Molly’s stomach grumbled in response and she eagerly accepted the can of soup. After slurping down half the can, she asked, “Veronica, were you ever little like me?”
“Of course, sweetheart, but it was a very long time ago in a place very far away called Albuquerque.”
“Albu…where is it?”
“In the desert where it’s very dry and warm and we hardly ever get snow, even in the winter. Never snow like this.”
“That sounds nice.”
“It was nice. Maybe I could show it to you before we go to Dublin, if you’d like.”
“That would be wonderful. I’ve never seen a desert.” Molly slurped down more soup. “What was your family like?”
“My parents were very bad people. My father liked to drink and when he drank, he liked to hit my mother and I.”
“Why would your daddy hit you and your mama?”
“That’s what alcohol does to people, honey. It makes them do bad things.”
“What happened to your mama and daddy?”
Veronica turned her face to stare at the door. “They’re dead,” she said. “They died a long time ago.”
“Does that make you sad?”
“No. Bad people deserve to die,” Veronica said. She turned back to Molly with a smile. “You won’t die for a long, long time I’m sure.”
“I wish Helena were dead. And Ugly Phyllis. And Becky,” Molly said. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say that.”
“It’s all right, sweetheart. There’s no harm in wishing bad people dead. That’s what they deserve.” Veronica patted Molly’s cheek with a rough hand. “Go on and finish your soup.”
Molly drank the rest of the soup, wondering if Veronica was right. Maybe she shouldn’t feel bad about wanting Helena and Phyllis dead. They had done terrible things to Molly for as long as she could remember. They called her names, locked her in the basement, and then Helena had pushed her down the stairs and said she fell. They were very bad people.
But not Becky. Molly thought back to her dream with a pang of remorse. Becky had taken care of her when she was too little to care for herself. She didn’t want Becky to die.
Molly finished the can of soup and then laid back down. She wished Aunt Samantha were here to read her a story. “Veronica, can you tell me a story?”
“Let me think, it’s been so long since I had to tell one. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Molly who had curly red hair and freckles like you.”
“Really?”
“Yes and she lived in a faraway place called Seabrooke across the ocean. In Seabrooke, Molly lived with her mean little brother in a very old, very stinky castle. Then one day Molly went exploring in the attic and found an old box of things belonging to her grandmother. She tried on some pretty old dresses and looked through a box of her grandmother’s old photographs. Her grandmother was a very beautiful woman who looked like her. But her grandmother looked sad all the time.”
“Why was she sad?”
“I’m getting to that, sweetheart. Molly wondered why her grandmother would look sad all the time. Something awful must have happened to make a pretty lady like her grandmother sad. Then in the box Molly found a magic book.”
“A magic book? Did it show her how to turn people into frogs or to make straw into gold?”
“No, honey, nothing like that. This magic book showed her how to find a golden land where she could live happily forever.”
“Did Molly find this place?”
“Yes, she did, but not right away. The book didn’t have a map to tell her where to find this place. To find it, she needed to solve a lot of riddles.”
“What’s a riddle?”
“It’s like a puzzle only with words. Long ago, Molly’s grandfather had asked her grandmother these same riddles, but she wasn’t smart enough to solve them.”
“That’s why she was sad?”
“Yes, because she wasn’t smart like you. She never could find the paradise the book spoke of where she could live with her husband forever. And so she was very sad.”
“What about Molly? Was she sad?”
“Yes, Molly was sad for a long time. Years and years until she was an old lady like me. But every day she read the book and worked on solving the riddles until finally she had them all figured out. And so she got on a boat and followed the clues to the magical place her grandfather had talked about, where she became young and pretty again and lived happily ever after.”
“I like that story,” Molly said.
Veronica patted Molly’s shoulder. “Go back to sleep and tomorrow you’ll feel all better.”
