by Lesley Kagen
After Frankie, Viv, and I peeled off our wet clothes, we changed into the black shorts and tops we kept for emergencies and when we wanted to sneak around town at night. It was dark as pitch beyond the hideout walls, but if we decided to do what I thought we should, our flashlights would help show us the way.
I couldn’t put off telling the girls any longer, so I screwed up my courage and said, “You can stop worrying about Jimbo because he’s gonna be fine, and I need to tell you how I know that, and a lot of other stuff, too. I’m calling for a powwow.”
I lit and lifted the train lantern off its hook, set it down on the blood stain in the middle of the hideout floor, and the girls and I sat Indian style around it. Sometimes I’d imagine it was the olden days and the lantern was a campfire during powwows, but when we gathered around it that night and said, “All for one and one for all,” it felt like a beacon of truth.
I’d spent a lot of time thinking about this moment, and was feeling both eager and anxious to get everything I’d been keeping to myself off my chest. I’d decided not to mention the part my little voice played in what I was about to tell them, because they’d probably rib me or rub my nose in it. It was important to draw them in, not push them away, so I planned to appeal to their individual ways of feeling and thinking, and hope that I could make them see things my way.
After I made sure they both knew the patient named John Johnson was really Leo, I took in a deep breath and directed my first effort at Viv. I looked over the lantern at her and said, “You don’t have to feel bad anymore for telling Harry to go look for a Mondurian behind the hospital ’cause I don’t think he really believes in them. I think he’s just been acting crazy.” I reminded myself to speak faster than normal because patience wasn’t Viv’s strongest suit. “And when he stopped all those times at the fence down from us and we thought he was beggin’ a Mondurian not to suck his brain out? I think he was talking to a real person. And when he ran away from Albie in the recreation yard yesterday, I think he was trying to reach that person so he could tell them that Leo’s life was in danger. But they musta got scared off by the point-of-no-return siren or something so Harry came to us instead. We weren’t his first choice. We were his last resort.”
Viv’s mouth had dropped open mid-telling, but there was something in her eyes that made me think I’d gotten at least halfway through to her. “I really wanna believe you so I don’t have to feel guilty anymore,” she said, “but …”
I knew what she was about to say, so I made an “X” over my heart and said, “On my honor as a Tree Musketeer, I swear I’m not being a dumb chump. I truly believe that everything I told you is God’s honest truth.”
“And I truly believe you’re full of bull,” Frankie said, which pretty much summed up how I thought she’d react to an idea presented by the weakest link of our triumvirate, who wasn’t known for coming up with a lot of bright ideas. “You would’ve told us sooner if you were thinking that … and what proof do you have?”
“I didn’t tell you sooner ’cause I thought you wouldn’t believe me, and you don’t,” I replied, feeling proud of myself for not backing down. “And I might not have any proof to back me up, but you don’t have any proof that I’m wrong either.”
“You mean besides the fact that Harry is a patient in a mental institution?” Frankie scoffed. “Looks like we got a stalemate.”
Afraid she was going to ask for a rock, paper, scissors shoot-out, I appealed to her better nature. “Could you at least listen to why I think Harry’s been puttin’ on a performance and why he got himself committed to Broadhurst?”
Frankie crossed her arms over her chest and said snotty, “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”
I’d thought up a lot of possible reasons why Harry might’ve done what he’d done, but this one hit closest to home. “Put yourself in his shoes. What would make you pretend you were crazy and get yourself locked up in a mental institution? Would you do it to help Viv or me? Dell? Sally and Sophia? Auntie? Jimbo?”
Of course she would.
There wasn’t a force in heaven, on Earth, or in the brimstone below that could keep us from doing battle for one another and those we loved.
“I think Leo must be someone who really matters to Harry,” I told Frankie. “Like they’re best friends or maybe they’re related. Like us.”
When she didn’t get off her high horse, Viv nudged her in the ribs and said, “Quit being so stubborn, Frankenstein. Ya don’t gotta admit Biz is right, but you do gotta admit that she could be.”
