by Joan Rylen
“It’s a girl, I just know it!” Vivian said as she watched people wander into and out of the maze. She noticed Brandon was sitting alone off to the side.
A middle-aged man in jeans and a green flannel shirt walked up to them. “So did you girls enjoy our upstate New York’s finest maize maze?”
“Our flashlight died,” Lucy said, finishing off her pogo.
“Yeah, that happens sometimes. Can sure mess you up.” He sat down next to Wendy on the porch step. “So you have plans tonight?”
“Bed is my plan,” she said.
“My kinda plan,” he said, and he put his arm around her.
She gently picked up his hand, lifted it over her head and placed it on his knee. “I’m sleeping with preggo over there, buddy. You’re outta luck.”
He laughed. “Story of my life. Where are you staying?”
“Turlington Farms,” Vivian said.
He gave a stern look. “Really? I didn’t know that place was still open.”
“It’s nice,” Wendy said. “Why wouldn’t it be open?”
“You know,” he said but didn’t elaborate since Brandon walked up.
“Hey, Gus, how are you?”
“Doing fine,” the man said, standing. “You enjoy your trip.”
“Thanks,” they all chimed.
“You ready to head back?” Brandon asked.
Kate finished off her turkey leg and tossed it in the trash from a distance of at least eight feet. “Our work here is done.”
They made it back to Turlington Farms, said their goodnights to Brandon and got ready for bed.
Vivian had to floss her teeth twice to extract all the pesky corn kernels. She climbed into bed with Lucy, who was already breathing rhythmically, and drifted off.
Vivian startled awake, got her bearings and looked at the clock — 4 a.m. Covered in sweat, she threw the covers off and flipped her pillow to the cool side. As she lay there, she felt like someone was watching her. She didn’t want to do it, but she couldn’t help herself and clicked on the lamp next to her.
“You’re awake, too?” Kate asked.
“Jesus, you scared me!” Vivian said, then she looked at Lucy, who rolled over but didn’t wake up.
Kate stopped pacing and sat in the high-backed chair next to Vivian’s side of the bed. “Sorry. I’ve been awake for a bit. I had a weird dream.”
Vivian’s stomach clenched. Kate’s weird dreams often involved dead people. “When you say weird, do you mean…”
“No dead relatives visited me.”
Vivian sighed in relief. “Oh thank god, I was worried you might have had one of ‘those’ dreams.”
“A dead stranger visited me, instead.”
Vivian stopped breathing.
“I know, I know,” Kate said. “I’m a super-freak. But I have to say, this person was really interesting. She wanted me to find her killer.”
“And you know this how?”
Kate took a deep breath and rubbed her baby bump. “She let me live her death.”
8
Day 2
Vivian grabbed her pillow and held it tight to her ear. Chirp! Chirp! Chirp! Zzzzz….Zzzzz…Zzzzz…. She opened one tired eye and quickly squeezed it shut. The faint light of morning was way too bright. Chirp! Zzzzz.
Dammit! She threw her pillow on the floor and flung the comforter off, then padded to the dresser. She yanked open a drawer, pulled out jeans and a sweater, and headed to the bathroom.
“What the heck?” Lucy yelled to the slamming door.
“Sorry, sorry,” Vivian said. “Stupid birds.” After her morning routine, she followed the scent of frying sausage to the kitchen, where she found Brandon and Tracy working on breakfast.
“Morning,” Brandon said. “You’re up awful early, care for some coffee?”
“No, thanks,” Vivian said. “I love the smell but can’t drink it, even with tons of sugar and cream.”
Tracy turned from the stove, apron on and tea kettle in hand. “How about some hot tea?”
“That sounds perfect. I’ll take it to the back porch with me.” Vivian prepared her tea and started out of the kitchen, then stopped. “Are the birds always this noisy in the mornings?”
The proprietors just laughed and continued making breakfast.
Vivian let the screen door slam shut, hoping to scare off her arch-enemy, her foe, the fowl. I’m going to invest in a BB gun if this keeps up. She sat in a rocker, sipped and enjoyed watching the sun come up over the water until the remnants of her hot tea were cold.
