“You go back to Rhonda," Shelley said, looking around. There were flower arrangements shoved everywhere and boxes of food where there weren't flowers. "We could put some of this away for you.”

He looked around at the chaos piling up and smiled with gratitude. "That would be great. You sure you don't mind?"

“Not a bit," Jane said. "We'd be glad to be of some use.”

Tony disappeared, and Jane and Shelley got busy straightening out the neighbors' offerings. They carried all the food items to the kitchen, and while Shelley rearranged the re‑ frigerator to make room for some casseroles, Jane set the flowers around the living room as artfully as she could. When Jane rejoined her friend in the kitchen, Shelley was shaking her head in wonder. "I'm going to wrap these two hams and put them in the freezer. Why on earth would anybody send hams to the family of a man who died under a pile of them?"

“It wasn't really a pile. And maybe they didn't know. There's probably another freezer in the basement or garage," Jane said quietly. "They've got everything else. This kitchen could give the deli a run for its money. What's that gadget?"

“I think it's a juice extractor."

“One of those things that can turn cabbage into a drink?" Jane asked. "I can't imagine wanting to drink the juice of something that doesn't have juice. Like carrots. Give me one of those hams. I'll see if there's a freezer downstairs.”

When she returned a few minutes later, she looked stunned. "What a basement!" she exclaimed. "There's a pool table the size of Oregon down there. And the tiles on the floor have silver dollars embedded in them!”

Shelley giggled. "Sounds like the recreation room of a whorehouse."

“Whorehouses have recreation rooms?"