by Alma Jones
Mariel knew that she was different from the other kids because she could sometimes play the “what if” scenario (on the positive side) and it would happen just the way she had envisioned it in her head. When she told her friends, they laughed her to scorn and told her that she was weird. Her best friend had once told her, “It’s not that we don’t believe you, we just don’t know that you really thought this stuff before it happened. You know? And even if you did, that makes you weird. And if you didn’t that makes you a liar. Either way, I would stop saying anything about it to anyone if I were you. People might not want to be your friend anymore. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but I thought I would tell you what people are saying about you.”
Episode 5
Screeech! Mariel had to leap forward to keep from being hit by the careening car occupied by the laughing teenagers. They paused after Mariel made it to the store’s sidewalk. Since the windows were down in the car, Mariel could hear raucous laughter still pouring from within it as she stood with her mouth agape. When the boy and girl noticed Mariel’s open mouth stare, they backed up toward her and then peeled off again amid hoots of laughter.
Mariel glared at the back of the car so hard that one of the hubcaps on the car came off and went careening across the parking lot. Still laughing, the girl got out and retrieved the hubcap. The boy and girl made a U-turn in the parking lot and came back to where Mariel was trying to unstick her buggy to go inside the grocery store.
The couple stopped by the sidewalk where Mariel was and broke into renewed guffaws and peals of laughter. Mariel thought to herself, These kids need to be taught a lesson before they hurt someone. It would serve them right if all of the hubcaps would fly right off!
After giving Mariel a mischievous, “What you gonna do about it look,” the couple peeled off again, still laughing. When two hubcaps flew off, the girl got out to retrieve them and gave Mariel a puzzled stare while scratching her head. The kids slowly left the parking lot and drove slowly down the street toward the highway. The last hubcap rolled off and landed in a small drainage ditch. This time, the boy got out to retrieve the hubcap. After he had done so, he turned to look at Mariel, bowed, and then saluted.
Maybe they learned their lesson, Mariel thought. She did ponder as she was grocery shopping why those hubcaps came off just when she was wishing the boy and girl could be taught a small lesson.
Well, well, well.
Mariel shook herself out of her fear-induced anxiety and finished cleaning the glass on the fronts of the kitchen cabinets. That’s one of the things that she likes about the place, the antiquated looking cabinets in the kitchen. That added to the “gingerbread house” charm and the general feel of the place. She loved the stained glass that graced the top of each window in the house. She loved the mullioned windows that you could open or close at will. She loved the slatted port railing, the attic space with its skylight that seemed to be waiting for a budding writer to call it home. And lastly, she loved the walk-in tub that the realtor had assured the previous owners would enhance the house’s resale value. It certainly had in her case!
Mariel remembered the joy she had felt and what she had said aloud in the house after she had closed the deal and the house was really and truly hers. “All former owners are welcome to visit you, dear house, because you exude such cheer and goodwill!”
About the only drawback to the house was the earthen floor she had found in one of the sub-basement rooms. She figured that it had served as some kind of a root cellar. She had resolved to pave that floor first chance she got and put in some sort of ventilation system. It was the only area in the entire house that had a decidedly damp and moldy smell. She figured the damp and moldy smell could be attributed to the earthen floor.
When Wally got back from the store, they sat down at the old pedestal table made of marble or granite and enjoyed the creamed spinach soup, garlic bread, and fried spaghetti she had prepared. There was the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream that Wally had picked up at the store and homemade 7-Up cake for dessert.
“Yum, yum,” said Wally. “I could not eat another bite! Sis, how do you do it? You take simplest fare and make something delicious out of it!”
“It’s easy, Wally, when you like to cook. I do,” Mariel said shrugging her shoulders. “Besides, with a kitchen outfitted like this one, who wouldn’t want to cook?”
