Tact and resolve rule the roost during Clementine’s 27th adventure at The Happy Store.

Tuesday morning began with a truck that was supposed to have arrived by 7:00 a.m., but did not.

Athena Eliopoulis, the assistant manager, frantically phoned the transport company to locate the missing vehicle (a double load since The Happy Store had been pretty much cleaned out after Christmas), but the new spring merchandise was nowhere to be found.

When the doors opened at 10:00 a.m., Walter Graybill, the store manager, surveyed the bare spaces on the showroom floor where bookshelves, end tables, ottomans, armchairs, and huge Grecian-style urns ought to have been, and he quietly got busy with the scarcity of items that were left.

Clementine Fraile’s first customer of the day was a stocky, middle aged man with soft brown eyes and a pugilistic nose.

In a gruff but not unpleasant voice, he’d called out, “Hey, Miss. Over here.”

Clementine followed him to the tableware section of The Happy Store, where he stopped in front of a man seated on a dining room chair. He was in his 50s, slim, with silver hair, an aristocratic face, and beautiful hands. There was a black Labrador retriever at his feet.

Sensing their presence, he looked up. “To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?” he asked.

Clementine introduced herself, and with a smile in her voice, said, “And whom do I have the pleasure of assisting?”