by J. L. Salter
“No headstones I can see, not even pieces.” Then Kelly spied a bright splash of color way at the bottom, partly beneath a large horizontal rock which formed a shallow ledge. “What’s this?” She dragged the end of a small branch against a bright red platform shoe. “Hey, Ginny, I think I found your other shoe!”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Kelly witnessed Ginny gasp audibly and practically throw herself down to the top of the ladder. Though she was several inches shorter than Kelly and really needed help to reach, Ginny moved so quickly that nobody could grab her. She missed the first rung, caught the second with one foot, nearly lost her hold on the side of the sinkhole, and then awkwardly found the fourth rung with her other foot. Ginny gripped the ladder with her knees while her hands and arms clung to the side of the sinkhole. She paused for a minute, panting heavily.
Kelly had stopped poking the shoe when Ginny began her dangerous descent. She watched helplessly as the girl scurried down the rest of the ladder, jumped from the third lowest rung and landed hard.
Ginny’s ankle folded over and she buckled — her hip and butt hit hard on irregular rocks at the pit bottom. “Let me see it!” Out of breath, Ginny was obviously in pain. She limped over, wincing with each step, and reached down to retrieve the shoe.
Ginny cradled the ugly item to her bosom like it was a treasured doll from her childhood. Though she faced away from the other three in the pit, they could see her elbows moving. Then Ginny turned slowly, one hand pressed against her stomach and her other clutching the muddy shoe to her chest.
“What on earth?” Kelly stared at the girl’s face.
“I fell… uh, tripped.”
Ellie, the former nurse, had scrambled down into the pit. “Let me see yer ankle.” She motioned for Ginny to sit.
Kelly helped Ginny get situated on a relatively smooth, large boulder. After the girl reached out her right foot and gingerly pulled up the cuff of her jeans, Ellie touched the ankle tentatively.
“Ow!” Ginny screamed and then began sobbing.
“I’m not a Bless George doctor, but I figger it’s a bad sprain at least.” Ellie held Ginny’s calf gently. “Could be fractured, too.”
Kelly was thinking less about the ankle than the platform shoe which Ginny could never wear again anyway. After nearly two years in this sinkhole, it’s nasty. She started to ask about it but decided to give Ginny a bit of time to deal with her ankle pain.
“We need to get her out of this pit.” Ellie motioned to the other three.
Wade came over and helped Ginny up. “Ain’t no dainty way to do this. We either tie a rope under her arms and haul her out, or we get the rescue guys out here.”
“I can climb!” Ginny insisted through her tears. “If somebody up there pulls the rope tight, I can use my other foot on the ladder.”
Kelly’s eyes followed up the ladder as Ginny spoke. “Yeah, could work, if you pull up with your hands and take one rung at a time. Okay, send the rope down again.”
Ellie tied it securely below Ginny’s armpits, trying to avoid binding her breasts. The rope needed enough slack so it wouldn’t compress her chest, but it had to be secure. Wade inspected the knot and signaled Mitch and Joe. Pop must have been out of the way on one of the trailers. It had already been a long morning for somebody in his mid-eighties. Diane watched attentively and readied herself to grab Ginny when she reached the top.
In the pit, Kelly and Ellie helped Ginny over to the ladder. Up top, Mitch and Joe took in the rope slack.
Wade got right behind Ginny on the ladder to provide additional stability if she slipped or faltered. “Okay, tighten up and keep it tight, but don’t pull. Let her set the pace.” Wade was foreman.
Clinging to the ladder, Ginny’s hands and the rope took all the weight when her good foot reached for the next rung. She tried resting the injured foot on the rungs, but that effort made her cry out, so she just left it dangling.
Wade was close behind her but not touching. It took a minute or two for her to reach each higher rung, including her brief rest between steps. After about ten minutes, she was at the top rung and clinging to the side of the sinkhole.
Mitch left Joe on the rope and pulley so he could help Diane pull Ginny the rest of the way up. It wasn’t elegant — her chest and stomach scraped rocks and dirt all the way. Ginny landed clumsily on top of briars and yelped again.