As his sister washed the dishes and he dried, Wally said, “Now, Sis, about your spooked out phone call earlier . ”
“Oh, it was nothing, Wally. Kids playing in the house just as you said. Probably forgot it had been sold and was no longer a place to play. I saw them down in the side yard later on, so I figured it was the same kids that I had heard in the house. You saw them when you came back from the store.”
“Now, a question for you, big brother, what went through your mind when that kid hit your window with his funny looking football?”
“You saw that, did you?”
“Why yes, Wally! You were honking that horn loudly enough to awaken the dead!”
Wally gave his sister a sheepish grin and shrugged his shoulders. He did not have the heart to tell his sister that what had hit the car was one of a bunch of ducks. He didn’t know where the safe of ducks came from nor did he see them after he parked his Range Rover and went back to check on the one that had hit his window with a thud! They all seemed to have vanished! Wally didn’t dwell on it and never gave another thought to it, animal behavior being what it was. Yep, he never thought another thing about it until his sister mentioned the one hitting his windshield as he drove down the lane on his return trip from Wal-Mart. Wally shrugged his shoulders and said, “You know me and my vehicle, ‘Hands off!’”
“That’s for sure,” said his sister as she laughed and playfully popped him with the dish towel as she shooed him out of the kitchen. She said that she had to sweep the kitchen before she turned in.
His sis! She was one in a million for sure, thought Wally. And that’s another thing, how could his little sis mistake a pack of ducks for kids playing? Oh well. He filed the incident in the back of his mind where all of the other inexplicable things were kept. Wally pulled them out and pondered over them only when there was a need to do so. He figured that he had enough to deal with, just dealing with the mundane things in life. But he had to admit, being the older brother of Mariel taxed his limits sometimes. Yet, she was his sis and he wouldn’t trade her for anybody, thought Wally.
Wally went upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. Boy was he beat. And he knew tomorrow would be taxing because he had to measure the earthen room to figure out how many yards of concrete would be needed. As he drifted off to sleep, he mused about how handy his getting his apprentice concrete license was for his friends and family. Good old Wally . zzz.
After she had finished sweeping her kitchen floor, Mariel gave the kitchen a last loving look and flicked out the light. On her way upstairs, she turned back to be sure that all of the outside doors were locked. Good thing she did. Wally had left the side door not only unlocked, but slightly ajar. With a loving but exasperating sigh, she shut and locked the door. Mariel was thankful for the moonbeams coming through the mullioned side windows because it would have been impossible to see her way upstairs otherwise.
Mariel could barely keep her eyes open as she showered and got ready for bed. She promised herself a leisurely soak in her walk-in tub come morning. But she was just too tired tonight. When her head hit the pillow, Mariel started luxuriating in the feel of her new satin sheets. She fell asleep dreaming of soft clouds and baby angels . zzz.
Mary Ellen! Mary Ellen! Wake up. You called me back! Now make it right! Make it right!
Make it RIGHT!!
MAKE IT RIGHT!
HEAR ME!
Mariel sat straight up in the bed and her eyes were immediately drawn to the clock! Twelve midnight! She heard a very faint voice saying, “Make it righ
t! Right .
Right .
Right .
Right . ”
Mariel got up and turned on her bedroom light. She was not afraid in the least, just very perplexed. She returned to bed and lay there for a few minutes. The next sound she heard was Wally pounding on her door.
“Get up, Mariel. The furniture people are here with the living room furniture and the upholstery lady is here to do the parlor chairs and sofa. Wake up, sleepyhead, coffee is a-brewing.” Mariel turned over to look at the clock and her feet hit the floor with a thud—10:00 a.m.! How in the world had she slept that late? She was known as the early riser in her circle of friends and in her family.
She showered quickly and threw on some work clothes. She did pause long enough to promise herself that long awaited luxurious soaking in her walk-in tub. When she got downstairs, the upholstery lady and the furniture men were demolishing the last of her 7-Up cake. She sighed and with joy, undertook the task of having the furniture men place her furniture just so.
