Poison Branches

by Cynthia Raleigh

  It was a relief to walk into her kitchen and shut the door on the week behind her. Perri slipped her shoes off right inside the door and carried them directly to the laundry room. She put the contents of her pockets in an old cast iron bowl on a shelf, peeled off her scrubs and tossed them into the washer, and left her shoes by the dryer. The shoes looked pretty bad. They never lasted very long. The nurses were required to wear white shoes, which is the least practical color to wear. She marveled at the numerous manufacturers who insisted on putting mesh on their shoes. It didn’t serve as ventilation, but more of a catch-all for stuff you didn’t want to bring home with you. Stuff got under the mesh, stained it, and made the shoe look nasty before it was worn out. She tossed them into the washer too. She added detergent that claimed to smell like a spring morning, set the cycle for hot water, and turned it on.

  After changing into her jeans and t-shirt, Perri filled the electric kettle with hot water to make tea and flipped the switch on. She knew she was supposed to use cold water but it took longer. The water boiled and she poured it over the tea bag, stirred in plenty of creamer and some sugar. She flopped down in her favorite old armchair to review her plans for the upcoming trip, starting early the next morning.

  To occupy her time and mind since her divorce, Perri had been working on her family tree in the evenings when she didn’t have anything else lined up, which was almost every night. Joyce, a coworker, had suggested it, and since some of her stories about her experiences could be amusing, Perri decided to give it a try. At first it was merely a distraction, but then it became more meaningful as she uncovered more and more information.

  No one else in her family seemed to have more than a passing interest in their history, which made getting information from those people difficult. Sometimes it seemed like the distant relatives she contacted to ask questions about their families were too bored and disinterested to even attempt to remember things. She had asked Mildred, a second cousin of her father’s, if she could identify the three people in a photograph taken in front of her own childhood house, a photo Mildred was actually in, but she said she really didn’t know who they were. Turns out, one of the women in the photo was Mildred’s own mother. The others she had asked promised they would but then didn’t respond. That was the last time she asked any of her extended family about photos. She didn’t understand it. People kept boxes of photos but didn’t know, or care, who was in them.

  The thought of finding a treasure trove of courthouse records that answered all her brick wall questions got Perri thinking about making a trip for that. She had been planning this trip for quite a while. The actual travel itself was a minimal part of it and took the least amount of time. She and Nina, her longtime friend and frequent fellow traveler, hadn’t seen each other much in the last few months. Nina was more than happy to go along and help, so Perri had decided to combine a research trip with a Girls’ Weekend Away. They were heading for southern Kentucky in the morning. Perri had found a Bed & Breakfast within the county she needed to visit and booked a room for Friday and Saturday nights. They would need to leave early Friday morning and visit the County Clerk that day, then over the weekend they could take their time going to the cemeteries.

  She only booked one room for the two of them. Truth be told, in all the years they had been doing this, one or other of them had always been at a point where money was an issue and sharing a room had been the best way to make sure they got to go on their trips. Now that this wasn’t as much of a problem, they would miss the “sleepover” appeal if they had different rooms. The trips didn’t always need to accomplish anything other than spending time together, catching up, drinking some wine, and retelling their favorite stories about each other until the wee hours of the morning.

  The only somewhat complicated parts of the trip were getting to the County Clerk’s office Friday with enough time to look through documents, and deciding what documents she needed to ask for once she was there. Then they could move on to the cemeteries, which was the part Perri was looking forward to the most. It seemed every county had different rules about how to get records, who could get them, and how much it would cost. Logan County seemed to be reasonable in both their prices and requirements for obtaining records.

  Perri finished her tea and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. She had already packed everything she could yesterday, so all she had to do in the morning was to add her toiletries and hair dryer to the suitcase. She had packed her newer pajamas for the trip so she pulled on her raggedy nightshirt, the threadbare one with the holes that she dearly loved and climbed into bed hoping she didn’t lie awake for an hour first.

