by Green, Jeri
* * *
Hadley sent word to Increase asking her if she wanted to help her fix some dishes to carry to Virgie’s. Increase agreed to help.
“I know Cleve loves pork. At hawg killin’,” Increase said, “I always save the pigs’ tails for Cleve. Virgie fries ’em up fer ’im.”
“I’m surprised Eucle would let you do that,” Hadley said.
“Eucle is a skinflint, that’s fer sure,” Increase said, “but Cleve is blood. So, it’s okay.”
“Huh,” said Hadley, “one way or another, we’re all interrelated.”
“You got that right, Sugar,” Increase said. “Some ‘a them limbs on that fam’ly tree though, er rotten to the core.”
Hadley thought of Kyle.
“What you fixin,” Increase said.
“Well, I ran by Pixies and got some stuff,” Hadley said. “Got a pantry full of jars I’ve canned on the shelves, too. Go in that little room and start pulling things out. We’ll work from there.”
“Landsakes, chile!” Increase said. “If this ain’t just about the purtiest cupboard I ever seed. I always love the colors when the jars are all in rows like you got them.”
“I’m thinking,” Hadley said, “about making hushpuppies, fried pork steak and gravy, kilt greens, fried apple pies, and anything else you want to make.”
“But, Hadley,” Increase said, “I feel so guilty. All I brought was this sack ‘a flair.”
“Increase,” Hadley said, “I’ve got so many irons in the fire that I can’t possibly get all these dishes done. I have to have help. If you don’t give me a hand, I’ll have to end up paying somebody to cook and send it over to Virgie.”
“Well,” Increase said, “I feel better. Since you put it that way.”
Increase and Hadley were knee-deep in preparations. They wanted to fix several dishes. The crowds that would show up at Virgie’s would be large. Everyone from all around would come to pay their respects, and Virgie had just fed the multitudes that had come for Kyle’s wake a few days before.
“You know,” Increase said, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “I’ve never told a soul this. Promise me you won’t gossip about it.”
“You have my word,” said Hadley, “your secret is safe with me.”
“Eucle and me wasn’t married long. We had a coupla’ kids, ’n’ I had more work than I could poke a stick at. Eucle’s always been one to disappear fer a coupla days at a time. Off into the woods, you know.”
Increase laughed.
“I knowed what folkses says, Hadley Jane. I don’t rightly knowed myse’f if Eucle’s got a still in ’em woods. We been marriet so long, if it’s so, he’s probably wore out several by now. Anyways, I was up to my eyeballs in work. Kids were sickly, whining ’n’ cryin’ to beat the band.
“Eucle saunters in after being gone fer what felt like a month ‘a Sundays. I asks ’im to fetch me some eggs from the hen coop ’n’ some water from the well.
“‘At’s womun’s work,’ he says, all high ’n’ mighty, like I had ask-ed ’im to put Lum to his breast to suckle.”
Hadley and Increased laughed.
“I was so mad, I coulda busted a gut,” Increase said. “Fergit it, I says. I stomped right out the coop, gathered them eggs. Whilst I was there, I happened to look up, ’n’ I spies me the biggest waspers’ nest you ever laid eyes on.
“It was early mawnin’ ’n’ still damp ’n’ cool. ’Em waspers was movin’ awful slow. I got me a big stick ’n’ knocked ’at nest down to the ground. Stomped ’em waspers dead. I picked up‘’at nest ’n’ wropped it in my apron ’n’ went to the house.
“I tramped back out to the well fer some water, still so mad I couldn’t stand myself. I knowed where thair was some nice fat grubs in my flair bed. I dug around and found a few.
Eucle had nestled down in a chair by then. He was snoring ’n’ sawing logs.
I don’t know what come over me, but I just felt the meanest spirit inside. I took ’em wasper eggs ’n’ ’em grubs. I mixed up the purtiest bowl ‘a mush you ever seed.
“Had awl ’em extra ‘meaty ingredients’ I added in jes’ ’cause Eucle deserved ’em.”
Hadley kneaded dough.
