Ted laughed.
"There's still a few things you need to learn about life, women, and the law.” He listed the three words pulling back a finger to count each one off. “Things don't appear nearly as complicated to a fourteen-year-old as they really are."
"I guess,” Lee replied.
"So what've you got going on today?” His dad moved over and shut the hood. Unlike most cars Lee had seen, this one didn't open and close at the front but at the back near the windshield. Ted then produced a rag from his back pocket and polished the greasy spot where his fingers had touched the paint. “More baseball? A long bike ride with Ronnie?"
"Ronnie's bike's got a flat, and he needs his allowance to get a new tire,” Lee said absently. He gave it away by looking over to the Riley's house.
His dad followed his gaze across the street.
"You got something going on with that girl across the street, huh?"
Lee knew he couldn't fool his father. Amazing to him was that this was his dad, and yet more times than not, when it was just the two of them, hanging around like this, he felt more like he was talking to a friend rather than a parent.
"I guess.” He couldn't suppress his grin so he looked down at his PF Flyers. “I'm just gonna show her around a little."
Ted had knelt down and was wiping his wrenches with the rag, one by one, before putting each back in his foldout toolbox. “What's that little cutie's name again?"
"Phoebe. Phoebe Carlisle. She's from Gatlinburg."
"Phoebe, she sounds fun. You know I knew a girl once named Lucinda.” He was looking up at Lee with one knee on the ground. “Man oh man, I'm telling you, Lucinda...” He trailed off and stopped, then added, “Well never you mind. That's another story for another day, when you're a little older. Just mind you're back by five.” Ted closed the toolbox snapping the latches shut with each thumb. “The Miles are coming over tonight for a housewarming visit."
Lee stood there, his grin growing wide. “Maybe I could ask Maggie about Lucinda?"
Ted looked down to check the latch on the toolbox, and then suddenly jumped up and grabbed Lee about the waist instantly spinning him upside down. Holding on to him by his belt Ted strained but didn't let go as he held Lee out horizontal over the ground. “Did I hear you say you'd like to make it to fourteen?"
"Yeah, okay!” Lee gasped. “Uncle!"
"I ain't your uncle,” his dad came back quickly.
"Okay, Dad!” Lee groaned. “Uncle, dad!"
Ted let him down and fell back against the car. His face was even more red than Lee's. “Whew, son. You're getting heavy. What's Maggie been feeding you?"
"Ain't feedin’ me nuthin’ ‘cept corn and taters,” Lee said coming back with his best redneck drawl.
"Yeah, you just let Maggie hear you talking like that,” he said. “You won't have to worry about any Lucindas or even that Phoebe."
"You said ain't first,” Lee fired back.
Ted nodded and grinned his son's carbon copy grin. “You better get going while you're still ahead. And remember, don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Lee had started walking down the drive. Hearing the last, he turned and called back, “Yeah, and what wouldn't you do?"
His dad shook his head. “Not much. Now you go on and have fun."
Even before Lee got to the Riley's front door he could hear baby and smell baby. The crying and the sour ammonia smell seemed to go hand in hand. Wrinkling his nose, he pulled back the screen and rapped lightly on the door. He ended up knocking again, harder this time. He was just about to give it another try when the knob moved and opened a crack.
Phoebe peered out, then opened the door just enough to squeeze through.
Over the squall of a colicky baby, Lee could hear a man's voice complain, “Where the hell's she think she's goin’ off to? Ain't she s'posed to be helpin’ out ‘round here, goddamnit?"
Phoebe smiled weakly, as Lee had to step back to let her step out from behind the screen door.
As if neither of them had just heard what they'd heard she offered a bright, “Hi!"
Lee came back with a bright, “Hi!’ of his own, but was actually taking her in. Phoebe was wearing those same red shorts again, and a white blouse tied into a knot below her breasts, exposing her bare midriff. Her blond hair was in pigtails today, each wrapped with a rubber band, a green one on the left and a yellow on the right. The heat from inside the house had caused her face to be a little flushed, and her pasting of freckles weren't quite as visible as the other afternoon. And this close up, Lee could smell that she smelled clean and fresh with more than a trace of baby powder.
