Black Cat

by V. C. Andrews

  "Is Betsy here?"

  "Betsy? No. Betsy's gone."

  "Gone? Where did she go ?"

  "I don't know. She didn't say. She just packed her things and left."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?" "My name is Celeste."

  "Where's what's his name? Noble?"

  "Noble isn't here now. He's fishing." "Fishing?"

  Just then Panther let out one of his shrill screams.

  "One moment please," I said, and went into the living room. He wanted Baby Celeste to give him her crayons, but she had wisely refused. He would have tried to eat them. I picked him up and out of the playpen, When I turned, I saw Tad had come into the house and was standing in the doorway.

  "Well, she must have left some information for me. I'm Tad. Didn't she mention me?" I shook my head. "No, I'm sorry. She didn't mention you or leave anything for you." "Do you live here?"

  "Of course, I live here," I said. smiling.

  "Well, where were you the other day when I was here?"

  I shrugged. "Maybe I was in the garden."

  "The garden? You couldn't have been in the garden all the time."

  "No, I'm not in the garden all the time, but I'm there often."

  "What, were you just in it now?"

  "Pardon me?"

  He nodded at me and I looked down at my mud-stained dress.

  "Oh," I said. smiling. "I've been doing a lot of cleaning today."

  "Must have been a pretty dirty house." he remarked dryly. He turned and looked up the stairway. I could see he didn't believe me and wanted to shout for Betsy.

  "Go on," I said.

  "What?"

  "Shout her name if you like. Call her."

  He stared at me a moment, then turned and bellowed. "Betsy!"

  Her name echoed, at least in my ears. He stood there waiting a moment, then turned back to us. Baby Celeste was staring at him so hard, he looked at her and then at me.

  "Something smells fishy here. Betsy was very excited about going with me and my band. She would have called me or something."

  "Betsy is very unreliable."

  He thought a moment. "Did she get her money?

  "What money?"

  Her inheritance."

  "Oh. You didn't believe that, did you?" I laughed. "There's no inheritance!' He stared. "Where's this Noble, you say?"

  "He's at the creek. fishing. It's about a half mile through the woods." He smirked. "Half a mile through the woods."

  "Yes. sorry we can't help you."

  "Yeah, me, too," he said, and walked out.

  I went to the window and saw him get into a car, in which sat another boy about his age and a girl. He spoke rapidly and with great animation to them, then he started the car, shifted, and spun his wheels to turn around and drive away.

  "I don't think theyll be back," I muttered.

  Baby Celeste shook her head in agreement. Then I returned to Grandpa Jordan's chair and she returned to her books and toys and Panther played quietly in the playpen.

  'We're fine.

  Everything is just fine. I thought.

  Epilogue

  Forever at the Farm

  .

  Mr. Bogart was the first to come. I hadn't

  realized almost two weeks had gone by. He said he had been calling every day and had become concerned.

  The day before he arrived, my whole spiritual family joined me in the living room and we discussed the near future. To my surprise there was

  disagreement. Some thought things were fine the way they were, but most thought the house had been irrevocably contaminated. Auntie Helen Roe, who was in her wheelchair, thought it had to be cleansed and should be set afire. Grandpa Jordan was so outraged by the suggestion, he looked as if he could burst a vein in his neck, even though I knew such a thing was no longer possible. Daddy said nothing. He just smiled and shook his head at Mama while they all argued. I knew what he was thinking. You have a crazy family, Sarah. I always told you so.

  Mama was the one who decided that if I went through the house thoroughly with two white candles and washed the walls with candle smoke, it would suffice. That threw them all into a discussion about the number of candles needed and if any had to be kept lit in the rooms. Mama relented and said. "Okay, after she washes the walls, she'll place candles in all the rooms and light them and leave them for two days and nights."

  Aunt Sophie said it should be three nights. Three was, after all, a magic number.

  Mama, although she didn't look as if she believed that, agreed. I think she agreed just to end the discussion.

  Grandpa Jordan was happy that a solution other than setting the house afire had been found. They all embraced me, kissed me, and wished me good fortune before they left, and then I went ahead and followed their directions.

  Mr. Bogart noticed the lit candles right away and asked me about them. I explained just why I had done it and he nodded, and then, after inquiring about Mama, he went upstairs. I followed him up. He saw the lit candles even in the hallway and nodded at me. Then he went into Mama's room, and after a few moments I heard him go to the phone in her room to call the Reverend Mr. Austin. After that Mr. Bogart and I looked in on the children. Then we went downstairs to wait for the reverend, who drove over as quickly as he could. The moment he walked into the house, he grimaced as if the odors put him in actual pain.

