Mumma's House

by Ike Hamill

  June watched the whole thing like it was a movie.

  Henry leaned forward, listening to every word, while Penny climbed on his back and Sam sat on the arm of the futon next to him. Isla and Millie sat on the floor at Kate’s feet. They had their elbows on the coffee table and batted the narrative back and forth—a story-telling team. There was an extra hat—the one that Gus had made for himself. He offered that to Kate to wear in his stead. The kids always had their own New Year’s Eve party with the adults who weren’t a part of the ceremony.

  Usually, June wore Gus’s hat. Her heart fluttered. It was really going to happen. They were both going. June allowed that thought to take on weight—become real.

  When Auggie pushed back through the door, it seemed like everyone turned. He had always drawn every eye.

  Isla hurried to finish their version of the story while her father joined the group. “And she brought home the fox’s bane with her dishwashing gloves on to keep the fox away.”

  “That’s right,” Auggie said. He sat down, cross-legged at the end of the coffee table, and beckoned June to come sit next to him. As soon as she settled, Gus was right there next to her.

  “Are we all caught up?” Auggie asked. The kids nodded. Henry tilted his head and gave a micro-shrug that made Auggie nod.

  “Okay,” Auggie said, “speed recap—June’s chickens were being eaten by a fox, we dug up a plant that Great Uncle Travis told us about, and June wore gloves because she believed that if she touched the plant she might turn into a fox two days later.”

  “Hey,” June said. “We all believed that.”

  “Sure,” Auggie said. He put up his hands to gather them all back into his story. “It was two days later. We hadn’t seen all that much of June. Off in her own little room, up in the top of the barn, she kept to herself, so it wasn’t that unusual. But when we did see her, showing up late to dinner, or running to catch up to the school bus before the door closed, she didn’t look the same. June had bags under her eyes and sticks and leaves tangled in her clothes and her hair.”

  June smiled. The story was perfectly accurate. It was funny to hear it from his perspective, all these years later.

  “When she didn’t even show up for the bus on the second day, Jules said that June had turned into a fox and we had to do something. He was my little brother—it was my responsibility to talk some sense into him—but in this case, he was right. There was literally no other explanation for what was going on. I told him that I would come up with a plan during school and that’s when Jules dropped some really heavy news on me. He told me that Uncle Tommy had put out fox poison.”

  Some of the kids gasped. They all had wide eyes as Auggie took a long pause.

  “Now, there were a bunch of reasons that June hadn’t put out poison herself. For one, she didn’t like the idea of it.”

  “Because of Trudy,” June said. Auggie shot her a look that it took June a moment to understand. It probably wasn’t appropriate to talk about one cousin poisoning another, regardless of how true it was. That was something the children could learn about later, if ever.

  “It’s a slow, cruel way to get rid of an animal, and you don’t even know what animal is going to take the bait. But we all knew that Uncle Tommy wouldn’t hesitate to put out poison, and I cursed Jules for not telling me sooner. If June really was a fox and she had gotten Tommy’s poison, I was never going to forgive myself. I wanted to climb through that bus window and sprint home. I was so amped up that I thought I might be able to run faster than that bus could drive. When it finally came to a stop, me and Jules ran as fast as we could. I didn’t even go through the house, I just ran down the side of the barn and in through the big doors. I must have been up the second ladder before Jules even got in that barn.”

  Everyone jumped when the door opened. Jules came through, right on time for Auggie to imitate him.

  “He yelled, ‘Wait for me!’ and climbed up after. I did. I waited at the top of the loft, panting and looking at the door to June’s room. It was cracked open a few inches and dark inside. It was everything I could do to keep from crying. I knew what we were going to find inside.”

  Jules sat on his knees behind June and put a hand on her shoulder. She reached back and covered his hand with hers.

  “Jules reached through and flipped on the light while I pushed the door open. The first thing I saw was the dirt and mud running across her floor. I had to blink away the tears to really focus, but there she was. There was a dead fox, right in the middle of June’s floor.”