Kelly, Roger, and Ellie quickly ascended the ladder.
Wade scrambled on up and bent down to lift the injured girl. “Grab her other side,” Wade beckoned Joe. “Bring the cart over here,” he called to Mitch. Both complied as Pop helped untie the rope.
Though Ginny was petite, she was basically dead weight. After they realized it was too clumsy — and apparently painful as well — to have her limp on her good foot, Wade and Joe just lifted her in a two-person fireman’s carry, each with one hand beneath a thigh and their other hands behind her back.
She landed in the golf cart seat with a thud and a loud groan. Ellie helped prop her bad right ankle in a secure spot and then hopped onto the seat in back.
“Your cabin locked, Kelly?” Wade had started rolling.
“Hold on, I’m coming too.” Kelly also jumped up on the rearward-facing double seat and noted it was a new addition to Wade’s golf cart. Perra galloped alongside.
Pop, Roger, Joe, and Mitch were left standing around the huge sinkhole, surrounded by tons of Wade’s equipment, two trailers piled with rusted junk, everybody sweating in ninety-something degrees… and the cooler chest riding away on Wade’s buggy.
Moments later at the cabin, Kelly hurriedly unlocked her door. From the way Wade carried Ginny from the cart, up the steps, and inside to the short couch, it seemed he was conveying a terrified young bride. Ellie followed and Diane closed the door.
“You got any ice?” Ellie took charge. “And a big towel. Plus a shallow pan or something.”
Kelly and Diane gathered those components while Ellie again examined Ginny’s ankle. It was discolored and already swelling badly.
“Wow, that’s a beauty.” Wade’s medical knowledge was limited.
“You going to be all right sleeping in those jeans?” Ellie peered up at Ginny’s face. “Once we get this cold pack on, you’ll need to keep it iced for twenty-four hours.”
“I could loan her some PJ bottoms.” Kelly headed for her bedroom.
“I guess that’s my cue to leave, huh?” Wade had grasped the obvious. “Okay, I’m gone. Those guys’ll need me more back there anyhow. You going to be okay, little gal?”
Ginny nodded, clearly in considerable pain. “Thanks for your help.”
Obviously pleased to help, Wade smiled and then ambled outside.
“We really ought to get this x-rayed.” Ellie addressed Kelly and Diane.
Ginny shrieked, “No!”
Kelly agreed. “She doesn’t have any I.D. or insurance, so they might not even treat her. If they do, and they run her name, it might pop up with her juvie record.”
Ginny grimaced.
Ellie nodded. “Okay, but we need to figger if it’s Bless George broken or not. Kin you move it?”
Ginny’s face winced with the effort and pain but her foot didn’t budge.
“I kin move it myself, but we’d know more if you move it.” Ellie poised her hands.
“Okay, okay, give me a second.” Ginny braced herself, literally and figuratively, then moved her foot back and forth as she whimpered loudly.
“That’s good enough. Now try up and down.”
Ginny glared at Ellie like she was nuts.
“If you kin move it all four directions, it’s a good bet nothing’s broken. You could still have a fracture, though.”
“Okay, but I’m only doing this once.” Ginny braced herself again and then moved her foot — first upward, with a loud cry, then downward with another pitiful groan. Then she collapsed back into the short couch, sobbing quietly.
“Just a sprain?” Kelly peered at the ankle
.
“As best I kin tell. Remember I’m not no doctor, I was a nurse at the V.A. during Vietnam. She oughta get it x-rayed.”
“Let’s give it the first day of ice, like you said. Then come check it again tomorrow. Uh, what would you look for?”
“A bad sprain would still be swollen, the purple bruising would be set in, and she’d still be in a bunch of pain. But she oughta be able to move it slightly, only as a test. Keep it elevated, meantime, and keep it iced. No Bless George weight on it, none at all.” Ellie paused. “What kind of pain killers have you got?”
“Usual over-the-counter stuff.”
“So, probably ibuprophen, naproxen, and acetaminophen?” Ellie knew their proper names, despite her unique accent pronouncing them.
“Which one’s best for swelling?”
