It wasn't solely Mommy's cryptic warnings that
put the shivers in me at night and made every sound I heard, every creak, resonate like a firecracker. It was the things she did around our house and property that she had never done as intensely or as abundantly that really frightened me.
For one thing, she had candles burning in every window, and not just the window in the living room. Apparently. Ms. Bogart had given her some other things to do as well. She had brought home a decorative long knife. She said nothing about it, but after dinner, she suddenly produced it and without telling me why, she went out with it. I followed and stood on the porch where I watched her use the knife to draw a long line in the earth between the meadow and the woods facing the old Baer place. Then she returned to the house and brought out something else from her package. It was a five-pointed star in a circle made of brass. She pinned it securely to our front door. Above it she pinned two leafy twigs of fennel.
"What does all this mean. Mommy?" I asked, my eyes searching every pocket of darkness around us. It felt more like Halloween. "It s how we protect ourselves, keep evil away," she told me. She said nothing more.
Afterward, she returned to the living room, where she sat without any other light burning but the candle. Its glow flickered off her face, turning her skin amber. I could see her eyes fixed firmly on the darkness. unmoving. Her intense staring frightened me. She wouldn't talk; she wouldn't even glance my way. How long can she sit like this? I wondered. What was she expecting to see? The silence, the candle flicke
ring, tweaked my nerves. I couldn't remain there watching her. Even Cleo retreated and was anxious to follow me upstairs, where I tried to distract myself with my lessons and reading.
I kept dozing off, so finally I went to sleep, but sometime during the night I awoke and listened hard because I was sure I heard someone singing. I rose and went to my window. It was Mommy outside, singing a hymn. Cleo was awake, too. but I didn't encourage him to get up. When I left my room, I closed the door so he couldn't follow. Then I went downstairs and quietly opened the front door. Slowly I approached the edge of the porch and looked off toward the old cemetery. where I saw her standing with a lantern before the tombstones. When she stopped singing and blew out the light. I turned and quickly retreated., hurrying back upstairs. Cleo was up and waiting for me.
"Go to sleep," I told him and got into bed again. He curled up, groaned, and lowered his head to his paws. I listened for Mommy's footsteps and heard her pause at my door. After another moment, she went to her awn bedroom, and all was quiet.
Despite the warm, humid night. I shivered and wrapped the blanket about myself tightly. I was scrunched up in a fetal position, embracing myself. What was the danger Mommy feared? That would happen to us? What was so powerful that even our wondrous spirits couldn't protect us enough on their own? Had I done anything to cause this all to happen?
Every creak in the house snapped my eyelids open and made me hold my breath to listen harder. I saw Cleo was asleep, and that reassured me. Finally. exhausted. I drifted into sleep myself, as restless as it was. I woke once when I saw myself at the bottom of that grave, and my eyes suddenly snapped open. My arms lifted toward me. and I literally jumped out of sleep. It took me a while to slow my heartbeat and then tentatively, still frightened, lower my head back to the pillow and risk closing my eyes.
However, the morning was so bright it swept away my dark dreams and thoughts as if they had all been cobwebs. Cleo was already panting at the door, anxious to be let out. When I rose, washed, and dressed myself. I found Mommy up and about, looking fresh and relaxed. She beamed a happy, soft smile at me. It was truly as if all I had seen her do the night before was just a dream.
"Looks like you need a haircut," she said. "I'll give it to you right after we have breakfast. Then I have to go to see Mr. Lyman, our attorney. We have some business matters to discuss. He called the other day and pointed out I needed to make some changes in my will, with Celeste gone and all. He's called me many times about it. and I've finally decided to do it," she added.
"Can I go, too?" I asked quickly. My talking with Elliot, spying on his family, hearing the music and the chatter, filled me with more of a longing to be in public, to see things, especially more people my age.
"It will be quite boring for you. All you'll do is sit in a lobby and wait for me. I really have no intention on doing anything else. Just enjoy the day. Noble. Go fishing again. Maybe you'll have better luck. You used to bring home dinner for us. remember? I can still hear you yelling for me to come out to see the fish you were bringing home so proudly," she said, smiling at the recollection. "Celeste usually trailed behind with her head down. She was never very good at catching fish."
I was disappointed at her refusing to take me along, but her relaxed confidence did make me feel better. All of her preparations must be working. I thought. Whatever threatened us was driven back. We were safe again, but when she gave me my haircut, she warned me once more about staying away from the new neighbors.
"My mother always told me that evil was like an infectious disease. If you get too close to someone who is infected, he or she can infect you. No matter how well you're protected," she added. "But you already know all this, my precious one. You know it because you have my heart," she said and kissed me on the forehead.
Afterward. Cleo and I stood on the porch and watched her drive off to our lawyer's office. I really wasn't in the mood to go fishing, but the warm, partly cloudy day was too inviting to ignore by shutting myself up inside and reading. Cleo looked anxious to get some exercise, too, so finally. I fetched my fishing pole and the tackle., found my can of worms, and walked across the meadow toward the woods.
Sparrows and robins flitted from branch to branch excitedly, greeting me like an old friend returning. The scent of pine and fresh earth filled my nostrils, and I was invigorated. I should get out more. I thought, Our home, as comfortable as it was, was too dark and closed these days, too stifling. I felt like a newly born bird eager to test its wings in flight. Everything beyond our farm can't be evil and everything on it can't be good. I thought, and wondered if that was a blasphemous thought.
When I reached my spot on the stream. I fixed my pole and cast my line. Cleo wandered about as usual, exploring on his own. I sat staring at the water, at the way it foamed around rocks and carried branches and leaves downstream. The creek was busy today. I thought. I remembered how Noble used to think it sounded like someone gurgling. That constant sound, the buzz of some bees nearby, birds gossiping around me, and the warm afternoon put me into a daze. I guess. I snapped out of it when I heard a splash.
At first I wondered if it was a fish. I sat up quickly and studied the water, and then I saw another splash to the right of my line. That was followed by a third to the left. and I realized quickly that someone was throwing rocks. I stood up and spun around.
Elliot came walking out of the woods to my right, a wide, impish smile on his lips. He wore a short-sleeved blue shirt and a pair of faded jeans. My first thought was to follow Mommy's orders and pick up my things and run. but I stood my around. Cleo was wagging his tail, too, and hurried to approach him.
"Don't start talking about No Trespassing' signs," he warned as he drew closer. "I saw you spying on us. You were the one trespassing."
"I was not spying on you," I said. He smirked.
"I guess you're not too good of a liar. Can't you even think of some excuse?"
"I don't have to think of anything. Just leave me alone," I said.
"How can you like being alone so much?" he asked with real curiosity. He looked around at the woods and the stream and smirked with disgust. "I hated the idea of moving out here because I knew how isolated we were going to be. Back home I used to just catch a bus or a ride and go to the mall when I was bored. It was easy. Until I get my license and my car. I've either got to walk or ride a bike or something, and what's there to go see and do anyway?
"I know. I know, You can't tell me," he said before I could respond. "Nature boy," he tacked on disdainfully and threw another rock into the water,
"You're scaring off the fish," I said.
"Like you really care," he countered. Then he gave me that impish smile of his again, "What's this, the big excitement of the day?"
"I like it." I said firmly.