by M. E. Eadie
***
Grizzelda told them they wouldn’t be going back to the park to retrieve their belongings. “That will be taken care of.”
How? She wouldn’t explain. So, after having a cold meal of stale bread and old cheese on the linen of the table in the dark, monstrous kitchen, they climbed the stairs to their bedrooms. They were assigned a room at the far end of the hallway, while Grizzelda claimed the master bedroom at the head of the stairs. Spike saw the fear in his sister’s eyes, not because of the possibility of encountering a ghost, but because, for the first time in their lives, they were going to sleep someplace different than their tents. Grizzelda, oblivious to Melissa’s feelings, seemed delighted with the prospect of spending the night in the house. They watched as she retreated down the hallway, the light from her candle fading, then blinking out, as she entered her room and shut the door. They turned and stared at the daunting door that led into their own room.
Colin handed Spike their candle so he could use both hands on the large door handle. He turned and pushed, and the heavy wooden door swung effortlessly inwards. They had been expecting the hinges to be rusted, and to screech, but the door opened silently, the hinges having been freshly oiled.
“Who do you think did that?” asked Spike, dabbing at an oil drip on one of the hinges.
“Don’t know,” said Colin not necessarily wanting to know. “Could you shine some of that light over here?” asked Colin, trying to sound brave for Melissa’s sake.
Their eyes widened with delight in the dim candlelight as the interior of the room was revealed to them. All of their stuff from Pansy Patch had somehow been moved into the room. He surveyed their scattered possessions. They didn’t have very much, but one of Colin’s favorite things was the plush buffalo rug rolled out on the wooden floor. Melissa went directly to a willow hoop and picked it up and examined it. The Dream Catcher had four feathers, a web pattern of string and three large red beads caught in the web. She clasped it to her heart. Spike ignored his collection of rocks and shells and made a direct line to the big canopy bed that occupied the end of the room. The place was strangely clean, as though they had been expected. Spike began to bounce up and down on the bed.
“This is great! Look a roof. If it rains inside we won’t get wet,” joked Spike. “You mind if me and Melissa take this?”
“Sure, go ahead,” said Colin. He had no desire to sleep in the same bed with Spike who snored. He took the secreted copy of the Sergeant Peary comic and placed it down on his rug. He wondered how this was going to be his guardian spirit, as Grandfather Thunder had implied.
Melissa quietly stood up on a rickety old chair and hung the dream catcher in front of the window on an old nail in the wall. Standing there she looked small and fragile. Tears rolling down her cheeks from her eyes.
“Why are you hanging up that old thing?” asked Spike, bending his legs to absorb his last bounce.Colin silently gestured to Spike, having just noticed Melissa’s tearful state. Spike jumped off the bed, went to her, and placed an understanding hand on her shoulder. “Listen, it’s going to be all right. We’ll take care of you, and as Grandfather Thunder said, he’s not really gone,” he said reassuringly.
She attempted a brave smile and wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
“You’re going to like it here. You liked the piano, didn’t you?”
She nodded her head emphatically.
“Well then, it’s settled.” He craned his neck to take the perspective of his sister as she was looking out the window. “What are you looking at?”
She nodded at the statue block of black marble, which the window gave them a perfect view of. There was somebody out there in the night.
Colin joined Spike and Melissa at the window.
The shadow of a person stood rooted in front of the statue block. In the fading twilight, they recognized Grizzelda’s gaunt form, her black hair fluttering about her pale face in the wind. She stared worshipfully at the block, as though she could see through the marble to the figure hidden beneath uncut stone.
“Freaky,” murmured Spike. “Did you see how badly she wanted this place? I don’t think it would’ve mattered if the whole roof had been caved in. She decided to buy it while we were still waiting out by the street for Marcus to show up!”
“Buy it with what?” asked Colin, feeling more and more uncomfortable. There were too many unknowns creeping in around them, and he wanted some answers.
“Gold!” said Spike relishing the word, his imagination getting the best of him, “but where did she get the gold? She’d need a lot of it to buy a place this size. There must be a hundred rooms.”
“Let’s go to bed,” said Colin feeling rather exhausted and wondering suddenly if he was ever going to see his new friend, Rhea, again.
Spike looked at his sister and sighed. “Colin’s right. Let’s have a good sleep. Tomorrow we can explore this place.”
Melissa nodded toward the lonely form of Grizzelda in front of the block of stone.
“She’s a big girl. Don’t worry about her,” said Spike, trying to convince her, but it came out sounding a bit uncaring.