The Daydream Cabin

by Brown, Carolyn

  Rita raised her hand. “Let’s meet in the barn during our hour of free time this evening. Bring your ideas and we’ll sort through them.”

  “All in favor of helping Jayden see that she’s too good of a cook and counselor to go back to working at the school raise your hand,” Carmella said.

  All eight hands shot up into the air. “Okay, then, Elijah, we’re all on your side. We’ll do what we can, but you got to do your part, too.”

  “You girls need to take care of your own business and stay out of mine. I can take care of my own love life,” he warned them with a stern look.

  “Yes, sir,” Tiffany said loudly.

  But he noticed that she winked at Carmella and nudged Ashlyn with an elbow.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to pray for some help from”—Ashlyn pointed toward the sky—“while we’re in church this morning. If any of y’all have any connections up there, you might pray that Dynamite gets better, too. He’s gettin’ skinnier by the day and walking slower and slower.”

  “I’ll say a prayer for him and Jayden,” Quinley said. “I like that old horse a lot. Yesterday Jayden let me have a carrot to take to him, and he wouldn’t even eat it, so I know he’s not doing well.”

  Elijah grinned at the thought of the girls lumping Jayden and a forty-year-old horse into the same prayer, but hey, he wasn’t going to argue with them. He’d take all the help he could get.

  Something was afoot. Jayden could feel it in her bones. The girls came in for breakfast that morning whispering among themselves. She shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, it was Sunday, and so far that had been the day for things to get upside down in a hurry.

  “What’s going on?” she asked Elijah as he came through the line.

  “As in?” he answered as he loaded his tray with three fried eggs, a slab of ham, and a generous helping of hash brown potatoes.

  “As in, the girls are being too nice to each other,” she said.

  “Maybe they’re still wound up about last night. Hey, I should have told you earlier, but I forgot. We’ve got two people coming by at two this afternoon to interview for the cook’s job. The other counselors will be in charge of horseshoes and cornhole games out in the yard while we talk to them,” he said.

  “Two at once, or one at a time?” She picked up a tray and put a piece of ham, two biscuits, and some hash browns on it.

  He followed her to the adult table. “Same time will be quicker. These two have the best résumés. Maybe if we like one of them, we won’t have to visit with any more.”

  “Visit with whom?” Novalene asked.

  “We’re talking to two people interested in taking over the kitchen,” Jayden answered.

  Elijah set his tray down and crossed the floor to the table with the coffeepot on it. He returned with it in his hand. “Who needs a warm-up?”

  Novalene held up her cup.

  “Jayden and I will be talking to two prospects for a new cook this afternoon. Would y’all supervise the girls?” Elijah asked. “I’ve got horseshoes and beanbag-toss games planned for them this afternoon.”

  A flash of lightning zigzagged across the windows in the dining hall, followed by a clap of thunder that caused several girls to throw their hands over their ears.

  “Looks like you better plan something else,” Novalene told him. “If it don’t rain, it’s going to miss a good chance.”

  Elijah groaned. “Y’all remember the last time the girls had to stay in the dining hall? They got into trouble for bad haircuts, and the time before that, they whined and bitched about playing board games. Anyone got any ideas?”

  “How about we give them some free time for naps or let them visit with each other in the cabins?” Diana suggested. “None of my girls have been inside anything but Sunshine Cabin. Seems like they’re all atwitter over something that they want to talk about as a group.”

  “We can wander back and forth among the cabins to be sure they aren’t killing each other,” Diana offered.

  “Keep all the scissors, knives, and even fingernail files out of their sight,” Jayden suggested.

  “We’ll call y’all if there’s any blood or broken bones,” Novalene laughed. “They definitely have something up their sleeves today, the way they keep whispering and throwing looks toward us. Maybe they’re planning to give us a party for being good counselors.”

  “Or maybe they’re joining forces to mutiny,” Diana whispered.

