The Hot Fudge Sunday Affair Page 3

  “You must be our new queen.” A jovial-looking man grinned at her. “I’m Ed Winters, chief of the fire department. You know, someone was telling me you discovered that Whittington was one of the first towns in the area to institute a salaried fire brigade. Everyone else was using volunteers. Can you tell me more about that?”

  It was demanding, being a celebrity. But Chris loved it.

  The nervousness that had plagued her earlier that morning had vanished. She found it easy to chat with these people. They were all so interested in talking to her about her research project. She was glad she’d taken the time to review it. She spoke easily and knowledgeably about her subject. In fact, she realized with satisfaction, this was something she probably knew more about than anyone else in the room. She loved being in the limelight. Even noting that Felicia was glaring at her from across the room failed to daunt her good spirits.

  The mayor gave a short speech, dedicating the library to the citizens of Whittington and emphasizing the importance of reading and education. Afterward, he introduced the king and queen, and the town librarian presented Chris with a bouquet of flowers. Then Chris and the others hurried off to their next appointment, leaving behind the others to explore the building and finish off the coffee and donuts.

  As they walked to the car, Jeff made a point of coming over to Chris’s side.

  “Hey, you were quite a hit in there!” he teased her.

  “Oh, I was just being friendly.”

  “Don’t be so modest! You were the belle of the ball. You had everyone charmed. I think the fire chief wanted to ask you for a date.”

  Chris burst out laughing at the images that immediately popped into her mind. “I suppose we could go to the movies in a fire truck.”

  “Probably. But they’d never let the Dalmatians into the theater.” Then Jeff grew serious. “Listen, Chris, let’s try to stick closer together next time, okay?”

  “Good idea. That way if anyone asks us something tricky or either of us starts losing his cool, we can help each other out.”

  Jeff looked puzzled. “Well .... that’s not exactly what I meant.”

  Chris glanced over at him and saw that he was blushing. It occurred to her that what he was saying was not that he wanted her to help him keep the conversation going in his role as king but that he liked being with her. And, she realized, she felt exactly the same way. She began to glow. The rewards of being queen were turning out to be even more than she had hoped for.

  The rest of the day was a whirlwind of fun. Besides being queen, it was like a long, if unusual, date with Jeff. The remainder of the morning was taken up by the ribbon cutting of the building site for the new elementary school. Chris was amused by the sight of all the workers posed by their cranes and other machinery, impatiently waiting for the mayor to cut the blue ribbon strung across the gate so they could get to work. A luncheon given by the local chapter of the Lions’ Club followed. In the afternoon there was an exhibition of the 4-H Club’s projects and the Grand Opening of a small shopping mall.

  Along with the others, Chris was whisked from place to place in the limousine. She had barely enough time to comb her hair between events. It was tiring, but she enjoyed every minute. Everyone was anxious to meet her, and to talk about her research on the town’s history. She felt very, very important. Exactly the way a queen was supposed to feel, she decided.

  It wasn’t until the middle of the afternoon that she remembered that she was only queen for the day. Tomorrow it would be Susan’s turn. And she had promised to fill her in on every little detail of how she had spent the rooming and afternoon. As they were driving out of the parking lot of the new shopping mall, with Felicia chattering away about her school and her favorite horse without noticing that no one was listening, Chris reached into her purse and brought out the small pad of paper she had tucked inside just for this purpose.

  “What’s that?” Jeff asked curiously. “Are you stalling a collection of autographs? I suppose you’ll want mine first.” Pretending reluctance, he reached for the pad.

  Chris laughed. “Not exactly. Actually, I’ve been meaning to take notes on what I do this week.”

  “A diary?”

  “Sort of. After all,” she explained hastily, “this is all pretty exciting. I want to make sure I don’t forget a single detail.”

  Jeff looked doubtful.

  “Besides, I might want to write about this experience someday. For the school paper, I mean. Or a school project.”