Molly nodded and closed her eyes. She felt Veronica brush hair away from her forehead to kiss her. As she fell asleep, Molly saw the land of which Veronica had spoke with rolling golden hills atop which sat a castle. Inside, she saw her parents, Sir Francis, and Aunt Samantha, calling to her. Someday she would find it.
Chapter 20: The Cure
Samantha stared at the glass bottle next to the bed filled with rose-colored liquid. Joseph had promised her two squirts from the perfume bottle once belonging to his mother would make Samantha beautiful. “Not that you need a lot of help,” he said.
“I need to think about it,” she told him.
“Why? Don’t you think it’ll work? You think I screwed it up somehow? I wouldn’t do that—”
Samantha put a finger to Joseph’s lips. “It’s not that. I’m not sure I should take it.” She couldn’t explain to him about her experience with strange liquids on Eternity.
Joseph’s face reddened as though he were getting ready to say something hurtful, but then he nodded. “It’s all right. I understand. You take this and use it if you want. If you don’t, that’s cool too. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said. He walked her to the bedroom door, checking the corridor to make sure no one saw them. Then he pressed the bottle into her hands and kissed her farewell on the cheek. His beard scratched against her skin, but his lips were moist and warm. The spot where his lips touched turned red as Samantha blushed. Joseph pulled away, shutting the door behind him.
The taunts of the girls in the school rankled her yet again. She looked in the mirror, tracing the pimples dotting her face with one finger. Her finger moved back to touch the shaggy haircut Rebecca had given her two weeks ago. At the time she had liked the idea of no longer needing a ribbon or headband to keep hair from her face and not having to spend the better part of an hour each morning and night brushing the long tresses to keep them untangled. Now she saw how coarse and crude the haircut looked, how boyish it made her. She hated it and hated herself for asking Rebecca to give it to her.
Samantha hadn’t felt like this since first waking up in Eternity. She remembered seeing her reflection in the stream for the first time and despairing about her narrow chin, sharp cheekbones, flat nose, big ears, and wide-set eyes. In the mirror now she saw puberty had sharpened those problems and added pimples. Ugly on the outside and the inside, she thought.
Taking the potion Joseph had concocted wouldn’t do anything about the more serious issue of what she’d learned from Mrs. Milton. Becoming the most beautiful girl in the world couldn’t erase the monster lurking within her. She picked up the bottle, weighing it in her hand.
The future awaiting her was one of wandering, searching for some quiet place where she might settle and live without hurting anyone. Even then she would always have to worry about the past one day catching up with her. She couldn’t find peace and comfort anywhere no matter how beautiful she looked.
The bedroom door opened a crack, startling her. At first she worried Prudence or Wendell had found her, but it was Joseph’s head that peeked into the room. “You’re still awake?”
“I don’t know what to do,” she said. She glanced down at the bottle in her hands. “It doesn’t matter if I’m pretty. I’m still an ugly person in here.” She pointed to her heart.
“Samantha, you’re a beautiful g
irl and I’m sure you’re just as beautiful on the inside,” Joseph said. He put an arm around her and guided her to sit on the bed. “When I saw you, you seemed so upset I thought maybe this would help, but you don’t need it. I only thought you might want the rest of the world to see you in the way I do.”
“You really think I’m beautiful?”
“From the very first moment I saw you.”
“You don’t mind my pimples or my hair or my clothes?”
“Of course not. You’re perfect in every way.” He slipped one of his wide, muscular hands around hers. “But wouldn’t you like to go back and stick it to those girls? Show them how much more beautiful you can be?”
“I don’t know—”
“Samantha, I know we only met last night, but I feel like I’ve known you all my life. I know you want the same things I do. You don’t want to be ordinary. You want something more.”
“I’m not sure what I want.”
“If you look into your heart I’m sure you’ll find I’m right.” He squeezed her hand and smiled. “You and I can be extraordinary. This world is ours for the taking. You only have to reach out and grab it.”