Frankie couldn’t deny that anything was possible, even me being one step ahead of her, so she told me, “Fine. I’ll give ya the benefit of the doubt—until I can prove you’re wrong.”
Once we were sort of on the same page, Viv, who was always interested in who was saying what to whom, scooted closer to me and asked, “So who do you think Harry was secretly talking to in the bushes?”
Not in the mood to sugar-coat it, I flat-out told her, “Audrey Cavanaugh.”
She gasped, of course, but Frankie pulled a face and asked me, “How come?”
“’Cause when she rescued us from Elvin Merchant, she had the same bloody scratches on her face that we get sometimes when we gotta claw our way through the pines to get up to the fence,” I explained. “I think that when the siren went off that day, she ducked out of sight in the bushes but stayed close enough that she heard Harry ask for our help. That’s why she followed us into Founder’s Woods. She thought he might’ve told us something else, or maybe she knew about the note, but then Merchant got in the way. I also think she helped Leo, Harry, and Ernie to escape. That’s how I know that Jimbo is going to be okay. I don’t think she hit him on the head too hard—just enough so he couldn’t stop her.”
I was hoping that Frankie would be at least a little impressed by my reasoning, but all she said was, “But why would she do that?”
Sick of her cross-examining me, I saw red and fired back, “I don’t have all the answers, okay? I told ya what I know so far and nothin’ you say is gonna change my mind. You and Viv aren’t the only ones who can figure stuff out. I know things, too, because”—I stopped myself from telling her about the gift I thought I’d inherited from Aunt Jane May, because she’d probably use it as ammunition against me. I reached for the “Keep Out” sign instead, but Viv grabbed it off the hook before I could and stuck it behind her back.
“Forget it,” she said. “I know you’re mad, but we gotta stick together.”
She was right, of course.
I told Frankie that I was sorry and she apologized, too, and revealed why she was being such a drip and more of a doubting Thomas than usual. She was out of her mind with worry. “You really think Jimbo’s gonna be okay?” she asked me.
“I don’t think,” I said with a smile. “I know. And instead of just sittin’ around here waitin’ for Doc to call and tell us that he’s fine, I figure we should do something that we can tell him about when we visit him in the hospital. Something that’d make him proud.”
“Like what?” Viv asked.
I was almost positive that if we trooped down to the hospital basement and Viv used one of her keys on the Chamber of Horrors lock that we wouldn’t find any evidence of what Bigger thought was going on in there, but it seemed important to at least try to be our brothers’ keepers. I also had a more selfish reason for wanting to ride up to the hospital that night. It was a long shot, sure, but if it turned out that Bigger was right, it occurred to me that when we hurried home to tell my father, he would be so proud I’d helped expose that awfulness that we’d talk until the sun came up. And he wouldn’t let Aunt Jane May punish us for what we’d done, nor would he allow her to cook our gooses for lying to her about how we’d been spending our time. He might even forget for a little while that when I came into this world I killed the love of his life.
“I think we need to go up to the hospital and meet Bigger the way we told her we would,” I told the girls. “Jimbo has been nuts abo
ut her for so long that I bet he ends up marrying her, so she’s almost part of our family. And the both of them care about the patients as much as we do and … and what if Cruikshank really is drilling holes in their heads?”
Frankie looked excited to break into the Chamber of Horrors when we were at the park and she still did. Viv had seemed jazzed, too, so I was shocked when she said, “Not sure that’s such a good idea anymore.”
“How come?” Frankie asked.
“Well, we wouldn’t have a problem gettin’ past the new nurse because she doesn’t know the hospital like we do,” Viv explained. “And knowin’ Eddie King, he probably went home to sleep off that shot Doc gave him, instead of sticking around. But he told the sheriff that he’d call Mitch Washington to come watch the third-floor patients, and he’s got a lot on the ball.”
