Art for Art's Sake: Meredith's Story

by Barbara L. Clanton

  “She has?” Millie slapped her leg and said, “It’s about time, girl.” She reached over and stole a hug from Meredith. “Welcome to the club.”

  “Thanks, I think.” Meredith felt a little nervous.

  They walked into the house and Esther reached for a hug from Meredith. She said, “Congratulations, Meredith. You and Dani make a wonderful couple. We saw it right away when you came to visit me at Hudson Pines. I have to admit, though, that when you first walked in the door I thought such a pretty girl like you might be a good match for Gregory.”

  “Pah, Gregory.” Millie looked like she wanted to spit.

  “Millie, c’mon now. Don’t get these girls involved in our family stuff.”

  Millie shook her head and looked as if she had just eaten something nasty. “Okay, fine. Let’s look over the renovation plans.”

  Dani said, “Thanks for including us in the process. This means a lot to us.”

  “Hey, you’re our grandkids, aren’t you? You’re a big part of this.” Millie shook the bundle of drawings in front of her for emphasis.

  Esther sat down heavily in a resin chair. “We wouldn’t dream of keeping our new granddaughters out of this. Without your energy, that open house never would have happened.”

  Meredith said, “We’re happy to be part of the team.”

  Millie took the contractor’s plans and spread them out over the table they had brought down from the upstairs balcony. For about an hour, they talked about the scheduled renovations. Each bedroom on the second and third floors would be remodeled so that a woman and her children could have their own private room and bathroom. The first floor would be remodeled to include a visitors’ area separated from the rest of the house. The stronger security would include magnetic locks on each outside door. Someone from inside the house would have to hit a release button to let someone in. This ensured that the wrong person wasn’t let in by mistake. Esther insisted that the women using the Randall-Bradley House feel safe, so extra strong doors would be installed as well as alarms on every window and door. Security cameras would also be placed strategically around the house and yard.

  Meredith knew that the strict security steps were necessary to ensure the safety of the people living there, but, still, the house was starting to sound like a prison. The house was going to help a lot of people, and she was about to say so when she saw movement at the front door. Dani must have seen the movement as well because she also looked toward the front door.

  Dani said, “Millie, I think our guest has arrived.”

  Meredith looked at Dani. “What guest?”

  Esther looked as confused as Meredith felt. “I don’t know either, honey. This must be something these two cooked up on their own.”

  Dani went to the front door and shook hands with a tall lean man with thinning dark hair. His dress pants and sport coat looked to be as old as he was—about forty. Millie introduced herself to Mr. Jim Blayne from the Cayuga Commercial Real Estate Company. Meredith shook hands with the real estate broker when she was introduced as one of Esther and Millie’s granddaughters.

  Mr. Blayne said, “It’s so nice to finally meet you all. I’ve had some serious interest in this house for a few months now. A potential buyer suggested to me that the house was to be turned into a professional building. He said that there’d be big bucks flowing through here.”

  Esther glanced at Millie and then looked back at Mr. Blayne. She asked calmly, “Oh? Big bucks? Please do go on with your story, Mr. Blayne. I find this quite interesting.”

  Meredith hid a smile at Esther’s sarcasm, but she also clenched her fists in anger. Mr. Blayne had some nerve coming up to the house trying to convince them to turn their charming house into some kind of profit-making venture for someone else. Everyone in Whickett must have heard about the plans for the old house by now, so how could he—

  Dani must have picked up on her angry thoughts because she whispered in her ear. “It’s going to be okay. Just listen.”

  Meredith tried to keep her anger under control, but she was getting worried because Millie was way too calm.

  “You see, the potential buyer contacted me over a year ago, and in that time I’ve been the middle man between him and a local contractor who would be developing the property. Lately, as I drive by, I’ve seen a lot of activity. I’ve seen the two young ladies in and out of the house.” He gestured toward Meredith and Dani. “I’ve also seen you two, uh, more seasoned young ladies coming and going. When I heard about the big dedication this past weekend for the Randall-Bradley House, I figured I’d better do some more checking. It seems that the potential buyer of the property may have, to put it simply, overstepped his bounds.”