“I can’t. What if—”
Joseph’s other hand ripped the bottle from her grasp and in one fluid motion sprayed her twice in the face. The world around Samantha turned painfully bright and blurry. “You’ll thank me in the morning,” Joseph said, his voice sounding as if it came from a thousand miles away. He took Samantha by the shoulders and laid her out on the bed. She tried to get up, but the muscles in her limbs wouldn’t move. She couldn’t even open her mouth to scream as the world exploded in a nova of white light and then faded to darkness.
She woke up to find something tickling her nose. She swatted at it with one hand only to find a tress of hair lying across her face. She swept it back, following it all the way to her shoulders. What happened to me? she wondered. Then she saw the bottle on the nightstand and remembered.
Samantha sat up in bed, holding out her arms to make sure she hadn’t shrunk into a little girl. If anything her arms appeared longer and leaner, the skin on them a deep tan. The T-shirt she wore fit tight around her heaving bosom while the jeans fit loose around her narrow waist.
She leapt from the bed, hurrying over to the mirror. “Oh my God!” she squealed. She was beautiful! She ran a finger along her smooth cheeks to her cute button nose. Then she swept her hair—no longer black but a chocolate brown—back behind a pair of adorable little ears.
She danced down the hallway to Joseph’s room, throwing open the door. He looked up from his workbench, his jaw going slack. “Samantha? You look wonderful.”
“I feel wonderful,” she said. She hugged Joseph, rubbing a wet cheek against his. “I never thought I could look this pretty. Thank you, Joseph. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” He took her hand and stood up. “Come on, we have to show everyone.” They walked down the stairs hand-in-hand, finding Prudence and Wendell in the kitchen.
“Samantha, what happened to you?” Prudence asked. “You look different.”
“I am different. I’m pretty now.” She kissed Joseph on the cheek. “I’ll see you guys later. Don’t wait up.”
She and Joseph left the room laughing and continued laughing all the way to the car. As Joseph pulled the car out of the driveway, Samantha stuck her head out the window to let the wind blow through her hair and whoop. Never before had she felt so free.
Chapter 21: Alterations
Prudence heard the front door and then the automobile door slam, but she couldn’t rouse herself from the breakfast table. What had happened to Samantha? She looked so different. Her face, her skin, her hair, everything about her had changed. Prudence didn’t understand it.
The boy, she thought. After Samantha ran off yesterday she must have run into Mr. Pryde’s son and come back here. Prudence remembered her conversation with Joseph through the door and Samantha’s muted giggling. Now this morning Samantha ran off with Joseph. She doesn’t need me anymore.
Prudence dropped the remains of her toast onto the table. After nine years of growing up, from little girls to teenagers, Samantha had finally replaced her. Cast her aside for someone older and better looking. In her heart, Prudence had long known this day would come. She knew one day Samantha would no longer need her, would find a friend more worthy of her.
While Prudence mangled her toast, Wendell slipped into the bathroom, collapsing onto the toilet. He couldn’t get the image of Samantha standing in the doorway out of his mind. Never could he have imagined her so beautiful, every part of her flawless as a painting or statue. She had looked so beautiful he had to shield his pants with his plate and slink into a far corner of the kitchen before she ran off with Joseph Pryde.
He should have seen this coming, of course. All this time he’d been waiting to express his feelings, he should have known she would find someone better. If only he’d gotten up the courage to tell her earlier. Then what? She would have rejected him. She would have patted him on the head and said how flattered she was, but she wasn’t interested. She was holding out for someone strong and handsome.
Wendell left the bathroom to find Prudence gorging herself on handfuls of some confection named Cap’n Crunch. “Is that all you’re going to do? Get fatter?” he asked with a sneer.
She threw a handful of the yellow rectangles at him. “Don’t start with me! I’m not in the mood for you, Wendy.”
“Don’t call me that!” Wendell picked a piece of bread off the table to hurl at Prudence’s head. She ducked and threw another handful of Cap’n Crunch at him. Before long, yellow rectangles and shards of toast lay all over the kitchen. When they ran out of ammunition, they glared at each other. “You’re cleaning this up,” Wendell said.
