We realized how lucky we had been. If the wind had been blowing in
another direction, or harder, and if the fire department hadn't been so
prompt, the rear section of our motel--the four single cabins--might
have burned.
Thursday was the day set for the wedding. Mr. Hawkins' well-built body
was encased rakishly in a striped suit, and his brown eyes were
sparkling with his characteristic sly amusement when he came into the
office. I smiled, remembering Miss Nestleburt's remark about hoping he
wouldn't embarass her by playing a practical joke or doing something
eccentric at the ceremony. I couldn't blame her for not quite trusting
him.
Mr. Hawkins swept off his hat. "I know, madame," he said, "what you
think about me. I know what you're thinking right now. It is my fond
hope that I can at least partially obliterate the bad impression I have
made upon you. There are two hours yet before the ceremony, and in
those two hours I propose to work for you. If you will give me cleaning
equipment and fresh linens I shall clean my cabin from ceiling to
floorboard, until it is so spotless it will look as though it had never
been occupied."
Since Grant, who cleaned each occupied cabin each day, whether or not
the occupants were staying over, had cleaned Mr. Hawkins' cabin the
previous morning, it wasn't as much in need of a thorough cleaning as
he implied.
We hadn't cleaned his cabin yet today, though. Since this was to be his
last day here, we planned to wait until he left, and then to get it
ready for a new customer.
I had tried to persuade the pair to stay at our motel for their
honeymoon. Mr. Hawkins, though, insisted that they should travel for a
few weeks, and then settle down in Burbank, where he had a nice home
that had been rented out since the death of his first wife five years
ago. Mr. Hawkins would have liked to spend a comfortable honeymoon in
Banning, probably, but he didn't trust me. He knew that, although I had
laughed off the rubber spider and several other of his little
whimsicalities, I had never forgiven him for the tooth brush incident.
He was afraid that I would seize upon his wedding night as an
opportunity to revenge myself in full.
If he really wanted to clean up his cabin in readiness for a new
occupant, I certainly wasn't going to stand in his way. I led him out
to the linen closet, where I loaded him with a bucket of soapy water,
disinfectant, a broom, a dustcloth, and clean linens.
"Don't get that gorgeous new suit dirty!" I called after him as he
carried the load back toward his cabin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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