  When he turned to me, he smiled in confusion and looked at Mr. Bogart. "Whom do we have here?" he asked.

  "This is Celeste," Mr. Bogart said, "It always was."

  The reverend's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything unpleasant.

  "I'll explain it to you later," Mr. Bogart said, which satisfied the reverend. He then asked after the children.

  "They're both taking naps," I said.

  "They're fine," Mr. Bogart told him. "We'll talk about them afterward,"

  Mr. Bogart wanted to take the reverend up to Mama's room. While they were up there, Baby Celeste had woken and called out to them. Mr. Bogart had her in his arms when they all came down, and she had a dreadfully angry look on her face. The reverend look stunned and confused,

  "Where's the downstairs phone?" Mr. Bogart asked me.

  I explained why Mama had locked it up to keep it away from Betsy, and then they asked me where Betsy was. I told them she had gone off. but Baby Celeste, glaring at me, told them she was in the garden.

  "In the garden?" the reverend asked. "I didn't see anyone out there when I drove up."

  He and Mr. Bogart looked at each other and then they went out to the garden. Mr. Bogart still carrying Baby Celeste. While they were out there. Daddy. Noble, and Mama came into the living roam to wait with me.

  "Its all right." Daddy said. "You've done just fine."

  "Of course she has," Mama said. "The house is sacred again."

  "When you're finished here. I want to play knights and dragons," Noble told me. "You said you would." he reminded me firmly.

  "I will," I told him, but he sat there looking as impatient and distrustful as ever.

  The reverend and Mr. Bogart returned, the reverend looking pale. He kept pulling on his collar as if his neck had thickened and he was choking. Mr. Bogart set Baby Celeste down and she went directly to the sofa and sat with her hands folded in her lap like a polite little lady.

  Mr. Bogart said everything would be all right, everything would be just fine, and I smiled.

  I knew that even before they had come. He went back upstairs to Mama's loom to use the phone.

  Not long afterward, two police cars drove up and the policemen met with Mr. Bogart and the reverend outside. Baby Celeste and I watched them through the window. They talked and the reverend pointed toward the garden and then pointed at the house. The tallest policeman took off his hat and shook his head. He returned to his car and used his radio microphone. Then they all walked out to the garden.

  "A lot of turmoil over nothing, if you ask me," Grandpa Jordan said. I hadn't realized he was in the room with us unti
l that moment. He nodded at me and went out to see what they were all up to Mama sat beside me.

  "It's all right," she said, and she held my hand.

  Not long afterward, another car appeared, and a short, bald man in a suit and tie stepped out with a woman dressed like a nurse.

  "She is a nurse," Daddy said, looking out with me. It always amazed me how he could hear my thoughts.

  "What's a nurse doing here?" Auntie Roe asked with her lips curled in disapproval. She rolled her wheelchair up beside us and peered out the window, scrunching her nose and turning her eyebrows in toward each other. "Too many strangers sticking their noses in our business."

  "Amen to that," Great-great-uncle Samuel said, coming up behind her. "Everyone's a nosybody these days."

  The policemen and the man in a suit and the nurse spoke for a while outside just before another car appeared and another woman and man in a suit appeared. This woman was in a gray jacket and skirt with a white blouse and had short brown-and-gray hair. They conferred as well, then they all came into the house.

  "Hi there," the bald man in the suit said to me. "I'm Dr. Levy. And who's this beautiful little girl?" he asked, looking at Baby Celeste.

  "I'm Celeste." she told him with a serious and grownup expression on her face.

  "Well, hello to you, too," he told her. "This is Mrs. Newman. You can call her Patty," he continued, introducing the nurse. "She's here to help you. too." "Help us do what?" I asked quickly.

  "Oh, get you organized, comfortable. We have to take you to my clinic" he told me. "so I can help you get back on your feet."

  "I'm on my feet." I stood up to show him.

  He smiled and looked at Patty Newman, who smiled and shook her head.

  "Where is the other infant?" the woman in the gray suit asked, and stepped forward. She looked impatient. The reverend was in the doorway behind them. He told her Panther was upstairs in his crib, and she put her handkerchief over her face and hurried up the stairs.

  "I need you to come with me now for a while," Dr. Lew told me. "I can't leave the house and the children."

  "Oh, they'll be well taken care of." he promised. "And the police are here now. They'll be sure the house is protected."

  "The house is always protected." I said, smiling. "We don't need the police for that."

