DELILAH’S DILEMMAS

from The Corridor Magazine_March 2021

EDITORIAL

DIANE BROWN

DELILAH’S PLACE

Karon had had her fill of covert operations, the exchange of surreptitious glances, and the exclusion from information and plans. She stood in the living room of the Royal Flush Ranch, hands on hips, demanding an explanation from her audience which consisted of Dooby and Eli (the primary culprits), and Delilah, Buford, and Joel.

On the occasions when Delilah exercised the same insistence, she was seldom taken seriously. She came across as being whiney and temperamental, perhaps because she didn’t exhibit enough tension in her body. Or it could be her tone wasn’t severe enough. Or possibly, she didn’t possess the same bone chilling, murderous, redeyed fury that Karon now displayed in massive quantity. Eli and Dooby swapped a quick, furtive glance.

“Either one of you do that again, I will slap you silly!” Karon commanded. “Now, spill.”

“Nothin’ really to tell,” Dooby said with feigned nonchalance.

“Abigail set fire to the trailer and escaped,” Eli said. “Really nothin’ more to . . .”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Delilah interrupted, wagging a finger at Eli. “One minute you were complaining about her “playing you” and the next minute you’re planning a trip to Montana.”

“Wyoming,” Dooby interrupted.

Delilah glared at Dooby. “As though none of this happened,” she continued. “And let’s not forget that Daddy, suddenly, out of the blue, decides to go home. Everything changed just after Dooby talked to his buddies at whatever agency he has connections with.”

“What are you talking about?” Dooby asked.

“Don’t try pulling that trick on me, Dooby,” Delilah said. “We were all in the kitchen. You stepped out, went to the living room, and when you came back to the kitchen everything had changed. One look from you, and Eli had lost all interest in Abigail’s escape.”

“Boys,” Buford said on a sigh, as he sank onto the sofa. “It’s time. You better confess.”

“Alright,” Eli said after a slight hesitation. “She’s in government custody.”

“And you got this from your contacts?” Delilah asked Dooby.

“Yes,” Dooby said.

“Evidently that had been the plan all along,” Eli offered.

“And you didn’t know the plan?” Karon asked with a tone that suggested she wasn’t exactly picking up what the guys were laying down.

“Well . . . no,” Dooby said.

“Uh huh,” Karon said with tongue in cheek, eyes narrowed, and head tilted to one side. She was not having it.

“Honest, Karon,” Eli declared. “It just makes sense. The fewer people who knew the better. The less likely Abigail would be intercepted by the Mrs. Wrigley organization. I mean, there were only a hand full of people that knew we were going in to retrieve her in D. C. We were worried initially last night because we didn’t know if she had escaped to go with the bad guys or the good guys.”

“Our guys had to get her out of here,” Dooby said.

“I’d have done the same thing,” Eli said to Dooby. “Right?” Dooby said.

“Wait a minute,” Karon said. “It was my understanding that y’all were presumed dead. So, why would the Wrigley people even be snooping around here?”

“Delilah,” Eli said. “We think after Patty’s death, George Armstrong’s men were targeting the ranch to eliminate her. Afterall, Patty was here to kill Delilah when she died.”

“That means Delilah’s still in danger,” Joel pointed out. “We’re all still in danger.”

“No, actually,” Eli said slowly, and he stole a glance at Dooby.

“They’re apprehending George and his accomplices this afternoon,” Dooby said.

There was a long stretch of silence.

“So, this is it then,” Delilah finally said, throwing her hands in the air. “It’s over. All done. She sets the trailer on fire, putting your lives in danger and destroying property, and it’s okay as long as she’s in the right hands. She won’t be held accountable because she’s never held accountable.” “That remains to be seen,” Dooby said.

“Really, Dooby?” Delilah barked. “You heard what she said. And you know how this works. She’s going into the witness protection program. She’ll have a new life. A new identity.”