“Eucle set down at the table, ’n’ I give ’im ’at bowl a mush. I nestled myse’f way back in a fer corner, tryin’ not to be too noticeable. I was scared white ’n’ wantin’ to laugh all at the same time.”
“I can imagine,” said Hadley.
Increase added sugar to the fruit for the pies.
“What did he say?” asked Hadley.
“Nuthin,’” said Increase. “He slopped up ’at mush like it was the best thang he ever et. To this day, I never told a soul what I done but you, Hadley Jane.”
“Increase,” Hadley said, “sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do.”
“Ain’t ’at the gospel,” said Increase.
“You know I read something, not long ago,” Hadley said, “where wasp larvae may become the new caviar.”
“Do say,” said Increase. “I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout ’em gour-mets ’n’ ’em fancy, chef dishes, Hadley. But I got a feelin’ ain’t too much a gour-met to be eatin’ no grub worms.”
“Ain’t ’at the gospel,” said Hadley.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When Hardy heard the news about Claire Winthrop, he felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. All the wind was knocked out of him. Claire had always been such a sensitive girl. Hardy had tried to make her feel special after the accident. Whenever he’d run into Virgie and Claire at Pixies, he make an effort to say “hey.”
What a waste, Hardy thought. What an incredible crying-shame waste.
His brain flashed back to that dreadful day.
The sun was shining and the bright blue sky was filled with huge, cotton-ball clouds. Hardy hoped they didn’t foretell of thunderstorms later in the afternoon.
“Come on, Willie Mae,” Hardy said. “Let’s get a move on.”
Hardy was on summer vacation. Willie Mae was young and a knockout, and Hardy was head-over-heels in love. It had been just Hardy and his girlfriend for several months now – just the way he liked it. It felt good to have a pretty girl cruising the mountains alongside him in his old pickup. All his friends at school were jealous.
Hardy had a moment of inspiration.
Why not take Willie May to that amusement park everybody was always talking about?
Willie Mae was less than enthusiastic about the idea of spending a whole day with her boyfriend at a playground.
“It’s not a playground,” Hardy had said. “It’ull be fun. Come on. What’sa matter? Too scared to ride the coaster, Willie Mae?”
“No,” she said, punching Hardy on the arm. “I thought we were going to grab a few beers and make our own fun.”
“We’ll do that later,” Hardy said. “We got all day.”
“You’re not going to let go of this, are you, Hardy?
Hardy’s eyes twinkled. He smiled and shook his head no.
Reluctantly, Willie Mae agreed to go.
“All right,” she said. “but let me change first.”
Willie Mae went into her parents’ small house. She came back in a few minutes.
“Go back in and put on something with a little more material, sweetheart,” Hardy had said when Willie Mae reappeared from her bedroom wearing a long-tail tee and skin-tight Daisy Duke shorts.
“Don’t you think this looks good, Hardy?”
“You look too good. Every boy in Hope Rock County will be following you around, Willie Mae. I don’t need a bunch ‘a hound dawgs in heat on our tails.”
“Aw, Hardy.” .
“Don’t ‘aw Hardy’ me. Just put on some jeans. Those rides are rough on your clothes. I’ll be waiting for you in the truck.”
Willie Mae huffed and puffed but went back into her bedroom.
“I’m going to buy the all-day passes,” Hardy said. “We’ll be able to ride anything w
e want.”
Willie Mae said nothing. She was still steamed at having to change clothes and at having to go at all. She’d planned on finding a nice cool shade tree in a beautiful meadow and making out with Hardy. But all Hardy wanted to do was ride a bunch of stupid kiddie rides. They were going to a carnival on steroids, Willie Mae thought.
She’d almost rather go the gynecologist. What were those stupid rides going to do to her hair? And what was so fantastic about banging your brains out in the bumper cars? And spinning in circles on the swings?
Willie Mae could lose her lunch just thinking about it. But Hardy was stuck on the idea like a broken record. She wished they’d never run into Betsy and Billy last night. She hated Betsy Lincoln. Girl was more stuck up than a stuck pig. Thought she was so much better than everybody else ’cause her Daddy worked the mines and could afford to buy his daughter a brand new convertible.
