What Are the Odds

by Marja McGraw

  We had a wonderful home-cooked type dinner at an established restaurant. Feeling satiated, we made a stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things and then headed home.

  Pete put his arm around me and pulled me close. The atmosphere inside the car was so quiet that I dozed off for several miles. I awoke when we turned onto the rutted dirt road leading to the house. With each bump we hit it felt like my insides were doing a tap dance.

  Automatically and without meaning to, I glanced up at the second story window when we pulled onto the driveway. It was too dark by then to determine if a blonde-headed woman was watching us.

  I patted Pete’s knee. “It’s good to be home. It’s also good to put today and the work we’ve done behind us.”

  He leaned down to whisper in my ear “That honeymoon is looking better and better.”

  “I heard that,” my mother said. “You have no idea how much Frank and I appreciate all of you helping us. I was going to tell you this later, but we’ve decided to help all of you out with a little spending money for your honeymoons.”

  “Oh, no, Livvie. We’ll be fine,” Felicity said.

  I chuckled when I saw Stanley poke her in the ribs. I guessed he thought that was a great idea.

  “Mother, that’s very generous of you. I think we can all graciously accept your gift, and thank you.” I gave Stanley a very pointed look.

  I knew my mother wouldn’t be happy if she couldn’t help out a little. That was her way.

  “Of course,” I said, “you might change your mind if I manage to turn tonight into Fright Night for you.”

  I cackled maliciously and in a joking way but choked on my cackle when the car light briefly highlighted a blonde watching us out of the living room window.

  Chapter Thirty

  Pulling away from Pete, I glanced at everyone in the car. No one’s head was pointed in the direction of the house.

  I quietly sighed. Was no one but me ever going to see the apparition? Uh, woman? I shivered over my use of the word apparition. Pete thought I was cold and pulled me back against his chest, putting his arms around me. I wasn’t cold, but his embrace was comforting.

  I had to come up with a plan to take Blondie by surprise, and to see what she looked like. Picturing her in my mind, there was something familiar about her, but I couldn’t place what it was.

  When we parked, Stanley studied the ground closely before climbing out of the car. Apparently there were no snakes or crawly critters waiting for our return.

  Mother and Frank headed for the motorhome and I heard him say, “Why would we want to sleep on the floor in the...”

  I didn’t hear the rest of what he said after a loud, “Shhhh!” from my mother.

  Stanley and Felicity walked inside the house with us and headed downstairs while we climbed upstairs to our bedroom. On our way to the stairs I made a point of studying the living room. Blondie had disappeared again.

  “I wonder if the plumber finished today,” I said.

  “One way to find out,” Pete replied, turning and walking into the bathroom.

  He turned the knob at the sink and water bubbled out of the faucet. It took a minute or two before the air in the lines disappeared and we had real honest to goodness water.

  “We’ll still have to shower downstairs,” he said. “This tub needs to be cleaned and we’ll have to put up a shower curtain.”

  “Too bad,” I said, not looking at him. “We could have had a nice shower together.” I knew I’d start laughing if I saw the look on his face.

  Pete gave me a loving pat on the rump. “All good things come to those who’re patient, or something like that.”

  “Works for me. At least we may be near a working toilet now.”

  He walked over and flushed the commode, laughing when it sounded like a waterfall. “Uh, it works.”

  “Then all we need to do is clean it. But not tonight.”

  “Enough potty talk. Let’s go to bed. Or let’s go to sleeping bag, as the case may be.”

  “I’m going downstairs and bring a glass of water up here. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  Pete yawned. “Okay, but don’t take too long. Take a flashlight.”

  “I’ll take one of the lanterns we’ve been using.”

  He gave me one of his looks, the kind that reminds me of rolling one’s eyes. “You’re just into the idea that this might be a haunted house.”

  “Yeah, that’s right.” I turned and headed downstairs, hoping my sarcasm wasn’t lost on him.