“But we’re not going to the third floor; we’re going to the basement,” I said. “And if Mitch did happen to see us, he wouldn’t stop us or report us. He’s a good friend of Bigger’s.”
Viv thought that over, then said, “Yeah, okay, but what about the deputies the sheriff told the new nurse that he was going to send up there to look around the hospital and the grounds?”
I’d forgotten about them, so I didn’t have an answer for her, but logical Frankie did. “He told the nurse that before Ted Withers called the station house and said he saw someone at his place, so I bet the sheriff stopped by the hospital and told those deputies to go over there instead. I’m with Biz. I vote we go.”
I looked over at Viv. “You in?”
When she nodded and gave me one of those wide smiles that moviegoers would flock to see in the not too distant future, I jumped to my feet and grabbed our flashlights off the shelf.
“We better hurry,” I said, “or Bigger will think we’re not comin’.”
We kissed the crucifix for good luck and were about to crawl out of the hideout when the telephone trilled from an open window of the house. We’d not expected to hear anything about Jimbo’s condition for hours, so it probably wasn’t Doc on the other end of the line. But who else would call this late at night? The sheriff? Was he calling to let us know that he’d caught the escaped prisoners? I hoped not.
Whoever it was, Aunt Jane May didn’t speak to them for long, because the phone rang again, and a few minutes later she came through the screen door and shouted, “Girls!”
We poked our heads through the window to see her coming across the backyard in a hurry. When she reached the bottom of the hideout steps, Viv thumbed her flashlight on and shined it down on our aunt, who had a smile on her face and a wicker basket hanging from her arm.
“I come bearing gifts!” she said. “That was Doc on the phone. Jimbo is comin’ around a lot sooner than he thought he would. Doc wants to stay up there until he has some head X-rays in the morning, but it looks like he’ll be right as rain in no time.”
I sort of wanted to tell Frankie I told you so, but gloating was more up Viv’s alley, so all three of us let out yips of relief and did the little bunny hop dance we did when things went our way.
“And that other call you heard was from Mister Ellsworth,” Aunt Jane May said. “Betsy’s gone into labor and the baby’s comin’ soon. Since Doc’s not here, I need to run over there to deliver it. Shouldn’t take me long. That’s a well-traveled road and that baby is bound to slide out without much fuss.” She placed the pie and root beer she’d brought into the bucket affixed to the tree. “After all that’s happened, I don’t have to tell you to stay put tonight, do I?”
“No siree, Bob. We’re half-asleep already,” Viv told her. “About to say our prayers.”
Our aunt didn’t completely believe that, of course, but with a baby on the way, there was no time for an interrogation—only a warning. “I’ll be back to check on you sooner than you think,” she said and bustled back to the house to grab her nursing supplies.
Our woody car was in for repairs, the sheriff had driven the county car to the Withers’ farm, and Doc had ridden in the ambulance to the hospital in Port Washington, so Aunt Jane May would have to walk the five blocks to the Ellsworths’ house. But she had a big, determined stride and she’d made it sound like that baby would come squirting out in nothing flat. If we wanted to get to Broadhurst and back home before she did, we needed to be quick about it.
Because we’d left Grand Park in such a panic, there’d been no time to grab our bikes, but they’d be waiting for us not far from the entrance to the shortcut to Broadhurst. It was the handyman’s job to switch the big lights off at night, but the sheriff must’ve instructed him to keep them on after he told everyone to go home and lock their doors. We could see them uplighting the trees over there. They were powerful enough to illuminate the path through Founder’s Woods for at least part of the ride over, and the flashlights tied to our bike handlebars would do the rest. But first, we had to get over to the park without getting seen.
We couldn’t take our usual way, because our neighbors, who were following the sheriff’s orders and keeping watch for the escaped patients, might see us out their windows. They’d call the house and when Aunt Jane May didn’t pick up, they’d start their phone chain and would eventually track her down. She’d rush home from the Ellsworths’ house, find the hideout empty, and call the station. The deputy would radio the sheriff, who’d come looking for us, with his siren blaring.