"Where to first?” she asked, and actually jumped up slightly with the excitement.
Lee, trying to be nonchalant in the face of her obvious excitement, hitched his thumbs in his pockets. “How about the Ballard house?"
"That'd be keen-o,” she beamed. “You think we'll see any ghosts?"
"I don't know.” Lee tried to look serious. “It is daylight, you know?"
"Yeah, well, maybe we'll get lucky?” She reached out to tug on Lee's hand. “Come on, let's go if we're going."
Lee gulped at hearing “Get Lucky,” and almost flinched when she touched his hand. For a split second, he thought she was going to want to hold hands, but she let go as soon as he moved.
Leading the way, Lee jumped over the ditch, with Phoebe following right after him. Once out on the street, they walked along side-by-side, right out in the middle of the road. Lee had his new red PF Flyers on and a black t-shirt from a little league team he'd played on a year ago, called the Titans. On the front, it had the number 12 stenciled in white, and on the back, above the number it also read, “Fisher's Auto.” It was so hot out in the sun he was already wishing he'd chosen shorts instead of blue jeans.
"So where do you go to school?” Phoebe began, but didn't wait for an answer. “I go to Reedy High over on the south side of Gatlinburg. I'm going to be a nurse when I get older. I think a woman should have a job and not just stay home with the babies. I'll be a sophomore next year. I don't really like Math all that much. I'm not really very good with numbers and all that crapola. It kind of makes my head swim. Actually, my favorite subjects are English and History. What's your favorites?"
Lee, trying to digest everything, had to think for a moment, so missed his chance.
"Dang, it's hot today, ain't it?” She tugged at the front of her blouse pulling it in and out. “Is it always so hot around here? We're kind of up in the mountains in Gatlinburg, so it's cooler there. I've lived there all my life. Born and bred, my daddy says. I was born at the Baptist Hospital. My mom says I was premature by two weeks, though, of course I don't remember. I've never really been anywhere outside of Tennessee until my Aunt Darlene asked my mom if I could come help out. Aunt Darlene's really not all that much older than me even if she's already got three babies. She's my mom's little sister. They say Aunt Darlene was a surprise baby. That's why Darlene and me are so close in age. We could really almost be sisters."
Lee just looked at her while she talked and they walked. Phoebe actually did ask a lot questions, but never waited long enough for Lee to get in an answer. Lee didn't mind though. He had wondered all morning what he'd talk about, and now the problem had solved itself. By the time they had reached the Ballard's long drive he knew the names and ages of her three sisters, where her dad worked, how much he made, her grades for the last couple of years, the names of most of her friends and neighbors back home, and the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her, when she'd once thrown up on stage in the school's auditorium when she had gotten so nervous after forgetting her lines during a play.
Lee couldn't believe she'd ever forgotten any lines.
Without stopping, they turned off the road and into the weedy caliche dust drive which wound its way back to the main house. The weeds grew up out of the center of the two lane tracks, and if it wasn't for Blondie's mowing, the entry road was used so seldom it might have been
grown over completely. And from here, the house could just barely be seen rising up in a ghostly red and black hiding back in amongst the grove of mangled trees.
"Who did this to all these trees?” Phoebe asked, and then for the first time actually stopped talking.
For a moment, Lee didn't know what to do.
"Oh, I'm sorry, hon,” she tapped Lee with a playfully limp-wristed half tap, half shove to his shoulder. It was as if her wrist had broken and flopped over just before she touched him. “I've been yammering on, haven't I? I'm not usually like this. It just seems like I haven't talked to anyone my age in ages. Uncle Boyd isn't never home, and he's always angry and hollering when he is. And Aunt Darlene, she's always too tired or busy, and well the babies, they don't say much all they do is cry—"
"Walter Ballard,” Lee quickly inserted.
"Who?” Phoebe stopped, and then put her hand over her mouth. “There I go again. I really am so sorry. I promise I won't talk for ten minutes. I swear.” She crossed her heart. “I swear. Ten minutes you won't hear a peep. Who?"