  The children gasped.

  # # # #

  Auggie made his voice quaver with his emotion, imitating the way he must have felt.

  “Her little tongue was poking out, and there was a tiny bit of foam leaking from between her lips. Jules said, ‘I thought she was supposed to turn back human after she was dead.’”

  “Auggie said, ‘That’s just in the movies.’” Jules interjected.

  Auggie nodded.

  “We both sank to our knees. I told poor June that I was sorry and that Uncle Tommy was going to pay for what he had done.”

  “It was Travis’s fault,” Jules said.

  “He had part of the blame too,” Auggie agreed, “but so didn’t I.”

  June smiled at the expression. It was the strange, contrary way they used to agree to things back when they were kids.

  “I was the oldest, and I was supposed to look out for them. We were orphans, and I was the oldest. I turned to Jules and I told him what I knew must be true. I said, ‘We’ll go to GUT. He knew how to turn her into a fox, and he’ll know how to turn her back. While he’s at it, he can tell us how to make her unpoisoned.’ Jules went white as a sheet.”

  “I had no doubt that GUT could make her come back alive, but I also knew that there was no way that it would turn out to be a good thing,” Jules said.

  Auggie nodded in agreement.

  June wondered if they still believed. There was a part of her that still sensed the dark magic inside Travis. He had been ancient since before they were little kids. The family all agreed that Travis had been born in 1920, but June had never seen any actual documentation of that birth. Peggy, Sophia, and Vivian, his alleged siblings, all had papers. Then again, the family had never been meticulous about the male children. Auggie hadn’t even had a legitimate birth certificate until he petitioned the hospital for the record.

  “That’s when she started to moan,” Auggie said.

  Sam huddled close to Henry. His father put an arm around the boy.

  “We inched forward on our knees, looking at the fox, trying to spot any twitch under the fur, or any movement of her little chest. When she moaned again, we looked at each other and nearly lit out of there.”

  Auggie paused until the kids looked like they were going to burst.

  “That’s when the covers on her bed flipped down and June saw us on her floor, praying to a dead fox. She said, ‘What are you idiots doing? I was up all night. Can’t you let me sleep?’”

  Gus barked out a laugh.

  “We just about died,” Auggie said.

  “Jeezum, Auggie, you were eighteen. Didn’t you have any sense?” June asked.

  “Seventeen. I think I was seventeen,” Auggie said.

  “What happened?” Millie asked. “She wasn’t dead?”

  Jules and Auggie laughed.

  June waved a hand at them, trying to make them shut up. “No, honey, I was fine. I had just stayed up all night, waiting for the fox. I had my BB gun and I was going to shoot it and make it go away. It wasn’t a powerful gun—it probably wouldn’t have even broken the skin. But when I saw that poor fox—it was suffering because Uncle Tommy poisoned it—I went in and got Auggie’s rifle so I could put the fox out of its misery. By the time I got back, it was nearly dead.”

  “Why did you take it inside?” Jules asked. He looked like the question had just occurred to him after all this time.

  “You know why,” June said, shooting
him a look. “I didn’t want it to die outside and alone. That’s no way to go. As soon as she passed, I fell asleep. I was exhausted.”

  “Oh,” Jules said.

  Henry let out a long exhale and patted Sam on the back.

  “You guys certainly had quite the colorful childhood. Deidra tells me stories all the time and I always take them with a grain of salt. Hearing what you guys did, I’m almost surprised that her stories aren’t stranger,” Henry said.

  Auggie was looking at his watch.

  “Okay, kids, we have to go. You’re going to have your party and then we’ll celebrate together before you go to bed. Don’t forget to come up with your resolutions.”

  Auggie got to his feet and held out a hand for June. She didn’t act fast enough. Millie and Isla were climbing over the table to get a hug from him before he left.