  I didn’t really need the lantern. There was moonlight streaming through the window in the living room and I could see quite well. The door that led to the Arizona room opened and closed and I figured it was probably my mother and Frank.

  “Mother?”

  “I’m coming,” she replied.

  We met in the kitchen.

  “Frank wants to stay in the motorhome tonight. He’s into comfort, not floors. I guess he’s right. We should get a good night’s sleep.”

  “Okay. I just came down to get a glass. That dinner was good, but it must have had a lot of salt in it. I’m really thirsty.”

  “Me, too. I hadn’t thought about salt. You’re probably right.”

  We found glasses we’d used during the day on the sink and filled them with water from the faucet.

  “I’m glad there’s water inside now,” my mother said. “Maybe tomorrow we can concentrate on cleaning the bathrooms before we paint.”

  Mother took a drink and made a face. “The plumber had a good suggestion about putting in a filtration system. This is terrible.”

  I took a sip. “You’re right. I think there’s some bottled water left in the cooler.”

  I popped the top of the cooler and took out two full bottles, handing one to my mother.

  Tipping my head, I watched Mom pour water into her glass. “You’re definitely not giving anyone a chance to get bored with all of your hidden body talk, but I love you anyway.”

  “You’re a good daughter.”

  We hugged each other before she walked out the door and I headed back upstairs.

  Pete was already sound asleep. He was snoring softly. I gently kissed his cheek before I tried to follow suit and sleep. I say tried because something kept me awake. Have you ever been so tired that sleep wouldn’t come? And, just to aggravate the situation, you couldn’t turn your thoughts off? It had been a very long day and I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things we’d accomplished. Of course, Blondie never entered my thoughts. Ha!

  I’d finally drifted off, but came awake suddenly. Had I heard a sound? Was someone in the house besides the four newlyweds? I listened, but all I could hear was the sound of a hoot owl and crickets. Deciding to get up and investigate, I picked up the flashlight and tip-toed toward the stairs.

  I heard loud snoring coming from in front of the fireplace. My mother must have talked Frank into sleeping in the house. She could talk the flea off a dog if she tried hard enough.

  That’s when it struck me. Now was the time to give her a good scare. I’d slip down the stairs, one step at a time, hold the flashlight under my chin so my face would look freaky, and wake her up. I knew I shouldn’t do it because I’d scare Frank in the process, but I’d do it anyway.

  The moon had moved, or the earth had turned, and the house was dark.

  One of the steps creaked so I moved closer to the bannister – less creaking that way. I stopped to see if I’d awakened anyone. Nothing but silence greeted me. Two more steps and I was mid-stairway. I stopped again and listened.

  My breath caught when I head a stair creak below me. Blondie? Maybe now was my chance to catch her. I listened again and thought I heard someone breathing. Do ghosts breathe?

  Carefully, I took another step down. It sounded like the breathing was right in front of me.

  I quickly flipped on the flashlight but before I could point it toward the bottom of the stairs, I ran into someone.

  I tried to scream but all that
came out was a gurgle. My grip on the bannister tightened.

  My mother screamed and immediately clamped her hand over her mouth. I should have figured that’s who I’d bumped into.

  We both turned and looked toward Frank. He continued to snore. The house could have fallen down around him and he’d have slept right through it. Looking up the stairs, we didn’t see Pete’s silhouette at the top of the stairs.

  “Sandi!” mother whispered, reaching for my hand.

  “Shhh.”

  We headed for the Arizona room where we wouldn’t bother anyone.

  “I was going to scare you,” she said.

  “Uh, I was going to scare you.”

  We started to giggle.

  “What’s the matter with us? Can you believe our timing?” Mom sat down on a chair she’d temporarily stored in the room and patted another one, indicating I should sit, too.

  “We couldn’t have planned the timing any better,” I said. “Like mother, like daughter?”

  She nodded. “Great minds and all that rot.”

  “Do you think we’ll ever get to sleep tonight?”

