Joanne listened with hesitant ear as the voice on her phone said, “Um, hullo, this is Dave. Is this Joanne, Edna’s friend?”

“Um, yes,” she answered.

Meanwhile, Edna was bouncing in front of her and mouthing, “Is that him?! I gave him your number, as a character reference.” Joanne tried to hide the roll of her eyes.

To do so she turned toward the window and listened, “Yeah, she gave Egbert this number, and…geez, this is awkward.”

“Yeah, that happens a lot,” Joanne offered, trying to remain cryptic to Edna’s eager ear.

“Oh, it does?” he asked sounding a little relieved. When she only grunted in response, he tried, “Is she right there, listening to every word you say, trying to figure out what’s being said?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Egbert does the same thing! It bugs the crud out of me.”

“Mm-hmm!” came the emphatic, inarticulate response.

“Right, she’s there. Hey, I’m supposed to get these, um, diaries back to her, you know, through you. Would you, by any chance, want to meet up for coffee?”

“Mmm-hmm.”