by Laurel Veil
Betty gave him a funny look.
“Unless you need me now,” I added quickly.
“Well… I do have something you can do,” she said.
“You can go ahead and go, Uncle Bill.”
“But your Jeep—”
“It’s not that far of a walk.”
He looked uncomfortable with the idea. “Really, it’s okay,” I assured him.
“All right then. But call, or at least text me before you leave.”
I agreed that I would.
I turned back toward Betty. “What would you like me to help you with?” I hoped it wouldn’t be anything too difficult.
“Follow me.”
I walked behind her until she stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked up. “I have some boxes in the attic I would like you to bring down. They’re not heavy, it’s just that this ladder can get a little tricky for me these days.”
I pulled on the cord hanging from the ceiling and the door opened. The air was so hot it felt like opening an oven, but I unfolded the ladder and carefully made my way up into the darkness.
“There’s a light up there. You see the bulb? Pull the string.”
After spinning in a complete circle, I finally found it and gave it a tug. The bulb was dim, but it was better than nothing.
“So is there anything particular you want?” I asked, feeling a little overwhelmed as I looked at all the boxes. My long day of painting was beginning to hit me.
“No.”
“Anywhere you want me to start first?”
“Nope. Get’m all.”
I quickly counted. There were eight, but they were all the same size and fairly light. I can do this. This wasn’t going to be quite as bad as I had thought. I took a deep breath and got to work.
I balanced the first box carefully as I made my way down. “Where would you like me to put it?”
“Make a stack by the back door and then take them out to the garage. I’ll go through them later.”
I did what she said and went back up into the attic seven more times.
***
“Here,” she said when I came back inside after taking the last box to the garage. She handed me a freshly squeezed glass of lemonade—I saw the lemons still on the counter. It was super cold, and the perfect combination of tart and sweet.
“I think this is the best lemonade I’ve ever tasted,” I said after gulping almost the entire eight ounces.
She looked pleased. “You’re probably right.”
She looked up at the attic door. “That the last of ’em?”
“Yes ma’am. All the boxes are down like you asked. The only stuff up there now is antique furniture.”
“I guess you’ll want me to pay ya?”
I was relieved she stepped into her utility room so I could have a second to think about how to respond. Discussing money was always so awkward for me.
“W—we can discuss payment at the end of the week, if you like?”
She stepped toward me with a tiny little coin purse. “Oh, no. I pay what I owe when I owe it. No credit cards for me. No thank you.”
Her hands were steady, but her knuckles looked swollen as they rummaged through the tiny purse.
She took out a clump of wadded-up bills and put them in my palm. “That should do it. Well, I guess you’d better be going.” She glanced out the window. “It’ll be dark soon. Call your uncle.”
“Thank you. I will.”
I was glad to be outside. I texted Uncle Bill and headed towards his place, then pulled the money from my pocket. Four dollars! I guessed in 1920 that would have been like a hundred bucks. It would barely buy a gallon of gas now.
I was so preoccupied I didn’t notice at first the vehicle pulling up behind me. It was going much too slow. My heart began to race and I walked faster.
“Hey.” It was Dane.
“You scared me!”
“What are you doing?” Before I could answer he said, “Get in.”
I was happy to; I was exhausted. I told him about Betty and the four dollars.
He laughed so hard it made me laugh. “I guess you really are going to need to get that job at Fins.”
“What’s going on?” I thought out loud as we approached my place and I saw two extra squad cars parked next to my uncle’s.
Uncle Bill and two other officers stood in a huddle, talking.
When Uncle Bill noticed us, he said goodbye to the other cops and they left.
“Is something wrong?” Dane asked him when we got out of his truck.
“You’re gonna hear about it soon enough, I suppose.”
Dane and I looked at one another for a brief moment.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Human remains were found today at the old orphanage.”
Dane and I exchanged another quick glance and then immediately turned our attention back to my uncle.
“The demolition crew hadn’t even started. They were doing one last walkthrough when they came across a skeleton in the basement.”
The basement! I felt Dane look at me, but I didn’t take my eyes off my uncle. Dane and I had been standing at the head of that cellar barely twenty-four hours ago.
“Are you okay, Ron?” Uncle Bill shook his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No. No, I’m fine. Really. W—Who was it? Do they know?”
“Yeah, was it a man or a woman?” asked Dane.
“I’m afraid it was a child—a girl, based on her clothes. What’s left of ’em. They’re very old. It most likely was a child who lived at the orphanage.”