  "I'm sure it is," he said, raising his eyebrows. "And I'm very, very interested in how you know that."

  I looked at Mama, who was shaking her head. She was sitting on the sofa. "What should I do?" I asked her.

  She didn't reply.

  "You've got to go with them," Daddy said. "It will be best for the children. too."

  "But she promised to play with me," Noble moaned.

  "I have to play with my brother," I told Dr. Levy.

  "Tell him to come along," he said. "I have lots to do and play with at my offices."

  I looked at Noble. Be seemed intrigued. After all, it wasn't often he could leave the grounds.

  "Are there other young boys and girls there?" I asked, knowing he would want to know that.

  "Oh. yes." Dr. Levy turned to Patty Newman. "Patty helps to take care of them as well, don't you. Patty?"

  "Absolutely." she said. "You'll have lots to do."

  I turned back to Noble. He was nodding. with much more enthusiasm.

  "Okay then," I said slowly, "but I have to be back to make dinner later."

  "I understand." Dr. Levy said, He turned to Patty. "Mrs. Newman, shall we help the children move along?"

  "Come along, dear," Patty said. She reached for me. I looked at Mama. She was looking down at the floor. Daddy had his arm around her. "She'll be fine," he said. "They'll both be fine,"

  We started out of the house. The woman in the suit had Panther in her arms, and the man who had come with her was kneeling in front of Baby Celeste and whispering. She was looking past him at me. She was still angry at me. I thought. Maybe this would help. She nodded after something he said and he looked pleased.

  "You're a very bright little girl." he told her. We stepped out onto the porch.

  Did I say how beautiful it was? I don't think a cloud was in the sky, and the blue was a cross between deep aqua and turquoise, with the turquoise more toward the horizon. Shadows were shimmering in the forest and the world was so still and quiet, I thought I could make out the distant gurgling of the creek as the water navigated around and Over rocks. A large black crow lifted off a tall branch and soared toward the sun.

  Noble and I got into the backseat of Dr. Levy's car. Noble was excited. It had been so long since he had been in a car.

  I looked back and saw Baby Celeste and Panther being placed in the other car. In the garden two policemen were digging. I hoped they wouldn't harm any of the plants.

  Before we started away, an ambulance arrived and two paramedics got out with a stretcher and headed toward the front door of the house, where another policeman was waiting for them. I saw he was directing them upstairs to Mama's room.

  Patty Newman got into the backseat with Noble and me. and Dr. Levy got behind the steering wheel and started the engine.

  "Are you all right. dear?" Patty asked me. "Yes," I said. "I'm fine."

  Noble fidgeted. He was never good at sitting still and he was impatient about our getting started.

  A long time ago when I was Noble's age. Daddy decided he was going to take us to see something special he had discovered on a lot upon which he and his partner were constructing a new home. Mama didn't come with us, but that wasn't unusual. We often went places only with Daddy.

  When we reached the lot, we got out and he walked us to the rear of the foundation his men had recently laid. He brought us to a large fallen tree trunk under which a hole had been dug and around which some dried grass had been placed with obvious care. Inside the hole were baby field mice, still pink and blind. They were feeding off their mother. Noble wanted to pick one up. but Daddy told him it would alarm the mother. We should just stand back and watch for a while.

  "Not long from now," he said. "they will see and they will be old enough to go off on their own."

  "What will happen to their house?" I asked.

  "It won't be important anymore. They'll each create their own homes later, and the females will have their own babies in them."

  "Why don't they just come back here?" I asked.

  "They want their own," Daddy said.

  "Sometimes, we have to move on and find ourselves. Were all a little different and we need something that's ours, not something that belonged to our forefathers, but something that we create ourselves."

  "You create homes for people."

  He nodded. "Yes, so you see, if everyone stayed in the home he was brought up in. I'd be out of work."

  "Mommy wants us to stay forever at the farm," Noble said, his eyes small like Mama's.

  "I know," Daddy said. "But someday, someday you'll leave. It will just be in you to do it. And you mustn't be afraid."

  "I don't want to leave." Noble said petulantly.

  "We'll see," Daddy said, his voice dripping with wisdom. He winked at me. Where would we Do. Noble and I? I wondered.

  I looked out then toward the mountains in the distance.

  I was doing that now.

  And I was smiling and thinking about Daddy holding our hands and walking us back to the car, the breeze lifting the beautiful strands of his hair, his eyes full of hope for all of us.

  And I knew in an instant what he was saying. 'We would leave our home someday perhaps. But we would never leave each other.

  Never.

 

 

 
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