Willie Mae’s father was a janitor at the high school. All he could afford was the bright yellow public school bus for Willie Mae to ride to school. Though lately, she’d been able to persuade Hardy to swing by and give her a lift in his truck.
Still, it would be nice to be breezing around in a convertible. If it didn’t mess her hair up too much. And didn’t Betsy say that if you left the windows rolled up, you could tool around with the top down in cool weather?
Geez, Willie Mae thought, some gals have all the luck. But not me.
Anyway, Hardy Branwell was as cute as a speckled pup, even if he did insist on putting a wad of chewing tobacco the size of a softball inside his cheek. Willie Mae wiggled in her seat. If only Hardy would find that perfect meadow instead of insisting they go to that stupid playground, amusement park, or whatever the heck you called it.
She sighed and looked out her window. Hardy turned up the country music and started humming. It was a catchy little tune, she thought, letting her hand move toward Hardy’s cute little booty. Willie Mae threw Hardy her sexiest smile. She noticed the color flare just above the collar of his western shirt.
Oh well, she thought. If she had to endure a day at the carnival for a night of carnal lust, it was a small price to pay. She’d be patient. Paradise under the stars was just as lovely as it was under that big old tree in a perfect meadow.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Betsy and Billy were pulling into the parking lot of the MEGA amusement park when Hardy and Willie Mae arrived. Billy was driving Betsy’s convertible.
“Hey, Willie Mae,” Betsy said.
“Hey, Betsy.”
“Dude,” Billy said. “I didn’t know you two were planning to come here. You didn’t say anything about it last night. Y’all coulda ridden over with us. Betsy’s car is the bomb. You two wanna keep us com’ny?”
“Nah,” Hardy said.
“Come on, Billy,” Betsy said.
“’Kay,” Billy said. “Check you later. Gotta split.”
“Later, man,” Hardy said.
Willie Mae nestled close to Hardy.
“Thanks, Hardy,” she said.
“I know you, and Betsy doesn’t cut it. You two mix about as well as fire and TNT,” Hardy said. “I think Betsy’s a grueller.”
“Me, too,” said Willie Mae. “You gonna win me a teddy bear, Handsome?”
“You bet,” said Hardy, kissing Willie Mae in the ticket line.
That was how the day started. Good enough. Hardy could have never known what lay in store for the visitors at MEGA Mountain later that afternoon.
They had wandered all over the amusement park. Willie Mae and Hardy had seen Billy and Betsy a couple of times, but the day had gone really well. Willie Mae actually enjoyed the rides, and just as he promised, Hardy had won her a teddy bear and an enormous striped tiger.
“Wanna ride The Cyclone?” Hardy asked.
“Not with Teddy and Tony,” Willie Mae said, holding up her stuffed animals. You can if you want to, but I’m sittin’ this one out.”
Hardy wandered to the line. He waved at Cleve and Claire, who were way ahead of him in the line. The cutoff was several people ahead of Hardy. Cleve and Claire boarded the coaster.
That was all right with Hardy. He wanted to position himself in the very front car, if possible.
It was going to be a ride to remember. This Blue Cyclone was huge. Hardy had never seen so many twists and turns in his life. As the cars pulled away for the slow ascent for the first drop, Hardy tried to calculate the height of the wooden monster. That first jaw-dropping drop looked to be about 100 feet.
Hardy smiled. Cleve looked a little more than sauced. He wondered if the old guy would spew chunkies before the end of the coaster ride. He glanced behind him. Willie Mae had found a bench near Virgie Winthrop. He smiled Willie Mae’s way.
Willie Mae blew him a kiss. Hardy heard the crash, but it did not hit him instantly that tragedy had struck the riders on The Blue Cyclone. Willie Mae’s face registered shock. Virgie Winthrop looked like death. Hardy was pushed and jostled as people in the line rushed away from the coaster.
Hardy followed the general crush of bystanders toward the far end of the coaster. The cars of the coaster were twisted and tangled. People lay injured on the ground. Hardy ran to see if he could help. He heard a scream.