Lee didn't know what to make of this girl. He looked at her, trying to decide what to think. She was about the most un-shy person he had ever met.
"Walter Ballard,” he repeated. “He's the guy who had the trees cut like this.” Lee was tentative, expecting Phoebe to start up again; but she was true to her word and now kept silent. “No one knows for sure why he had it done. Most folks just say they figure he just went crazy."
Keeping up a steady pace as they walked, Lee told her a little about the history. All the while, as if it was emerging from amid the lines of trunks, they could see the house more and more clearly. The walls were built with a local, rich, red brick sprinkled with some black and white, and the wide, white-framed windows stood out with the black shutters and white eaves and trim. Even today, the Federal-styled mansion looked grand and important.
Trying to anticipate Phoebe's questions, as she remained true to her word and kept silent, Lee began to warm up to his role of tour guide.
"Like I said, no one's sure why he had the trees all chopped like this. But everyone's sure he must have gone crazy since they say he hung himself. His wife Petunia still lives here and well, she's a little—” Lee put his finger to the side of his and rotated it.
Phoebe nodded.
"The house itself is really old. The Ballards bought it back in the twenties or thirties and really had to fix it up. Before that, it had been abandoned for a long time and bums from the railroad used to live in it."
Lee found himself suddenly again thinking of that window, second from the left, and then of the claw marks he'd seen in the upstairs hallway floor.
Coming back to reality Lee quickly resumed his narrative. “Right after the civil war, the Yankees took over the house and used it for a hospital, and before that it was a cotton plantation called Cherry Heights. In fact all of this is what they call Cherry Heights as it's higher than most of the rest of the land around here. ‘Cept for Broaddus Marsh, just over back across Seminole road. It's supposed to get real low and swampy back in there. But I don't know. I've never been back in there."
When they arrived at the front door, Lee stepped forward and reached out to knock with the brass knocker. For the first time, he noticed the round part at the bottom of the striker was a casting of a man's clenched fist, and for some reason it struck him as really bizarre, in that the fist looked angry.
Phoebe still hadn't uttered another word. Standing there in the shade provided by the balcony, she had her hands in her back pockets and was swaying gently from the hips twisting her shoulders to and fro.
They waited, and Lee knocked again.
"Brenda's the house keeper,” he offered. “She works for Mrs. Ballard. She's probably off in the back."
As if on cue, the door opened, and Brenda peered out. Her face immediately changed from stoic and worried to a bright smile.
"Well if it isn't Mr. Coombs.” She looked to Phoebe. “And who's this young lady?"
Phoebe didn't say a thing. For one brief moment she reminded Lee exactly of how a shy three-year-old looks when a stranger asks their name and they aren't about to speak.
"Uh, Hi Brenda,” Lee spoke up for her. “This is Phoebe. She's staying at the house across the street from mine."
"Over at the Riley's?” Brenda squinted as she took a step out of the doorway and into the sunlight. “That's those folk's name, right?"
Phoebe nodded.
"Well,” Brenda gave Phoebe a slow double take, probably in response to her silence, and turned her attention back to Lee. “So what brings y'all over here today?"
Now that the door was open a bit more, Lee definitely noticed the musty smell again. In fact, the smell of it was as if it was escaping, pouring out of the house and tainting the air around them. He tried to block it out, by taking a step back. “I'm kinda showing Phoebe around. We'd thought we could start here?"
Brenda's smile faded slightly. “What's there to see here?"
"I don't know,” Lee, in response to Brenda's sudden change of expression suddenly felt a little awkward. And he certainly couldn't just come out and say they'd come to see the ghosts. Thinking quickly, as Brenda was string at him he came up with, “The back yard has a good view of the river, and I wanted to show her the roses and stuff."
Brenda looked back and forth at the two, and a look came over her face very much like the worried expression an adult makes just before explaining something of a mature nature to an inappropriately curious child. But she said, “Well, I guess it'll be all right, since it's you, Lee. But mind you stay away from the little house. Mrs. Ballard's back in there already, and it's be best to leave her alone, if you know what I mean."