  “That reminds me,” said Mayor Harris. Felicia looked annoyed at having her discourse on her wonderful friends at school cut off. “Starting in another day or so, we’re going to be having some company on our little expeditions. Someone other than Felicia, I mean,” he added meaningfully. His daughter just scowled and stared out the window. “There’ll be a reporter coming along with us. Someone from the Whittington Herald. A young man by the name of Eric Caulfield, I believe.”

  “You mean he’ll be covering Centennial Week?” Chris asked.

  “Well, yes. But I understand that his main focus will be the two of you. A human interest approach to the town’s honorary king and queen. See, you’ll be even bigger celebrities than you already are by the time his big feature article on Whittington’s two most prominent teen-agers comes out.”

  Felicia’s scowl was deeper than ever. But she remained silent.

  Chris, too, was silent. She was lost in thought. Worried thought.

  A real reporter, accompanying the king and queen everywhere. Asking questions, taking notes, watching and listening. With someone scrutinizing the queen so carefully, being with her every minute of the day, would she and Susan ever make it to Hot Fudge Sunday? For the first time since she and her twin had agreed to the plan, Chris began to have serious doubts…

  Even so, she wasn’t about to back down. Not now, when Susan hadn’t even had a chance at being queen yet. That would really be unfair. Especially since it was all turning out to be so much fun.

  “Where are we going now?” she asked, putting away her note pad and vowing to record every detail of her day the very first free moment she had.

  “How does this sound?” The mayor turned to her and Jeff and grinned. “The Adult Education Center is having a fair, and we’re the honored guests.”

  “Oh, Daddy, that sounds so dull.” Felicia pouted.

  “Maybe you think so. But the Advanced Baking class has been working madly all weekend to make their best cakes and cookies for us to sample. I hope you have a sweet tooth, Chris,” he added with a wink.

  Christine Pratt just laughed.

  Chapter Five

  “Now don’t forget, Sooz. We had lobster salad at the Lions’ Club luncheon. And I had, let’s see, a Coke. Jeff ate three rolls. With gobs of butter.”

  Chris was in Susan’s bedroom, pacing back and forth and delivering a monologue as her sister got dressed. She wanted to be sure she didn’t leave out a single fact, name, or event about the day before, and she had been talking nonstop ever since seven that morning. “Oh, one more thing. It was the fire chief, not the police chief, that I met yesterday, at the dedication of the new library. His name was ... oh, gee, I can’t remember. Ed something, I think.

  “And don’t forget that Mayor Harris’s secretary’s name is Ann Benson. She has long black hair and glasses. But you can’t miss her. She sits right in the waiting room outside the mayor’s office.

  “Oh, I just thought of something else. Did I mention that the mayor’s daughter’s name is Felicia?”

  “Only about six times,” groaned Susan, “Relax, Chris! I’m not worried; why should you be? I have every confidence that I’ve been briefed on every single detail of your first day as queen.”

  It was Tuesday morning. In just a few minutes Susan would be off to take her place as queen of Centennial Week—and as Christine Pratt. It was hard to tell which of the twins was more nervous. But while Chris was a bundle of energy, Susan was acting calm. Her restraint, however, came
only from being afraid of letting her apprehension show. If she did, she feared she’d never manage to get herself out the door.

  “If anything goes wrong, just wing it,” Chris whispered as she started down the stairs.

  “I’ll be fine!” Susan insisted. She only wished

  she believed it.

  “All set, Chris?” her father asked as she came downstairs.

  So far so good, Susan thought. At least I’ve managed to convince one person that I’m really Chris!

  Her sister had done her hair and applied her makeup for her, just to make sure their game wasn’t found out because of some minor detail. She had even drawn a tiny beauty mark on her left cheek, something that had almost given them away the first time they had tried trading places. And she was wearing one of her twin’s favorite outfits, a black-and-white-striped tee-shirt dress with a red belt, a string of red beads, and a pair of earrings that looked like big red buttons.

  “You look very nice, dear,” her mother commented. She, too, failed to realize that it was Susan she was addressing, not Chris. Susan could feel her confidence soaring. Perhaps this was going to work after all.

