Chapter 3: Mrs. Kelly

Getting dinner took a little longer than Amanda thought it would because one of the servers accidentally gave them the wrong order.

"No," Lee said for the second time. "We both had burgers. Neither of us ordered fish."

"But, weren't you the party who ordered baked beans and a side salad instead of fries?" the server asked, frowning at the receipt in his hand.

"I didn't know this restaurant had baked beans as an option, but I wouldn't have ordered them even if I did," Lee said firmly.

"Sorry, sir," the server said, removing the tray with the wrong order.

Amanda glanced nervously at her watch.

"I know you're worried about the time," Lee said gently. "I can take you directly to the school if you want, so we don't have to go all the way back to the Agency to get your car."

"That would be nice," Amanda said, "but it would be better for me to drive over to the school myself. After all, my friends on the PTA really shouldn't see me with you."

Lee gave her a slightly offended look.

"Well, you know, we don't want them to find out about my connection with the Agency," Amanda reminded him. "Besides, if they see us together, they might get the idea that we're, you know, seeing each other. I mean, we see each other, but not like—"

"I understand," Lee said.

From some of the things Amanda had told him before, gossip was a major pastime among the PTA members, and anything they gossiped about would soon be spread around the neighborhood and would eventually reach Amanda's mother. If Dotty got the idea that her daughter had a new boyfriend, she would grill her like the burgers that Lee and Amanda were still waiting for.

"So, this Mrs. Kelly is big on punctuality," Lee said. "Is she as bad as Billy?"

"She's not as accurate as he is, but much less forgiving," Amanda said, propping up her chin with one hand.

"That doesn't sound like a glowing character assessment. Is she really that bad?"

"Generally, she's a very demanding person. Mrs. Kelly is trying to make this the biggest Halloween carnival we've ever had, and she's very particular."

"Really? In what way?"

"Well, the other day, she threw a fit when she found out that the fire codes wouldn't allow us to line the midway with jack-o-lanterns that had real candles inside them."

"She wanted to have real fire around the kids?" Lee raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," Amanda sighed. "Although, mainly it was because she didn't think that the plastic pumpkins would look as good as real ones."

"Wouldn't it take a long time to carve enough pumpkins to line the entire midway?"

"Mrs. Kelly estimated that it would take about 200 pumpkins to cover the area that she wanted to cover. She wanted to have the children in grades four and five carve them as a special art project."

"Which would have involved giving the children sharp objects as well as fire," Lee said thoughtfully. "How did this woman end up as PTA president anyway?"

"Mainly, it's because her husband is the vice president of a company called Goreman Electronics. Before the last election, she let everyone know that he was thinking of making a large donation to the PTA, and she hinted around that if she was elected, that would guarantee it. She also said that her husband's company was willing to sponsor the Halloween carnival."

"So she got to be PTA president because of her husband's money and influence?"

Amanda nodded. "She won the vote, twelve to four."

"I suppose you were one of the four?"

"No, actually, I was one of the twelve."

"Why?" Lee asked, mystified. Amanda never struck him as the type to be swayed by money.

"Because the candidates were chosen by nomination, and I was the only other person nominated. I like helping out with the PTA, but I don't want to be head of it again."

"Again?"

"Yeah, I was the head of the PTA two years ago. I don't want to do that again. Not after what happened at the school's Christmas pageant."

Lee grinned as Amanda described a fiasco with hyper-active children, a mix-up where they'd ended up with moose costumes instead of reindeer costumes, and a fight between two boys dressed as angels while parents argued over whether the music included in the pageant was too religious or not religious enough. Of course, the head of the PTA was the one everyone complained to, even though the choice of music was really the responsibility of the music teacher.

Their meals finally arrived while she was talking. Fortunately, the order was correct this time. After they finished eating, Lee offered again to drive Amanda to the school to save time, but Amanda insisted on returning to the Agency to get her own car so that she could drive it home after the carnival set-up.

When Amanda showed up at the school, preparations for the carnival were in full swing. People were everywhere, setting up tents and tables and rigging lights. Amanda only hoped that, with all the chaos, Mrs. Kelly wouldn't notice that she'd arrived late.