As we ran across the backyard, I asked Frankie, “How we gonna get over to the—?”
“Follow me,” she said.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I’d be lying if I told you that it was an easy go through the woods that night.
The powerful park lights illuminated the shortcut, but they also lengthened our shadows. Night animals used to having the woods to themselves scurried to safety in the underbrush—some faster than others. When I went to swat away the mosquitoes swarming around my face, I barely missed running over a possum’s tail, and Viv yelped something about bats.
Once we exceeded the park lights’ reach, my eyes had trouble adjusting to the darkness, the same way they did at the Rivoli when I’d come in from the sunshine to see a matinee. I reached to switch my flashlight on, but I hadn’t taped it securely enough to my handlebars. It fell off near where Elvin Merchant had waylaid us, and I was too scared to stop and pick it up.
The trip through the woods wasn’t only disconcerting and creepy, it had taken far longer than I had anticipated. I couldn’t wait to empty onto the Broadhurst property, but when we did, everything looked so different in that moonless night that the girls and I had a hard time getting our bearings. We had difficulty finding the Hanging Tree, and by the time we did, I began to wonder if Aunt Jane May had already delivered the Ellsworth baby. I was tempted to play it safe and call the whole thing off. Except I didn’t want to let Frankie and Viv down, to be the weakest link again, and I wanted to make Jimbo proud. I told myself that I’d feel better once I saw the hospital, but when it came into sight, I’d eat those words.
If someone unfamiliar with Broadhurst should stumble on it during an afternoon drive, they’d think it was one of the loveliest mansions they’d ever laid eyes on, but in the dead of night? If it didn’t look like a haunted house designed by Hollywood to give kids nightmares, I didn’t know what did. The sheriff had told us the lights were out, but there was an eerie, pale flickering in the windows, which didn’t do much to shed light on anything, including the scary thoughts I was having.
Frankie’s and Viv’s flashlights helped, but we mostly had to feel our way along the wrought-iron fence to the back of the hospital. When we finally reached the spot that we’d climb over when we’d come to help Bigger in the kitchen, my hands were so sweaty with heat and fear that I had a hard time following the girls over. When, after much finagling, I dropped down next to them on the other side, Viv pointed to the half-open Greer door and said, “Who wants to go first?”
I only said, “Me,” because I was sure that Frankie or Viv would fight me for the honor
. But they must’ve been having second thoughts, too, because they seemed more than happy to let me lead the way.
When I reached the top of the stairs, I pushed at the door Bigger had left open for us with my fingertips, and stuck my head inside.
It was one thing to think breaking into the Chambers of Horrors was a great idea when we were in the safety of the hideout, but after that spooky trip through the woods, the ominous feel of the familiar kitchen, and the flickering overhead lights casting shadows every which way, I was shaking harder in my boots.
A grown-up who loved us would’ve been a sight for sore eyes right about then, and I called out, “Bigger? You here?” When there was no response, I said over my shoulder to the girls, “She musta changed her mind. We should leave and come back when—”
“Or she got sick of waitin’ and went down to the basement without us,” Viv said as she shoved me over the threshold.
I landed in the kitchen between two doors. The one to the basement was closed, but the door that led up to the patients’ rooms was wide open, and I stepped back from it as fast as I could.
The kitchen had been equipped for commercial use after Mr. Broadhurst turned his home into a mental hospital. There was the shiny steel prep table that the girls and I helped Bigger chop vegetables on when her bunions were bothering her. The modern cooler, stocked with farm-fresh vegetables and meats, was where Albie told us he and she liked to play a little ball during their lunch hour, before Nurse Holloway caught them. An extra-large refrigerator that contained mostly drinks sat against one wall, and an eight-burner stove on another. In an attempt to make it feel less institutional, Bigger had embroidered towels that she kept in a drawer next to the double sink. Canned goods and sundries were stacked in a butler’s pantry next to the staircase that I found myself standing at the bottom of that night.