  It wasn’t until she was standing at the entrance of the City Hall that she recognized how many gaps there were in the hasty education she’d received that morning and the evening before. For example, she knew that she was supposed to report to the mayor’s office and that it was on the third floor ... but where were the elevators? She certainly couldn’t ask anyone. And how would she know if she was talking to Ann Benson, the mayor’s secretary, or to someone else? Her confidence was fading. But it was too late to turn back now. Hiding her nervousness so well that even she was impressed, she strode inside the cavernous lobby of the building.

  Fortunately, she found Mayor Harris’s office without mishap. And no one seemed to notice her anyway. The employees of City Hall were too intent on getting to work on time and catching up on the latest gossip to pay any attention to her. It wasn’t until she went into the mayor’s office that she met up with her first challenge of the day.

  There was a woman sitting behind the desk typing. She smiled at Susan as she walked in. But she distinctly remembered Chris saying that Ann Benson had long black hair and glasses. This woman had short hair and no glasses.

  “Hello there,” the woman greeted her. She continued looking at Susan expectantly.

  “Hello.” Susan didn’t know whether to introduce herself or to assume that this was Ms. Benson—who of course already knew Christine Pratt.

  Her sister’s parting words echoed through her brain. If anything goes wrong, just wing it!

  Susan took a deep breath. “Well, I’m back for my second day as queen of Centennial Week!” she said gaily.

  The woman behind the desk broke into a huge smile. “Then I guess you had a good time yesterday, Chris. By the way, how do you like my hair? I had it cut last night. Unfortunately, I left my eyeglasses at the hairdresser’s. I’ll pick them up at lunchtime, but in the meantime, I’ve got a tough morning ahead of me. Why, I wasn’t even sure if it was you when you walked in just now!”

  A wave of relief rushed over Susan. “Your hair looks terrific, Ms. Benson.”

  “Now, I told you yesterday, Chris. Please call me Ann.”

  “Sorry. Guess I forgot.”

  “That’s okay. I’m sure you have enough to remember!”

  If she only knew! Susan thought ruefully.

  “By the way, Mayor Harris will be out in a minute. And you’ll probably be pleased to know that Felicia won’t be joining you today. The mayor finally put his foot down. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really have to get this report typed.” She squinted at the page before her as she went back to her typing.

  This is going to be a long day, thought Susan, plopping into the comfortable brown leather couch. But at the very least, I’ll learn a valuable lesson in diplomacy. Maybe this experience will even teach me not to put my foot in my mouth quite so often in the future.

  When Jeff Miller hurried in a few minutes later, Susan had no problem recognizing him. The school’s football star was as familiar to her as he was to Chris and everyone else at Whittington High.

  “Hi, Jeff!” she said brightly.

  “How’s my queen today? Looking good, I see.” He sat down on the couch next to her. A bit too close, Susan couldn’t help noticing. “Now, Chris, don’t forget what I told you yesterday.”

  Susan just smiled wanly. She had no idea what he was talking about—yet she could tell by his conspiratorial tone that she should know. It seemed to be important. She wondered if she should pretend to know ... or take a risk by trying to find out. She decided that this sounded too important simply to let it pass by.

  “To tell you the truth, Jeff,” she said, “yesterday was such a long, exhausting day that I’m not sure I remember anything. What exactly did you say?”

  Jeff looked at her quizzically. Susan’s heart sank. But then he burst out laughing. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. A lot did happen to us yesterday, didn’t it? Well, I’m talking about you and me planning to stick close together all day. So we won’t get separated, the way we did at the library.”

  “Oh, yes. Of course. And you’re absolutely right.”

  Another small victory.

  When the mayor finally emerged from his office, Susan held her breath. But he barely glanced at her. He simply said, “Good morning, kids. All set for another day? By the way, Ann, see if you can get Henry Clark on the phone this morning. I’ll have to cancel our golf game tomorrow. Tell him I’ll call to reschedule after this week is over.” He smiled apologetically at Susan and Jeff. “This Centennial Week is certainly keeping us all busy, isn’t it?”

