A Beach Wish

by Shelley Noble

  She was almost there when Hannah reached out to grasp the balustrade.

  “Granna! No!” Why didn’t she stop? Because she couldn’t hear her. She must have her hearing aids off. “Granna!” she screamed.

  Hannah stepped on the first step. The frame swayed. Mel raced toward the stairs to stop her.

  Just as she reached the steps, they gave way, slo-mo; Hannah swayed with the motion.

  Mel threw herself at her great-grandmother and managed to grab her as the steps sagged and broke into pieces. She swung Hannah to the ground, but her own momentum carried her forward. Her feet scrabbled on the dirt but couldn’t find purchase. She grabbed for the closest thing—the last standing piece of wooden support. The post teetered, groaned.

  And it gave way in her hand.

  The whole stairway collapsed, sweeping up Mel and carrying her downward.

  She heard Hannah cry out above her, then nothing but the rumble and splintering of wood.

  It only lasted seconds. But somehow, the wood ended up on top, with Mel underneath, her ears ringing, her eyes gritty. But she was still alive.

  It’s less than ten feet down, dumbass.

  She moved slightly, setting off a small rain of splinters and wood pieces. Not a good idea. It was really dark. She gingerly lifted her head. Saw that the whole frame and risers were crisscrossed like that game of pickup sticks, and she was on the bottom.

  “Granna,” she croaked. “Are you okay? Granna?”

  Hannah didn’t answer. Mel had pushed her out of the way before she fell, hadn’t she? She tried to look around but saw only dark, jagged pieces of wood.

  “Granna!” Mel pushed at the wood, but it only made the pieces shift and the whole mess settle lower on top of her.

  She had to get out. Make sure her great-grandmother was okay. If she could just get out. She moved her leg, gently so she didn’t pull the whole mess down any more. She tried the other leg. One arm, then the— “Ow.” She grabbed the arm. That really hurt.

  She turned her head, afraid to turn over completely. There was a small rectangle nearby where she could see some sand. If she could just reach it.

  She tried scooting on her back toward it. Man, her arm really hurt.

  She managed to get close enough to see out to the beach. But the opening was way too small for her to escape through. She might bring down the whole thing.

  “Granna, are you up there? Are you okay? Can you go for help? Granna. Turn on your hearing aid!”

  The reply she got was the last one she expected or wanted to hear. The most irritating sound in the world. One ear-grating bleat. Dulcie stuck her head in the opening and grabbed Mel’s cap in her teeth. One tug and she backed out of the opening, sending another shower of sticks and lumber down on Mel’s now bare head.

  “Stupid goat.”

  Though . . . maybe she would go home, and when Henry came out to put her in the shed for the night, he’d see the cap and wonder where it came from . . . then they would look for her and find her.

  Only, what if Dulcie dropped the hat? What if she didn’t go back to the house?

  They’d come looking for her . . . Please come look for me.

  Dulcie had stopped just out of reach, the hat dangling from her mouth. “Go get Henry, Dulcie. Please.”

  She just had to be patient. Henry or David would come looking for Dulcie before long. They never let her stay out all night. There were wild animals that might hurt her.

  Or Mel’s mom would call to see where she was. And then they’d look for her. Except maybe she’d think Mel had changed her mind and was staying out here tonight. Then her mom wouldn’t call.

  They’d see the Cadillac and wonder where Hannah was. They’d go look for her. Surely they would look for her. Or were they just too mad at her to care?

  No. Henry and Floret weren’t like that.

  But what if Granna was hurt? What if she was hurt really bad and they came too late?

  “Dulcie, you gotta go get help. Please, I’ll never call you stupid again. You have to help us.”

  Chapter 25

  David set down his beer on the table and listened. “Is that Dulcie? Why isn’t she in the shed for the night?”

  Eli looked up from his iPad. “Because Henry and Floret are out swimming in the raw. Mel and I saw them. Mel was kind of surprised.”

  David hid his smile. “Yeah, crazy old folks, having fun and getting it on.”

