A Myrtle Clover Christmas

Chapter Eleven

She opened the door and Puddin stood there with a sullen look on her pale face. "Here to clean," said Puddin unenthusiastically.

"Not without your cleaning supplies, you're not. You've nearly wiped out mine. Get your own out of the car."

Puddin slouched away and returned with an assortment of cleaning supplies in an old bucket. She walked in and gave Wanda a cautious nod of greeting. Wanda smiled at her.

Puddin set the bucket down on the floor with a clatter. This apparently startled Pasha, who flew out of the Christmas tree with a fierce cry.

Puddin shrieked and ran in the opposite direction.

Wanda tried to hide a grin.

"What was that witch cat doin' in the tree?" demanded Puddin.

Myrtle said, "Cats are quite fond of trees. I'm sure the little darling was simply trying to figure out what it was doing inside the house. She's quite intelligent, you know."

Puddin's beady eyes shifted suspiciously as they gazed around the room. "Where's she at?"

"After you terrified her, I'm certain she's gone off to recuperate. Really, Puddin, all that noise was completely unacceptable."

Puddin muttered something under her breath and proceeded to pull out her feather duster.

"Go shake that thing outside," said Myrtle. "In the state it's in, you're going to be depositing more dust than you're picking up."

Puddin stomped back outside.

Wanda suggested, "Mebbe we should git out of her way."

"Absolutely not. Puddin shouldn't interrupt anything we're doing. You and I are enjoying this wretched show and we should continue doing that."

The only problem was that Puddin, who was lackadaisically dusting the living room, was immediately, and predictably, drawn into the reality show.

"What's she doin'?" she asked breathlessly as one bride quit her job to plan her wedding full-time.

"Making a mistake," said Myrtle. "Which is precisely what you're doing right now, Puddin. You're intended to be cleaning."

"Am cleaning," said Puddin scornfully.

Myrtle deftly set the wedding show to record and turned off the television. "You were right, Wanda. It's better to watch the show later."

"Now I'm hooked," said Puddin. "You gotta let me see what happens next."

"If you finish my housekeeping, you can sit down and join us. Mercy. I can't even believe those words are coming from my mouth," said Myrtle with great annoyance at herself.

The upside was that Puddin finished her cleaning in record time. The downside was that it may have been completed in a rather slapdash fashion. Then the pale little woman plopped down on Myrtle's sofa and gestured at the TV.

"Well?" said Puddin.

Myrtle found the recorded show and the three of them watched the remainder of it. The bride who'd quit her job and her groom had gotten into a terrible argument (the bride wanted to spend too much money on the wedding and the groom was more financially conservative) and had broken off the engagement.

"Now she's broke an' single," noted Wanda thoughtfully.

"Serves her right," said the malevolent Puddin. "It was a dumb thing to do."

Pasha crept back up to Wanda and curled up in her lap again. Puddin eyed the feral cat with misgivings.

Myrtle rustled up some cash from her large handbag and handed it to Puddin. "I put a few extra dollars in there as a Christmas bonus."