I felt lightheaded and swayed just a tad. Dane stepped closer and put his arm around me to steady me, only for a moment. “You all right?” he asked.
“It’s just—so sad,” I whispered.
7.
Fins
I couldn’t sleep. My mind was churning with thoughts of the two little girls I had seen. And of course, I wondered if it was one of them who had been discovered in the basement.
“Hey.”
I jumped. “Oh my gosh, Toni! You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“Sorry. Can I stay here with you tonight? My mom is gone and I didn’t want to be home alone.”
She was already settling into the chair next to me. “Sure. I actually could use the company.”
“Something wrong?”
I exhaled dramatically and told her about what my uncle had said.
“That’s terrible!”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I wonder what happened.” I considered telling her about what I had seen that night at the orphanage, and how one of the little girls had visited me here. But I didn’t want her to think I was lying or crazy, the way my mom had, so I didn’t. I couldn’t risk losing her friendship.
I told her about Miss Betty instead.
“Wowzers! Four whole buckies. That’s awesome, Ron,” Toni teased.
When we finally finished talking, I listened as the waves grew softer until I no longer heard them. Hours later though, they seemed to magically get louder as they woke me from my dreams.
***
I blinked my eyes a few times to help them adjust to the light.
“Are you OK?” I asked when I looked over at Toni, who was hunched up in a ball with only her eyes peeking out. She looked terrified.
“Thank God, you’re awake!”
“What is it?”
“You’re probably going to think I’m insane, but…”
She saw the ghost! I was so relieved I could talk to her about it now. “Don’t worry. I’ve seen her too.” I felt better. I wished now that I had told her sooner.
“Seen who?”
Uh, oh.
“What are you talking about, Ronnie? Spill it.”
I needed someone to talk to more than I’d realized. And, so… I did. I told Toni everything.
Toni was so calm throughout my entire story. I even told her about the ghost man I’d seen at Thorton Mansion, and it was as i
f ten other people in line ahead of me had already told her about their paranormal experiences. She didn’t get hysterical or run away like my mom had. She simply listened and believed me—like my dad had.
“So, you don’t think I’m lying?”
She shook her head. “No. You wouldn’t lie. I know I don’t know you that well, but I can just tell.”
I was surprised how flattered I was to learn she felt this way about me.
“So why did you look so spooked when I woke up? What were you about to tell me before I started rambling?”
“I didn’t sleep well. Not because I saw a ghost,” she giggled, “but because I think I’m in love with Jimmy. I thought about it all night and all morning, and I think I’m going to tell him.”
I bolted upright. “What! Are you crazy?” She was right. I did think she was insane! I-n-s-a-n-e!
“You just told me you saw ghosts, but you think I’m nuts because I want to tell someone I love them?”
She had a point. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” I said. And it was true. I was afraid of rejection, even if it wasn’t my own.
“So, you don’t think he likes me?” She looked devastated, and I was the one who’d hurt her. I felt terrible.
“No! It’s not that, I promise. I think he does like you.” She still looked a little upset. “A lot,” I quickly added. “I just don’t want you to, you know, make things weird between you two. It could make him nervous. That’s all. I’m sorry, Toni. What do I know? I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
“No. You’re probably right.”
We were quiet for a moment before she asked, “What if he tells me he loves me?”
Ugh. All this talk about love made my stomach ache. The more I thought about it, I started to realize there may have been a small part of me that thought Jimmy would tell her he loved her—and then where would that leave me? I felt so selfish. I was being a terrible friend. “You and Jimmy are great together. If you want to tell him, you should.” There, I’d said it. I felt a little better about myself.
I wasn’t trying to be cynical about love. But sometimes, I wondered if it was just a waste of time. I was hopeful my dad might one day find it, but he’d thought he had with my mother, and look how that had turned out. I’m sure my mom told him she loved him and probably me too, even though I honestly couldn’t remember. But obviously, it was just a word. Her leaving us—that could fill a book. I sighed. These were my issues, not Toni’s.
* * *
Toni didn’t want to go home, so she went with me to Fins to apply for a job as well. No one was around when we stepped inside but there was a stack of applications at the end of the bar, so we each took one and sat on a stool to begin filling them out.
“I hope you don’t think I’m a leech,” she said.
I shook my head and smiled.
She exhaled with relief. “I’ve had people tell me they felt like I was strangling them or suffocating them.” She put her hands to her throat, stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes back.