  “Ha. I know it’s the brownies. Most old people are uptight and pitiful.”

  “The professor? He’s not.”

  “No, but that’s because he’s kept his mind active. That’s important.”

  “Thanks for the lecture. They’re not so old.”

  “Seventies. That seems old to me.”

  “It won’t for long. Trust me.” David dragged his ancient thirty-six-year-old body from his chair.

  “I’ll go bed her down. Let them have their fun.” While it lasts, he added to himself.

  “Huh.” Eli went back to his reading.

  David opened the front door and trotted down the porch steps. Dulcie was standing at the bottom. She saw him, let out another lengthy bleat, and ducked her head. She came up with something in her mouth.

  “What the hell have you found now? You’d better not be raiding the Daltons’ laundry line again.” He walked over to her and pried whatever it was out of her mouth. Eli’s new university cap. That didn’t take long, though it wasn’t like Eli to be so careless. “Okay, it’s bed for you, Dulcie.”

  He started toward her pen, but Dulcie didn’t budge.

  “If you don’t go now, you’ll have to wait for Henry or Floret and they’re busy.” They were also amazing. David had always been suspicious of the existence of that kind of long-lasting love, but no more. It was possible. He supposed.

  “Come on, Dulcie.” He went back to urge her toward the shed, but she danced away and took off into the woods.

  “Suit yourself, but there are wild animals out there.”

  But not this early, he thought, and went back into the house.

  “Here’s your cap,” he told Eli, and tossed it toward him. “Dulcie had it.”

  Eli picked it up. “How did she get it?”

  “I dunno. Where did you leave it?”

  “I gave it to Mel.”

  David felt a frisson of unease skitter up his spine. “You better text her and tell her you found it.” He hoped they hadn’t had a fight and Mel had tossed it in a moment of anger . . . Surely Eli would have said something and he hadn’t seemed at all upset this evening.

  Eli was already on the phone texting. They both waited, staring at the phone.

  Eli fired off another text.

  They waited.

  “I’m calling. Mel, we found my cap, call me back. ASAP.” Eli stood up. “I’m going to look for her.”

  “She’s probably in the shower and can’t hear the phone.” That was the most logical explanation. On the other hand . . . “When did you last see her?” They didn’t have more than the normal crime of a beach town, and it was still early. Nonetheless . . .

  “She walked me home from dinner and then she left, down the drive.”

  Now David was on his feet. “Let’s just check to make sure she didn’t step in a pothole and sprain an ankle or something.”

  Without a word, they both headed for the front door.

  They met Henry and Floret coming back from the beach, their robes clinging to wet bodies.

  “What’s afoot?” Henry asked.

  “Dulcie found Eli’s cap. Mel was wearing it when she left here a while ago and she’s not answering her phone.”

  “Oh, dear,” Floret said. “Look.”

  David and Henry followed her outstretched hand to where Hannah Gordon’s Cadillac was parked at the edge of the woods.

  “Is she inside?” Henry asked.

  “Not in the house, maybe in the car,” David said, running toward the car. “Eli,” he called.

  Eli, who
was already halfway down the drive, came running back. He saw the car. “Hannah saw us together in town.”

  David slowed down long enough to make sure no one was in the car. “Not here. Oh, hell, the beach.” He shoved his cell phone at Henry, and he and Eli ran for the path.

  “Mel!” Eli called. “Mel! Mel!”

  They ran headlong into Dulcie, bleating her head off. Behind her, Hannah Gordon, bent nearly double, gripped her cane with both hands. “There.” She gasped and took several pained breaths; David just managed to catch her before she collapsed.

  “There.” She waved her finger in the air not pointing to anything, but Dulcie let out a unearthly wail and bounded away.

  Henry caught up; David transferred Hannah to him and he and Eli ran on.

  Dulcie had stopped at the steps to the beach—where the steps had been. The treads, the risers, the stringers, the posts, the warning rope were gone.

  “Mel!” Eli called.

  “Eli? Down here,” came the faint reply. “Help me.”