Lee nodded.
Brenda stepped back in, hugging the door to herself protectively. “Nice to meet you, Phoebe."
Phoebe broke her silence. “Nice to meet you, ma'am."
Brenda closed the door, and they could hear it latch and even her footsteps receding, tapping on the tile as she walked away.
"Come on this way.” Lee stepped off the edge of the round brick entryway and led the way off through the grass to the right.
Phoebe kept right up. She walked as fast as she talked and had kept up the pace, as well as the conversation, all the way over.
They came around the west side of the house, making their way around the side towards the back grounds. At each window they passed, Phoebe jumped up in an effort to see through the white curtains, obviously trying to catch a glimpse of something spooky inside.
Coming around the western corner of the house, Lee pointed out the line of pine trees, which marked the property line of his house over to the right. With this particular angle from where they were standing, the rows of tree trunks were lined up so they could look down between the boles, and the red cedar walls of his house were just visible beyond the fence line of trees.
"Gee,” Phoebe, spoke up wondrously. “That sure is a whole lot closer than walking all the way down the road."
"Yeah, it's not really too far,” he appraised, and thinking maybe that wasn't such a good thing. “I'd cut through when I was working on the roses."
Phoebe suddenly spun about, leaving Lee where he was and ran over and looked into a window. Attempting to get a better view inside she placed her hands on the sill and jumped up, locking her elbows for support. She stayed there for a long moment, kicking her feet back, then she let herself down.
Lee came over. “What'd you see?"
"Nothing much.” She shook her head. “I imagine it's some kind of a bedroom, but they've got all the furniture all covered up with sheets and stuff."
Lee couldn't help but take a look for himself. He didn't need to jump; he just stood up on his tiptoes and leaned his chest into the brick so that he could see over the sill and get a look. Inside, was a room with dark wood paneling and a huge oval mirror on the wall by the door. He could see his own face looking in the window as reflected in the mirror. Pictures,
like portraits, were all over the walls, but he couldn't make out the faces, it was so dark and gloomy. As Phoebe had reported, there was a lot of furniture in the room, even what had to be a huge four-poster bed. Each of the posts were wrapped tightly in sheets and then tied with a cord. The corkscrew swirls of the turned wood were visible through the outline of the rope. But, as Phoebe had said, it was all covered with sheets. Obviously, Brenda never came in here as everything was also draped with a thick layer of dust.
Lee stepped down. Phoebe was standing back and grinning at him.
"What?” he asked suspiciously.
She smiled back with a mischievous glare. “You like lookin’ in other people's bedroom windows, huh?"
Lee was taken aback, but he thought quickly. “I don't really think that applies if it's a ghost's bedroom,” he argued calmly. “I mean, what's to see if someone is invisible?"
"Don't worry about it, silly.” She again gave him that limp-wristed shove. “I'm just funnin’ with you, hon."
"Funnin', huh?” He tried to look serious. “You're at the Ballard house. This is Cherry Heights. You never know, there might actually be a ghost in that room, and he's lookin’ at us out that window right now. He's remembering you so he can come look you up tonight when it's dark and he's free to roam around."
For a split second Lee realized he had been describing something very similar to what he'd experienced out on the road the other night, and that hadn't been so funny. “You got to watch it around here,” he offered seriously. But since it was daylight, he went ahead and poured it on just a little. “Just when you think everything is okay, Wham!” He slapped his hands together causing Phoebe to jump. “Something grabs you. Other kids have come poking around here and never been seen again, least not alive, anyway."
Phoebe was standing back, her fists on her hips, the most incredulous look upon her face. “Oh, yeah?” She affected a flat and bored monotone. “I'm just so scared. In fact, I'm so scared, I forgot to be scared."
Lee grinned. “Like something so funny you forgot to laugh?"
Phoebe jabbed a finger out and stuck Lee in the center of his chest. “Damn tootin'!"
Evil Heights, Book II: Monster in the House Page 9
