“Do you think he would have loved me if he had known?”
“My guess is he would have. He seems to have been a very kind and loving man, the way you describe him to me. But it doesn’t matter. The question you ask me is about an alternate world the two of you never lived in. I’ll promise you this, though: even knowing the truth, when you meet him in Heaven, he will be as glad to see you as any father to see his son. All these trivial imperfections and technicalities are things meant only to annoy us in this world.”
Ethan held his face in his hands and began to cry. “I believe you’re right,” he said. “He did love me, and that’s the important thing. All this other stuff won’t amount to a hill of beans in Heaven.”
Suddenly, through his closed eyelids, he could tell that the room had illuminated. He opened his eyes just as a dazzling white light dispersed, leaving him temporarily blinded. When his eyes had readjusted to the darkness, he saw that Zelma Green had vanished. He wondered if he had imagined the whole thing. But no, it couldn’t have been a hallucination; it was too real. He stood up from the table, determined to go home to his mother, to make amends, but the inside of his head swirled around, and he blacked out, falling to the floor.
He dreamed he was lying in an opened casket at a cemetery. His mother was crying. He wanted to tell her not to worry, that he was okay, but he was completely paralyzed. It must have been the way Mittie had felt the day she had been buried alive. A black minister with short gray hair, wearing a long black robe, said, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” and closed the lid over him. Inside he was screaming but couldn’t make the sound come out of his mouth. He felt the coffin being lowered into the ground, and then he heard dirt being shoveled over him. He was completely helpless.
The mournful sound of his mother crying became more muffled with each scoop of dirt, and he wanted so badly to hug her one more time, to tell her how much he loved her. Then he had a glimmer of hope: he was only dreaming. He would get up and go home to his mom and make things right somehow. Opening his eyes, he looked about the room and tried to stand up, but he was too weak and fell back to the floor. He was drenched in sweat and urine, certainly dehydrated from lack of water and extreme heat. The dream had only been mimicking his reality, the reality that this old house was his coffin, and each minute that passed was another scoop of dirt. He would never go home again.
Frighteningly, the room appeared to fill with flying blackbirds, and he covered his eyes and cried. What a foolish decision he had made to run away from home, telling no one where he was going. Now he’d surely die in this very spot, his skeletal remains someday to be found, certain to become an urban legend told around campfires. At least he’d get to see his dad again. He hoped dearly that Miss Green was right and that his dad, knowing the truth, would be glad to see him. These thoughts filled his head until no thoughts filled his head, and all was silent.
Chapter 17
“Ethan, Ethan, wake up! Are you still alive? Please be alive, Buddy.”
Ethan felt cold water hit his face. With effort he opened his eyes and saw Daniel kneeling beside him. He smiled and said, “Hey, Pal,” then drifted back to sleep.”
“Wake up,” Daniel repeated. He pulled Ethan up into a sitting position and forced him to drink water from a canteen. “Come on, wake up, Buddy.”
Ethan strangled on the water and started coughing. “Slow down,” he said. “I can’t drink that fast.” Once he had cleared his throat he took another drink. “Did you bring anything to eat? I’m starving.”
“Here, eat this Payday Bar and these chips. I brought a few snacks in my backpack. I figured you might be hungry if I found you. I’m so glad you’re alive. I thought you were dead for a minute there—scared me.”
“How on earth did you find me here, anyway?” asked Ethan, weakly taking a small bite of the candy bar
“Frances from the drug store came to see my mom in the hospital and told us they were looking for you, said you’d run away. She also said there were two younger boys missing too. The whole town’s gone crazy, I guess.”
“But I still don’t understand how you found me. You’ve never even been here before.”
“That was actually pretty easy. I remember you telling me about this place, so I figured you might be hiding out here, thought it’d be worth a shot anyway. I don’t know how you didn’t get spooked-out staying by yourself in this big old scary house.”
“Well, I still can’t imagine how you ever found this place, not ever having been here. It’s so isolated.”
