“Nowyou call? Now, after your zucchinis attacked me and practically destroyed my shop?” I was shouting, but I didn’t care.
“Tess, I’m so sorry. I only learned about the bizarre properties of that plant when a friend from Arkansas called me last night. He’s the one who gave me the cuttings. He didn’t know, either, until his plant tried to eat his dog.”
I instantly forgot my anger. “Oh, no! Is the dog okay?”
“Yes, thankfully. He’s a goofy Labrador retriever who thought it was a game. By the time my friend realized what was going on, the dog was standing happily over a pile of shredded zucchini.”
It was hard to blame Ollie for something he hadn’t known about. “Well …”
“All I knew was that it was a good producer. And Prism was so upset, and I know your aunt and uncle have a big garden … I wasn’t really thinking when I left it there.”
“Fine. But why did you bring it into the shop in the first place?”
“Oh! I was planning to look for a new pot for it in your garden stuff, since it was outgrowing the one it was in.”
The utter ridiculousness of the entire situation suddenly struck me, and I started laughing.
“Listen, I’ll pay for any damage. I’m so sorry. I was out of town helping a different friend who works at a museum. He needed to neutralize some dark magic objects, and I—”
I stood up and yelled for Jack.
“Ollie, hold on. Jack is coming to hear this. I’m putting you on speaker.”
When Jack stepped out onto the porch, scanning the area for more danger, I beckoned him over. “It’s Ollie. He’s sorry about the plant—”
“He’d better be,” Jack growled.
“But here’s the important part,” I said, over Ollie’s renewed apologies. “He knows how to neutralize magical objects.”
“What?”
We quickly filled Ollie in on Susan’s trove, and he promised to come look at it first thing when he got back into town the next day, Saturday. After we hung up, I hugged Jack.
“Wow. Maybe a great thing will come out of an awful thing.”
“You should make him pay for the damages,” Jack grumbled.
“Hey. If he can make all that stuff in Susan’s house safe, that will be payment enough. And, speaking of Susan …” I pointed at the van turning into the parking lot. “That’s her godfather’s van. I wonder what he’s doing here.”
Mr. Butler parked and carried several bags from Lauren’s Deli over to us. “Good morning. I was picking up some lunch, and Lauren said she was packing up an order for you. I offered to bring it out here, so I could see the famous pawnshop.”
“Thank you so much! Let me get you some cash.”
“No need. Lauren said she put it on your tab.”
I introduced Jack and Susan’s godfather to each other, and we took the sandwiches inside to eat. Then, of course, I had to explain about the plant monster.
“Oh, no.” He looked around, shaking his head. “If you need more trash bags, I have a roll of mover-strength bags in the van.”
“Thank you so much. That would help. I can go grab them while you finish your sandwich. I need to call my Aunt Ruby, anyway, before she reads about this in the online edition of the paper.”
“They’re in the front, tucked under the passenger seat,” he said.
“Thanks again!”
I wandered out to the parking lot, leaving a message on Aunt Ruby’s voicemail, and then opened the passenger door of the van. Glancing at the back, I saw it was filled with empty boxes, probably ones that Susan had already unpacked.
Then I bent down to reach for the trash bags. I didn’t feel them right away, and my shoulder hit the dash when I leaned in further. Then the glove box door fell open and hit my already-aching head.
