Sit! Stay! Speak!

by Annie England Noblin

  Outside, the thunder and lightning seemed to be edging closer and closer. Addie shivered and slid under the covers. She lay there, her eyes open, and listened to the storm rage. She wasn’t sure why she was already in bed. Had there been power, she probably would have been sitting in front of the TV, feeling guilty about all the work that needed to be done on the house. Felix had been taking up so much of her time that she’d put off projects that should have been started already—namely, the work on the floors and the garden. She made a mental note to make a few calls in the morning.

  Rolling over, Addie squinted at the floor below and whispered, “Felix? Are you down there?”

  There was a sharp clap of thunder, and Addie felt Felix brush up against her extended hand. She stroked his head, and when he didn’t back away, Addie ran her hand up under his chin and rubbed. Felix made a low, guttural noise at her touch, a noise that sounded almost like a cat purring.

  The thunder sounded again, and Felix tore away from Addie, his paws grasping at the sheets. To Addie’s astonishment, Felix leapt up onto the bed. She lifted up the covers in time for him to crawl underneath them.

  “You are the weirdest dog on the planet,” Addie mumbled as Felix’s cold nose pushed against one of her thighs. “Get comfortable. This is going to be a long night.”

  Addie wasn’t sure how long she slept, but she woke up to total darkness and the sound of sirens going off outside.

  Addie could feel Felix panting next to her. She felt her nightstand for the flashlight. She shone it around the room, blinking her heavy eyelids. What was going on?

  The wind was howling, the sirens were howling, and from where she sat in bed, Addie could see the shadows of the trees bowing over through the curtains.

  “I think we need to get to the bathroom,” Addie croaked, reaching underneath the covers for Felix. He let out a small noise in protest but didn’t shrink away from her grip.

  Addie stood up with Felix pressed against her. She knew, from her summers spent with her aunt, that the house didn’t have a cellar. The best place would have to be the bathroom—more specifically, the bathroom tub. She remembered a storm similar to this the last time she’d stayed with Aunt Tilda. Addie had been in a panic to find that the house didn’t have a basement. All the houses in Chicago had basements. But her aunt had calmly explained that the bathtub would keep them safe as could be, and they had spent the entire night in the tub pretending to be pirates of the high seas. Despite the storm roaring outside, Addie smiled.

  Felix squirmed out of her grip and dropped to the floor, his claws clack-clacking on the wooden floor.

  She managed to get him corralled into the bathroom, and lifted him up into the tub with her. “This is just great,” she muttered to herself, the flashlight illuminating the porcelain white of the tub. “I’m going to die in a bathtub in Arkansas with a one-eared, mange-ridden pit bull.”

  Both Addie and Felix jumped when a clap of thunder shook the house. There was a burst of lightning and a piercing crash. It sounded like something had smashed right through her house. She scrambled out of the bathtub and followed the beam of her flashlight into the kitchen, from where the noise was coming.

  Addie didn’t need her flashlight to see the chaos unfolding in front of her. In the kitchen, jutting through the window above the sink was a giant tree limb, branches and all. It writhed in protest, trapped by the house. Shards of broken glass covered the floor, the wind shifting them at its will. From where she stood, Addie could feel the sting of rain against her face. Somewhere in the distance, Felix barked. And Addie, turning on her heel to find her phone, began to think that being found in a bathtub in Arkansas didn’t sound like the worst thing that could happen to her after all.

  CHAPTER 9

  THE STORM HAD ALL BUT CEASED BY THE TIME THE FIRE TRUCK, paramedics, and half the town arrived at Addie’s doorstep along with the first glimpse of daylight. She sat on the porch clutching her head in her hands as Felix growled from his kennel in the living room.

  “I said I’m fine.” Addie pulled away from a paramedic. “I wasn’t anywhere near the kitchen when it happened.”

  “It’s just my job,” the man grumbled.

  “Fine.” Addie sighed. “But if your hand brushes my left boob again, you’ll be the one asking for assistance.”

  “I think we’re all done here.”

