Merri and the twins were dispiritedly pushing Cheerios around in their bowls when Abby entered the Old Dears’ cozy kitchen carrying the Alton Telegraph the next morning.
The morning sun cast a cheerful glow over the room, and they’d set the table beautifully, the cloth covering it a cheerful print of rose and blue flowers almost identical to the ladies’ blouses. In spite of their efforts, the atmosphere was grim.
Merri only glanced up before she returned to staring at her cereal bowl. Abby wracked her brain for what to say to comfort a girl whose father had just been carried off to prison. Nothing good came to her. An image of her own father dressed in an orange jump suit looking imploringly at her from behind bars appeared in her head and she wished— not for the first time—that she didn’t have such a good imagination.
“I see you’re pretending to eat breakfast,” Abby said, handing the paper to Eulah.
“Would you like some?” Beulah said, starting to rise from the table.
Abby put a hand on Beulah’s shoulder. “No, don’t get up. I already pretended to eat toast.” Abby sat down next to Merri. “Any word about your dad?”
Merri pushed her cereal bowl away and laid her head down on her arms. “No, and Mom’s not answering her phone.”
Beulah stroked Merri’s hair and looked up at Abby, her face a study in misery. “We were just talking about the party, weren’t we dear?” Merri didn’t answer.
“A party?” Abby asked.
“Yes. We’re having a Fourth of July party right here tomorrow for the whole family. It’ll be just the thing to get us all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. You can invite your mom, Merri.”
“Thanks, Grandma Beulah.” Merri’s voice was muffled and low. “But she will probably be too busy, as usual. And I can’t come to your party because I have to find a way to go see my dad. Mom will be too busy for that too.” Merri looked up. “But, Abby, you could take me.”
“I don’t know…” Abby said. Would they even let kids visit the prison? Would Merri be in danger if she did? And what would it do to her to see her dad in such a setting?
“But I have to go make sure…that he’s not…you know…pooping.”
“That he doesn’t have dysentery?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Oh, honey, prisoners don’t get that now.” Abby stroked Merri’s hair. “Modern prisons are not like the old Alton Prison. But if they’ll let us, John and I will take you to see him, I promise.”
Merri was silent for a long while. “No, that’s all right. I’ll talk Mom into taking me. I wouldn’t want you to have to go there. I mean it’ll be all weird going to the prison…and…you and John…well, I’m sure none of your relatives have ever been criminals.
“Oh, Merri,” Abby said, “we’ll take you.”
“After all,” Beulah said, sniffing into her handkerchief, “the Good Lord said blessed are they that visit the afflicted in prison. Eulah, is that in Luke or John?”
“So would I, like, get points, or something, for visiting Dad?”
“Oh, honey, that’s not the way it works.”
“Well, that stinks then,” Merri said sadly. “I’ll never make it with a family like mine.”
Abby squeezed Merri’s hand. “Oh, honey, God loves you no matter what kind of family you come from.”
“Even if your family didn’t come over on the Mayflower,” Beulah said, “or qualify for the D.A.R.”
“Even if your great-grandfather was a murderer,” Eulah said.
“And arsonist,” Beulah added.
“Don’t you remember what Franny told Mrs. White?” Abby said and then frowned. “No, I guess you weren’t there.”
“Of course she wasn’t, dear. That was 150 years ago,” Beulah said.
Merri’s glance slid to meet Abby’s. “But if I had been there, what would I have heard?”
“That we can’t ever be good enough.”
“If you’re trying to be encouraging, it’s not working.”
“What I mean is, we can’t make it to Heaven by what we do. It’s what Christ did. We only need to accept his gift.”
“Well, I did that,” Merri said simply.
Abby squeezed Merri tightly. “Oh, honey, I’m so glad.”
“God’s going to bless you, Merri—and the family you’ll have one day,” Eulah said. “The Bible says God shows ‘love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.’”
Beulah put her arms around Merri and kissed the top of her head. “Why, I think God gets a kick out of rescuing the most miserable creatures. Not that you are,” she added quickly, “but still…”
“I imagine you’re wondering, like we all do from time to time,” Eulah said, “why God allows bad things to happen. But if only we could see our lives from a distance, I’m sure we’d understand.”
