Chapter Ten

 

Gracie shaded her eyes to see where the sun was in the sky. If she was right about the time, she'd have time to help Melinda clean the mushrooms for lunch. It sure didn't take long to fry morels.

They passed the pond and trudged over the pasture hill. Gracie noted the wild strawberry patch on the hill slope. She pointed the patch out to Shana. “See those ripe strawberries in that patch. This afternoon, we can pick them. I bet Melinda knows how to make a strawberry shortcake.”

“For certain, that sounds purely good to me,” Shana agreed, brightening up.

They came around the barn and found a horse tied to the hitching ring on the barn.

Shana said, “We have company.”

“More like Melinda has company,” grumbled Gracie.

Shana gave her a serious look. “What does that mean?

“That horse belongs to the man who pulled the deer's head out of the buggy when we first came here,” Gracie said.

“Oh, yer boyfriend,” Shana said nonchalantly.

Gracie blustered, “He isn't any such thing. Who told you that?”

“Aunt Melinda told me you two were sweethearts years ago,” Shana said.

“That woman talks entirely too much about things that aren't any of her business,” Gracie groused.

To change the subject, Shana pointed to the clothes line. “Look, Aunt Melinda, washed clothes this morning.”

“I see that,” Gracie said with disinterest. Her whole day was ruined now that she was going to have to put up with Millard at lunch time.

When they walked into the kitchen, Millard was at the table, having a cup of coffee and talking to Melinda. She turned from the stove and asked, “Have any luck?”

Gracie held up her pillow case to show them the bulge in it.

“That looks like a good mess of mushrooms. Dump them in the dish pan. They will go well with lunch,” Melinda said. “Help yourself to the coffee and sit down. You must be tired from all that walking to find the morels.”

“”Hello, Mr. Sokal,” Shana greeted as she plopped down beside him.

“Howdy, youngun,” Millard returned.

“Shana, you want a cup of hot cocoa?” Melinda asked.

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Bring me the cocoa and that pitcher of milk from the pantry. I'll fix it for you,” Melinda said.

Gracie could feel Millard watching her all the way to the stove. When she turned back to the table with her cup of coffee, he smiled at her.

“Morning, Millard,” she said flatly.

“Morning, Gracie. Miss Melinda invited me to stay for lunch. Hope that's all right?” Millard didn't look as though her opinion would bother him one way or the other.

“I figured she might,” Gracie said, sitting down on the opposite end of the table.

When Shana returned again, she sat by Millard and waited for Melinda to heat her cocoa.

“How you enjoying your stay on the farm?” Millard asked the girl.

“We had fun fishing. I have never been fishing before. Gracie's barn yard has the biggest, juiciest worms I've ever seen. The fish we caught really like eating them,” Shana said enthusiastically.

“Do tell,” Millard exclaimed.

“Some of the fattest worms were that long,” Shana said, holding her hands about six inches apart.

“Dear, we really shouldn't talk about such things at the table,” Melinda cautioned.

“Sorry I am.” Shana paused then added, “It's been fun here until we saw the will o wisp this morning,” Shana blurted out. “That for sure scared me.”

Millard said, “The what?”

“Shana, you might not ought to talk about that right now,” Gracie cautioned.

“Go on, Shana. I'd like to hear about what you saw,” Millard encouraged.

The way he grinned at Gracie, she was pretty sure he was egging Shana on, because Gracie tried to silence the child.

“Spirit of dead people that roam in the woods are called will o wisps. We saw one this mornin'. They usually don't come out until after dark like the one in the storm.” Shana sounded frightened at the thought.

Gracie set her cup down. “What did you see in the rainstorm?”

Shana ducked her head to stare at her hot cocoa. “I hadn't meant to mention that will o wisp.”

“Now that you have, you best be telling us about it,” Gracie ordered.

“I got out of bed to look out the window at the storm. A will o wisp was standing by a tree at the beginning of the lane. She ran across the lane into the timber. It was raining too hard to make out much,” Shana said.

Melinda stopped what she was doing and came to the table. Her face was pale. “Are these will o wisps transparent?”

Shana paused to think about that.

Melinda persisted, “I mean could you see through them?”

“It was kind of hard to tell from where we were this morning. The one we saw kept dodgin' behind the trees to hide, but I think it was see through. They are supposed to be I know,” Shana answered.

Gracie eyed Melinda. “You sound like you've seen a will o wisp in person.”

“No, I haven't,” Melinda said, wadding the sides of her apron in her hands. “You two better not go back out to the timber. At least, not until after the sheriff comes out here.”

“What's ailing you?” Gracie asked.

“Shana's news is disturbing. That's all,” Melinda excused.

“If you've never seen one of those spooks, how did you know what they look like?” Gracie asked.

“Wait a minute! What's the sheriff coming out for?” Millard asked.

“I asked Earl to tell him come look around. Someone dug a small spot up in my family cemetery. I didn't like seeing that,” Gracie said.

“Why would anyone do that?” Millard asked.

Gracie shrugged. “It looked like a small grave so might be for a baby.”

“Tell Mr. Sokal about the woman we saw that night while we were pickin' up nightcrawlers,” Shana added.

Gracie asked, “You know those fancy white dresses and white straw hats women are wearing these days? We saw a woman dressed that way, carrying a lantern in the timber after dark. She came through the timber and wound up in the cemetery. We slipped up close to see what was going on. This was after we found the small grave if that is what it is. I hollered I'd shoot if she didn't come to us, but she ran off anyway. We never could get close enough to catch up to her.”

“Mr. Sokal, have you heard of a woman in the neighborhood that has lost a baby recently?” Melinda asked.