“I’d use naproxen. Give her a couple every four to six hours. But don’t let her take too much.” Ellie examined the ankle again without further comment, then left on foot for the sinkhole project.
Kelly walked Diane outside and they spoke briefly on the porch. “I can’t believe we didn’t find anything Aunt Belva hid or discarded down there.” Kelly sat with a heavy sigh.
Diane watched Ginny through the window. “Well, you’ve got to admit, it was a long shot. Pop said nobody knew for sure.”
“Yeah, but I really had a feeling about it. I’ve been walking around inside Belva’s head for nearly two months now.”
Diane thought quietly for a moment. “Well, you didn’t really get a good chance to investigate. Right after you found the ugly shoe, Ginny did her back flip off the ladder and our search was halted.”
“Hey, you’re right. Let me call Mitch!” Kelly pressed a speed dial button. “Mitch, have the trucks got there yet?”
“No, but Wade says they’re on the way. Why?”
“Is the ladder still down in the hole?”
“Just barely. Hey, hold up, Wade. Kelly wants to check something. Okay. Ladder’s still down. What’ve you got in mind?”
“Could you take one more quick look around? Check real close all around the bottom. Might be underneath something.”
“Like a nook, you mean?”
“Yeah, like a little ledge, but not the one where I found the shoe. I already checked that part. Start from there and work clockwise. If Wade’s still down there, have him go the other direction.”
“Wade says it’s only a couple minutes ‘til the first truck comes up.”
“Then quit yakking on the phone and start hunting.” Kelly smiled. She knew Mitch would shake his head a bit, but he’d start smiling soon. He usually did and she loved his smile.
About half an hour later, after Diane had departed, Kelly’s phone rang. Mitch.
“Nothing else in the pit except a few more rusted cans, some busted bottles, and more metal scraps.” The first ten-wheeler had already dumped its cargo, and the second truck was on the way. Wade and Roger were tamping down the top of the first load.
“Okay, thanks for checking again.” Kelly flipped her phone shut and closed her eyes. Belva, have we already discovered all your secrets? Or is there something else stashed somewhere?
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sunday, May 27
It was not quite ten o’clock when Kelly admitted Ellie to examine Ginny’s ankle before she and Pop went to church. Amid loud protests from the patient, Ellie checked movement and swelling and then wrapped the joint lightly with an elastic bandage.
“Don’t think this means you kin walk on it. Keep yer Bless George weight off. But you kin wash it now. Might want to soak in Epsom salts too. Wrap it again after. Did Wade bring those crutches yet?”
Ginny glanced over at Kelly, who shook her head. No.
“Kelly, give me Wade’s number. I wanna be sure he gets the right height. Elevate it as much as you kin, but you don’t have to keep it up all the time. Starting tomorrow, try to rotate yer foot… just a little in each direction, real gentle. Maybe three times left and three times right, at first. Do that at least three times tomorrow.” Ellie made sure Kelly was also listening. “Then, next day, make it four rotations and four sets each direction. The movement’s going to hurt, but there’s no weight on it — oughta help it heal without locking up.” Not a trained therapist by any means, Ellie treated most injuries like a farm girl who became an LPN.
Hearing something out front, Kelly visually scanned the cabin’s outside as she’d been doing since Ginny’s arrival. Then she unlatched the front door.
It was Mitch and Wade, who brought his souped-up golf cart to a screeching halt, nearly throwing his passenger through the space which could have held a windshield. Wade had a big pie-eatin’ grin.
“Okay, I can’t wait…”
Mitch also smiled broadly. “While the last truck was dumping its load yesterday — by the way, I told y’all even seven trucks wouldn’t do it. Well, old Pop started thinking out loud.”
Kelly just then noticed Pop slowly climbing down from the cart’s rear-facing back seat.
Wade advanced the account, “And he was wondering if old Aunt Belva ever went by that other sinkhole.”
“What other sinkhole? The big one in the upper meadow?”
“Nope, other one in the woods — back a ways, up a little from the spring, but over more toward the fence.” Pop had finally joined them on the porch.