  “Mr. Blayne,” Esther said with a serious tone, “who would this potential buyer be?”

  The real estate broker pulled an official looking document from the inner pocket of his sport coat and handed it to Esther.

  Esther opened the papers and read, “Gregory Sheridan.”

  Meredith’s mouth flew open in shock. Millie and Dani exchanged a knowing glance. Esther calmly glanced through the rest of the document and handed it back to the real estate broker. She turned to face Dani and said, “Dear, may I borrow your cell phone? Could you dial the number for me? I don’t know how to work those infernal things.” Dani punched in the number Esther gave her and then handed the phone to Esther.

  “Bernice? It’s Esther...I’m fine, honey, I’m fine. Listen, I have a few questions to ask you.”

  At this point, Meredith and Dani walked onto the front porch to give Esther privacy as she talked to her sister, the sister who also happened to be Gregory Sheridan’s grandmother. Meredith turned to Dani. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but Millie wanted it that way. Remember when we were getting ready for the open house, and Millie and I were fixing the banister?” She gave the banister another firm tug.

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, Millie told me she thought Gregory was up to something, but she just didn’t know what. She couldn’t talk to Esther about it because, well, you’ve seen Esther, she’s so loyal to her family that she’d never believe it. Then I remembered we saw Gregory in the Cayuga Real Estate car, and we both knew it was him. Too bad we cleaned up those beer cans and cigarettes so well. The police said we destroyed evidence.”

  “The police?”

  “Yeah, Millie had me call them because she couldn’t find a way to call without Esther hearing. Millie asked me to come back and take pictures of the broken banister, the grease stain, and anything else I could find that would point to Gregory. I took more pictures for our project, too. Meredith, I really wanted to tell you, but Millie didn’t want to worry you.”

  “That was thoughtful, but I would have been okay.”

  Dani leaned closer and said softly, “I know. I know. But Millie...I didn’t want to break my word to her, you know?”

  “That’s okay,” Meredith relented. “Go ahead.”

  “So last week I came to the house by myself. I went that day Coach let us out from practice early. I parked at our favorite restaurant and walked over because I didn’t want to deal with the drive gate. I’m so glad I did, because before I even got to the house, I saw him.”

  “Gregory?”

  “Yeah, he was inside the house. I snuck up to a window and took pictures of him inside.”

  “Oh, my God. That was kind of dangerous. Don’t you think?” She hugged Dani quickly.

  “For sure. My heart was pounding. When Millie and I went down to the police station last week and I showed them the pictures from your camera, they said they could probably get him for criminal mischief, trespassing, or burglary. Something like that. Anyway, I called the real estate office, and Mr. Blayne didn’t want to tell me anything over the phone so I arranged for him to meet us today. I’m learning a lot of this for the first time, too.”

  Meredith looked at her wide-eyed. “My stomach hurts thinking about anyone taking advantag
e of Esther.”

  “Me, too,” Dani agreed solemnly.

  “And her own nephew—grandnephew—whatever.” She threw her hands up in disgust.

  Dani squeezed Meredith’s hand when Esther called them back inside.

  “Here, honey.” Esther handed the cell phone back to Dani. “I’m not sure if I hung it up right.”

  All eyes were on Esther. She cleared her throat and said, “Well, Millie, it looks like you’ve been right all along about my grandnephew. He has been up to no good. Bernice told me that Susan—that’s Bernice’s daughter and Gregory’s mother—Susan told her that Gregory has been spending more and more time away from home investing in real estate somewhere upstate.”

  Millie punched the air. “I tried to tell you he was up to something.”

  “Dearest, I know you did, but I can be a stubborn old lady.” She turned her attention to the real estate agent sitting on the staircase. “What do we do now, Mr. Blayne? I do not wish to convert my home into a professional building in order to make ‘big bucks.’ Oh no, Mr. Blayne. I have much better plans for this house.”