  “We’re coming. Hold on. Uncle David?” Eli pleaded, before he took off to the rocks where he could climb down to the sand.

  David followed him down and just managed to grab him before he ran headlong into the crumpled structure.

  “You don’t want it to collapse anymore.” He moved Eli out of the way and crouched down to try to ascertain how severe the collapse was and how badly Mel was injured.

  He found a small opening near the bottom. He should have brought a flashlight.

  “Phone,” he ordered Eli, and reached out behind him. The phone was pressed into his palm. He opened the flashlight app and shone it into the opening.

  Mel’s scared, dirty face looked back at him.

  “Get me out?” she whimpered.

  “Absolutely,” he said, a lot more cheerily than he felt. “Are you hurt?”

  “I don’t think so. Just my arm. The rest of me can move.”

  David could have laughed with relief. “Well, don’t. We’re going to have to take some time to get this debris off you safely, so just be patient.”

  “Okay.”

  An answer rife with fear.

  Henry appeared above them. “We called the EMTs. I left Hannah sitting on a rock with Floret. She wouldn’t let us take her back to the house. Do we need beach rescue?”

  “I think the three of us can manage,” David called back. “Mel, if we lift the beams off, do you think you could crawl out?”

  “I think so. Maybe.”

  “Okay. Hold still until I tell you. Cover your head. We have to go slowly. I don’t want it all falling down on you.”

  “Okay. Is Granna okay?”

  David looked over to Henry.

  “I think so,” Henry said. “And as ungrateful as ever.”

  “It was an accident.”

  “It’s all right. You’re not in trouble,” David said, and moved back to figure out a tactic.

  “I don’t think she meant herself,” Henry said under his breath.

  “You think the old witch pushed her over?”

  Henry gave him a look. “No. Doesn’t mean she’s not responsible.”

  It took some time and several false starts, but at last they opened a hole wide enough for Mel to wiggle through.

  She sat on the ground and burst into tears. Eli sat down beside her. “You’re okay. You’re safe now.”

  Henry and David shared a relieved smile over the two teenagers’ heads.

  They made Mel wait where she was until the EMTs arrived. The hardest part was getting the EMTs past Dulcie, who was guarding the way to their patient. Even after Henry pulled her away, she insisted on staying close and walked beside them all the way back to the house, only occasionally butting one of the EMTs to keep him in line.

  Hannah was sitting up on a gurney while an EMT monitored her blood pressure.

  Floret met them in the yard. “She refuses to go to the hospital.”

  David rolled his eyes.

  “I called Eve. I didn’t want to alarm her, but I didn’t think I should wait.”

  “Do I have to go to the hospital?” Mel asked. “I can move my fingers and everything.”

  Henry looked at the EMT who was wrapping her wrist and lower arm in ice packs.

  “She should have an X-ray to make sure her arm isn’t broken,” the EMT said. “How old is she?”

  “Seventeen,” Mel said.

  “Her mother is on her way,” Henry said. “She should be here in five minutes.”

  “I have to talk to Granna first,” Mel said.

  “When your mother comes. Until then, you sit right there with the EMTs.”

  The squad began packing their things. Once again Hannah refused to go into the ambulance.

  “Well, then you’ll have to come inside,” Henry said. “Until someone can drive you home.”

  “I can drive myself.”

  “No, you can’t,” Floret said. “You’ll come in and have some tea.”

  Hannah licked her lips, and David noticed that she was smeared with dirt.

  “As long as it isn’t one of your funny-business teas.”

  Floret looked toward heaven and helped Hannah to stand.

  David stared after them and then turned to Henry. “I don’t get them. I really don’t.”

  “Sometimes it’s best not to try,” Henry said.

  They were interrupted by a car careering down the drive. It screeched to a halt next to the ambulance, and Eve jumped out of the passenger side and rushed to Mel’s side. Lee and Noelle were right behind her.

  Zoe’s brother climbed out of the driver’s seat, at the same moment Zoe got out of the driver’s-side back seat.

  The whole parade reminded David of a clown car at the circus.

