I gave Phil the Postman the evil eye as he handed me the letter with the little green tag on it. "Do I have to?" I asked.
He nodded grimly, quietly, his head bobbing like one of those little Mexican toy dogs.
There was no return address on the front. I flipped it over. I recognized Bar-bra Lawrey's stiffly elegant handwriting.
Well, I was right about the bad news.
"Phil, what would you do if I just scribbled 'REFUSED! RETURN TO SENDER!'..."
Phil had a look of alarm on his face, as if the thought of defacing a piece of U.S. mail had suddenly entered his mind. "You wouldn't do that to me, Hugo, would you? Make me carry that darned thing all the way back to the office?"
"Do big, hungry Rottweilers with an attitude scare you a little, Phil?"
He looked at me, suspiciously. "Yes."
"I'm thinking of getting one, Phil."
Diligent to the end, he rolled his eyes and handed me a pen,
Eric read the letter over my shoulder. "She wants you to cough up the rent?"
"That's what it looks like."
"You were closed two weeks!" said Greg. "Where does she think you'll get the money?"
I shrugged. "I don't think she cares about that angle, lovey."
"Do you have enough?" Eric's glasses tipped forward on his nose. He slipped them back up with a finger.
"I have half of it, but it's crimping into my reserves."
"Jesus, Hugo, I thought you had more than that!"
"The damage that was done cost me an arm and a leg. I really counted on the check from the insurance company. It just happened so soon after I'd re-opened..."
"Can we loan you some money?" asked Drew, quickly glancing at Eric.
"No, sugar," I said, noticing Eric's eyes flash at him. "Thank you. I'll make do."
Greg took a spoon and started patting it on his leg. I reached over and stopped him. "She can't shut you down or anything, can she?" he asked.
"She can't do anything to me if I give her some of the money. Our contract states that I have to be a full month's rent behind before she can even attempt to interfere with the business. I'm only two weeks behind. She's just grasping at straws."
I didn't even believe that one myself when I said it.
