“Yes, you were. I spent a whole summer trying to teach you your sevens.”
“Sevens?” Herb looked puzzled.
“His times tables. Multiplication. You know. He had the fives down just fine, and he knew his eights and nines. But the sevens stumped him every time. Isn’t that right, Ricky Ticky?”
Hannah hid a grin. Her mother had been Mayor Bascomb’s summer babysitter when he was in grade school. To this day, she was the only one who used his first name, which was Richard, and the nickname she’d given him, Ricky Ticky.
“It’s true,” Mayor Bascomb conceded the point, “but that’s something only my old babysitter would know.”
Delores bristled at the phrase, “old babysitter,” and Hannah chalked one up for the mayor.
“I did fine when I got to high school,” Mayor Bascomb continued. “That’s when I found out that you don’t need to know your sevens anymore. All you need is a calculator and there are calculators all over the place. My cell phone even has one. Now let me take a look at the homework and we’ll see if I’ve lost my touch for business.”
Hannah dashed to the kitchen to get her homework from Miss Whiting’s class and handed it over to the mayor. “Here it is,” she said.
Mayor Bascomb paged through the sheaf of papers, giving everything a once over. Then he went back and examined several sheets more closely. “Here it is,” he said, looking smug as he tapped his finger against one of the columns of figures. “Not bad for somebody who doesn’t know their sevens, right Delores?”
“Not bad at all…if you’re correct.” Delores qualified it. “What did you notice?”
Mayor Bascomb pushed the paper over to Delores. “Take a look for yourself. I want to see if you can find it.”
“It’s a record of receipts for supplies,” Delores said, glancing down at the paper. “They’re added correctly. I already checked the math. What’s wrong with it?”
“Take a look at how it’s paid.”
Hannah slid over next to her mother and they leaned forward to examine the paperwork together. “It’s paid by cash,” Delores said, looking up at the mayor. “What’s wrong with that?”
“A legitimate businessman wants more than a cash receipt. He pays by check so that he can use both the receipt and the cancelled check to verify business expenses.”
There was a gasp behind her and Hannah turned to see Lisa standing there with the coffee carafe. She’d been about to refill the mayor’s cup when he’d made the comment about verifying expenses.”
“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked her.
“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But Larry always pays us in cash and he never has the receipt filled out all the way. He just asks me to sign it and he says he’ll fill in the amount later.”
Mayor Bascomb’s eyes narrowed and Hannah could tell he disapproved of the way Larry did business. “Is that bad?” she asked him.
“It’s not good.” Mayor Bascomb turned to Lisa. “A less than honest businessman could fill in an amount that didn’t match what he paid you. And you wouldn’t be able to prove otherwise since the transaction was completely in cash. You should never sign a receipt that’s not complete,” he warned, “especially if you’re being paid in cash.”
“Then I won’t do it again!” Lisa promised, looking properly chastised. “I had no idea I shouldn’t do that.”
Mayor Bascomb smiled. “It’s probably perfectly okay. It’s just that most people don’t do business that way and it’s unusual when they do. There’s always the possibility that they’re not keeping accurate records…for one reason or another.”
“Thanks for telling me,” Lisa said, and then she turned to Hannah. “Did Larry have you sign a blank receipt this afternoon when he paid you for the cookies?”
“He didn’t pay me for the cookies. I just assumed he sent us a check or something like that. I guess I should have asked…but I didn’t. And I didn’t ask anybody to sign for the delivery I made, either.”
“Better call Larry and tell him you’re coming back out to pick up a check,” Mayor Bascomb advised. “If you don’t, you won’t have a record of how many cookies you delivered. That’s not the way to do business.”
“I’ll call Larry right now,” Lisa offered, heading for the phone behind the counter. A moment later, she covered the receiver with her hand and motioned to Hannah. “He’s tied up right now, but he wants us to pick up a check after the lot closes. That’s at nine tonight.”
“I’ll do it,” Hannah told her. It was only fair. She was the one who’d forgotten to get a receipt for the cookies and ask for payment.
Lisa said something to Larry and then she covered the receiver again. “He says he’ll leave the gate open and you should come straight to Elf Headquarters.”
“That’s fine. Tell him I’ll be there. I’m going out to dinner with Norman, and I’ll call him when we’re through to let him know we’re on the way.”
CHRISTMAS LACE COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
1 and ? cups rolled oats (uncooked dry oatmeal—use the old-fashioned kind that takes 5 minutes to cook, not the quick 1-minute variety) ? cup melted butter (1 stick, ? pound)
3/4 cup white (granulated) sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon flour
? teaspoon salt
1 and ? teaspoons vanilla extract
1 beaten egg (just whip it up in a glass with a fork) ? cup chocolate chips
Measure out the oatmeal in a medium-sized bowl. Melt the butter and pour it over the oatmeal. Stir until it’s thoroughly mixed.
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, baking powder, flour, and salt. Mix well.
Add the sugar mixture to the oatmeal mixture and blend thoroughly.
Mix in the vanilla and the beaten egg. Stir well.
Add the chocolate chips and stir the mixture until it is well combined.
Line cookie sheets with foil, shiny side up. Spray the foil lightly with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
Drop the cookie dough by rounded teaspoon onto the foil, leaving space for spreading. Don’t crowd these cookies together, no more than 6 or 8 per sheet.
Hannah’s 1st Note: I used a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop to form these cookies. It was just the right size.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12 minutes. Remove them from the oven and cool them on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Pull the foil off the sheet and over to a waiting wire rack. Let the cookies cool completely.
When the Christmas Lace Cookies are cool, peel them carefully from the foil and store them in a cool, dry place.
If you want to dress up these cookies for special company, wait until they’re cool and then drizzle them with melted chocolate chips mixed with coffee. Start with ? cup of chips mixed with 6 Tablespoons coffee and microwave for 30 seconds on HIGH. Stir it until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to drizzle, add additional coffee and microwave in 20-second intervals on HIGH until it is.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: These cookies look delicate, but they travel well if you pack them correctly. Start with a layer of Styrofoam peanuts (or bubble wrap) at the bottom of your box. Cover that with a layer of wax paper. Put down a single layer of Christmas Lace Cookies. Cover that with another layer of wax paper and cover with another single layer of peanuts (or bubble wrap.) Keep on layering peanuts (or bubble wrap), wax paper, Christmas Lace Cookies, wax paper, and peanuts (or bubble wrap) until your box is full. Top off with a layer of peanuts (or several layers of bubble wrap), seal and send to your lucky recipient.
Yield: One batch of Christmas Lace Cookies makes about 2 and ? dozen cookies. This recipe can be doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled if you wish.