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CHAPTER 34

Preparations Get Under Way

      LUCY WAS surprised to see how excited everyone got about the party.

      The posters had been up only a few hours when girlfriends and wives began calling Cowboy Bob's to ask what time the dancing would start, and whether there would be a prize for the nicest costumes. Although neither she nor Swan had even thought of costumes until someone asked about it, Swan — who had answered the phone the first time the costume question was asked — had said instantly, "Why yes. The prize is a great big box of chocolates." And after that, suddenly it was a costume party.

      The next time Eustace Mallory came down, he said he knew of a fancy candy store in Duke City and he'd get the prize box for them, and bring it with him when he delivered the meat on the day before the party. And he added with a wink that if Lucy and Swan would both promise to dance with him that night, he'd get them the candy at cost.

      Even Charles White, when he saw all the preparations they were making, began to act more agreeable. He even said he might come down that night and bring his wife and daughter.

      "Gracious," Swan said. "The way he always tries to hold a person's hands, who'd have thought the man would admit to having a wife, much less a child. Will wonders never cease?"

      And the next week, after Shark had ridden the bus up to Albuquerque on Sunday, as he did every time he had a day off, he returned to tell Lucy that Gallatin and his band had agreed to come down on Monday afternoon and play for them on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings — all for the same forty-five dollars, plus meals, plus they would all sleep in the barn with Shark.

      Shark was beaming when he told Lucy about it, and Lucy beamed right back at him. Later, she caught herself humming a little while she worked, because even though Uncle Bob was still strange and withdrawn — and even though the beer man was probably going to close their doors on the last day of March — this was going to be one humdinger of a party.

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