Delilah sighed with exasperation and sunk down onto the sofa next to her daddy.

“Well, now that that’s all settled,” Karon said. “What’s this business about a trip to Idaho?”

“Wyoming,” Dooby and Eli said in unison.

“Whatever,” Delilah and Karon said together.

“I’m just going to go finish my packing,” Buford said, rising from the sofa. “I’ll have to leave soon to catch my plane.”

“Yeah, and I need to go check on horses,” Joel said.

Both Joel and Buford stopped momentarily and looked at Karon as though waiting for a salute and the command to carry on. She rolled her eyes and waved them on.

Dooby and Eli took turns relaying their Wyoming trip plans. At one point Dooby went to the antique, roll-top desk and called up the website on Delilah’s computer. He insisted that Delilah and Karon browse through the numerous log cabin floor plans. No doubt this was a

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means to distract them from their ire. And as far as the guys knew, it worked, because Delilah and Karon became enthralled with the hunt for the perfect floor plan.

“Can you believe those two idiots?” Karon asked under her breath, the minute Eli and Dooby left the room. “Actually think we can be distracted like a dog with a squirrel.”

Delilah laughed. “I take it then you’re going to continue your interrogation later?” she said.

“Girl, please,” Karon said. “I just don’t have the energy for it. And you know it won’t change anything. So, which one of these do you like best?” Karon added, pointing to the screen that showed the five plans that had been saved as favorites.

“That one,” Delilah said, indicating the 1000 squarefoot plan with two bedrooms and one bath.

“I really think you need to choose this one,” Karon said, pointing to the cabin with two bedrooms and a bath downstairs, and a third loft bedroom and bathroom. “It’s only a couple hundred square feet more, and you never know when you might need that extra bedroom. Or it could be used for storage.”

“True,” Delilah agreed. “Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” Karon said.

Delilah hugged and kissed her Daddy goodbye, and for good measure so did Karon. And then the two girls were off to town for pizza in Karon’s Mustang.

After lunching, and while in town, Delilah and Karon visited the furniture store to get prices for replacing the furnishings that burned up in the trailer. Disheartened, Delilah commented that lawn chairs and tree stumps might have to do for the living room seating and tables, and army cots would suffice for bedding.

“Oh! It just infuriates me to no end!” Delilah exclaimed as Karon drove south on Highway 99 back to the ranch. “All this expense, and inconvenience, and still Abigail just goes on her way.”

“Why are you frettin’ about this?” Karon asked. “I’d just make Dooby and Eli foot the bill for this. You’ve said yourself that Dooby’s got more money than Frito Lay’s got chips. And Eli’s certainly not impoverished.”

“Oh, no. I couldn’t do that,” Delilah said. “They’re paying for the cabin. You saw the price tag on those things.”

“Girl!” Karon admonished. “Would that trailer have burned if Dooby and Eli hadn’t brought the broom rider here?”

Delilah sighed and shrugged. She started to remind

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her that it was she, Karon who suggested they move Dooby, Eli, and Abigail from the garage apartment to the trailer, but then Karon would have just pointed out that it would have been the garage that burned down along with Nettie’s 1967 Camaro.

And she would’ve argued that the trailer was ancient and in need of replacing anyway.

“Well, I guess I can . . .”

CRASH!

A black Ford Explorer with blackened windows had just smashed into the rear of the Mustang. Karon screamed and swore as she tried to keep some semblance of control of her vehicle. Delilah turned around.

“Oh, my stars!” Delilah exclaimed, as the Explorer slammed into them again. “That’s the car that was following me the other day.”

“Call someone!” Karon yelled.

CRASH!

This time Karon was unable to control the Mustang, and as Delilah reached for the cell phone in her purse, the car went off the road and the airbags deployed. The next thing they remembered was two men, one on each side of the car, attempting entry.n

We know how much Karon loves her car. She is not going to be happy about this. And second, who are these men, and why are they attempting to abduct Delilah and Karon?