  June got up on her own while Jules picked up Gus and flipped him upside down before setting him on his feet. It wouldn’t be long before Jules would have to give up that maneuver. Gus was growing fast.

  Auggie put his arm around June’s shoulder and gathered Jules as well. He moved them towards the door as he said, “Let’s all get on the same page before we head in.”

  They formed a little triangle with Gus in the middle, away from the others. June heard Kate and Henry talking to the kids about the activities they would do until midnight. Always consumed with worry over Gus, it was never a part of the evening that June had been able to enjoy. Still, she envied them. They were going to stay here, with no duties other than entertaining the kids until the ball dropped.

  Deidra was hanging back, letting the siblings have their time together. June waved her over, but Auggie put up a finger, asking her to give them a second.

  Before June could ask why Auggie was excluding Deidra, he turned to Jules.

  “What did Allison say?” Auggie asked.

  “She’s good to go,” Jules said. “I tried to track down GUT, but Allison said that she already talked to him. She’s convinced that he will vote to restructure too, as long as everyone else does. He’ll go against anything that Tommy wants, according to Allison.”

  “I believe it,” Auggie said. “Never was any love lost there.”

  “The question will be if Tommy challenges GUT’s participation. He doesn’t have any real claim to be there,” June said.

  “Maybe,” Auggie said. “There might be another way around that.”

  June could tell that he had no intention of sharing his idea. That was a bad sign. Some people blabbered on trying to justify themselves when they had a shaky idea. Auggie was the type of person who kept silent until it was too late for reasoning.

  Auggie waved Deidra over. Their huddle expanded to include her. She held back a little until Auggie put his arm around her and pulled her closer. June tried to smile down at Gus. His eyes were locked on Auggie. He was their quarterback.

  “Sorry, Deidra, I wanted to make sure we were all set before we let you know about our diabolical plan,” Auggie said. “June’s coming tonight and we’re going to call for a redraft. Allison and GUT are going to vote with us. If you vote too, then we can all overrule Tommy.”

  June felt Deidra stiffen at the idea and sympathized completely. The idea of going against Tommy was daunting.

  It turned out that Deidra’s reaction came from a different sentiment.

  “What’s this redraft going to say?”

  “Sorry,” Auggie said, shaking his head. “Sorry. I should have led with that. We just want to get rid of this absurd ceremony. We want to have a rational discussion about the disposition of this house and we want the opportunity to have that conversation mediated and out in the open. This cloak and dagger nonsense is getting old, and there’s no reason we have to suffer through it. If Tommy or Allison or even Travis needs help, it’s absurd that they have their potential inheritance locked up in this frozen asset.”

  “You’re suggesting that we sell Mumma’s house?” Deidra asked. The shock on her face made the idea real for June. Was that really what Auggie was suggesting?

  “Not necessarily, but I don’t think it should be some last man standing, winner take all lottery that’s played down through the generations while this place falls apart. I just want the opportunity for us all to state our ideas and then take a rational vote. I want us all to own this process instead of letting it own us.”

  Deidra’s jaw clamped and unclamped as she considered Auggie.

  “The three of you aren’t going to gang up and do something sneaky?” Deidra asked.

  Jules was already shaking his head before she finished.

  Auggie just kept repeating, “No. No. No. No.”

  June put her hand on Deidra’s arm until they locked eyes. “I wouldn’t do that,” June said.

  “Okay,” Deidra said. She wiped her face. “Yeah. Okay.”

  “Whew,” Auggie said. “I’m sorry. I should have included you from the start. Totally my fault. It’s only because we literally had no thoughts at all about…”

  “Relax,” Deidra said. “We don’t have that much time. Just tell me the rest of your idea.”

  # # # #

  One August, right after high school, June had moved, briefly, to Florida. She packed up everything she cared about into a rolling suitcase that Auggie had left behind, and caught a ride south with a boy named Jason Cormier. She didn’t know Jason very well, but she knew his cousins.