  Eve consulted with the EMTs. “I’ve promised to take her to the doctor’s first thing tomorrow.” She tried to lead Mel to the car, but Mel hung back.

  “I have to make sure Granna is okay.” Her voice sounded on its way to hysterical. “It was my fault.”

  David blew out air and went to assist.

  “She was looking for me, she saw me, and I hid in the trees. She said she knew where I was going and by the time I figured out what she was doing, she’d gotten out of the car and was going down the path to the beach. She didn’t know about the steps. I called but she didn’t hear me, and then I got there and she was looking down and I startled her and she fell. I tried to pull her back up, but then I— She’s not hurt, is she?”

  Eve looked to David.

  He shook his head. He had no idea if she was or not, but he’d be damned if he’d let the kid take the heat for an old woman’s obsession.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” David said. “I put a rope across the stairs. She had no business getting that close. And you saved her from a serious fall. So don’t blame yourself.”

  Eli looked up at him, so grateful that it squeezed David’s heart.

  “That’s right, Mel. You’re a hero,” Eli said.

  “No, I’m not,” Mel said, and fell into Eve’s arms. Noelle joined the hug.

  “We’ll go see Granna and she’ll tell you herself.” Eve walked her up the stairs and into the house. Everyone else followed, including David, who intended to make sure Hannah Gordon exonerated her great-granddaughter if he had to sit her on his knee and move her head like a ventriloquist dummy.

  He smiled—he would enjoy doing it.

  “Maybe we should wait outside,” Zoe told Chris as they started up after the others.

  “Not on your life. I wouldn’t miss this denouement for the world.” He nudged her up to where David waited at the door. “It’s bound to be surprising.”

  They walked into the living room on Hannah’s “Don’t make a fuss, girl.”

  Mel recoiled as if she’d been slapped.

  “What an old bee-otch,” Chris said in Zoe’s ear.

  She nodded.

  “Lee, take me home.”

  Lee just stood there with his arms crosse
d.

  Everyone waited. Zoe couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to.

  “Mother, Mel, who is in pain, wanted to make sure you were okay before she went to get treated. You could at least be grateful that she kept you from a nasty spill.”

  “Huh,” the old woman said. “Is that what she said.”

  A cry was wrenched from Mel. “Why did you go after me, Granna? You frightened me. What were you going to do? Tell me I couldn’t see Eli anymore? He’s going to college in a few weeks. You didn’t have to come after me.” She glanced at her grandfather.

  Lee had the good sense to look ashamed and lowered his head.

  Mel shook her head slightly and buried her face in her mother’s shoulder.

  Zoe heard Chris growl beside her.

  Lee took a step forward. “Get up. I’ll drive you home.”

  “I can drive myself.”

  “She can’t stay alone tonight,” Floret said. “What if she has a turn during the night?”

  “You’d be happy to see me go, I expect,” Hannah snapped.

  Floret didn’t react. Maybe she’d spent so many years with Hannah’s personality that it no longer bothered her.

  But it bothered Noelle. She stepped forward. “Why do you have to be so mean? You both could have been killed tonight. You had no business going after my sister like that. Mel saved your life, at least you could say thank you.”

  “Fly, little bird, fly,” Chris intoned sotto voce.

  Hannah raised a finger in Noelle’s direction, but the gesture was palsied. It held no fear factor for its intended victim.

  “No more, Hannah,” Noelle said, emphasizing her name. “No more bullying our family.”

  Eve sucked in her breath. David and Eli looked surprised. Only Lee and Noelle stood firm.

  “Come on, Mel. We’ll go home and take care of you.” Noelle put her arm around Mel’s shoulders. “We’ll wait in the car.”

  They didn’t get far.

  Hannah tried to push herself out of the chair. Fell back with a grunt.

  “What’s one night,” Floret continued. “We’ll make up the daybed on the porch for you. It’s quite comfortable.”

  “So you can poison me in my sleep.”

  “Lee can stay, too, if you’d like. To protect you.”

  “I won’t stay here.” Hannah tried to push herself out of the chair.