  “No. Let’s just sit here and relax. You got my heart pumping. Oh, this is too funny.”

  Bubba woofed from the doorway and we both jumped out of our chairs.

  “Bubba wins,” I said. “He got us both.”

  My mother looked at the flashlight and started to laugh, barely able to talk through the guffaws. “It was bumping into you and the flashlight going on that startled me. That and the fact that I couldn’t see who was holding it.”

  I couldn’t answer her for a moment. I was laughing so hard that tears ran down my cheeks. “I was going to…” I snorted. “…hold it under my chin so I’d look evil…” Snort. “…and wake you up.”

  “It worked without the chin thing. And Bubba put an exclamation point on the whole thing.”

  The laughter finally died down. We chatted for a few minutes before I yawned.

  Bubba must have been tired of us because he stood and walked into the house, glancing back over his shoulder at us.

  They say laughter is the best medicine. I guess I’m living proof because the next thing I knew, someone was shaking my shoulder, trying to wake me up. I opened my eyes and saw my mother sleeping in the other chair.

  Changing directions, I looked up in time to see the blonde leaving by the back door, rear view, as usual.

  Can a ghost shake your shoulder?

  Chapter Thirty-one

  I was so tired. I couldn’t even jump out of my chair to chase the elusive woman. “She didn’t look like a ghost to me. She looked pretty solid. I sure wish I could see her face though.”

  “Are you talking to yourself?” my mother asked.

  “Well, I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “You sound a little cranky this morning. Get over it. You probably dreamed you saw the blonde.”

  Morning? I turned my gaze to the window. The sun was just beginning to rise. It reminded me of the morning I’d let Bubba outside so early.

  Bubba. Where was he? Probably down in the apartment with the Hawks. Traitor. Oh! I remembered him leaving the room to get away from my mother and me.

  “I didn’t dream I saw Blondie. She was here. Why she woke me up, I have no idea. I need chocolate. I was trying to cut back, but I’ve held off long enough. I’m going upstairs to get more sleep, and then I’m going to eat chocolate. A lot of chocolate. Mega amounts of chocolate. It’s a comfort food thing.”

  “I’ll probably join you for chocolate. In fact, I’ll make some chocolate chip muffins in the motorhome. I brought a mix for emergencies.”

  “Love you, Mom.”

  Standing, I headed into the house. Halfway up the stairs, I met Pete coming down.

  “You disappeared again,” he said, half accusingly.

  “I tried to scare my mother, she tried to scare me, and we ended up sleeping on chairs in the Arizona room. Got a problem with that?” Uh oh. I was cranky.

  He looked nonplussed. “Nope. Go on upstairs and take a nap. I’ll leave you alone until you pull yourself together.”

  I wasn’t letting him have a happy start to the day. “I’m sorry, Pete. The sun is barely up and I’ve already had a blonde sighting. I got very little sleep last night. And I’m even too tired to go in search of chocolate.”

  “I’ll find you some. You sound like your mother this morning except she needs hormone pills to set her straight. In your case, it’s chocolate.”

  “Don’t bother. Mom is going to make some chocolate chip muffins.”

  I hugged him and headed for our bedroom. He hugged me back and held his tongue.

  Waking up a couple of hours later, I didn’t even remember my head hitting the pillow. Voices floated up from downstairs.

  I could hear Felicity’s sweet little voice as she sang to herself. It sounded like she was nearby, maybe in the bathroom. She was awfully cheerful for so early in the morning.

  Groaning, I rolled out of the sleeping bag and stood, stretching as much as I could, trying to make my muscles obey me. Sore doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. Over the past few days I’d used muscles I’d forgotten I had.

  The singing led me to Fel who was finishing a cleaning job in the bathroom. She’s just finished scrubbing the tub and groaned when she stood up.

  “I know just how you feel,” I said. “That same sad sound came out of me just moments ago.”

  She smiled. “All I have to do is hang this shower curtain and you can have a long hot shower. I had one, and I feel so much better.”