Claire Winthrop lay crumpled and bleeding at his feet. Hardy took off his belt and made a tourniquet, twisting it around Claire’s left arm to staunch the bleeding.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Well, Beanie, I guess we are going to have to tackle the stairs before we can even hope to get to the second story rooms,” Hadley said.
“Okay. Let’s clean the kitchen last, Hadley. Eustian died in that room. It’s spooky. What if he’s haintin’ that room? I don’t want to make Eustian’s ghost mad,” Beanie said.
“Okay, Bean,” Hadley said, “if that makes you happy. But I promise you only Eustian’s junk is there. This place is not haunted. No ghosts. No ghosts. Just keep telling yourself that. Doggone it, but I think I can see a small speck of light at the end of this tunnel. We’re making good progress, Beanie. Good progress.”
“No ghost,” Beanie muttered as he worked. “No ghost. No ghost. No ghost.”
Hadley started to the bottom of the stairs. The stairway was as cluttered as the rest of the house.
With the bottom steps cleared, it was much easier to move the litter at the top down the steps and out the door to the dumpster.
“Onward and upward, Bean,” she said as she grabbed the first of an astounding number of old piles of yellowing newspapers. “For some odd reason, I want to add ‘tally ho!’ Must be the dust. It’s gooping up my brain!”
Hadley stumbled and almost tripped. She sat the large box down on the landing.
“That was close,” she said.
“Be careful,” Beanie said.
“I will. I think I was hurrying. I’ll slow it down. No sense breaking my neck of a bunch of old newspapers.”
Hadley sat down beside the box.
“I don’t know who’s dustier. Me or this box of old newspapers. Who would’ve thought papers could be so heavy?”
“Must be the dust,” Beanie said. “You know, weighting ’em down.”
“Umm. Probably right,” said Hadley. “Look here, Bean! This one on top’s about the terrible roller coaster accident.”
“A lot of folks got hurt in that,” Beanie said quietly.
“They sure did,” said Hadley. “Claire Winthrop was one of them. Look at those mangled cars.”
She unfolded the paper and a cloud of dust poofed up in her face. She shook the paper to get a better view of the images on the page. Several large photos accompanied the article. One was a close-up of the disturbing MEGA clown.
“Look,” Hadley said, “that old clown looked as creepy then as it does now. Poor sod looks as bad in his pictures as I do mine.”
“I like you in pictures,” said Beanie.
“Spoken like a true gentleman,” said Hadley. “Look. That’s Vance Odis. This ruined him.”
“Looks like Lou Edna there, Bean,” Hadley said. “I think she still has the same hairdo now that she did way back then. Can’t tell what color her hair was in black and white, but it looks light. I think I remember her as a blonde back then. She gets it out of a bottle, you know.
“Really,” Beanie said, as if he knew what his friend was talking about.
“Look how young and handsome Bill looks in his uniform. Gosh, we were all so young, then,” said Hadley, pointing Bill Whittaker out to Beanie. Hadley adjusted her glasses. “Hmmmm, if I didn’t know better, I think that was Hardy Branwell.”
Hadley held the paper to the side, hoping to catch some better light.
“He looks really shell-shocked,” she said.
Folding the paper up neatly, Hadley walked to the front door and placed it in her large pocketbook.
“Just making sure we don’t toss this in the dumpster. I want to get a better look at this later. Give me a minute. I’ll see if there are any more like this.”
Hadley rummaged through the box, but nothing else caught her attention.
“Back to work,” she said.
Beanie and Hadley made their way up the stairs. The towering piles leaned inward as they worked their way to the top step. Beanie grabbed an old suitcase off the top of the pile. The heap began to sway ominously toward the center of the path. Dust started falling over them like snow.
“Tiiiiimmmmber!” Beanie yelled.
There was a loud crash. The heap toppled over causing an avalanche of debris to rain down on Hadley and Beanie. Arms flying, legs flailing, bodies tumbling, they landed at the bottom of the stairs in a mound of dirt and debris.
“Shoot. Bean. Are you okay?” Hadley asked, rubbing her shoulder.