Lucy opened the screen door, closed it gently and sat in the rocker beside her. “We’ve got to document this, it’s epic. Vivian Taylor, up before the rest of us! I’m impressed.”
Vivian laughed. “Don’t be. I didn’t sleep well. I had a creepy feeling I was being watched, then Kate got up and told me about the crazy dream she had, and I was finally dozing off when the birds started chirping and you started snoring.”
Lucy shook her finger at Vivian. “Oh no, I don’t snore. You’re the log saw– wait, did you say Kate had a dream? What about?”
“I’ll let Kate tell you. It was pretty creepy.”
Lucy bobbed her tea bag in the hot water. “Nothing’s going to happen on this trip. No murders, stalkers, abductions, nada. We don’t need Kate to have any dead relative dreams.”
Kate’s height came from her American father, but her superstitions were from her Taiwanese mother. Kate’s dreams often starred deceased relatives from both sides of her family tree, and they often brought cryptic messages.
Wendy poked her head outside. “Morning, early birds, y’all hungry? I couldn’t get Kate past the table. She’s in there chowing down on bacon and sausage. I may need to encourage her to eat some fruit.”
Vivian waved her off. “That’s what prenatal vitamins are for.”
Lucy laughed and got up. “If it involves bacon, I’m in. Besides, I’ve gotta hear about this dream.”
“Kate had a dream?” Wendy asked, trailing behind Vivian.
“I did and it was awful,” Kate said and washed down a mouthful of something with milk. “I woke up clawing at the air and gasping for breath. My legs still hurt from the cramps.”
Lucy set a plate of bacon in front of Kate. “What relative visited you?”
Kate swallowed a big bite of wheat toast slathered in two kinds of jam. “It wasn’t that kind of dream, it was worse.” She reached for a piece of bacon, so Wendy took the bowl of freshly cut fruit off the sideboard and set it on the table with an “uhn uhhh.”
Vivian took the bowl and scooped some pineapple onto her plate. “She’s got jelly, she’s fine.”
“It was a warm summer day, perfect for a swim, then all of a sudden, my left leg started cramping,” Kate began as Tracy walked into the dining room with a fresh plate of pancakes. “I reached down to massage it while I treaded water, but then my right leg started cramping, too, and it became impossible to swim. I tried and tried, but my legs wouldn’t work.”
Though Kate had told Vivian about the dream earlier in the morning, she still cringed inside.
“What’d you do?” Lucy asked. “Did the cramps wear off? Were you able to make it to shore?”
“No,” Kate said. “But I tried really hard because of the baby. The really scary thing was in the dream, when I rubbed my belly, it was flat. I wasn’t pregnant. Freaked me out.”
Wendy reached for Kate’s belly. “Gosh, is Little Plum okay this morning?”
Kate rubbed her belly and smiled. “Everything’s fine. I felt her move shortly after the dream. I think she woke up when I did.”
“I must have been completely zonked because I didn’t hear a peep.”
“In my dream, my whole body started cramping. It started in my legs and worked its way up. It was awful wanting so desperately to survive and trying so hard to swim but have my body fail. The last thing I remember was the sun shining through the water as I sank.”
Crash!
T
racy dropped the empty porcelain platter she’d been holding. “Goodness, excuse me,” she said and bent to pick up the mess. Her cheeks were flushed as she stacked the bigger pieces, and though her hands looked steady, she had a hard time scooping the shards.
Brandon rushed in. “It’s not a party until something gets broken,” he said, then looked to see what had happened. “Darn, hon, that was a wedding gift from Grandma Turlington. What’d you go and drop that for?”
Tracy looked at him, her eyes sharper than the remaining bits of Mikasa on the floor. “It was an accident. I’ve got butter on my fingers and the platter slipped.”
Brandon bristled but held his tongue. He followed Tracy out of the room and returned moments later with a handheld vacuum. “Sorry for the noise. Enjoy the rest of your breakfast.”
The girls did enjoy it, although bickering could be overheard from the kitchen and the Finchers, who arrived just after the platter faux pas, made goo-goo eyes at each other and spoke in baby talk.