  “Miss Randall, I understand and that’s why I’m here, actually. I don’t like being lied to either. Your grandnephew misrepresented you. He told me that you and he had a verbal agreement and that this was a joint venture.”

  Meredith shook her head in disbelief and watched the others do the same.

  Mr. Blayne continued, “As it turns out, your granddaughter’s call came just in time.” Dani raised her hand when he looked questioningly at them. “Here’s the fun part. I’m actually scheduled to meet Gregory at my office in about twenty minutes. How about I ask him to meet me here?”

  Millie slapped her leg. “Oh, boy. This day is turning out much better than we thought. Right, Dani?” She had an evil grin.

  “Absolutely. Hey, let’s move the cars to the Loca next door then he’ll think no one’s here except Mr. Blayne.”

  Millie said to Esther, “That Dani is sneaky. She must take after my side of the family.”

  Esther smiled, but Meredith could see the sadness underneath.

  Mr. Blayne said, “Ladies, my professional integrity is on the line here. Miss Randall, I assure you that he promised me that he was acting on your behalf. He told me that you didn’t want anything to do with paperwork and contracts. He assured me you would simply sign on the dotted line when the time came.”

  “What a weasel.” Meredith put a hand to her mouth and couldn’t believe she had said it out loud. “Oh, Esther, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

  “Oh, honey,” she said with a sigh, “you’re fine. You’re right. I have to face up to the fact that I do, indeed, have a weasel for a grandnephew. Now, all of you go on and move the cars. I have to collect myself before he gets here.”

  After moving the cars, Dani and Meredith hid themselves on the second floor balcony so they could see grandnephew Gregory’s entrance. When they saw him pull up in his rust-bucket of a car, Meredith watched with a mixture of anger and glee. She marveled how those two emotions could be felt together. They slunk quietly from the balcony and repositioned themselves at the top of the stairs so they could hear everything.

  “Aunt Esther, what a, uh, surprise.” Meredith heard the genuine surprise in Gregory’s voice. “I, uh, thought you’d be at home resting. You shouldn’t be on your feet.”

  “My hip, Gregory, is the least of my problems at the moment. Mr. Blayne here tells me you want to turn my house into some kind of professional building.”

  “Aunt Esther, I...I wouldn’t have done anything without your consent. I was just trying to get everything set up so you wouldn’t have anything to worry about. I thought you’d be pleased. Grandma Bernice told me you were moving out anyway so...so I came up here to help you.”

  Dani whispered to Meredith, “He’s lying.”

  “How do you know?”

  “You can hear it in his voice. He keeps stuttering.”

  Just then Meredith heard the swinging door to the kitchen bang open. Right on cue Millie stomped into the sitting room. “What about that banister, Gregory? Who cut that?”

  Dani and Meredith slowly made their way down the stairs. This was their cue. Meredith calmly but forcefully said, “Who slammed that door inside the house after Dani fell because of that broken banister, Gregory?” Her heart was pounding.

  Gregory didn’t have a chance to answer because Dani then said, “Yeah, Gregory, and who trashed the kitchen with beer and cigarettes? Were you trying to scare us?”

  Meredith watched uneasily as Gregory’s face turned bright red matching the color of his hair. He stammered, “Yeah, I put that stuff in the kitchen, but I was trying to keep you meddling girls away. You had no business being here.”

  Like you did, weasel? Meredith thought.

  “And yeah, I cut the banister. I wanted this house to be too much for you to take care of Aunt Esther. Can’t you see? It’s time this house moved on with the times, with fresh ownership and fresh—”

  “Money?” Esther broke in. “These girls were our guests, Gregory. It’s bad enough you’ve messed with me, but now you’ve really crossed the line. This young lady,” she pointed to Dani, “could have been seriously hurt.”

  “I wasn’t trying to hurt her, Aunt Esther.”

  Meredith jumped at the sudden volume of Esther’s response. “Then who were you trying to hurt, Gregory?”

  Gregory didn’t answer. His silence was answer enough.

  Mr. Blayne looked down and shook his head as if he couldn’t believe he had gotten involved with someone as low as Gregory Sheridan.