“But we can’t think like God with our puny brains, can we?” Beulah added.
Merri smiled wryly at Abby. “They get it and they haven’t even met Charlotte.”
“Charlotte? Is that a friend of yours, dear?” Eulah said.
The doorbell sounded and Abby jumped to her feet. “I’ll get it. You just stay here.” She went to open the front door and found Pat, looking tired, but dressed for work in a summer-weight suit.
“Come on in,” Abby said. “Merri’s in the kitchen. Any news about her dad?”
“A little.” Pat’s heels clicked behind her in rhythm with the shuffle of Abby’s sandals. She sat down next to Merri and patted her arm. “Hi, sweetie. I talked to Sylvia.” She turned to the twins and explained, “That’s Brad’s girlfriend.”
“Yes, Merri told us about her.” Eulah’s lips closed tightly after she got the clipped words out.
“She said they took your dad back to Chicago. There’s a hearing on Monday. His lawyer’s going to try to get him out on bail.”
“Try?” Merri said.
“It’s really serious, honey,” Pat said. “He may have to stay in jail until he goes to trial.”
“Can we go see him?”
Pat pushed a strand of hair from Merri’s forehead. “Sure, sweetie, but we’ll have to wait until I find out how to do that. Right now, I’m so furious with him for putting you through this, I could spit nails. Meanwhile, I’ll take you home. Let’s go and I’ll help you pack, honey.”
Merri lifted her head. “I told you, Mom, I can’t leave yet. Lucy doesn’t get home until tomorrow night.”
“I could stay here, if you want to go with your mom,” Abby said.
“But you’re my heartless tutor, remember? You’ve got to help me with my report.”
“That can wait, Merrideth,” Pat said. “After all, it is Saturday.”
“That’s all right, Mom. It’ll take my mind off Dad.”
Abby and Merri followed Pat onto the front porch. “Okay, honey, if you’re sure,” Pat said. “Then I’ll go ahead with my meeting.” She sighed. “The Sanfords want to see the house on Laurel Drive one more time. That makes four visits. But I think they’re finally going to sign. Wish me luck.”
When Pat was gone Abby sat down on the porch step next to Merri. The morning sun was already strong and she reminded herself to water the Old Dears’ petunias before she got caught up in the day. “You really want to work on your report on a Saturday?”
“Duh. Of course I don’t want to. Let’s go to Shake Rag Corner. Even if my family is the pits, I want to help the grandmas prove theirs isn’t.”
“We’ll go tonight when John gets here.” A picture of Bertram White kicking his wife popped into her head and Abby shivered in the July heat. “But you don’t want to see what John and I saw last night. Oh, Merri, it was awful.”
“So who started the fire?”
“Mr. White did it,” Abby said. “He murdered his wife and then set the house on fire to cover it up.”
“I knew he was a creep, but wow. So why didn’t you tell Grandma Beulah and Eulah that Reuben was innocent?”
“Why should they believe me?”
“I think we should just show them,” Merri said.
“But we agreed we wouldn’t let this get out.”
“But the grandmas need to know. And they won’t tell anyone.”
“It’s not like they’d really understand about the software, I guess,” Abby said.
“You wouldn’t even have to show them the fire. We could show them the good parts—like how Reuben and Franny loved each other.”
“Okay. I’m in.” Abby stood and brushed off the seat of her shorts. “When John gets here we’ll get his vote. But meanwhile, we’d better work on that report so you won’t be lying to your mom. Right?”
“Oh, all right.”
“The End.” Merri bowed and Abby, John, and the ladies clapped loudly. Dr. Bob pranced around Merri, barking his approval.
“Oh my!” Beulah said. “That was marvelous.”
“And so informative,” Eulah added.
“It was great, kiddo. Much better after you narrowed your topic to just the Indian tribes Lewis and Clark met,” Abby said.
“Way to go, squirt.” John pulled gently on a lock of Merri’s hair. “That was very interesting about the Peace Medals they gave the Indians.”