Jane Frankwell, one of Amanda's friends, was helping another woman hang a large banner over the midway. It read, "Calvin Elementary Halloween Carnival Sponsored by Goreman Electronics." Amanda noticed that "Goreman Electronics" was written larger than "Calvin Elementary."

"Excuse me, Jane, but have you seen Mrs. Kelly?" Amanda asked.

"She's in that tent over there, inspecting the equipment for some of the carnival games," Jane said, pointing to a large tent toward Amanda's right. From the way Jane rolled her eyes when she said it, Amanda could tell that Mrs. Kelly's opinion of the game equipment wasn't favorable.

Amanda sighed. If Mrs. Kelly was busy, perhaps she could avoid running into her for awhile.

"Can I give you a hand with anything?" Amanda asked Jane.

"You certainly can, Mrs. King, now that you've finally arrived," said a snippy voice behind Amanda.

Amanda jumped and turned to face Mrs. Kelly, who was giving her a disapproving look.

"You're nearly fifteen minutes late, Mrs. King," she added.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Kelly," Amanda said. "I had to drop something off at work—"

"Save the excuses! Let's just get busy," Mrs. Kelly said, studying the clipboard she always carried with her and used when assigning tasks. "I have a list of things for you to do."

"Where would you like me to begin?" Amanda asked, silently reminding herself that it was all for the benefit of the children.

"There's something wrong with one of the strings of lights that we were going to hang in the food tent," Mrs. Kelly said. "I want you to test all the bulbs to see if one is loose."

As far Mrs. Kelly's tasks usually went, this one didn't sound too bad.

"Alright," Amanda said.

"And when you've done that, the tubs for the apple-bobbing game need to be scrubbed. I don't know why everyone wants to play that game at all, really. It's just a way to spread germs."

"I see."

"And see if you can find some better-looking bean bags for the bean-bag toss. The ones we have look like they've seen better days, and none of them even match. The boards for the bean-bag toss look like they're badly-designed as well. Who was it who painted such weird monster faces on them?"

"The children, Mrs. Kelly," Amanda said, trying to keep her patience.

"Your children?" Mrs. Kelly asked with a disapproving sniff.

"No, Mrs. Kelly," Amanda said, desperately trying to keep a smile on her face. "They were painted by a group of children who won an art contest here several years ago."

"Oh," Mrs. Kelly said. "I don't suppose there's enough time to order new ones for this year's carnival, is there?"

"I don't think so," Amanda said, secretly grateful.

"Well, I have a list of things for you to pick up at a party supply store tomorrow. The store's address is at the top of the page. I've already placed the order, so all you need to do is bring them here tomorrow afternoon."

"Sure." Amanda accepted the list from Mrs. Kelly. It was three pages long and carefully itemized. "Some of the items seem to be crossed off."

"The ones that are crossed off are ones that I already have. My husband's company is providing some of the decorations, and of course, the shriekers."

There was noticeable wincing from Amanda and other bystanders at the mention of the shriekers. Mrs. Kelly ignored it.

"We'll be assembling the supplies and taking a thorough inventory starting at 4 pm sharp. Don't be late." With that, Mrs. Kelly turned and left to go order other people around.

Jane tied off her end of the sign and walked over to Amanda. "Things would have been a lot better if you'd been PTA president this year."

"I've already been president once," Amanda said. "I'm happy to let someone else have a turn."

"She doesn't really care about making the children or anyone else happy," Jane continued. "She's only out to promote her husband's company."

Amanda nodded silently in agreement.

"Someday, I'm going to get back at her for making me dress as the 'Good Fairy,'" Jane added. "Have you seen the costume she dug up for that? I'm going to give the kids pink, glittery nightmares!"

Amanda cringed at the memory of the Good Fairy costume. If she had been just a little shorter, the nightmare could have been hers.

"Mother's helping to make my costume."

"How's that coming?"

"Just fine. She said that I could try it on later tonight. Madame Florica should be ready in plenty of time for Saturday."