[Granny and Jezabelle are enjoying tea and cookies while sitting on a picnic blanket next to a quiet creek. As Jezabelle looks to the audience, Granny reaches over and sneaks one of Jezabelle’s donuts.]

Jezabelle: It’s so nice to be here. Thank you for having us. Let me introduce myself. I’m Jezabelle Jingle from Brilliant, MN.

Granny: You should have let me introduce myself first. My fame will draw them in. Oh well, it’s already done. I guess I can come in second once in my life. Good day. I’m Hermiony Vidalia Criony Fiddlestadt Crocker.

Jezabelle:  [Looks around, lifts the napkins, looks under a plate.] Better known as Granny. The only time she uses her long name is when she wants to distract you, so be careful. You might not get the full story. We’re here today to tell you about a beautiful vacation spot in Northern Minnesota called Weed Lake.

Granny [Delicately wipes her mouth with a napkin.] Weed Lake, you better believe there are weeds and deep sucky mud. The owner of Weed Lake Resort, Maridee Shelby, tells the tourists to take baths in the mud in the lake and advertises it as a spa. And those weeds are dangerous. They almost swallowed up Jezabelle when she lost her balance and fell in the lake the first night we were there. [Granny tosses a set of keys against a tree.]

Jezabelle: What do you mean fell in, Granny? You pushed me. [Leans toward the tree, squinting at something on the ground.]

Granny: [Reaches in the basket, pulls out another donut, and tucks it in her pocket.] You took a dip and thought you should bring me with you. Let’s tell it like it is.

Jezabelle: [Scoots over and grabs the keys, tossing them back on the blanket.] That’s certainly not something you know about.

Granny: Jezabelle pretends she’s an amateur sleuth in Brilliant. They have a puzzling town. At least she thinks they do. She followed Mavis and me to Weed Lake so she could stalk me and learn my supersleuth secrets. I catch criminals in Fuchsia, which is a few miles away from Brilliant.

[Just as Granny is about to fling paper napkins toward the lake, Jezabelle turns back to Granny. They stare into each other’s eyes for a moment.]

Jezabelle: [Smiles at the audience.] I did not follow you. We got there first. Lizzy, who is my best friend, planned this a long time ago with my niece Delight so we could finish our cookbook. We own the Brilliant Bistro.

Granny: So, if I may go on. They rented a cabin right next to us. She pulled me into the lake when we were getting the ground rules down and then she finds a dead body. You see where this is going?

Jezabelle: I’ll ignore that. Phil Puxatawny, the sheriff, was called. I had to hold Granny down when she heard his name so she didn’t get us into more trouble. He deduced the death was an accident, but we knew better. We had no choice. We had to investigate.

Granny: We actually surprised ourselves that we could get along for few minutes. Jezabelle and I had some wacky dacky surprises.

[Granny leans toward Jezabelle and pats her on the back as they both laugh. Granny’s arm circles around and  steals a donut from the basket.]

Jezabelle: Dacky is not a word, Granny.

Granny: It is now.

Jezabelle: [Jezabelle reaches into the basket, looks inside and shuffles things around, closes the lid, looks under the basket.] I think they want us to tell the readers more about ourselves. Let’s forget Weed Lake for a few minutes. After all, our lives in our communities prepared us for the Weed Lake adventure.

Granny: I’ll go first. I live in a town that defies the rules. Fuchsia celebrates Christmas with pink flamingos and fills potholes with leaves. We have underground streets that hold lots of secrets. Don’t let the brightness of the city fool you, we always must be on our guard. I’m an undercover detective for the merchants of Fuchsia and I always get my man, woman, but no children

Jezabelle: They have a wrinkle farm too, and Granny’s kids think she needs to live there.

Granny: I did for a little while. The Next to the Last Resting Place Home had so many strange things going on I had to go undercover as an old woman. I also have a motto: if it’s broke, don’t fix it. That’s the trouble with young people today. They’re always trying to fix broke things instead of reinventing them. I reinvent things.

Jezabelle: You are old, Granny, but I won’t go there. Wait, I just did. I live in Brilliant, which is an educated town. I work with my neighbors to solve puzzles that the Brilliant Brothers, founders of Brilliant, left hidden in the walls, floors, and streets of Brilliant, and they’re just being uncovered now. We solve crime in a more orderly and brilliant fashion. I’ve never been married, unlike the gray one over there, but possibly there is a wedding song in my future.

Granny: If he doesn’t leave you at the aisle. I’m married, been married, been single and decided I finally can be who I am, cranky, sneaky, and myself.

Jezabelle: I think we should end this interview before we give away all our secrets. I will say this, we solved the crime in Weed Lake and Phil Puxatawny can maybe keep the town quiet now. Don’t you agree, Granny?

Granny: Not exactly, but I will say this. If you decide to visit Weed Lake, just make sure your name isn’t George, and if it is, change it for the vacation. It may be hazardous to your health.

Jezabelle: Be careful what you say, Granny. We’re at the Editing Pen. Annie will edit you out if you’re too gloom and doom. [Jezabelle reaches into her large tote, pulls out four donuts, sets them on her lap, and happily takes one bite out of each one.]

Granny: [Granny reaches for a donut, but Jezabelle slaps her hand away and takes a huge bite of a donut.] That’s an idea. Annie, edit Jezabelle out. It won’t take much. Just a click on the keyboard. A quick erase and she’s gone. I like that idea.

[Jezabelle takes another bite, smacks her lips, making happy donut-eating sounds.]

Granny: I’ll bring donuts if you’ll do that since we don’t seem to have any here for you.