One of the furniture men said, “So you bought this old place, huh? Nobody’s ever stayed in it long, you know.” Wally’s head came up with a snap from the lantern flashlight he had been tinkering with. He gave the furniture man a “ Don’t say it! ” look. Wally was using frantic hand gestures to cut the man’s story off.
The men hurriedly placed the furniture and left. The older man could be heard telling his partner that sometimes he just didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut!
Mariel looked at Wally perplexedly and he looked at her. To change the subject and lighten the mood, Wally good-naturedly berated her for leaving every light on downstairs last night. Mariel said, “I didn’t leave any lights on. As a matter of fact, I had to grope in the dark after I cut the kitchen light off to find my way up the stairs.” Wally looked at her and pushed his Diamonds hat back off his forehead. Mariel knew that that was a sign that he was mighty puzzled.
“Uh-um!” They both jumped to see the upholstery lady standing in the parlor door. “I found these papers in the right parlor chair. So I guess now is as good a time as any to give them to you,” she said cryptically. Wally took his hat completely off and tossed it on the hall table. The upholstery lady said, “Let’s sit down and enjoy some of this blackberry jam cake I brought over. We all need to talk because I like you folks.”
Mariel and Wally exchanged uneasy glances and followed the upholstery lady into the kitchen. “I don’t hold with ghosts and all that foolishness, but then again, right is right,” she said. “Folks around here say that, that there paper you’re holding in your hand was written by old man McCreavey hisself.” She had Wally to read the paper and this is what it said:
Make it rite
Call Me Bak
N Make it Rite
Til You Do
I won’t Rest Nor
Will NE 1
What Onz Thez
Digins
Mariel gasped and then fainted. When she came to, Wally and the upholstery lady were hovering over her. “Wally,” said Mariel feebly. “Wally, he said, ‘Make it right.’ He said I called him back.” Mariel said with a wide-eyed look.
“Aw shucks, Sis.”
Mariel knew that Wally was very worried because he never used “aw shucks” unless he were.
“Wally? I sat straight up in the bed and looked at the clock. It was straight up twelve when I awoke from the dream where a man was telling me to ‘Make it right.’”
“Yep! Jes lack the last owner. You must be liked though because the last one was run out of here in the middle of the night in her jammies and her wit out her house slippers. Sho’s the truth! Uh-hum! I’m surprised it started on you so soon, though. The last owner didn’t say a word for about a month about anything strange. Course that was when she decided she was going to cover the root cellar room with cement. She never got to do it though! No sirree! Run plumb off in the middle of the night!”
“Sis, every penny you have is sunk in this place. But I don’t see any help for it but to sell it.”
“Now hold on, you two. Seems to me we moving a parcel fast heah. Ain’t no call to do nothing just yet. Seems to me, this calls for a visit to Ole Jeb, the oral history person of these heah parts. Let’s us get going ‘cause time’s wastin’.”
“Jeb’s jes ‘bout finished his lunch and he get real speclitiv when he done et. Don’t worry bout nuthin’ heah. We kin stop in town in git Toby to come mind the place whilz we’z gone. Come on young’uns, time is wastin’ in night come quickly round these parts.”
“She’s right, Wally. I am not even afraid. It’s like a mystery to me now. You know?”
“You must have banged your head something good when you fainted because you fainted from fear or shock. Now you want to go running off to who knows where in search of some history buff. I’m not for it at all, Sis. Not at all! At times like this, I really miss Mom and Dad.”
“All I know is that I am not afraid anymore and never should have been. Nothing in this house means me any harm!”
“You ain’t afraid ‘cause old Jethro McCreavey done decided that you is the rightful owner. That is, if ghosts exist. Ain’t sayin’ they do, mind you. Ain’t sayin’ they don’t either! Jes sayin’ ”
When they got to Jeb’s place, he had just finished lunch. “Come in, come in! Can’t say I’m surprised to see you youngun’ but anyways, welcome right on in, yesiree welcome . ”
TO BE CONTINUED…