  Addie glared at him. She wished she’d taken the time to change out of her pajamas before she had called 911. All she was wearing was an old T-shirt that scarcely covered her rear end. The first responders wouldn’t let her go back into her house until they deemed it secure.

  As the paramedic strode off, a brown Bronco pulled up in front of Addie’s house. Addie’s breath caught in her throat when Jasper stepped out. He was wearing blue shorts and a white fitted T-shirt. Instead of his usual work boots, on his feet were running shoes. Morning stubble traced his jawline. He looked like he’d just woken up. Addie watched as he spoke with one of the men hovering around the fire truck. The man was pointing toward the downed limb. Jasper was rubbing his chin and nodding. Addie couldn’t take her eyes off him. She felt her cheeks flush hotly, and she began to think about what it might be like to wake up next to him, to feel his unshaven face brush her skin.

  “Carl Thomas says you almost clocked him for trying to examine you,” Jasper said, making his way up the steps to Addie.

  “He would have deserved it,” Addie replied. “What are you doing here? I’ve never seen so many people turn out for a limb through a window.” She hoped he couldn’t see her daydream written all over her face.

  “Not a lot to do in this town,” Jasper responded, his lips twitching amusedly. “I was getting up for a morning run when this came over the radio. I recognized the address.”

  Addie let out an exasperated sigh and stood up. “The fun never ends at Adelaide Andrews’s place.”

  “So you’re okay?” Jasper questioned. His eyes met hers briefly, studying her intently.

  “I’m fine,” Addie replied, her hands moving to her burning cheeks. “I was in the bathtub with Felix when it happened.”

  Jasper raised an eyebrow.

  “I wasn’t bathing with my dog at three A.M., if that’s what you’re thinking,” Addie continued, rolling her eyes. “The sirens were going off, and I figured it was the safest place. So I was in the bathtub with Felix, but we weren’t in the bathtub together.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jasper responded, this time breaking into a full-fledged grin. “Is that your bath buddy in there barking?”

  “Yes. He doesn’t like his kennel. But I was afraid with all these people crawling around that he’d go berserk and try to eat someone,” Addie said.

  “Did he eat your pants?”

  He was trying to get a rise out of her. Addie met his gaze. “You’re all just lucky I was wearing anything.”

  Jasper’s gaze dropped from her eyes to her legs. “I don’t know if I’d consider that lucky.”

  “Ms. Andrews?” They were interrupted by a man in a firefighter’s uniform. “There’s not a whole lot more we can do here, but we’ve done some basic cleanup. You’ll need to have someone come and remove that limb as soon as possible.”

  Addie shifted, placing a hand on her hip. “You mean you can’t remove it? I thought that’s what you were here for.”

  “No, ma’am,” the man replied. “You’ve got to get that done for yourself. I told Ms. Tilda years ago that tree out there was a goner.”

  “Great,” Addie muttered. “Just great.”

  “Thanks, Joey.” Jasper nodded. “I’ll see if I can’t get someone out here today.”

  “Do you know someone?” Addie questioned. “How much does a thing like that cost? I’m going to go broke fixing this damn house.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I can do it myself with a little help from one of the guys on the farm.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure.”

  “Wow, thanks.” Addie smiled for the first time a
ll morning.

  “How about I come back here in a couple of hours, and we can go from there?” Jasper asked. “I’ll need to go get a few other things back at the farm.”

  “Perfect.” Addie was still smiling. “I need to get cleaned up, anyway. Maybe put on some pants.”

  “See you later,” Jasper called over his shoulder as he headed back down the porch steps. He stopped when he saw Addie’s neighbor standing in the yard across the street.

  “My neighbor is a lunatic.”

  “What?” Jasper turned back around toward Addie. “You mean Augustus Smoot?”

  “Is that his name?” Addie squinted past Jasper to the man across the street. He was standing in his underwear and holding a black umbrella. He was stoic, almost like a statue, watching the scene unfold in Addie’s yard. “I haven’t actually met him. But he stands out in his yard in his underwear at least once a week.”