  He was nice enough. They split the gas and ate at cheap diners but she still spent way more than she intended. By the time she got settled, in a cockroach-infested place outside of Tampa, she began to realize the magnitude of her mistake. It wasn’t just the heat and the fact that she didn’t know anyone—Florida had an ominous feeling of danger hovering over it. It drove her out of her apartment even though the sun was too bright for her to think. She walked down the street, wishing she had thought to bring water, and looked at all the hasty construction projects that people were engaged with.

  That evening, listening to the radio, she finally figured it out. Her part of Florida was being evacuated. Walking down the street again the next day, it seemed like everyone she saw was just waiting. They all looked up at the sky, like they might be the first to spot Hurricane Charley as it came barreling in.

  There was a silent scream, echoing through the streets, “THE END IS COMING. YOU SHOULD BE FLEEING.”

  Down in that Florida August heat, panic infected June and she huddled in her apartment with the cockroaches until the power went out. Then, she ran through the rain and wind until she saw a sign for a storm shelter. Inside, people sat hunched or paced in nervous circles while they waited to find out how they would die.

  June looked at Cousin Deidra and then at Auggie, Jules, and down at Gus.

  She was flooded with that same emotion. A big storm was coming, and they were all fools if they didn’t try to get to high ground. The storm had nothing to do with the snow that was falling outside. People in Maine didn’t run from snowstorms, they hunkered. They stocked up on firewood and set the yellow eye beans to soak. Beans could be baked right on top of the wood stove, or even at the corner of the fireplace, if the fire was kept steady enough.

  # # # #

  “The idea has two parts,” Auggie said. “Part one is what I just said—we call a vote and the four of us team up with GUT and Allison. Once we overrule Tommy, we call for a mediated renegotiation this summer.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Part two is our backup plan. While we’re in there, Kate is going to use this.”

  Auggie reached into his shirt pocket and produced a key.

  “It should work on Uncle Tommy’s door,” Auggie said.

  “Where did you get that?” Jules asked.

  “I spotted the numbers on his key last year and then I had this one made based on it. My friend Theo is a locksmith. He said it should work,” Auggie said.

  “How is she going to find his door?” June asked.

  “I showed it to her earli
er,” Auggie said. “I think she’ll be able to make her way back to it.”

  “Auggie,” Deidra said. “Are you sure? You know how this place is.”

  “Yeah, I really think she’ll be able to do it. She found the stairs to Trudy’s nook. I think she has really formed a pretty good understanding of this place. Maybe as good as mine.”

  “Someone should go with her,” Jules said. “If June is coming to the ceremony, Gus could go with Kate.”

  “No,” Gus and June said at the same time.

  “Gus is coming with me,” June explained. “We’re a team.”

  Jules looked like he wanted to object. For once, he held his tongue.

  “Besides,” Auggie said, “that’s just a backup plan. We don’t even know if Tommy has a codicil to the will anyway. The primary plan is to call for a new draft of the contract.”

  “Please tell her to be careful,” Deidra said.

  “Of course,” Auggie said.

  # # # #

  They only had fifteen minutes left and June was still standing at the door to the hall. Gus stayed with her, shifting from foot to foot. Perspiration dripped down June’s side, under her shirt. Her shoulders were tense from carrying worry. Dinner had been light, but the food churned in her gut and made her regret having eaten anything at all.

  Auggie had passed the key to Kate. Henry was going to watch all the kids.

  “Are we going?” Gus asked.

  When she looked down at him, June realized that they could pull the plug, right then. They didn’t have to flee, out into the snow. They could just both hang back with Henry and the kids. It would ruin Auggie’s big idea, but he would get over it. He had a backup plan.

  “Let’s stay here,” she said, putting her hands on Gus’s shoulders. She felt fresh drops of sweat run down the insides of her arms. This was Hurricane Charley all over again. She should have packed up weeks ago. Now the danger was so real that she could smell it in the room. “We’ll stay here in our room and we’ll leave in the morning.”