6-TABITHA12

Inwardly Carolyn raged, outwardly she uttered every swearword she had ever learned from the Captain, her father, her grandfather, from every man she had ever dated . . . and from her Sorority sisters at college. Indeed she was not conducting herself in a 'ladylike' manner!

As she dressed however, she calmed down . . . remembering the day it was and the itching powder incident and bath in the cold ocean that the Captain and Jonathan had suffered last year. Now her joke had to be two-fold. She needed to play a joke that was worthy of a response and would not make the Captain suspect that they had the 'fake' birthday party planned for that night, but was not so devious that he would never speak to her again. Maybe two smaller jokes?

Sensing immediately that the Captain was no longer at Gull Cottage, Carolyn finished dressing and went out to the Captain's telescope on the balcony.

"Aha! Just as I suspected!" Quickly Carolyn unscrewed the two end pieces of the telescope. She coated the eyepiece end of the telescope with dark red lipstick from her makeup bag. Just enough to put a ring around the Captain's eye (she hoped) the next time he looked into it. Then, inside the magnifying end of the telescope, she stuffed as many white cotton balls as she could. Then she reassembled the telescope, and giving it a satisfying spin, she headed downstairs to the kitchen.

gammgammgammgammgamm

"Martha . . . ?" Carolyn said, hesitantly, "Everything okay down here?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Muir!" said Martha, washing the last of the dishes in the sink. "Everything's fine. No pennies in the doors this year! The kids just left for school, what's up?"

"I need your help in the attic, that's what! Come on!"

Carolyn stopped briefly in the kitchen for the bottle of molasses Martha kept in the cupboard and then at the linen closet in the upstairs hall and grabbed all the toilet paper she could find.

Once inside the attic she turned to her friend and grinned.

"Want to help me decorate?"

"Mrs. Muir! You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes I would, and I am! Wait until I tell you what he did to me last night!"

Carolyn and Martha, remembering every high school and college prank they had ever pulled, proceeded to festoon every square inch of the 'wheelhouse' possible with toilet paper. Not an area was overlooked — Including the exposed beams and rafters.

Martha went downstairs, and grabbed the discarded newspapers from the week before and shredded them — Then she shoved them in every drawer and every square inch of cubbyhole in the Captain's desk as possible, without moving his actual private papers.

"We better hurry! He'll be back any minute!" said Martha, laughing, and enjoying the joke as much as anyone. What are you going to do with the molasses?

"Watch!" said Carolyn, with a glint in her eye. Carefully, making sure it didn't spread too quickly, she poured a small pool of molasses squarely in the middle of the Captain's desk chair, and then pushed the chair back under the desk.

On that happy note, the two conspirators went back downstairs and ate their breakfast . . . and awaited the Captain's return.

They didn't have long to wait. Captain Gregg materialized s-s-l-o-o-w-w-l-y in the kitchen.