  “That sounds like old Auggie.”

  “You know him?”

  Jasper scratched the stubble on his chin. “I know him. He used to be a county judge. Before that he was a lawyer here in Eunice. All of that was before my time, but my father knew him well.”

  “What happened to him?” It was hard for Addie to believe that her neighbor had ever been a regular person.

  “Nobody really knows,” Jasper said. “The rumor, and mind you this is just a rumor, is that he went crazy after his wife, Eleonora, died of cancer. That’s been at least fifteen years back.”

  Addie stood up and walked down the steps to where Jasper stood. “That’s really quite sad.”

  “Most people don’t go crazy because they’re happy with life.”

  Just then a woman pulled up to Augustus Smoot’s house in a yellow Neon. She got out of the car and left the engine running. Addie had never seen the woman before, but it wasn’t the first time that she’d seen the car parked in his driveway. She was a little, round woman with toffee-colored skin and brown hair sprayed into a pristine bun. She was wearing white sneakers that looked like the kind of shoes nurses wear.

  Jasper and Addie watched the woman scurry up to Augustus, grabbing him by one of his bony arms. Without a word, he dropped the umbrella and followed her inside the house.

  A couple of hours later, a brown Bronco once again pulled up beside Addie’s house. The running shorts and sneakers were gone and he was back to his uniform of broken-in denim, T-shirt, and work boots. Addie felt overdressed in her cutoff shorts and lime green tank top.

  “I’ve got a couple of guys bringing a truck out to help with the tree.”

  “Great,” Addie replied, opening the door for him to enter the house. “I would have spent all day just looking for people to come out and help me.”

  “I needed a break from the farm anyway,” Jasper admitted. “You want to grab some lunch first?”

  “Sure.” Addie shrugged. “There are a few restaurants in town I’ve been dying to try.”

  “I know the perfect place,” Jasper replied. He grinned down at her. It’ll be an hour or two before the guys can make it over, so we have plenty of time.”

  “So you’re taking a break from the manual labor of farm work to do . . . more manual labor?” Addie asked, as she followed him down the steps. “That makes sense.”

  “It’s not all manual labor on the farm,” Jasper replied. “There is a lot of that, yes, but I also oversee the day-to-day business. That requires quite a bit of sitting at a desk and crunching numbers.”

  “That sounds even worse.”

  “It can be.”

  “I thought about getting a business degree in college,” Addie said. “But then I remembered that I’m terrible at math.”

  “So what did you opt for instead?”

  “I have a liberal arts degree,” Addie replied. “And I know what you’re going to say.”

  Jasper folded his arms across his chest. “I wasn’t going to say anything. Except what does one do with an arts degree?”

  “Open a furniture store with her fiancé.” Addie’s heart jumped into her throat as soon as the words were out of her mouth. That wasn’t what she had meant to say. Avoiding his gaze, she stared out the window and said, “Because, you know, who needs a business degree to open a business?”

  “So you know a thing or two about furniture?”

  “A little.”

  Jasper took a right turn and slammed on his breaks for an elderly woman and her poufy white dog. “You made furniture?”

  “No,” Addie replied. “It was an antique and refinished furniture shop. Jonah was the brains behind the operation.”

  “Jonah?”

  Addie wished she hadn’t opened her big, fat mouth. “He was my fiancé.”

  “But not anymore?”

  “Not anymore.”

  Jasper pulled into a parking lot in front of a small white building. “Here we are.”

  “Do you need to get gas or something?” Addie asked.

  “No. This is where we’re eating.”

  “Jasper, this is a gas station.”

  “I know.” Jasper threw the Bronco into neutral. “This place has the best catfish in three counties.”

  “But it’s a gas station.”

  “Just get out of the car, Adelaide.”

  Addie stepped out onto the pavement. “Lord have mercy, is it hot out today.”

  Jasper laughed, stepping around the front of the car to meet her. “Now you’re starting to sound like a proper southern woman.”