Millard shook his head. “No, I haven't, but this sounds like a case of a woman who didn't want to let anyone know she lost her baby. She didn't expect Gracie to be in the cemetery before the grass grew over the spot she dug I expect.”

“Sounds right. So maybe something bad happened to that baby, and that's why the woman is hiding the grave,” Gracie said. “Problem is, I wouldn't be the one to discover the body later on. That was the spot I was to be buried in. Whoever has to dig the grave for me would find the bones.”

Shana looked sad as she listened to Gracie and sipped her cocoa.

Melinda wondered if all the talk about dead babies, human bones and Gracie's demise was too much for the girl. Seeing spirits might have been the result of that. “Shana, I washed clothes this morning, but I didn't get the last basket full hung up. It's still on the porch. By the time I got the tubs emptied and the washboard put away, it was time to cook lunch. Want to go hang the clothes up on the line for me before we eat?”

“Sure,” Shana said and drained her cup.

When Melinda had the food on the table, she sat down. Gracie started to pick up a bowl. Melinda said, “I will say grace for the meal. Bow your heads.” Melinda prayed, “Dear Lord, Thank you for this wonderful day, and the company at this table.” She opened her eyes and saw Gracie glaring at her. She continued, “Bless this food we eat, and thank you for providing the mushrooms. Amen.”

Gracie muttered, “This ain't no Sunday school meeting, and the Lord weren't much help hunting them mushrooms. Me and the girl did all the work to find them. I didn't hear us get any thanks.”

Melinda said, “I'm sorry, Gracie. That was an oversight on my part. I want to thank you and Shana for finding all these good morels.” She winked at Shana, and the girl grinned at her.

That afternoon, Shana offered to go pick the strawberries by herself while Gracie visited with Mr. Sokal and Melinda.

Melinda worried, “I don't think you should go off by yourself until we know what's going on around here.”

“I won't go in the timber, Aunt Melinda. The strawberry patch is near the pond. With a mite of luck, I should be fine,” Shana said.

“She will be all right, and the berries are ready to pick. I told her you might know how to make a shortcake if we brought you the strawberries,” Gracie said. “But, girl, you keep an eye peeled. If you see anything that worries you, hightail it for the house as fast as you can.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Shana said. “She picked out a blue granite kettle and left.

“How's it going with the girl?” Millard asked.

“She seems to be enjoying herself here with the two of us,” Melinda said. “Shana minds well enough. She just can be easily influenced by others without thinking about getting in trouble. That comes from being on her own so long in the slums of New York. She had to fight to stay alive. Poor dear.”

“The girl's turning as brown as an Indian,” Gracie added. “Speaking of Indians, have you seen any in the timber around you, Millard?”

“Nope, but I heard from Junior Singleton that they were down his way in his timber,” Millard told her.

“Strange that they're staying so far away from here,” Gracie said. “It makes me wonder if they know what's happening in my timber. I believe I should hunt Black Eagle up, and find out if he knows what's going on.”

“If you plan on doing that, I best go with you. You shouldn't go looking for Indians by yourself,” Millard said.

“I can take care of myself,” Gracie barked.

“I'm going with you,” Millard said determinedly. “Want to go right now?”

“Yip,” Gracie said.

“I'll hook your buggy up,” Millard said. “We can drive down by the Singleton farm and walk into his timber.”

Gracie paced the floor, thinking about the past few days.

Melinda said, “You should settle down, Gracie.”

“I have a feeling trouble is coming worse than the small things we've been seeing. They're just signs. I just wish I knew how bad the trouble was going to be,” Gracie said, looking at Melinda.

“Oh, Gracie, if trouble is coming our way it will get here on its own good time. No use you sending a search party out looking for it,” Melinda said.

“You telling me I shouldn't try to hunt up Black Eagle and his tribe?” Gracie asked.

“I can't see that they know anything about what's going on around here. The only good thing I can see out of the whole experience will be you've had an excuse to go on a nice ride with Millard,” Melinda said, grinning.

“You want to go along with us and chaperone?”

“Not on your life. You're old enough to take care of yourself,” Melinda said and giggled.

Millard pulled the buggy up by the house. He came to the back door and called in, “I'm ready to go.”

“I got to go,” Gracie said shortly and slammed the screen door on her way out.

While Millard waited for Gracie to get in, he focused on the clothesline with a grin on his face. Gracie's face heated up when she noticed what was so interesting to Millard. Something men didn't get to see very often. Shana hung the unmentionables on the first line in plain sight. Gracie made a mental note to have Melinda give Shana a lesson in how to be discreet when she hung up their underwear. She should always use the middle line so the unmentionables were hidden behind the dresses.

“Does Miss Melinda want to go with us?” Millard asked, coming to help her get in the buggy.

“She said she didn't. She's going to stay here and work on supper. Besides, we both shouldn't leave the girl by herself.” She climbed into the buggy before Millard could get there to help her.

After he started down the lane, Millard looked down at the hole in the buggy side. “I thought you were in Locked Rock for church Sunday?”

“We were,” Gracie said.

“Why didn't you take the buggy back to the livery stable and exchange it for another one?”

“I don't much care to face Jake at the livery stable and try to explain what happened to his buggy. Besides, with my luck, I'll probably have something worse happen to the buggy before the month is out. I might as well damage just one buggy rather than two. No telling what Jake is going to charge me for that hole,” Gracie complained.

“He shouldn't make you pay for something you couldn't help. If you want, I'll go with you when you talk to him. With an eye witness to the deer's head stuck in the hole, he has to believe this damage isn't your fault,” Millard said.

“That might help,” Gracie said. “Thanks for the offer.”