I guess they got lost and found again last night, Vivian thought. I can’t take much more of this.
Wendy took a bite of strawberry and a last sip of coffee, then glanced at Mitzie and Wendell before saying to the girls, “Y’all ready to go on our hike?”
“You’re going on a hike?” Mitzie said. Her hairdo was reminiscent of a Shih-Tzu this morning, pink bow and all. “You should get a dog for the day to take with you.”
Though Mitzie was annoying, Vivian was intrigued. “What’s that?”
Mitzie explained that the local shelter would allow volunteers to take dogs out for exercise during the day. “They really want you to fall in love and adopt, but they’ll take any help they can get.”
Brandon walked in with a fresh pot of coffee and confirmed what she’d said. “My buddy Steve runs the program, and even though you’re not likely to adopt a dog, he’ll still let you take a dog, or four, for a day. It’s good for them.”
“I miss my dudes,” Wendy said. “Let’s do it. Shelter dogs need some fun.”
Vivian missed her dog, Cooper. He had come to her rescue when an ex-boyfriend went extra-crazy. Plus, he was an all-around awesome pup. “Great idea. I’m ready to go as soon as I get my tennies on.”
Tracy appeared in the doorway. “I’ll pack a picnic lunch for you if you’d like. Same sandwich stuff from last night, if that’s okay with you girls?”
“That would be great,” Kate said. “Could you make me a BLT, with extra B and hold the L and T?”
Tracy laughed. “Sure.”
“Where’s a good hiking trail?” Lucy asked Tracy.
“This time of year it’s hard to find a bad one.” She left and returned quickly with a foldout map of the area. “This marks the most popular trails.”
Vivian started to get up from the table but Mitzie stopped her. “Can you please step out on the back porch with me? I wanted to talk to you for a minute.”
“Sure,” Vivian responded and told the girls, “Y’all go ahead, I’ll be up in a few minutes.”
The girls left the table and Vivian followed Mitzie outside.
Mitzie stood with arms crossed at the edge of the porch, looking out at the lake. She turned to face Vivian. “Ummm, you seem nice and I really don’t talk to my girlfriends about this kind of thing, so I hope you don’t mind.”
Vivian smiled, her curiosity piqued. “Okay.”
Mitzie turned bright red, took a deep breath and started in, talking faster and faster the more she said. “I don’t really have a lot of experience with… you know, and Wendell is wanting some things and I don’t know what I’m doing and I could use some advice about s-e-x.” She wrung her hands and then crossed her arms again.
Vivian covered her mouth and coughed to hide a laugh. “You’re talking to a s-e-x-m-a-n-i-a-c, so let’s sit down and have a chat.”
Mitzie’s shoulders relaxed as she and Vivian sat in rockers. After their talk, Vivian joined the girls upstairs in their room. Kate, Lucy and Wendy were pouring over a map spread out on the bed.
Kate looked up as Vivian opened the door. “What’d Mitzie want to talk to you about?”
Vivian didn’t want to betray Mitzie’s confidence, but it was too funny not to share a little bit. “Sex stuff. I gave her some pointers.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Your favorite topic. We’ve about decided on a trail about five miles outside of town. You sure you’re up for it Kate?
“I’m good, let’s go.” Kate gave a thumbs up.
The girls geared up, grabbed their lunch from Tracy and got directions to the animal shelter from Brandon.
At the shelter, they met Steve and told him about staying at Turlington Farms and wanting to volunteer to take a dog for the day. “Would you like to take more than one dog?”
“I think one is all we can handle for the day,” Wendy said.
Steve smiled at her and said, “I’ve got just the boy for you. He’s been here a week and is about to go stir crazy. I’d take him out myself, but I’ve got a wife who’s a lot farther along than you,” he nodded to Kate, “and she wants me close by.”
Steve led them to a mostly empty row of kennels. The few dogs they passed stood at attention, waiting for someone to take them home.
It broke Vivian’s heart.
Steve stopped in front of a red golden retriever, opened the kennel and let the dog out without a leash. “This is Austin, well mannered, well trained. The family who turned him in was down on their luck. The dad lost his job and they had to make budget cuts. They just couldn’t afford to feed him, keep up his shots, you know.”