  By then all of Susan’s confidence had returned. She had no problem convincing anyone that she was Chris. Not the mayor, not Ann Benson—not even Jeff.

  Now, she thought, all I have to do is be careful not to slip up for the rest of the day.

  Being queen of Centennial Week was exhilarating. Susan was as thrilled as her twin had been when Thomas, the chauffeur, helped her into the long black limousine. And as they drove from place to place, their arrival was inevitably greeted with a great deal of fanfare: cheers, crepe-paper streamers and balloons, people crowding around and snapping their pictures. When they visited the firehouse, a small group of firemen in red band uniforms broke into a rousing march as they pulled up. And while she was inhibited by shyness at first, it didn’t take long to realize that everyone was so excited over Centennial Week, so pleased to be a part of it, that they were happy just to shake her hand.

  Things proceeded smoothly until it was time for the king and queen to judge an art show given by the town’s day camp. As she filed through the exhibit, viewing artwork done by children aged four to fourteen in every possible medium from wood to paint to papier-mâché, she became totally engrossed in examining each piece.

  “This is so much fun!” she bubbled to Jeff.

  “You know, art is my favorite subject at school. I’m even thinking of going on to art school after high school.”

  Jeff’s response snapped her back to her present situation. “I had no idea, Chris. Why, I didn’t even know you took art.”

  “Oh. Um ...” Susan could feel herself turning red. She had been so wrapped up in enjoying

  the art show that she’d completely forgotten she was playing the part of her twin! And now she had said something that could very well get Chris in trouble the next day. “Well, I don’t actually take classes at school. It’s just sort of a hobby. I like to fiddle around with it after school.”

  She looked over at Jeff timidly, hoping her answer hadn’t sounded too odd. But he was barely listening. Instead, he was absorbed in a particularly imaginative display of watercolors. Even so, Susan vowed to say as little as possible for the rest of the day. That had been an awfully close call!

  After lunch, given by the local Girl Scouts and their troop leaders at the American Legion Hall, the mayor suddenly said t
o Susan and Jeff, “Well, I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you two on your own for the rest of the day. Centennial Week is all well and good, but I’ve still got a city government to run. There’s a council meeting this afternoon, and I’ve got to be there. But Thomas knows the schedule for the rest of the day. I’m sure you’ll both do fine. Have fun!”

  “At last we’re alone!” Jeff said, leaning back against the plush blue velour of the backseat. Casually he draped his arm around Susan’s shoulders.

  She stiffened. What on earth did Jeff think he was doing?

  But then she remembered that he thought it was Chris he was with.

  Oh, dear, she thought. Chris had never mentioned anything about her and Jeff being interested in each other.

  But even if she had said they were, that wouldn’t make this situation any easier. How would she, Susan, get out of this gracefully, without ruining things for her sister? This was something that she had never even considered!

  Susan thought fast. And then she had an idea. In her most teasing Chris voice, she said, “Now, Jeffrey Miller, I think you’re forgetting that you’re a public figure. You have a responsibility to your position.” Playfully but firmly she removed his arm from her shoulders, then pretended to smooth her dress. “Honestly!” she went on with mock horror. “Have you ever seen Prince Charles and Lady Di carry on in public?”

  She hoped Jeff would simply laugh it off. But he didn’t. Instead, he acted as if he were hurt.

  “Boy, I don’t understand you, Chris.” He pouted. “I keep getting mixed signals from you. You’re like hot and cold running water. And here I thought you really liked me!”

  Angry and bewildered, he slid across the seat, as far away from her as he could get. Thomas, the chauffeur, glanced at his two passengers through the rearview mirror. But he said nothing.

  For the rest of the day, Jeff remained quiet and distant. Even Susan’s attempts at making cheerful conversation couldn’t bring him out of his bad mood. And at the end of the afternoon, he hurried off without even bothering to say good-bye.