“You clever man! I’m going to give you a big hug!” She did, and several cat hairs were transferred from her black velvet to his dinner jacket. “You must come and meet my ladies-in-waiting, but no publicity, please.”
Polly said, “But how about telling him your great-grandmother’s story, Maggie? He’s collecting legends of Moose County for a book. Its title will be Short and Tall Tales.”
“When?” Maggie asked with her usual decisiveness.
“Friday?” He was never one to waste words.
The date was made. “Now I have to go and say hello to the mayor and give him a big hug,” she said. “I’m a political hypocrite.”
Qwilleran and Polly watched her cross the lobby and deposit some cat hairs on His Honor’s dinner jacket.
Although the Mackintosh Room would not be serving until Tuesday evening, it was brightly lighted to show off the clan tartan on the chair seats and the Mackintosh crest on the wall. Derek Cuttlebrink, the six-foot-four busboy who had become a six-foot-eight maitre d’, was standing at the host’s lectern, taking future reservations.
“Hi, Mr. Q! I see you’ve booked a table for next Saturday,” he said.
“I hope the lights are on a rheostat.”
“Oh sure. We’ll turn them way down when we serve. Have you seen the coffee shop? It’s kind of far-out for Pickax.”
Fran Brodie was now standing at the entrance to Rennie’s, the converted coffee shop, answering questions. “This was inspired by a Charles Rennie Mackintosh tearoom in Glasgow, designed in the early twentieth century…. Yes, it will be on network TV, but I don’t know exactly when…. Two magazines have already photographed it…. Well, I see Rennie’s as a stimulating place for an overnight guest to have breakfast, an exciting place for out-of-towners to have lunch or dinner, and a friendly place to have a snack after a tap-dance class…. Yes, you can go in and take a table. They’re serving refreshments.”
A framed photograph of the Scottish architect with flowing moustache and an artist’s flowing silk tie was hanging in the entrance.
Fran said to Qwilleran, “Ancestor of yours? You have his moustache and his eyes.”
The distinguishing feature of Rennie’s was the high backed Mackintosh chair, about four feet tall and tapered upward. Lacquered black, these chairs surrounded tables lacquered in bright blue or bright green. The white walls were decorated with black line drawings of oversize flowers. Napkins were a bold black-and-white stripe.
Carol and Larry Lanspeak, seated at a blue table, waved an invitation to Qwilleran and Polly to join them. Everyone liked the Lanspeaks, the affluent but down-to-earth owners of the department store. Both had given up acting careers in New York to carry on the family retailing tradition. Their talents were still put to good use in the theatre club, and all other community projects received their generous support.
Tonight they were in a festive mood and Larry raised his champagne glass in a toast to the Mackintosh Inn.
“Here’s to the K Fund!” said Carol.
“Here’s to Aunt Fanny Klingenschoen!” Qwilleran said.
“Here’s to Lady Anne,” Polly murmured.
Carol asked her about her vacation.
“My sister and I went to Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City and met the most charming French-Canadian professor. He wants to come here to study Canadian influence in our pioneer days.”
Qwilleran said, “I spent my vacation in Mooseville and Fishport.”
“Ah! Fishport!” Larry declaimed in his stage voice. “The home of the covered dish! Where the Hawleys speak only to Scottens, and the Scottens speak only to fish!”
“I didn’t see any covered dishes in Fishport. Should I know what a covered dish is?” Qwilleran asked innocently.
“Why, it’s a dish to pass at a potluck supper!” Carol informed him. “Don’t you go to potluck suppers?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“Once a city boy, always a city boy,” Polly explained.
“How does Delacamp feel about potluck suppers?”
Larry said, “He’s a consummate snob.”
“Let me describe his program,” Carol offered. “He and his assistant arrive on Labor Day by chartered plane. Larry and I greet him at the airport and turn over the Mercedes rental car that he has requested. That evening he’s guest of honor at a dinner at the country club. Tuesday afternoon he gives a tea for prospective customers. Guests view his private collection of jewelry and make appointments to go to his suite and buy. Those who have heirloom jewelry to sell make appointments for him to visit their homes.”
Polly said, “I hear Don Exbridge is furious because his second wife isn’t even invited to the tea, while his first wife is invited to pour.”
Qwilleran said, “I’d like to see what goes on at this affair. Would my press card get me in? I wouldn’t write about it – just look.”
“No no no!” Carol said. “It’s for women only, Even Larry isn’t admitted, and he sponsors the whole thing.”
Her husband said, “Old Campo thinks women are more impressionable when their husbands aren’t around. They’re more likely to spend money.”