“Aw, that’s sad,” Lucy said.
Vivian let Austin sniff her hand, then she pet his head. He looked up at her with big brown eyes and smiled a doggy grin. Her heart melted. “You want to go on a hike with these crazy girls? You going to be a good boy?”
Austin panted, swished his tail and licked her hand. Affirmative!
9
Come on, buddy.” Steve gave the dog’s chin a scratch, then walked toward the front of the shelter and got out a clipboard. Wendy filled out the pertinent info while the other three girls played with the dog.
Business out of the way, they loaded Austin into the SUV and Kate got into the driver’s seat. “Which way?”
Lucy sat up front with Kate and consulted the map Tracy had given them. She gave Kate directions and they soon pulled into a parking lot alongside Highway 86. There was one other car in the lot but no one within sight. Vivian clipped a leash to Austin’s collar and let him out of the car. He pranced around and turned in circles before homing in on the trail.
“This boy is ready to go,” Wendy said, taking the leash from Vivian. “Y’all?”
Lucy looked at the posted trail map as she marched in place. Occasionally she bent over to touch her toes and stretched side to side. “I’m ready. I see our first blue dot.”
Vivian looked up at the clear sky and let out a breath she’d been holding, then followed the girls and Austin down the path of fallen leaves.
They hiked along the clearly marked trail for about a mile before crossing a small stream. Vivian’s ballet training came in handy and she easily leapt across it. The mud squished a little underfoot when she landed, but she quickly gained traction on firmer ground. Austin splashed through the mud, tongue and tail wagging.
Lucy hiked ahead for a ways, then did jumping-jacks as the girls caught up. She offered them the spout of her CamelBak. “Thirsty?”
Kate took a long drink of water, then sat on a fallen log. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I could use a snack.”
Wendy put her hand on Kate’s shoulder. “You can say that any time. You’re building a person inside you, for goodness sake! That takes calories.”
Lucy reached in her backpack for an energy bar and handed it to Kate. While she ate, the other three girls played fetch with Austin.
“Wow, this guy has been caged up for too long,” Vivian said. “I think my arm will fall off before h
e’s tired of playing.”
Lucy wrestled the stick out of his mouth and threw it as far as she could. “I have to say that although the scenery is pretty, this trail isn’t nearly as challenging as the ones in Colorado. I’m a little disappointed.”
Austin came racing back with his prize, dropping it at Wendy’s feet. She threw it for him, then said, “You’re Ms. Fitness. I’m huffing a little!”
“I’m sweating.” Vivian pointed to a trickle making its way down her face.
“These mountains are a lot different from the Rockies,” Wendy noted. “Not nearly the elevation.”
Kate stood and stretched, and the girls set off again, quickly catching up with the dog. A few minutes down the trail, the hairs on Austin’s neck raised and he slowed down. As they rounded a curve, Vivian saw what had the dog upset. A porcupine ambled along the base of a tree, just off the trail. He didn’t pay them any mind and Austin didn’t bark, but it made Vivian’s heart race anyway. After her last hike in Vail, she didn’t much like surprises along the trail.
A short distance up the path from the porcupine, the ground started to incline and the leaves got thicker on the ground.
Lucy stopped and glanced around. “Have y’all seen a blue dot in a while?”
Vivian turned in a circle, looking for the trail marker. “No,” she said after carefully looking on every tree around for the blue dot.
Kate also turned in a circle but looked at the ground. “It would seem the path goes this way,” she said, pointing toward the northwest, “but with all of the leaves it’s hard to tell.”
Wendy looked at Lucy. “What does the map say?”
Lucy dug it out of her backpack but the image wasn’t detailed enough to tell. She studied the terrain and trees a bit more. “It’s this way. There’s a half-dot on that maple tree.”
Sure enough, once Lucy pointed it out, Vivian could see the partial blue dot. “That dot is so faded it almost looks gray and blends in with the tree. Maybe they should’ve gone with bright orange.”
The girls continued as the path gained in elevation. Kate had to stop to catch her breath a few times. Vivian and Wendy both had to stop once.
