lans!".

About to exit, she turned around, her wrinkled face suddenly smooth and
becalmed:

"I will be expecting you. Be there. You must be present. For your own
sake as much as for mine."

And she left the door ajar as she swooshed down the hall and out the
building, into the flaking snow.

****

Isabel never looked more imposing as she sat at the head of the
elongated table, attired in a sleeveless white chiffon dress, no hint of
make-up on her imperious, commanding face. A beetle-shaped brooch
complemented a lavish pearl necklace that emphasized the contours of her
truly delicate neck. She was very animated, laughed a lot, and
administered light touches of familiarity and affection to her husband
and son, who flanked her.

Her spouse, a rubicund mount of a man, face varicose and hairy hands
resting on his folded napkin, was clearly still smitten with his wife,
paying close and ostentatious attention to her minutest wishes and
utterances. His enormous girth twitched and turned towards her, like a
plant craving the sun. His deep blue eyes glittered every time she
humored him or re-arranged his cutlery.

The son was more reluctant, contemplating his mother with suspicion and
his father with an ill-disguised hint of contempt. He was lanky, with a
balding pate, and sported a failed attempt at a moustache, inexpertly
daubed on his freckled face. He was also myopic and his hands fluttered
restlessly throughout the evening. I found him most disagreeable.

There was a third person at the table: a mousy, inconsequential thing
with an excruciatingly bad sartorial taste. She stared at everyone
through a pair of dead, black, enormous pools that passed for eyes. Her
hands were sinewy and contorted and she kept fidgeting, clasping and
unclasping an ancient purse ("a gift from mother"), and rearranging a
stray curl that kept obscuring her view. No one introduced us and she
made it a point to avoid me, so I let it go.

The dishes cleared, Isabel came to the painful point:

"Dears," - she declared - "I summoned you today to make an important
announcement. As you well know, my previous will and testament left
everything to you, the two exclusive loves of my life." - A hiss of
withdrawn breaths welcomed the word "previous".

"However, in the last couple of weeks, I have had reason to suspect foul
play."

They stared at her, not comprehending.

"I am convinced that you are not who you purport to be. You look like my
dea