FIFTY-NINE

“I think he’ll be okay,” I said to a tearful Nancy after the ambulance had gone. “Why, I’m pretty sure David’s at the hospital already.”

“I almost killed him. I almost killed Superman!”

“Come on, Nancy,” Esther said, putting an arm around her. “How could you know David was allergic to blueberries? Anyway, you heard the paramedics. They got the air tube in him just in time—”

“Waaaaaaaahhhhhhh!”

“I’ll take over,” I insisted, stepping around Esther.

For the next ten minutes I consoled my youngest barista, giving her hugs and drying her tears. Nancy had finally settled down, when Tucker climbed the spiral stairs and sank into a chair across from us.

“My Superman is down for the count. Jeez, who knew a little old innocent blueberry had the potential to be Kryptonite?”

“I . . . I didn’t mean it,” said Nancy, her sobs dissolving into hiccups.

“I know,” said Tuck, leaning forward to pat her hand. “He would have been all right if he hadn’t sprained his wrist when he fell to the floor. But now . . .” With a dramatic sigh he sat back, then slapped his knees. “Well, the show must go on—with or without David!”

“You always tell me the world is full of actors,” I said.

“Actors, yes. But actors who are also acrobats—they’re not so easy to find on short notice.” Tuck snatched a piece of the offending boy bait from the serving cart.

“What does he have to do?”

“Perform aerial stunts onstage. Superman has got to fly, Clare. Fly! And David was experienced. He’d learned the ropes of rope performing when he played the winged Car Insurance Angel in that ‘Heavenly Rates’ commercial. Plus he has the physique of Superman. Even if I can find a last-minute understudy with rope skills, he’ll probably have to wear an inflatable muscle suit to look the least bit super heroic.”

Tuck took a bite and chewed absently. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “Hey, this is really good.”

Nancy wiped her wet cheeks. “It’s the award-winning Betty Crocker recipe with my own little tweaks—”

“Tweak away, kiddo. It’s delicious.”

I was happy to see Tuck smiling for the first time since the Fall of Superman. But poor Nancy was still miserable.

“Hey, Nancy, I have an idea. Why don’t you and I go to the hospital and visit David?”

“I can’t!” Nancy cried. “I feel so guilty. He probably never wants to see me ever again!”

“I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way. Look, if you like, I could go and check on him for you.”

“You’d do that?”

“Of course . . .”

I was heading that way anyway because David had been taken to the same hospital as Gus Campana, and I knew that’s where I’d find Sophia.

With a deep breath, I got moving. I had a king’s ransom in jewelry to return, pumpkin bread to deliver, and a list of questions I was anxious to have answered.