  “Like on a ship?” Jayden asked. “They can’t throw us overboard.”

  “I doubt they’d take over Piney Wood,” Elijah said on a chuckle. “They want to get away from here, not own the place. All joking aside, if you need me or if Jayden’s girls need her, just holler and we’ll leave the interview.”

  Oh. My. Sweet. Jesus. And all the angels in heaven, Jayden thought when the two people drove up in the yard that afternoon. Rain had come down in a steady drizzle all morning, soaking into the yard, and the two ladies would have to wade through mud to get from their vehicles to the dining hall. If it was true what Elijah had said about judging a person by their vehicle, then she should just tell those two to get back in their cars and go on home.

  When the first one opened the door of her older-model black car, several pieces of trash fell out. Duct tape held the left front headlight in place, and the rest of the vehicle looked like all that was keeping it from falling apart was dried mud. Who went to a job interview in a tank top and denim shorts that had once been jeans?

  Jayden would guess her to be no more than twenty-five, but she had that hard look about her that added ten years. She kicked the paper and what looked like a disposable container for a foot-long hot dog under the car. If she knew how to boil water, it would shock the hell right out of Jayden.

  The second woman was a little better. Nothing fell out of her car, but sitting in the back seat was a big black dog that looked like maybe its father was an Angus bull. The woman wore sweatpants and a button-up shirt that pulled across her chest. She seemed friendly enough when she waved, but then she let the dog out. It promptly ran over and hiked its leg on the porch post.

  “Okay, now, Bruiser, get back in the car so Mommy can get this job. Look at all this space you’re going to have to run and play in when we move here.” She put the dog back in the car and left the window down far enough that he could get his nose out for a breath of fresh air. “Where do I sign? I’m Madge. Don’t suppose it would be all right if I brought Bruiser in with me, would it? Even though the rain cooled things down, he can’t be left in the car very long.”

  “Over my dead body,” Jayden whispered.

  “This won’t take long, and we can’t have animals in the dining hall,” Elijah said. “You ladies come on inside, and we’ll talk. Jayden has a pot of coffee made and there’s a plate of fresh cookies put out for y’all.”

  “That’s right sweet,” the first lady said. “I’m Ferry, by the way, and I had a late dinner, but I might take a dozen home with me for my boyfriend. He does love sweets. You won’t mind if he moves in with me, will you?”

  “We’ll visit about all that when we get inside,” Elijah answered.

  Had Elijah lost his mind and gone nuts? Jayden wondered. Why in all that was good and holy would he even entertain notions of hiring either of these two women?

  “Where does your boyfriend work?” Jayden asked as she led the way into the dining hall. She motioned for the two women to sit down at the adult table. When they were seated, she and Elijah both took their places across from them. Elijah opened a folder and laid out two pieces of paper with very little writing on them.

  “He doesn’t work. He’s on disability,” the woman answered, “but the marijuana sure helps the pain in his back. He’s got a medical card, so it’s all legal, and on his good days, he could help me out here,” she answered. “As you can see by the papers I filled out at the employment place, I was the fry cook down at Bob’s Burger Barn in Del Rio for three years and I seldom ever missed work. How much doe
s this job pay?”

  She batted her lashes at Elijah as if a little flirting might get her more money. Jayden fought the urge to accidentally kick her bare shins under the table.

  “We can talk about that later. We have several applicants to interview before we make a decision, and the wages will be determined by experience,” Jayden answered.

  “That’s me”—Madge reached for a second cookie and talked with food in her mouth—“right there on that left-hand résumé.” She gave Ferry a dirty look. “I worked in a school cafeteria for two years back maybe fifteen years ago. And since then, I’ve been in home health care, fixin’ meals and working for homebound folks. I like this kitchen and this place. My kids are all grown, and only two of the six have moved back in with me.”

  Jayden thought that she would choke. “Well, ladies, it’s been real nice of you to come by so we could put your faces with the names on these résumés. Ferry and Madge. We will give you a call in the next two to three weeks if we need a second interview.”

