January 25th, 1994

This morning I saw Ed doing push-ups against a wall. Obviously he was unaware that he was being watched, and I didn't want to embarrass him. But I told Robert about it. "Don't you think that it is too early for him to start to exercise?"

My husband shrugged his shoulders. "It bothers him to no end that he is so weak. He has been fit and athletic all his life. And yesterday he was feeling guilty because he wasn't strong enough to pull Danny's rescue through single-handedly. In a way I can understand him."

"I just hope he won't overdo it."

"He does the push-ups against a wall because he can't do them otherwise. He's a stubborn guy all right, but he will learn to respect his limits, I suppose, and this is a start. But we could help him. Let's go for walks every day. We could go see some of our neighbors. This would give him a chance for a break after half the time, and maybe we can find out something about the trap Danny fell into yesterday."

My smart husband – always so efficient!

Robert's choice of whom we would pay a call to today was logical: the Stravinskys, our neighbors to the north, since they were living next to the Crawfords, and their vineyard lay still at the same footpath. We left the Crawfords out since Bill Crawford might be still mad at Robert and Ed for the role they had played in the Christmas Eve Mass.

We left Danny and Kitty in John McCabe's care, since Danny had to lie in a dim room to make sure that his concussion would not have any aftermaths. John has started to work for us after New Year, and he has developed into a fine aide*.

The Stravinskys are always happy to see us. Of course we had to taste Mrs. Stravinsky's fresh blueberry muffins.

"Actually I had raisin muffins in mind, but since the day before yesterday I can't stand raisins anymore. You may not believe it – but our cat almost died of raisins! Freddy, our tomcat, likes strolling around. He must have eaten some raisins. The vet said that they were hidden in some meat; otherwise he would not have munched them. Did you know that raisins are poisonous for cats and dogs? The vet said that we were lucky that it had been Freddy and not Daisy, our dog, because cats usually notice things which are not good for them, while young dogs tend to eating anything..."

The Stravinskys are extremely nice people, but everybody – and particularly the men – was happy to be out in the fresh air again and away from chatty Mrs. Stravinsky.

Since we are early tonight I hope for some quality alone time with my dear husband...

January 26th, 1994

This has been an exciting day again!

In the morning Danny did some of his annoying violin practicing.
Kitty listened patiently for a while, but then she got bored and looked for something more interesting to do. She found it in Robert's study. She decided to establish order in his papers. Since she can't read but knows some letters, she put everything in nice stacks, ordered by the first letter she recognized. There were some very boring ones – without any pictures – hence she started to decorate them with nice drawings...

In the afternoon we wanted to visit the Derringers. Yet suddenly a flood of earthy water barred our way.
We heard a child cry, the small grandchild of the Derringers', as it turned out. Lucy was visiting her grandparents with her mother.
When we came closer to her mother, Jo-Beth White-Derringer, she explained to us in desperation that Lucy's little dog had been carried away by the water.

Ed, the incurable gentleman who can't see a child cry, hurled himself into the water. For him, it was only knee-deep, but it still almost knocked him over.

"Come back, you crackpot!" shouted Robert. Of course Ed didn't listen. He is still not really aware of the fact that he should start budgeting his own resources. He always gives everything there is. Maybe that's the consequence of the training Robert gave him decades ago...

Amazingly, he managed to catch up with the little dog. He grabbed it, but was badly rewarded: The doggie seemed to hold him responsible for this involuntary bath and tried to scratch and bite its rescuer. It was very obvious that Ed hasn't got Robert's ease with dogs – not by a long shot!
It looked a little odd when Ed finally waded back to us, wet up to his hips, and holding the small animal in his outstretched hands...

But when Lucy hugged her darling, not caring about becoming wet herself, we all knew that the world was in order again.

Of course we cancelled our visit to the Derringers.
Eve went home with the kids and Ed and forced him to take a very hot bath. Yet when she wanted to put him to bed with several hot-water bottles he became mutinous. He sat down with Danny and Kitty and invented a quiz for them where both of them had the same chance of winning. The combination of questions ranged from brands of makeup to astrophysics.

I have to admit that I was a little angry with him: Will this man ever learn to think of himself – for his wife's and son's sake?!

I went with Robert to investigate the scene – not a crime scene this time, but a scene where somebody had made a mistake which could have caused a lot of troubles. Escorted by the Derringers, Bill Crawford, his wife and her dog, which had luckily escaped the flood, he found out that above the Crawfords' estate someone had mixed up the barriers in the water channels. Therefore the flood had gushed over the Crawfords' and the Derringers' vineyards. Fortunately, at this time of the year this caused hardly any damage. It would have been much worse in summer or in autumn. Nobody was hurt and thanks to our unreasonable Ed even Lucy's little dog had been saved. Finally it was a blessing in disguise.

Of course Robert advised the other vinery owners on how to restore the correct order of the barriers. The rest of the problem – the dirt on the two vineyards – will solve itself within a month or two.

* See ff story 'Sounds Part 1 of 5: Christmas Carols'