  Chapter 3

  Friday morning, Perri woke up at 5:56 a.m., four minutes before her alarm was set to go off. She wanted to get started on the trip. She knew Nina would probably be doing the same. Perri smiled and hummed as she showered and got dressed. She didn’t take a lot of time to fool with her hair; they would be riding with the wind in their hair. She filled her travel thermos with her first cup of superhot coffee from the percolator she preferred to use and went about checking to make sure she had everything she needed.

  Perri was typically a very organized person, and the uncertainties and loose ends and brick walls of this research business sometimes drove her nuts, but she was determined to get some answers. One of the cemeteries she wanted to visit, the oldest one on her list, was on private property. She had contacted the property owner by mail and then talked with him on the phone. He had obliged by mailing her his permission to be on the farmer’s lands. She wanted a hard copy ready in case she needed it.

  She also printed directions to the cemeteries that were supposed to have the graves of some of her ancestors, as well as the satellite images of the surrounding area. She had marked her chosen route with red marker. There was a separate sheet for each cemetery on the agenda with the names she was looking for and the graves’ location if known. All the addresses and phone numbers for the clerk’s office, courthouse, and the B&B were on paper along with maps.

  Perri nodded to herself, “It looks like I have everything that I can think of for this trip.” She put all her paperwork, pens, notebooks, maps, sticky notes, thumb drives, and a phone number list into a bulging zippered organizer that went into a satchel with straps so she could easily carry it. Next, she checked the contents of a freebie duffle bag she gotten from work. It had the hospital insignia on the side, but that didn’t matter for her purpose. It contained her “cemetery kit”: Graph paper, pencils, foil, a soft bristle brush on a handle, gloves, a small trowel, a flashlight, extra batteries, and a pair of “rods” that Joyce had given her to find graves, like a divining rod used for water. She wasn’t sure about that, but she meant to try it out sometime. She wondered if she was overdoing it a bit and said aloud, “Perri, you might be getting a bit obsessed by this…but here goes.”

  After refilling her thermos with the rest of the coffee and checking twice that she had unplugged the pot, she tossed her bags in the back seat. She settled into the front seat and buckled her seatbelt. She flipped on the CD player and relaxed as she backed out of the narrow garage. This was going to be a great trip and she was blissfully happy to be getting away from the regular grind.

  ***

  Perri pulled into the driveway at Nina’s house twenty minutes later. As she got out of the car, she saw a hand wave briefly from the curtained window and the door was wide open by the time she reached it. Nina was buzzing around the living room gathering her bag, purse, and travel coffee cup. Perri could hear Aaron, Nina and Tom’s toddler, babbling in the kitchen. Tom poked his head around the corner and said, “Have a good time, Thelma and Louise! Behave.” Perri laughed and said, “Don’t worry, I have a Bail Bond card and I promise I won’t drive off any cliffs, not knowingly anyway.” Tom smiled and went back to preparing Aaron’s breakfast, hollering to Nina “Call me when you get there.”

  Nina took a good look around the living room, slung her bag and purse over her
shoulder, and said, “Let’s go…I’m ready for a little “me” time.”

  Perri grinned and replied, “You got it. Let’s hit the highway, but we have to tank up on gas and more coffee first.”

  As the car exited the subdivision, Nina rolled down her window and leaned her head out the window, smiling. “You’re like a happy dog out for a car ride,” laughed Perri.

  “Are you kidding? I haven’t had a break like this for over a year and I’m sorely needing it.” Nina closed her eyes and let the wind blow her hair, grinning.

  “Well, girlfriend, you are going to start by getting bugs in your teeth if you keep it up. That or getting smacked in the face with something. Knees and elbows in the car please.”

  Nina laughed and pulled her head back in the window. She sighed a long, contented sigh. She turned to look at Perri and, suddenly serious, said, “You brought the wine, right?”