“I’ve got a picture.” Merri went to the table and picked up one of the library books lying there. After thumbing to the right page she said, “See? They had a picture of President Jefferson on them.”
“That’s cool.” John started to take the book from her, but she whipped it back and scrutinized the photograph. When she looked up from the photo, Merri’s blue eyes were sparkling with some suppressed excitement. “Grandma Eulah and Beulah, could we see your father’s pocket watch again? John hasn’t seen it before.”
“Of course you may. I’ll go get it,” Eulah said, shuffling toward the dining room.
“Bring the polish, too, Yoo,” Beulah called after her sister. “Father’s watch is real gold,” Beulah said proudly to Abby and the others. “We never have to polish it, but oh the fob! We polish it along with Mother’s silver every month.”
When Eulah returned she sat on the sofa next to Merri and began to rub silver polish onto the old watch fob. Abby leaned over Eulah’s shoulder to watch, but Merri’s head kept getting in the way as she watched her every move. From what Abby could see, the fob looked like a coin, but larger than any she knew of.
“I think that’s good enough, Grandma,” Merri said. “Could I hold it now?”
Eulah handed it to her and after only a second Merri’s face lit up with a thousand-megawatt smile.
Handing it to John, she said, “What do you see?”
John’s head snapped up and he stared at Merri.
“What? What is it?” Abby said, trying to get a closer look.
Merri started to answer, but John put a finger to her mouth. “Shh. Not yet. We’ll explain later.” He handed the watch and fob back to the twins and said, “Thank you, ladies. We have to go now,” as he hurried to the door.
They each carried high-powered flashlights, and their three beams of light diverged and intersected on the walls and floor. “This is creepy,” Merri said, wiping cobwebs out of her hair. “Do you think it’s haunted?”
“No, just has a lot of soul—like your house in Miles Station,” Abby said.
“Watch out, Merri,” John said, pointing to the infamous hole in the floor. “There’s where Abby fell in.”
“Maybe we’d better not go any farther,” Merri said.
“There’s only water damage in that one spot. Just stay away from the hole.”
Merri shone her flashlight around the perimeter of the room. “I don’t see a fireplace anywhere. Where do you think the Hulk was getting the stones?”
“I think I know. This way.” Abby beckoned for Merri to follow her. When they got to the dining room, Abby saw a small door on the left that she hadn’t noticed before. When she opened it, a wave of musty air hit her. Broken steps led down into the darkness. “Oh, yuck. This must be the basement.”
“If it’s down there, I’m not going,” Merri said.
“Well, that’s good, because I wouldn’t have kept you company if you wanted to go,” John said.
Abby grinned and shut the door. “No, I think the Hulk got them from the old kitchen.”
They passed through the new kitchen and then at the threshold took the step down into the original kitchen. “That’s where,” John said, pointing to the stone chimney.
A sledgehammer leaned against it and scars in the stonework sparkled as Abby ran her light over it. “You can see where he’s chipped out some of the stones. But why?”
“Maybe he grinds them for bread,” John said. “You know, stones instead of bones.
‘Fee Fi Fo Fum.
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I’ll grind his bones to make my bread’”
“Thank you very much, John,” Merri said. “It was bad enough just thinking of him as the Incredible Hulk. Let’s hurry. I don’t want to be here if a giant cannibal comes back.”
“Okay,” John said. “I’ll get set up and you tune us in to the right time, Abby.”
“I still don’t know what we’re doing here. I don’t want Merri to see the violence and— ”
“I know. Me neither. Just see if you can find a time Reuben’s wearing his watch. It would have to be some time he’s dressed up, like for church or something. I’m sure he wouldn’t wear it when he was outside working.”
“Okay, I’ll try.”
“Merri, you keep watch at the front door, and I’ll take the back. Just yell if you see or hear anything,” John said.
“Oh, I’ll yell, all right.”
As they shuffled away Abby set the time and adjusted the speed so she could view Reuben and Franny as they went about their lives. When she started to feel like a peeping tom, she sped up so that she couldn’t see the details, then slowed again periodically to check. It took nearly thirty minutes before she saw Reuben wearing something besides his buckskins or other rough work clothes. “I found it!” she shouted. “Come here, you guys.”
