{"id":846,"date":"2020-07-03T17:09:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-04T00:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/?p=846"},"modified":"2020-11-22T17:53:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T01:53:01","slug":"sheltering-in-place-at-the-magdalena-arms-episode-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/2020\/07\/03\/sheltering-in-place-at-the-magdalena-arms-episode-x\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheltering in Place at the Magdalena Arms: Episode X"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In our last episode, Dolly, Lois, and Pamela discovered that Mrs. DeWitt has a mysterious daughter. Just as Dolly rallies the Magdalena Arms tenants to search for the missing heiress, Angelo and Lon emerge from Angelo’s shuttered hair salon, where Angelo has given Lon an illicit trim. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Missed the earlier episodes? You can find them all here<\/a><\/em>. Or start from the beginning with <\/em>Episode I<\/em> <\/a>and use the \u201cnext\u201d button at the top the screen to move between episodes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Magdalena Arms Rallies ‘Round<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Lon! Angelo! What were you thinking?” Dolly scolded. She had to force herself to assume a severity she didn’t feel; she envied Lon their professional cut, and by the look in Pamela’s eyes, she wasn’t alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong? Is someone sick?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Phyllis, bursting out of the basement stairway in response to the breakfast gong. When she caught sight of Lon and Angelo she stopped so abruptly that Laura, just behind her, nearly crashed into her civil-service colleague. \u201cLon\u2014Angelo!\u201d Phyllis cried in dismay. \u201cWhat were you thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What happened?\u201d Maxie skittered to a stop on the landing overlooking the hallway. “What did Lon do?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above her, heads poked over the bannister on the third, fourth, and fifth floors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They got themselves an illegal haircut,” Dolly told Maxie grimly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Oh!” said Maxie. And Dolly could have sworn that her old friend gave a sigh of relief under her mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did she think Lon had done?<\/em> Dolly wondered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phyllis was lecturing the guilty pair. “”These rules exist for a reason. You two have endangered the whole building!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Plus visitors!” Lois added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We wore masks!” Angelo defended himself. “I’m bleaching my scissors now!” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s my fault,” Lon spoke for the first time. “I pushed him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m sure Lon’s very very sorry,” Maxie called from above, like Juliet defending Romeo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lon stayed mum, but their face above the mask showed no signs of remorse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The fact remains, Lon, that you’ve made Angelo liable for eviction.” Laura’s gentle voice was grave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat can\u2019t be true!\u201d Angelo\u2019s voice was high with alarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you want to kick someone out, kick out me\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying he should<\/em> be, I\u2019m just pointing out\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow everyone, calm down,\u201d Dolly\u2019s voice carried to the fifth floor and drowned out the confused clamor of contending voices. \u201cThis isn’t a public hearing! I didn’t ring the gong because Angelo gave Lon a trim\u2014which is very serious, and will certainly be dealt with\u2014 but because we’ve got Mrs. DeWitt’s missing heir to find!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Missing what? Missing hair?” Terry asked from the third floor. Terry had just gotten home from a stressful supermarket shop, and was both bushed and bewildered by the unexpected hullaballoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHeir<\/em>, missing heir<\/em>,” Dolly repeated. “Or heiress, I should say. Turns out Mrs. DeWitt left a daughter!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dolly waited until the hubbub of exclamations had died down before continuing, “The way I see it, we might as well take advantage of the fact that most of us have empty hours to fill, and put our heads together to find this girl\u2014well, not really of course,\u201d she added hastily. \u201cPutting our heads together, I mean. I just meant\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know you were speaking metaphorically,\u201d Maxie called down. \u201cBut how\u2019ll this work? Should we just all do internet searches for \u2018Harriet DeWitt\u2019 \u2018Bay City\u2019 daughter or something? The libraries are closed, and the city offices\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pam held up a hand. \u201cLois and I will be coordinating efforts.\u201d Even with a plaid mask and butchered hair, she commanded attention. Next to her Lois had whipped out a steno pad and was taking notes. \u201cAs Dolly pointed out,\u201d Pam continued in her carrying contralto, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of unused talent in the Magdalena Arms.  