  Madge tucked a strand of bleached blonde hair behind her ear. “You mean you ain’t hirin’ me today? I drove out here for nothing, and even made Bruiser wait in the car.”

  “Like Jayden said, we’ve got several more applicants to interview over the next two weeks.” Elijah stood up.

  Jayden followed his lead, hoping that they would take the hint and leave so she could fumigate the kitchen.

  Ferry got up so fast that her chair fell over backward. A clap of thunder hit about the same time, doubling the noise. “I can’t believe you’ll get anybody to come out here in this godforsaken place that will be more qualified than I am. Didn’t you understand that I’m a fry cook, and what does a bunch of outlaw girls want to eat anyway but french fries and burgers with some onion rings every so often, maybe?”

  Jayden ushered them to the door. “If we don’t call you, then feel free to call us after three weeks. Y’all drive safe now on the way back to town.”

  The minute they were out of the dining hall and she could hear the rattle of their vehicles starting up and driving away, she turned around and pointed a finger at Elijah. “What in the hell were you thinking? You can’t have people like that around the girls.”

  “Résumés looked pretty good.” He shrugged. “They both had experience in cooking.”

  “From now on, maybe we’d better ask for mug shots.” Jayden marched across the kitchen and poured herself a glass of milk. She would have loved a double shot of Jack Daniel’s right about then to calm her nerves, but milk would, at least, keep her stomach acid from burning holes through her insides.

  “That would be discrimination,” Elijah reminded her. “An applicant could come back on us and declare that we were discriminating on the basis of age or race.”

  She turned up her glass and drank a third of the milk before coming up for air. “You’ve got to find a big sister or mother figure to work around the girls.” She paced all the way around the buffet bar and across the kitchen. “You can’t have women who want to move their pot-smoking boyfriend in with them, or one who only has two grown kids and a dog the size of an elephant living in your old cabin with her. What if that big monster bit one of our girls, or what if one of those only two grown kids is a pervert of some kind? You need to get health records and criminal records right up front before they come out, not after. And maybe a drug test the minute they arrive. They’re going to be around young girls, for God’s sake.” She made a lap around the whole kitchen. “If that’s the best in the area, hiring a cook is going to be a nightmare.”

  “I agree.” He nodded. “It sure ain’t going to be a daydream, and if you think you can pick better ones to call in for an interview, the résumés are right there.”

  “Well, I damn sure can’t do worse.” She picked up the first stack and flipped through half a dozen short job applications. “I don’t see a single one that looks acceptable. We need someone that can do something more than fry burgers and make hot dogs.”

  “I agree, so what’s our next step?” he asked.

  “We go pick up the paper that Ferry left on the yard, and then we get some disinfectant and wash the dog pee off our porch post,” she answered as she tossed the résumés back on the table. “Tomorrow morning, you should call the employment place and tell them none of these will work.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He grinned. “Did I hear you say our porch post and our girls?”

  “Yes, you did,” she huffed as she went to the cabinet and got a bottle of spray cleaner, a roll of paper towels, and two sets of latex gloves. “Here, put these on. You never know what germs are on the porch post, and that litter Ferry left for us could have botulism or salmonella on it.”

  “There’s one good thing about those interviews,” he said as he stretched on the gloves. “They didn’t take very long. You might even have time to catch a nap before you start supper.”

  “I’m way too wound up to sleep,” she said.

  “Do you need a hug and maybe a kiss?” he asked.

  “After being around those two women, I’d need a shower before I even thought about something like that,” she fumed.

  “It’s raining, so a shower shouldn’t be a problem.” He grinned.

  “With eight girls and two counselors watching?” she asked. “No, thank you!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  As Jayden made her way across the yard to the dining hall that Monday morning, she remembered her grandfather saying that “what will be, will be, and what won’t be just might be anyway.” It had seemed like a riddle to her when she was young, but after interviewing those two women the day before and realizing how much she had come to love Piney Wood—well, that latter part of what Gramps said was beginning to make sense all these years later.