Franny held Rube’s Sunday shirt carefully so it wouldn’t wrinkle. He checked his face in the mirror and then rinsed his straight razor in the basin and set it on the shelf below the mirror. He toweled the last of the lather off his face and turned to face her. “I’ll take that now.”
Wordlessly, she handed him his shirt and then clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking.
“There’s plenty of firewood stacked out on the porch and kindling in the box,” he said, buttoning his shirt. “Jemmy’s going to feed the stock. So, promise me you won’t go outside.”
“I promise.” She had also promised herself she wouldn’t cry, but a tear fell anyway without her permission. She lifted her apron to wipe it away then reached a hand up to touch Rube’s cheek. He drew her close and she breathed in the scent of his shaving soap.
Franny heard horses on the road out front and tightened her hold on her husband.
“Sheriff’s here and I’ve got to go now, darlin’.” Rube released her and reached for his suit coat. “But don’t worry. I’ll be back soon as I straighten this out. Tomorrow, probably. At least by Thursday.”
Franny wiped angrily at another tear. “Any fool knows you would never do something like that.”
“Course not.” He knelt in front of her and tenderly rubbed her belly. “I love you, little babe. You keep your mama company while I’m gone.” Then he stood and turned for the door.
“Wait! You forgot.” Franny hurried to the bedroom and came back with Rube’s pocket watch.
A smile flitting across his face, he slipped it into his coat pocket and opened the door. “Don’t forget to bar the door.”
After Franny tugged the bar into place she hurried to the window. Anxious for a last glimpse of Rube, her eyes nevertheless were first drawn across the road to the charred remains of the Whites’ house. Then she saw that Rube had already mounted his horse. He and the sheriff broke into a trot. When they reached the curve in the road, the trees hid them and she couldn’t see him anymore.
“That was so sad,” Abby said. “How horrible for her to watch the sheriff take him away.”
“But how about Reuben’s pocket watch?” John said, gripping her arm in his excitement.
“John, I hate to tell you this, but that wasn’t the same pocket watch—definitely not gold like the Old Dears’.”
“Not the watch,” Merri said. “John means the watch fob.”
“But I don’t see—” Abby began.
“Let’s go forward in time,” John said. “Wouldn’t it be cool to see Reuben and Franny’s son Albert William with it?”
“I don’t know, John,” Merri said doubtfully. “If we go forward too far, we’re going to take the chance of seeing things we don’t want to.”
“I just want to trace the watch fob,” John said. “No big deal.”
“You don’t know what it’s like,” Merri said. “If you had seen Charlotte like we did—.”
“What we saw last night was way worse,” Abby said. “Merri, you go keep watch. I’ll call you if we find something.”
Franny heard her mother’s voice. Or maybe it was a bumblebee. She thought about opening her eyes to look. But it would be safer to keep them shut so the sun wouldn’t burn them right out of her head. So hot. If only Mama would let her go down to the creek, she’d stay in until supper time. The bumblebees buzzed again, closer this time. She mustn’t let them get her baby. She wanted to shoo them away but her arm was too heavy to lift.
“Franny? Honey, you’ve got to feed the baby.”
Franny’s eyes shot open. “Don’t let them sting him!”
Franny’s mother sat down on the edge of her bed and carefully laid the baby next to her. “Hush, Franny. Nothing and nobody is going to hurt your baby.” Her mother helped the baby find what he was so urgently wanting. “There now. He’s happy now.”
Franny’s face was chalk white and beaded with perspiration, but she smiled weakly down at her nursing baby. “Isn’t he beautiful, Mama?”
“He has your eyes, Franny.”
“He’s going to look…like his father…I just know it.”
Franny’s mother wrung out the wet cloth in the basin by the bed and gently wiped her face. Franny sighed in relief and let her eyes fall shut again.
“That’s right, honey. You just sleep. Albert William knows what to do.”
“Mama, let me hold it again.”
Her mother picked up the watch and fob on the nightstand. When she put it into Franny’s palm her fingers closed around it and she smiled.