  Perri raised her eyebrows and feigned a hurt look, “Seriously? When have I ever forgotten the wine? That was the first thing I packed. It wouldn’t be a girl’s weekend away without a nice glass of wine and yakking like a couple of magpies into the night.”

  “You got that right. So, where is the info on the B&B? I want to take a gander at the place.”

  Perri nodded her head toward the back seat, “It’s in my satchel. In the front, outside pocket. It looks like an interesting place to stay...”

  As Nina leaned between the seats, reaching for the satchel, she looked at the side of Perri’s face and said, “What do you mean by interesting? Sometimes that doesn’t mean what you want me to think it means. Is this one of those B&Bs you saw on a ghost hunting show on television?”

  Perri released a quick puff of a sigh, and tartly replied, “No, it is not.” She stared straight ahead for a few seconds while Nina pulled the paperwork out and returned to her seat, refastening her seat belt. “That one was full.”

  Nina chortled while reading the blurbs about the Crow’s Rest B&B. “Where is this place? Is it near a town?”

  “It is pretty rural, but it is near Mosley, which isn’t much bigger than a crossroads. Mosley is where some of my ancestors lived when they first settled in Kentucky; that was at the tail end of the 1700s. It’s closer to the Tennessee border than it is to Russellville, where I need to go to the courthouse, but it isn’t that long a trip and we should only need to go to Russellville one day, provided I can get the documents that day. I did write them ahead of time to let them know which probate boxes I needed. The hotel should be in a quiet, relaxing country setting.”

  “Sweetie, when have we ever had a quiet, relaxing trip when we take one these adventures of yours?” Nina always spoke of the trips they took and the situations they sometimes found themselves in with a wry tone, but she enjoyed them as much as Perri. And Nina had as many adventures chalked up in her name as Perri did.

  “We’re saving up stories for the nursing home! We don’t want to be bored in our old age, gotta pack it all in now.”

  The traditional opening of the trip completed, the car roared off down the highway.

  Chapter 4

  As Perri and Nina came within twenty-five miles of the Tennessee border, the Cooper left the dual lane highway to cut east through Kentucky on state roads. About an hour later, they had turned off old state road 102 and were following the curve of the country road with occasional overhanging trees. The catalpas had long, slender pods draped throughout their leafy green limbs. The terrain was gently rolling with alternating pastures, fields, and small remaining copses of trees or ponds. Leaning slightly over the top of the steering wheel, Perri quietly said, “I think that is the driveway just up ahead.” She nodded toward a field stone wall that ran up to the shoulder of the road. There was a sign hanging from a wrought iron pole, but they couldn’t read it yet at their current angle on the road.

  As the car drew nearer to the driveway entrance, Perri and Nina could see the face of the sign. Bold calligraphy spelled out The Crow’s Rest. An image of a glossy black crow was painted next to the name of the B&B. The sign rocked very slowly back and forth on its hinges in the barely perceptible hot breeze. The chat crunched satisfactorily as the car made its way up the long driveway. The Crow’s Rest wasn’t a mansion or a show-stopper, but looked like just the place they liked. The two-story house was late nineteenth century, more than a farmhouse but not quite an estate. It was maintained, looked freshly painted, and had been landscaped with surprisingly well-chosen trees and plants.

  The drive arced after leaving SR102 and approached from the southern end of the house, which faced west. It turned along the front until it again turned to connect back with itself, forming an oval of dark blue-green Kentucky Bluegrass with two willow trees gently billowing. There was a deep covered porch across the entire front which included a porch swing and numerous bent wood chairs and rockers. Lace curtains were visible in the windows of the main floor.

  Perri pulled into a rectangular parking area just off the north curve of the driveway and chose a spot under a mimosa tree for the shade. Shutting off the ignition, she and Nina got out of the car and stretched legs stiff from sitting in the car for two and a half hours. “Let’s go check in first, then come back for the bags,” yawned Perri.

