When Muffy saw Mr. Gelt shuffle into the Muffin Man coffee shop, she surmised that he was wearing the same suit, spats, and top hat as the previous day, when he had struck her with his cane. The old man's face was a mask of impatient disdain, as if he was holding a grudge against a mosquito for stealing a drop of his blood. Here he comes, thought Muffy. Don't be afraid. Fern is watching. Nothing can hurt me.
Gelt yanked a chair from Muffy's table, groaned as he sat down, and laid the cane over his lap. "Ahem," he began. "Let's make this quick. I have pressing matters to attend to."
"Oh, do you?" said Muffy with a wry grin. "You've spent the past few days in Elwood City, hounding my family, trying to split my head open with your freaking walking stick…and now you tell me I'm not even your top priority?"
"You will not take that tone with me," said Gelt sharply. "I have it in my power to crush you—and not only you, but your parents, and even your brother who's away at college."
Muffy pushed aside the mental image of a gigantic thumb swooping down from the sky. "Yet with all your power," she remarked, "you're here, sitting in a café, making deals with a fifth grader."
"Indeed," said Gelt, his voice softening. "A fifth grader who labors under the delusion that fifty thousand dollars isn't more than enough to keep her wardrobe in fashion."
Muffy scowled at him. "You think I want the money for myself?" she snapped. "I have a good friend who's about to lose her eyesight because her family can't afford retinal surgery. If it helps her, I'm willing to wear the same old ratty dress and scuffed-up shoes day in and day out, for a whole month if I have to."
"If that's all you want, then the solution is simple," said Gelt. "I'll pay for your friend's surgery in exchange for the dress, and everyone will be happy."
"Except for one small problem," said Muffy. "The Cutlers won't accept your money."
"Cutlers, eh?" said Gelt thoughtfully.
Oops, thought Muffy with dismay.
"My money is as good as anyone else's," said the old man.
"You don't understand," said Muffy earnestly. "They don't want anything to do with you at all."
"Harumph," was the sound that emerged from Gelt's throat.
"However," Muffy went on, "I have a friend in Crown City who's willing to act as a go-between. The dress is with him now, and he'll gladly give it up in exchange for the modest sum of"—she laid the tip of her pinky against her lips—"two hundred thousand dollars."
Outraged, Gelt flew to his feet, and his cane clattered on the floor. "Two hundred thousand!" he roared, the café patrons looking on in astonishment. "Do you think I'm made of money?"
"Well, yes," said Muffy.
"You, young lady, are trying to rob me," said Gelt, pointing an indignant finger at her.
"As if you've never robbed anyone," said Muffy seriously.
The old man's face turned blood red. "I'll fry you like a chicken!" he threatened.
Muffy swallowed. He's so scary! I've got to stand up to him…it's what Fern would do…
"Sit down, Meriwether," she said with all the calmness she could muster. "For you, two hundred thousand is a drop in the bucket, especially compared to the fortune you'll rake in from mass-producing optical fabrics. For Mavis, it could mean the difference between seeing and not seeing, and for me, the difference between studying fashion design in Europe, and a lifetime of regret."
Gelt's navy blue eyes seemed to shoot needles through the girl's brain. "You're a foolish, overreaching child," he said, "but I'll humor you, since my granddaughter's getting married this weekend. Seventy-five thousand, and not a penny more."
"Seventy-five thousand?" said Muffy, feigning shock. "Do I look like I'm made of poor?"
"Take it or leave it," said Gelt.
"Two hundred thousand," said Muffy forcefully. "You take it or leave it." I could go lower, she thought, but I'm not very good at subtraction.
Once again Mr. Gelt stood up. "I don't have time for this," he complained. "I'll find these Cutlers of which you speak, and I'll make them an offer they can't refuse."
Muffy clenched her fists under the table. You stay away from Mavis! He's bluffing. He's gotta be bluffing. Bluffingbluffingbluffingbluffing…
"I bid you good day," said Gelt gruffly, and he bent over, retrieved his cane, and walked haltingly away from Muffy's table.
He doesn't have time to look up all the Cutlers in the city, thought Muffy. I suppose he could pay one of his goons to do it…but his goons must be busy too, or else he wouldn't have seen me personally. Mavis is safe. I'm safe. It's just like Mr. Cooper said.
"I couldn't have done it without you, Fern," she said sweetly. "Thanks loads."
There was no answer. She saw and heard nothing.
"Fern…?"
to be continued