“See, baby boy? Your papa’s watch. Mama, promise me…” Franny’s eyes were so heavy, but she held them open. “Promise me you’ll give this to Albert William…when he’s old enough.”
Her mother put her hand to her mouth to hold back a sob. “Oh, Franny, don’t talk that way. Your father and I will take you home and you’ll get better. Now you just rest and I’ll go get you some nice beef broth. The doctor said you—”
“Promise…Mama.”
“I promise. Of course I do.”
Abby shut down the program and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. “I can’t take any more.”
John put a comforting hand on her arm. “No need, anyway. That baby was Albert William, the twins’ grandfather. He passes the watch down to his son, Henry.”
Abby jerked away from him and scrubbed harder at her eyes. “Don’t you care that Franny was dying? Who cares about the stupid watch?”
“Of course I care about Franny. That was really sad.”
“You’re not crying.”
“Well…I am inside.”
“Still…”
“But, see, now we’ve established a clear line of descent between Reuben and Eulah and Beulah. Funny, I never noticed how similar their names are. Anyway, now we can trace the watch—well the fob anyway—back.”
Merri stood at the doorway. “Did you find anything?”
Abby plastered on a smile. “Yes, we found the fob, although I still don’t see that it matters much. So it’s old. So is the china and you weren’t excited about that, John.”
John smiled. “If I’m right, we’ll all be excited. Now, let’s try to go back in time—way back. Here, get up and let me try.”
“You’re welcome to it.”
“What year was Reuben born?”
“The tombstone said he died in 1873 when he was twenty-two,” Abby said.
“Okay, that means he was born in 1851. Let’s assume his father was approximately twenty years old when he was born. If so, that would have been in the 1820s or early 1830s. So I’ll search between those parameters.”
“Good luck,” Abby said. “You’ll have to go fairly fast or we’ll never get out of here. But then you have to slow down or you won’t be able to notice anything as small as a watch.”
“I know. Okay, you guys go keep watch.”
“That’s funny,” Merri said. “Keep watch.”
“I’ll call you if I find anything.” John adjusted the settings and soon the screen was a blur of color and movement beyond what they could recognize.
“You take the front, Merri. But if you see anything, come back inside.” Abby paused to yawn and stretch. “I’ll stand guard on the back porch.”
Sue P., Assistant Librarian, was smirking as usual. “Only D.A.R. members are allowed to use the computers,” she said.
“But I have to help the Old Dears,” Abby explained. “It won’t take me long.”
“Sorry, but I’m superior and you’re not.”
Abby could tell she wasn’t sorry at all, and besides, her name wasn’t really Superior. Why was she trying to fool her? Then the computer started making a thumping noise and she realized it wasn’t going to work even if she could get permission. It was hopeless.
Abby’s eyes flew open and she sat blinking in the dark until she remembered where she was. The thumping noise came again. “What on earth is he doing?” She rose, yawning, from the porch floor and stumbled to the back door.
In Franny’s old kitchen, John was kneeling beside the chimney studying the wall where it met the edge of the stone. “It should be right about here. Stand back.” He picked up the sledgehammer the Hulk had left leaning there and swung it against the spot. Plaster fell away from the wall, sending up a cloud of dust that swirled in the lamp light.
Abby coughed and said, “John! What are you doing? You can’t tear up the wall.”
Ignoring her, he dropped the sledgehammer and then knelt and began pulling away chunks of plaster. “Here, shine your light this way.”
Abby made her way around the debris toward John. “I was okay trespassing, even though there’s a sign clearly posted, because after all, as you yourself pointed out, we’re not vandals.”
“Could you just shine your light this way?” John said again. “Please.”
“What on earth are you looking for?”
John studied the hole in the wall. “I just need to make the hole a little bigger and then I can get it out.” He picked up the sledgehammer and swung it at the wall again.
Her light bouncing along in front of her, Merri came running into the old kitchen. “The Hulk’s here!” she squealed. “He’s coming around the back.”
“Blast it. I’m so close,” John said.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Abby said.
“Okay, I’m going.” John put the sledgehammer down and herded them toward the door.
“We are so going to get arrested,” Merri muttered, and then added, “But, hey, maybe they’ll give me a cell near Dad.”