civic or public utility outfit hired me?”
    â€œFine. I’d like to know the details.” Judith downed more chowder while reading through the proposal. “It sounds clear to me. This measure is to establish a private nonprofit sewer system to serve the—”
    Renie held up a hand. “Serves them right if it’s passed. I get it.”
    Judith put the single sheet of paper aside. “Has it occurred to you that this could be a good thing?”
    â€œNo. You want Auntie Vance to kill us for treason? If she and Uncle Vince are against it, I’m with them.”
    â€œI’m considering the opposition,” Judith said reasonably. “Some of these other people might really prefer sewer lines. Not to mention the properties that don’t percolate, so that a septic tank isn’t an option. Over the years the forest has reclaimed the land they couldn’t sell. You may recall that when the Webers were talking about building up here, my parents considered buying in, too. But the site they were looking at didn’t perc. Then my father died and Mother lost heart in the idea.”
    â€œYour mother had a heart back then? I always wondered where it went. And no, I don’t remember that. I was in high school at the time.”
    â€œNo, you weren’t. You’d graduated from college.”
    â€œSo I was too caught up making serious money by creating graphic designs for brain-dead corner-office types.”
    â€œThat sounds right. Are you finished with your latest foray into piggery?”
    â€œHey, I didn’t spill much.” Renie stood up. “Let’s go be neighborly.”
    â€œAt least you didn’t dress in your usual nonprofessional bum-like wardrobe,” Judith noted as they cleared the table.
    â€œI figured we were going public,” Renie said, opening the dishwasher. “A lot of these people must be really old. I don’t want to scare them.”
    â€œSometimes your bummy outfits scare me .”
    Renie made no comment. The cousins put on their jackets and headed outside. After closing the door, Judith grimaced. “I don’t like not locking up. But we have no key. Does that bother you?”
    â€œKind of,” Renie admitted. “But if that’s how the locals live, I guess it shouldn’t worry us. We’re used to living in a big city, surrounded by the everyday threat of criminal activity. It keeps us alert.”
    The cousins took their time walking alongside the road. Overhead, the clouds were getting lower and darker. Accustomed to the gray of winter, neither Judith nor Renie paid much attention. The old joke was that the standard forecast was “overcast with a high of fifty-five, a low of forty-three, and a ninety percent chance of rain.” It was more of a truism than a joke during much of the year.
    As they turned to follow the stone walkway to the front door, Judith glanced back to take in the view. “Maybe a storm is coming this way,” she noted. Moving figures crossing the main road halfway to the beach caught her eye. “Some clam diggers are out. A couple of people are pushing somebody in a wheelchair. Do you recognize them?”
    Renie made a face. “From here? I’m farsighted, but they look like blobs to me.”
    Judith shrugged and kept going. Dick and Jane Sedgewick were out on their deck, arguing about something. “Hey,” Dick called, waving at the cousins, “button it up, Jane. We’ve got company. It looks like the Webers’ nieces. I’ll be damned.”
    â€œYou probably will be,” Jane said with a cutting glance at her husband. “Hi, girls! Come on up.