  “Do proper southern women eat at gas stations regularly?”

  “They do if they like catfish.”

  There was a line of people winding to the back of the station when they stepped inside. They were all facing a glass case holding an array of glistening fried foods. “Why don’t you go sit down and hold us a spot?” Jasper asked. “What sounds good to you?”

  Addie slid into one of the orange booths at the back of the room, years of grease coating her legs. “I’ll just have whatever you’re having.”

  “That’s a pretty tall order.”

  “I can handle it.”

  There were people everywhere, but most of them were taking their orders to go. Addie recognized some of them, people she’d seen at the grocery store or other places around town. It felt like they were all staring at her, as if they somehow knew she was an outsider.

  She didn’t belong.

  At the very back of the store there was a man smoking, his head bent low, reading a newspaper. Each time Addie glanced over at him, he was grinding another cigarette into the overflowing ashtray. It was the same man Addie had seen at the fair. He caught her staring at him and gave her a long, slow smile that made Addie nervous. The smile turned to a scowl when he saw Jasper.

  “Do you know that man?”

  “Who?”

  “The guy sitting in the back.”

  Jasper slid a Styrofoam plate over to Addie. “I got you fish and chicken gizzards.”

  “Chicken what?”

  “Gizzards.” Jasper licked his fingers. “I got myself gizzards and livers, but I thought I’d start you off slow.”

  “What in the hell is a gizzard?”

  “It’s part of the digestive tract. It’s fried. You’ll like it.”

  “That sounds appetizing.”

  “Just try it.”

  Addie did as she was told and popped the gizzard into her mouth.

  Jasper watched her intently. “You like them?”

  “Kind of chewy,” Addie replied. She swallowed and took a bite of the fish on her plate. “The catfish is amazing, though. I haven’t had catfish in years.”

  “I told you this was the best place for catfish.”

  Addie looked up from her plate. The man at the back of the store was walking toward them, another cigarette lit between his fingers. His heavy black boots shuffled along the linoleum floor until he stopped in front of their table.

  “Afternoon, Jasper.”

  “Hello, Redd.”

  “Haven’t see
n you ’round here in a while.”

  “Been busy over at the farm.”

  “I reckon you’ve been damn busy with all that land you recently acquired.”

  “I reckon,” Jasper replied.

  “You sure showin’ your lady a nice time here at the greasy spoon.”

  “I’m not his lady,” Addie spoke up.

  “You lookin’?” Redd eyeballed her.

  “Not for you.”

  Redd chuckled, and then began to cough. After a few seconds he recovered and said to Jasper, “She sure got a mouth on her, don’t she?”

  “I don’t know.” Jasper stabbed at a piece of fish on his Styrofoam plate. “Sounds like she’s got some taste to me.”

  Redd flicked his cigarette and the ashes drifted down onto Addie’s plate. He reached across their table and ground out the cigarette in their ashtray before shuffling toward the door. “Well, you have a nice day.”

  Jasper was silent, his jaw set in a hard line. After a few tense seconds he grabbed their plates and threw them in the trash can. “Sorry about that. Do you want me to get you something else to eat?”

  “What was that all about?” Addie asked. She slid out of the booth and stood up next to Jasper.

  “It was nothing.”

  “How do you know him?”

  “The same way I know everybody in this damn town,” Jasper replied, motioning for Addie to follow him. “I went to high school with him.”

  “Who is he?”

  “His name is Redd Jones.”

  “He doesn’t seem to like you much.”

  “The feeling is mutual.”

  “I saw him at the fair a couple of weeks ago. He was arguing with some man. I think it was about money.”

  “Sounds about right,” Jasper said through clenched teeth. “C’mon, let’s get back to your place. We’ve got work to do.”

  CHAPTER 10

  FROM ONE END OF THE YARD, A BLACK-AND-WHITE BALL OF FURY came racing toward Jasper and the other workers in the yard at full speed. “Whoa, whoa!” Jasper shouted, holding his hands up in surrender. “Adelaide, call off your dog!”