“You’re helping me.”
“No I’m not. You started it.”
“I did not!”
“You did so!” Wendell lunged forward to tackle Prudence, but she weighed too much for him to topple. She seized him by the shoulders and rolled over to pin him to the floor, her thighs and stomach crushing him. “Get off.”
“Not until you promise to stop making fun of me.”
“Fine,” Wendell grunted. Prudence rolled off him and offered to help him up, but he swatted her hand away. “I don’t need your help.”
“Suit yourself.” She waddled off to a closet, leaving Wendell to touch his aching chest. No wonder Samantha had fallen in love with someone else. He couldn’t even beat a stupid fat girl like Prudence.
Prudence found a broom in the closet along with a dustpan made of a strange, lightweight material. She wished Samantha were around to ask about the dustpan. We’re on our own now, Prudence thought. Samantha’s too busy with her new friend to have time for us.
As she swept the floor, Prudence thought of their mission. How could she and Wendell do it alone? They didn’t know anything about this strange place. How could they buy the necessary supplies on their own? And even if they somehow managed, how could they get them back to Eternity?
Prudence dropped onto a chair, the broom slipping from her fingers. Everyone back on Eternity was counting on them. She thought of brave Rebecca, dear Annie, and little Molly. How could Samantha abandon them for some boy? This wasn’t like her best friend. “What happened to her?” Prudence said.
“She found someone else. Someone better,” Wendell said. “Good riddance. I didn’t like her anyway. She’s as stupid as the rest of you girls.”
“We need her help. We can’t do this by ourselves.”
“I can do it. All by myself. I don’t need any stupid girls getting in the way.”
“We can’t even get into town right now,” Prudence said. “They took the one automobile and Mr. Pryde has the other.”
“Then we’ll walk. It’s not that far.”
“How are we going to get any supplies then? Carry them on our backs? Drag them through the snow?”
“If we must. Are you scared?�
�
“No. I’m trying to be reasonable,” Prudence said. “We should wait here for Mr. Pryde to come back.”
“Fine, you do that. I’m leaving.”
“Wendell, get back here! I’m warning you.” Wendell grabbed his jacket from by the front door and then stomped out into the snow. He plodded along the driveway and out onto the road. Prudence followed him, her face turning red as she struggled to keep pace. “Wendell, slow down. Please.”
He waited in the snow along the shoulder to wait for her. When she reached him, she doubled over to catch her breath. “At least you’re getting some exercise,” he said.
She looked up and he saw not sweat but tears in her eyes. “Why do you have to be so mean to me?” she asked. “I miss her a lot more than you do. She was my best friend.”
“You can’t understand. She’s more than a friend to me. I love her!” Wendell shouted. “And now she’s with him and all I have left is you.”
He whirled around and continued stomping down the road, unconcerned with whether Prudence kept pace or not. Let the fat pig fall over dead for all I care, he thought. He didn’t need her for anything; she would only slow him down.
He reached the base of the hill to find her staggering after him, her breath coming out in gasps. “Why don’t you go back and wait for Mr. Pryde?” he said.
“I’m…coming,” she said. Wendell shook his head at her pitiful display. She’d never make it all the way to Seabrooke. Maybe they could flag down another automobile to get a ride.
He heard a vehicle coming then and recognized it as Mr. Pryde’s truck. The automobile came to a stop next to Wendell. “What are you doing out here on the road?” Mr. Pryde asked.
“We have to get into town,” Wendell said. “Your son and Samantha took the other automobile.”
Mr. Pryde threw his cigarette to the ground and shook his head. “I warned that boy about taking the car. How long ago did he leave?”
“An hour ago maybe.”
“We better go find them before they get into too much trouble. Where’s your sister at?”
Children of Eternity Omnibus Page 43