You\u2014\u201d She pointed at Maxie\u2014\u201cYou can work your old press contacts; maybe Mamie\u2014\u201d here, Pam couldn\u2019t help wrinkling her nose in distaste as she named Bay City\u2019s notorious gossip columnist\u2014\u201cwill have heard something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course!\u201d said Maxie. \u201cIf anyone\u2019s got the dirt on Mrs. DeWitt it will be Mamie!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m putting down Janet for legal research,\u201d Lois said. \u201cSurely there will be a copy of the birth certificate somewhere, and perhaps other legal documents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can help with public records!\u201d \u201c\u2014with city files!\u201d Phyllis and Laura chorused, then laughed self-consciously as they exchanged a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat can I do?\u201d Kay\u2019s query floated down from the fifth floor. \u201cI\u2019m just a clarinet player. I\u2019ve got no detecting expertise.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know the music world,\u201d Pamela called back, her face turned up, hands cupped around her mask-covered mouth. \u201cYou can work on Mrs. DeWitt\u2019s days as a chanteuse!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have some contacts in Berlin,\u201d Maxie put in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lois scribbled furiously, \u201cAnd there\u2019s Jackie, too, for the theater side. Perhaps Mrs. DeWitt confided to one of her friends in the Bay City Shakespeare Society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terry was conferring with someone behind her. She turned back to the stairwell. \u201cSylvia want to know, what can they do?\u201d Before anyone below could respond, she held up a hand, \u201cWait a second, did you ask\u2014what? Oh, okay.\u201d Turning back she reported, \u201cShe said that Patricia said she doesn\u2019t have time to help out because she\u2019s still in school.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s fine!\u201d the response from below was universal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe should concentrate on her studies,\u201d Angelo added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the time-being, Pamela announced, after conferring with Dolly and Lois, the rest of the tenants would be assigned to help Dolly sort through Mrs DeWitt\u2019s belongings. \u201cWith a fine-toothed comb!\u201d Dolly said. She figured that given Mrs. DeWitt\u2019s penchant for saving, and given the higgledy-piggledy state her possessions were in, this would take a least a few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will be a wonderful project for the unemployed tenants,\u201d Phyllis said to Laura in a low voice, as Pamela shouted up assignments to the tenants overhead. \u201cThis sort of distraction is tailor-made for relieving stress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laura nodded her agreement. \u201cWe\u2019re really very lucky, here at the arms, that that\u2019s our main problem.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think\u2026does Angelo need money?\u201d Phyllis blinked earnest eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses. \u201cI\u2019d hate to think that he broke the rules out of financial need!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two friends glanced at Angelo, who was still standing a little too close to Lon, his expression defiant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s just fidgety,\u201d Laura diagnosed. \u201cHe kind of hinted he could give me<\/em> a trim the other day. I doubt it was for grocery money. No,\u201d she continued, “Everyone here has a roof over their heads, enough food to eat\u2026\u201d Her face was sober as she thought of the growing demand at the Bay City Food Pantry, whose efforts she\u2019d been instructed to aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The social scientists had no way of knowing that on the second floor, just over their heads, the Magdalena Arms\u2019 newest tenant was rummaging desperately in her kitchen cupboard and coming up empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next: Millie<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Who is that girl with the rumbling stomach on the second floor? Will she manage to find a bite to eat? And when will the rest of the Magdalena Arms crew remember the overlooked new tenant who’s been hidden away by the confinement?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tune in every Friday (or even oftener) for a new episode!<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Find all the previous episodes here<\/a>; or start reading from the first episode<\/a>.<\/em><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our last episode, Dolly, Lois, and Pamela discovered that Mrs. DeWitt has a mysterious daughter. Just as Dolly rallies the Magdalena Arms tenants to search for the missing heiress, Angelo and Lon emerge from Angelo’s shuttered hair salon, where … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[210],"tags":[224,218,212,232,99,215,220,223,233,211,217,227,221,216],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-serial-siping-at-the-magdalena-arms","tag-angelo","tag-dolly","tag-dolly-dingle","tag-heiress","tag-laura","tag-lesbian-career-girls","tag-lois","tag-lon","tag-long-lost-daughter","tag-magdalena-arms","tag-maxie","tag-mrs-dewitt","tag-pamela","tag-phyllis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1000,"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846\/revisions\/1000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monicanolan.com\/pulppep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}