* * *
“One-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand—” Patty lay on her stomach on the big flat rock and peered over the edge into the clear spring water just inches below her face. As her count reached thirty-five, Jilly’s head burst through the surface of the water in front of her.
“Toooo cold,” screeched Jilly, and scrambled out of the water onto the rock beside Patty. Jilly grabbed her towel, shivering. She stood up and began drying off, shaking the water from her shoulder length blonde hair.
“How many?”
“Thirty-five,” answered Patty.
Jilly sat down on the rock beside Patty. Though the water of the springs was frigid, the afternoon sun was warm and the girls sat basking for a moment in silence.
“So, I guess they’ll come up here tonight,” said Patty.
“Yep, full moon. Can you imagine, like a hundred years ago…they probably wore like long black capes with hoods and carried like torches and stuff like that.”
Patty snickered. “My mom wears jeans, and brings a flashlight.”
“Mine too! Bet it don’t look much like a coven. I bet they look like a bunch of old hippies dancing around up here.” Both girls cracked up. Patty made an eerie “woo woo” sound then, throwing her arms out to her sides, shouted to the sky. “Here come the ladies of the valley—black capes, flashlights, and iPods.”
Jilly doubled over, laughing. “Some coven,” she snorted. “Hey, mom, you forgot your torch!”
Patty was laughing so hard she toppled over onto Jilly. Both girls lost their perch on the wet rock and rolled off into the water, squealing.
After one more quick dive down into the current, they swam to the shallows and waded onto shore. As they gathered towels and slipped into flip-flops, Jilly looked puzzled, scanning the ground.
“Hey, where’s the phones…and my watch?”
Patty uttered an odd squeak, then yelled, “Oh no!” She pointed frantically out to where the water from the spring basin spilled over into the rocky, shallow river. There, bobbing along the surface and bouncing off the river rocks, a clear plastic bag was making its way down the Blue Springs River.
“Mom’s gonna kill me,” screamed Jilly. Already running, Patty scooped up her own stuff and hollered at Jilly. “Come on, hurry! We can catch it under the bridge.”
“We’ll never make it in time,” Jilly shouted and took off after Patty.
Goodbye Lucifer Page 5