When Loretta explained what she’d done, the policeman looked at her in disbelief. “Would you repeat that Ma’am?”
After Loretta completed her second explanation she addressed the officer. “Excuse me Officer (she peered at his name badge), Officer Zegner, I’d like to walk back to the quilt shop and see what happened as that was where all the commotion happened to be.”
As they headed towards the shop, Zegner was curious about the amazing ice ball pitch that had been thrown by a woman who must have been in her mid-sixties. “You must be in darn good shape to deliver a throw like that,” he commented.
Loretta chuckled. “Years of farm work plus tai chi class has helped, but I must say, I’m going to feel the effects of that throw probably by tonight and I expect I’ll have sore shoulder and arm muscles for the next week!”
The officer laughed as they walked into the quilt shop.
As they entered, they noticed Charlie and Bess sitting behind the counter. They each had a quilt thrown over them and were sipping hot mugs of tea.
“Hi, you two,” Loretta acknowledged as she walked over to them. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine, Loretta,” Bess replied. “Just a little shaken up. It’s the shock, I guess. I was so worried when I saw Charlie fall. I thought he might have been badly injured—perhaps broken a bone.”
“Now Bess, don’t you worry about my old bones,” he said as he eased one arm consolingly about his wife’s shoulders. ‘The Doc says I’m still pretty good for a few years yet.”
However, Loretta noticed how Charlie winced in pain as he removed his arm.
“Charlie, it would be a good idea for you to get that arm looked at by the resident nurse when you return to your Oak Crest Bungalow and Bess, you make sure he does.”
Next, Officer Stegner stepped forward and introduced himself. “Say, Charlie, do you mind if I ask a few questions and get a statement from you? However, before I do so, I’d like you to know that through the fast thinking of
Mrs. Jimson, the culprit has been arrested.”
“Good!” Charlie replied. “To tell you the truth, Officer, I was so doggone mad that a young mugger would take advantage of two seniors who were volunteering to help out on a community project. It was a very cowardly act.”
Well, by dinner time that day the news of the attempted theft had spread, not only at Oak Crest retirement community, but throughout Four Corners County.
The following morning The Four Corners Chronicle had a front page spread on the story. By the second day, a national paper had picked up the story and several reporters arrived at Oak Crest hoping to interview Charlie Walters and his wife, Bess. Meanwhile, one enterprising reporter had been busy at The Chronicle archives digging up stories about Loretta Jimson’s baseball team and their 1969 victories.
There was even a two-column write up about the origin of the Quilt Raffle which caused someone to comment facetiously, “No stone has been left unturned.”
A week later, it was announced that Margery Atwater, Chief Librarian at the Four Corners Regional Library had won the raffle. As she accepted the Birdbath Quilt, she said that the wallhanging would remain permanently on display at the library.
As for the residents at Oak Crest, they were delighted to have sold all two thousand tickets. That meant that $4.000 had been raised to go towards the landscaping. Now, the construction of the Fountain Birdbath could finally get underway.
Lastly, there was a rumour circulating that Loretta Jimson had left town to visit her sister. But then, Loretta always hated unwanted publicity.
You can read the first Birdbath Quilt story here: https://www.story-quilt.com/the-birdbath-quilt/.