“You mean the sinkhole that feeds the spring?” Ellie moved away from Ginny’s ankle to hear the doorway conversation better.
“Can’t know for sure. Could be both sinkholes, maybe neither. Water might come underground from some other hole.” Pop cleared his throat raggedly.
Kelly stomped her foot, startling Gato from his usual day long slumber. “All right, you guys, somebody better tell me the rest pretty quick!”
“We found something!” Mitch smiled.
“What?”
“Way down in the bottom, just like you thought it’d be, only in the other sinkhole.” Wade looked proud enough to pass out cigars.
“We figured you ought to open it.” Mitch stepped aside slightly.
Pop moved forward and showed Kelly a dark object about the size and shape of a folded and rolled-up face towel.
“What is it?” Kelly hadn’t reached for it yet.
“Looks like what they used ta call oilskin. Used ta make slickers outta it, a hundred fifty years ago.”
“What’s in it, Pop?”
The old man handed it over without additional words.
Kelly studied all three male faces. “Come on in, guys. Let’s have a look.” She carried it with both hands like a monarch’s crown on a pillow, and put it gently on the table.
Ellie stood close to Pop. “I thought you was at home getting dressed for church.”
“I was,” he replied, smiling, “before I drove over to Wade’s.”
Ginny was on the recliner, her wrapped ankle elevated. She rested one hand on her tummy and appeared completely disinterested in the dark bundle.
Ellie seemed to be fighting an impulse to tear open the bundle herself.
Everybody except Ginny had gathered around the table. With paper towels, Kelly wiped off some of the surface’s grime, slime, and patches of lichen. Then she held up the bundle, examining carefully to see how it would open. It appeared to be sealed with something like heavy wax along the length of its seam. “Where’d you find it?”
“Very bottom, deepest part.” In a small circle, Wade’s voice often sounded like he had a megaphone.
Kelly faced Pop. “Should I break the seal?”
He cleared his throat loudly. “If ya want ta see inside.”
Wade handed her a pocket knife with its very sharp, small blade already open. Kelly took a deep breath and cut tentatively into the waxed seal, then slid the blade along the seam like she was opening an envelope.
She put down the knife, wiped some crud from the part she’d just opened, and slowly peeled back the edge. Mitch lent a hand to hold down that flap as Kelly carefully rolled
out the bundle. It went three complete rolls, each one revealing more of the ends of oilskin which had been neatly and tightly tucked as it was originally packaged.
Against the dark oilskin showed the edges of another color — rich, deep brown leather. Kelly rolled the bundle another half rotation and a brown leather pouch with a tied leather strap emerged. It had been folded over tightly for so long, it seemed frozen that way. Yet the oilskin wrapping had done an excellent job of protection; though already worn when it was wrapped, the leather showed no signs of dampness.
Kelly lifted the pouch from the oilskin and softly stroked it with a new paper towel. It wasn’t necessary since the pouch was clean, but it seemed like a reverent thing to do.
Ellie took the oilskin wrapping over to the kitchen counter and examined it briefly in the light from the window over the sink.
After spreading out a clean dish towel and putting the pouch on top, Kelly tested the edges with her fingers to see if she could straighten it. “It’s fixed in this curled up position.” She turned it over and tried once more to flatten it. No luck.
“No markings on the oilskin.” Ellie returned to the table.
“Okay, here goes.” Kelly wrestled with the secure granny knot in the thin leather straps, finally got it free, and pulled back the loose ends.
“Any guesses what’s inside?” Mitch evidently felt a need to break the tension.
“Maybe gold and jewels…”
Pop grunted his rejection of Wade’s guess.
“Well, it doesn’t look like a trove of Dickinsonian poems,” added Mitch.
Ellie rolled up the oilskin and placed it on the table.
Kelly spoke softly. “If this belonged to Aunt Belva, it’s something she treasured, and she probably never showed it to anybody.” Kelly’s palm was flat against the curled leather pouch. “But she couldn’t bring herself to destroy it.”
“If it is Belva’s, we don’t know when she threw it down there either.” Mitch had a good point and others nodded agreement.