  They walked up the old wooden steps and across the narrow-slat porch with a rag rug in front of the door. “I haven’t seen one of these old wooden screen doors since I was a little girl at my Grandma’s house,” remarked Nina as she opened the door and the spring squeaked a little as it stretched out. She held the screen for Perri, opened the stained oak door, and walked inside.

  The foyer was cool and smelled of the old kind of wood polish. Not too sweet and not antiseptic, just clean. There was a stairway directly in front of them, a room with bookcases, tables, and armchairs to the right, and a parlor to the left. They could hear footsteps coming toward them across the wooden floor. A middle-aged woman in light blue capris and a madras shirt with a dishtowel over her shoulder came toward them smiling. “Hi there! I’m Alice Wooldridge.” Shaking their hands, she bubbled, “Welcome to the Crow’s Rest. How was your trip here? Did you find it ok?”

  “We didn’t have any trouble finding it, thanks. I’m Perri, and this is Nina.” Perri tipped her head toward Nina who said, “Hi there, I was just telling Perri I hadn’t seen a screen door like that for…a few years.”

  “That is original to the house.” Her reddish hair was tinged with gray and wound into a knot on top of her head, dubiously secured by a scrunchie that had been around about as long as Perri and Nina. A few strands of hair had escaped and were curling around her face. “My husband, Danny, and I bought the place quite a while ago. A lot of people have moved away from this area, into the cities. As the older folks are dying off, places like this get put up for sale. Younger people don’t often want to take on the burden of an aging house they aren’t going to live in. It wasn’t in very good condition, but we’ve been working at it for a long time. Danny likes to do woodwork and repairs, he’s a carpenter, and I like to sew and I help refinish. We’ve had plenty to do.” She turned toward the stair and put her foot on the wide and deep first step that flowed outward from its riser like a pool of glowing wood. “I know you already paid online, so that’s all taken care of. I’ll show you to your room and you can get settled in.”

  Alice led them up the staircase which had a massive newel and gleaming balusters. At the top, the hallway turned immediately to the left and again to the right. The upper two-thirds of the walls were lined with vintage photos over wallpaper with delicate flowers. As she unlocked the room’s door, Alice glanced over her shoulder and noticed Perri stop to squint at a couple of them. “Those photographs are either our own old family photos or ones found in thrift shops, yard sales, or that people have given to us. I like those because many of them have a story to go with them. Are you here for the car show in Russellville this weekend?”

  Perri replied, “No. I am doing some research and need to visit the clerk’s office there.
Nina and I try to take a girls’ weekend away about once every couple of years, so we combined the two this trip.” Alice nodded.

  Alice stopped and swung the door open, saying, “Here is your room, the Hydrangea room.” Perri nodded. “You have your own bath, right through that door over there. Your window looks out over the back garden, which you are free to use if you want. There’s a pavilion out there with some chairs, very nice for sitting outside in the evening. There are some tiki torches scattered around that you can light if you sit out there, helps keep the bugs away. Matches are in the kitchen drawer by the refrigerator. I have breakfast ready every morning at 6:30, but if you want to sleep a little longer, it’ll still be available until 8:00. I put out a little snack every evening before I go too, so you can look for that in the library.”

  Nina asked, “Before you go? You don’t live in the house?”

  Alice waved a hand in the air, “Oh, we did, but we also have a smaller house that is on the back of the property, really only a cottage of sorts. We decided to move into the cottage and use the main house solely as the Inn. It is easier for us anyway, to downsize and keep ourselves to the smaller house.” She moved toward the door, then turned to say, “Feel free to look around the house if you like later on; the rooms on the main floor are common use, but you’ll be the only guests here tonight. There’s coffee and tea in the kitchen cabinets, and some muffins in the bread box. There is regular butter and some flavored butter in the fridge too. Here is a key to the front door of the house, and another one for your room.” She handed Perri a crow key ring with a couple of keys on it. “I’ll be here until about 4 o’clock, but after that, call if you need anything at all. We’re not far from the house. I hope you enjoy staying here.”