  “I’ll hang the curtain. You’ve done enough, and thank you.”

  “You sound a lot more chipper than the way your mother and Pete described you.” She tucked some cleaning products out of sight in the cupboard under the sink. “Did you know that before I became a model I earned a few extra bucks cleaning houses?”

  “Get out of here. You’re kidding. I can’t imagine you spending your days that way.”

  “I did. A person will do whatever they have to do to make ends meet. That was my way.”

  “Have I told you how much I admire you, Fel?”

  “No, but thanks.”

  “I’m going to take that shower you mentioned. Would you tell Pete I’ll be down in a few minutes?”

  She nodded and carried the rags she’d been using downstairs.

  I put up rings and hung the shower curtain before climbing into the tub and turning on the shower. Felicity had left some towels and washcloths on the edge of the sink so I was ready for heat and relaxation. Bath soap sat on the edge of the tub, too. Ah, and thankfully, so did shampoo and conditioner.

  I was momentarily in heaven, but it didn’t last long. There was a knock at the door.

  “Yes?” I called out.

  My mother answered me. “Hurry up. Breakfast will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be down soon.”

  Felicity was right. I felt like a new person when I finished my shower. Fresh clothes made me feel renewed. Back in the bedroom, I brushed my wet hair into a ponytail.

  Felicity frequently wore her hair in a French braid. I’d have to ask her to show me how to do my hair that way. I loved the look. I’d been meaning to ask her for a long time.

  After one last look in the bathroom mirror, and shrugging my shoulders, I found my way to the apartment kitchen. My mother was setting things on the table the men had so graciously brought in for us.

  “Sandi thinks she saw the blonde again,” she said to anyone who would listen.

  Sighing had become a bad habit with me, and I exhaled slowly. “I did see her. She woke me up this morning. Of course, I once again saw her from the back as she was leaving. You know, I’ve seen her so many times now that it’s not worth getting excited about anymore. I’m getting used to her.”

  “She woke you up?” Stanley asked.

  “She did.”

  “Would you like me to assist you while you put a plan tog
ether to catch her?”

  “Stan, you just made my day. Honestly. I’d like nothing more than to talk to her and for someone else to see her. After breakfast we’ll talk about it.”

  Without realizing it, he’d become my hero. No one else seemed to either believe me or want to get involved – including my new husband.

  I smacked said husband on the arm.

  “What?” he said.

  “Nothing.”

  He shook his head and dished some fried potatoes out of a bowl.

  Mumbling had also become a bad habit and I did so as I sat at the table. Apparently my mood hadn’t improved much – that is, until I saw a plate of chocolate chip muffins sitting on the sink.

  My chair screeched when I shoved it back and made a beeline for the sink.

  “After breakfast,” my mother said.

  “Not on your life,” I replied. “These will go well with bacon and eggs.”

  “Whatever you do, don’t get between her and the sink,” Frank said. He grinned. “She’s beginning to remind me of Livvie when...” The rest of his comment was left unsaid when he realized my mother was glaring at him.

  It promises to be a fun day, I thought. Yeah, right.

  “Maybe we need a break today,” Pete said. “We’re all tired, and it looks like there are plenty of places to explore around here.”

  “We could take the ATV into the hills,” Frank suggested.

  “As long as we don’t tip it over,” Pete replied. That’s how he’d broken one leg and one ankle. An ATV accident. “And we’ll take Bubba with us.”

  “He’d like that,” I said.

  My mother nudged Felicity. “We could talk to more neighbors.”

  Felicity nodded.

  “I’ll stay here with Sandi and we’ll hatch a plan. That’s the right word, isn’t it? Hatch?”

  “It sure is.”

  I winked at Stanley and took a huge bite out of a muffin, groaning again. This time it was a chocolate ecstasy groan.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Although I knew there was a lot of work ahead of us, I liked the idea of taking the day, or some part of it, off to goof around. Each to their own brand of entertainment.