  “Is it my calling to stay here?” she asked herself that morning as she turned on the lights in the dining hall and went to work. Was that why she’d gotten so angry at the idea of anyone taking over her kitchen? Or was she angry because that hussy Ferry had flirted with Elijah?

  “What are you all spun up about?” Novalene asked as she came in, poured two cups of coffee, carried one back to Jayden, and then took her regular chair.

  “Thank you,” Jayden said, accepting the coffee, “but what makes you think I’m worried about anything?”

  “It’s written all over your face,” Novalene answered. “You’d make a lousy poker player. Does it have to do with those women who came by yesterday? We haven’t had a chance to talk about the interviews.”

  Jayden cracked eggs into a bowl and whipped them with a whisk. “Well, rest assured that we didn’t hire either one of those women, and I don’t intend to bring them back for a second interview, either.”

  Diana, like always, went straight to the coffeepot.

  “What’d those eggs do to you?” Diana asked. “Looks to me like you’re taking out your frustrations on them.”

  “Maybe I am,” Jayden answered. “If the two prospects we talked to yesterday are the best this area has to offer, then, as my Gramps used to say, the pickin’s are going to be mighty slim. I just can’t imagine turning Mary’s kitchen over to someone . . .” She shivered and kept stirring scrambled eggs.

  “That bad, huh?” Novalene asked.

  “One had a pot-smoking boyfriend who would be moving in with her, but he has a ‘medical card.’” She air quoted the last two words. “The other one had two grown kids and a dog the size of a gorilla that would be living with her. She brought the dog along and let it hike its leg on the porch post. They both left mad at us because we didn’t offer either of them the job.”

  Diana blew on the top of her mug and giggled at the same time. “Mary wouldn’t rest easy a single day knowing someone like that was in her kitchen. If they hadn’t had so much baggage, would they have worked out?”

  “Nope. Not the right kind of experience, either,” Jayden answered.

  The girls came filing in before anyone could ask another question. Elijah usually follo
wed them and picked up a tray, but that morning he joined her behind the buffet line.

  “I’ll help you serve this morning,” he said.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because if yesterday’s two prospects were the best we’ve got, it might be easier to hire a retired drill sergeant to do my job and take over cooking myself.” He scooped up scrambled eggs for Ashlyn, who was first in line that morning.

  “Can you make anything other than ice cream?” She spooned up home-fried potatoes cooked with bacon onto Ashlyn’s tray and then took a step to her left, added a biscuit, and topped it with gravy.

  “Mary left her recipe book, and I can follow instructions,” Elijah answered.

  “There’s a person out there who is perfect for the job.” Jayden tried to reassure herself as much as she did him. “We just have to find her.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Elijah said, but there was doubt in his tone.

  Ashlyn, Tiffany, and Carmella had finished their breakfast and headed out to the barn to clean the stables by the time Jayden and Elijah had taken their trays to the adult table. Jayden had just taken the first bite of her biscuit and gravy when Tiffany came running into the dining hall with tears streaming down her face.

  “Come quick, Jayden. It’s Ashlyn. We can’t do anything with her,” Tiffany said between sobs and then whipped around and ran out of the hall.

  “Go!” Novalene said. “We’ll watch over everything here.”

  “I better go, too.” Elijah followed right behind her. “This sounds serious. You don’t think she’d do something stupid, do you?”

  “Not for a second.” Jayden’s breath came out in short gasps.

  They followed the sound of weeping from the barn door to Dynamite’s stall. Tiffany and Carmella were on their knees, patting Ashlyn’s back and trying to console her. She held the horse’s head in her lap and kept stroking his nose. Tears flooded her cheeks, and she wept so hard that her breath came out in gasps.

  “He’s dead, Jayden. Dynamite is gone,” she said between sobs.