I laughed until I thought about Jimmy. Toni did have a strong personality, which I didn’t mind because she was so kind and funny. But dating someone is different than being their friend. I hoped Jimmy wouldn’t end up feeling like she was suffocating him.
“Can I see some IDs?” said a familiar voice.
“Dane!” Toni said when she looked up. “I didn’t know you worked here.” My stomach tickled. I didn’t know he worked here, either!
“Here ya go.” He took our applications in exchange for short, black aprons, a small pad of paper and a pen spilling out a pocket on each.
“I bus tables, among other things. That’s how I knew Fins was hiring.” He looked at me and grinned. “Charlie just told me the waiter for today called in sick, so if you two are free, I can show you the ropes all day today and fill you in on how things run around here.”
“So… we’re hired?” I asked.
“You’re hired.”
“No interview?” Toni sounded relieved.
“I’ve been here for a while, so Charlie trusts my judgment. The only thing he’s ever told me is to find people I think will be a ‘good fit for our team.’ Come on, I’ll introduce you to Pete; he’s the cook. He stays in the kitchen, and when he’s not at the grill, he’s on his phone.”
When he turned, Toni looked at me and giggled. “He’s so cute,” she mouthed. I rolled my eyes, even though I thought so too.
After a quick introduction with Pete, Dane showed us the menu. It was simple—burgers and fries, nothing fancy.
When the first customer walked in, I felt my heart skip a beat. Dane stayed close and watched me take his order with Toni by my side.
He showed us how to use the register too, when it was time to ring up the bill.
I felt my face flush when Dane’s hand bumped mine as he was trying to show me which button to push.
I started to panic when I pushed the wrong one. “Oh, no!”
“Don’t worry; I can fix it,” he said calmly, and came even closer. He took my hand to help me undo my mistake and enter the correct number. Then he leaned near my ear. “There. It’s fixed.” His voice made me tingle. I looked up to see Toni smiling at me and I almost giggled, but suddenly her face turned to stone.
“Dane.” It was Jade.
He turned in her direction. “Hey. I’m teaching Ronnie how to use the register.”
She cut her eyes at me. “You’re working here now?”
I didn’t answer her. I knew no matter what I said, she wouldn’t like it.
“You’re pathetic.”
Oh my gosh! Did she really just say that? “What are you talking about?” I asked, trying not to let my voice quiver.
“The way you’re chasing him.” She looked at Dane.
“Wait a sec—”
“We didn’t know he worked here,” said Toni, cutting Dane off.
Jade realized for the first time that Toni was even there, and shot over her most disgusted look. “You work here too now, chubs?”
I had never hit another person in my life, but I was only seconds away from attacking Jade when Dane stepped in.
“Let’s go outside,” he whispered as he pushed her along to the exit.
“Excuse me, can I have my change, please?” said the customer.
“Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry.” I handed him his money.
As soon as he grabbed a toothpick and left, I turned to Toni and asked, “What is her deal? Are they together or not?”
“I know, right?” Toni agreed. “I mean, we both saw her leave with that guy the other night.”
“She acts like she owns him.”
A few minutes later, Dane returned.
“Where’s your friend?” asked Toni. I was glad she did. I wasn’t about to ask, but I wanted to know as well.
“She decided to go,” he said.
“Well, what’s with her?” I asked.
“Yeah,” said Toni, “what’s her deal? Are y’all dating or something?”
I hated hearing those words come out of Toni’s mouth, but at least I was about to get an answer once and for all. I’d been too afraid to ask, but Toni was straightforward and brave.
“No,” he said.
I mentally exhaled.
“But I used to like her, a long time ago.” His words hurt. Why do I even care?
“I thought she was pretty. She didn’t like me. I moved on, but she didn’t. I guess she kinda liked having someone like her, even if she didn’t feel the same. I just try to be careful with her feelings, that’s all.”
“That’s pretty decent of you,” said Toni.
A heavy man with a mustache and thinning dark hair stepped out of the office.
“That’s Charlie,” said Dane. “Hey Charlie, good news—we have two new recruits.”
He smiled as he walked over and extended his hand to Toni and then me. “Welcome to the family. We’re pretty laid-back around here; I hope you like it.” He sighed as he looked
around the empty restaurant. “Business is unpredictable. One minute we’re flooded with customers and the next it’s a drought, so I can’t guarantee hours. I hope you two can be flexible with your time and the number of days I may or may not need you.”
