Lulabelle Gimlin's Diary: Snoopy Snoops

December 5, 1900

 

I swear that Miss Trolley could talk the socks off a hobo's frozen feet in the middle of winter!   And I swear I haven't the sense to say no to anything that woman asks!  I have agreed to be in charge of a gift exchange to take place at the great big after-church Holiday Potluck to be held a week from Sunday.  What in tarnation was I thinking?  Everyone in town will be there!  Everyone!  That includes Mr. Heximer Thane from Wellsville, New York and the town-constable too, assuming he crawls outa his bottle long enough to stagger over to Miss Trolley's cousin, Sister's, place for the festivities.  I suppose I could go ahead and arrange the gift exchange in advance and then fake sick when the big day comes.  Of course, faking sick didn't work out so well for me last time, so that's probably not the best idea I ever had. 

 

Maybe I should just leave Philomenaville, especially now that I know folks have been poking around my room.  How do I know that?  Well, I know because someone actually tore one of the pages in this diary!  I also know because that pretty Sister Butta told me she heard a rumor that someone had been in my room and read my papers.  She said it was her cousin, Miss Trolley, the lady detective, but I just can't believe Miss Trolley would do something so underhanded!  On the other hand, she's a lady detective.  Maybe snoopin' comes natural.  If she did snoop, I sure wish she'd just tell me so I could decide for sure to get outa town before anyone else finds out what she must already know.  Between her and Mr. Heximer Thane, I am on borrowed time here in Philomenaville.  Still, I'd like to be able to finish the novel before pulling up stakes and hittin' the trail again.  I suppose then I could head off to New York City or Chi-town with the finished manuscript under one arm to find a publisher who will pay me for it.  I'd take all that money and buy me a boat ticket to Europe and there I'd hide for the rest of my life!

 

But that's a ways down the road.  The book is nowhere near done yet.  I may be forced to turn tail and run long before that time comes.  For now, I might as well keep on keeping on.  I sort of figure if my troubles followed me all the way here to Philomenaville, they'll just keep on followin' me wherever I go.  I might as well get to work on that gift exchange Miss Trolley dreamed up for me to organize.