  Millie said, “You have majorly crossed a line, Gregory Sheridan. Why did you put axle grease on the floor? Who were you trying to hurt then?”

  His eyes got wide, and his head whipped back and forth from Millie to his aunt Esther. He looked like a caged animal. He took a quick step backward.

  Millie whispered urgently to Dani, “Did you make that call?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered back. “They should have been here by now.”

  Gregory turned to run out the front door just as two uniformed police officers stepped into the foyer. He saw them and recoiled, but before he could change paths, the female officer grabbed him by the back of his shirt collar. The male officer said to Millie, “Is this the one?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “Okay then. Sir,” he directed his attention to Gregory, “it seems you’ve had quite a few accusations thrown at you. We’d like to take you back to the police station with us so we can ask you a few questions. Would that be all right with you?”

  When Gregory didn’t answer, the female officer tightened her hold. She said, “Sir, we’d prefer you cooperated of your own free will. Seriously, it’ll go much easier if you cooperate.”

  “‘kay,” Gregory mumbled.

  “How’s that?” she demanded.

  “Okay,” he barked and was led away by two of Whickett’s finest.

  Mr. Blayne, Esther, and Millie left the house minutes after Gregory’s unceremonious departure with the police officers so they could give their statements at the police station. Dani closed the front door once they’d gone and turned the latch. Meredith wrapped her arms around Dani’s neck and leaned her head on her shoulder. “What do you think will happen to Gregory?”

  “I don’t know, but he’s not so grand anymore, is he?” Dani held her tight.

  “Esther looked so heartbroken. And did you see how upset Millie was? She didn’t like doing this to Esther, but I don’t think she had a choice, did she?”

  “No, she didn’t. I’m glad Esther learned about her weasel of a grandnephew before it got even more complicated. You picked the perfect word for him.” Standing in the foyer, Dani gently rocked Meredith in her arms. “I can’t believe that jerk tried to hurt Esther and Millie. I hope he gets locked away forever.”

  “At least Esther and Millie are through with him and can focus on getting the Randall-Bradley House up and runn
ing.” Meredith was pensive for a moment thinking about Esther’s double-crossing grandnephew. Needing to change the subject, she pulled out of Dani’s embrace and grabbed her hand. She lead her up the stairs of the darkening house into the small bedroom Meredith had dubbed her art studio. They walked to the window. Still holding Dani’s hand, she looked out the window at the bright lights of the Fiesta Loca. “Are you sorry?”

  “Sorry? Sorry about what?”

  Meredith turned to face Dani. “Sorry that this is prom night and you’re not there?”

  “No.” Dani smiled gently.

  “I mean, you raised all that money for the senior prom. You’re the senior class president. Won’t it look weird that you’re not there?”

  “Nah. I didn’t want to go to the prom anyway. I never really liked those hetero exhibitions.”

  “Hetero?”

  “Yeah, you know, heterosexual. Ben always went with me so I wouldn’t feel out of place, but I always kind of felt out of place, anyway. Not that anybody could tell, but I didn’t fit in.”

  Meredith smiled. “I know the feeling.”

  “I know. Maybe that’s why I was drawn to you in the first place. When we landed in the same history class I was so psyched. I was finally going to meet the cute new girl, but you really made it hard to do that. God, you’re so pretty, but you were always hiding.”

  Meredith knew she was blushing. Only her parents had ever called her pretty. She swallowed around her embarrassment and said, “Some artists have their blue period, I had my invisible period, I guess.”

  “I guess by not going to the prom together we’re still kind of staying invisible.” Dani reached for Meredith’s free hand.

  “Hypocrites, aren’t we?”

  “I guess.” Dani kissed the palm of the hand she had just taken. “But I’m here with my girl on prom night, and I’m having the best time of my life.” She kissed the inside of Meredith’s wrist and forearm and then the soft skin inside the bend of her elbow.

  Meredith’s breath caught in her throat. “Dani, I can’t believe how you make me feel.”