“I just asked around. Them old men in front of Square Deal told me how to get here. I didn’t tell them why I was looking for it. I figured since you ran away, you wouldn’t want me to give away your hiding place. I brought you some more stuff to eat, hope you like beef jerky.”
“Man, you’re the best,” said Ethan, taking a bite of beef jerky that Daniel had handed him from the backpack. “I’d of probably died if you hadn’t of found me. In fact, I’m sure I would have. I was getting too weak to do anything, it being so hot in here, and no one else knew where to find me. You’re my best bud for life now.”
“Oh, it was nothing,” said Daniel. “But I guess we are best buds now. I’m so glad you mentioned this place the other day. I sure would have been sad to lose you.”
“How’s your mom doing? She wasn’t doing so good last time I saw her.”
“Oh, she’s okay, I guess. She’s back home now. She just had too much to drink and took some pain pills. The doctor told her she shouldn’t have mixed the two. She’s kind of mad at me now because I threw a fit and dumped her alcohol down the sink. She was screaming and slapping at me, but I did it anyway.”
“Your dad leaving really messed her up.”
“Yeah,” said Daniel, “she ain’t been right a day since. But enough of that, I want to know what’s going on with you. What made you want to run away from home?”
“I found out something terrible and couldn’t handle it, just had to get away.”
“What’d you find out? Surely it wasn’t bad enough for you to come up here and lay down and die in this old house.”
“It was pretty bad, but I guess I can deal with it now. I found out that my dad, who passed away a few years ago, wasn’t my real dad.”
“Oh, man, that’s the pits.”
“Yeah, it’s an awful thing to find out, but I think I’ll be alright now. It’s the weirdest thing, but Miss Green came here and talked to me last night. She told me stuff that made a lot of sense, made me feel better about the whole thing. One minute she was sitting at the end of the table talking, the next minute I saw a bright light, and she was gone. I guess it might have been a dream, but it seemed so real.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” said Daniel, hesitating for a moment, his mouth slightly open and his eyes looking away as though searching for an explanation for what he was about to say, “but Miss Green died. Her nephew found her on the porch the other day. I’m sorry, man.”
Ethan put his head down into the palms of his hands and said, “It was true then.”
“What was true?”
“The story she told me about an angel visiting her son before he died. Miss Green knew I was troubled, so she stopped by to talk to me before she went on to Heaven. That bright light must have been an angel coming to take her away, just like the one that appeared the night her son died. If I had opened my eyes quicker, I’m sure I would have saw it.”
“If your eyes were closed how did you know there was an angel?”
“I caught a glimpse of the light as I opened my eyes.”
“Whoa, that’s pretty wild,” said Daniel.
“Maybe, but I’m sure it happened; it wasn’t a dream. She sat right over in that chair on the other side of the table and talked to me, talked to me until the angel carried her away. She’ll be happier now, I know. She gets to be with her son again, gets to be with George and all the other people she’s loved. But I’m sad that she had to die. I was
really starting to like her, you know. She really understood me, and I think I understood her too.”
“I really hate it for you because she died,” said Daniel. “Wish I didn’t have to be the one to break it to you.”
“It’s okay. I’m not surprised after last night. I didn’t think about it until now, but she was really my first friend in Rocky Creek, even though there was a good part of a century between us.” He quickly wiped a tear from his eye before Daniel saw it.
“So, what’s the plan?” asked Daniel, fiddling with his backpack as though he didn’t want Ethan to know that he saw his tear. “Are you going to stay here for a while? I’ll help you out if you plan to, be the supply guy, I guess. We need to start by opening some windows in this oven.”
“No, I guess it’s time I go back home. I’m still a little irritated with my mom, but I’ll figure out a way to get over it. I thought hard about a lot of things in my life last night.”
“Well, join the Irritated at Mom Club. We’ve got two members now.”
The two laughed.
“So then,” said Daniel, “just keep eating these snacks until you get your strength back. There’s a Coke in there too. And when you get ready, we can ride to your house. Maybe I can help smooth things over with your mom.”
“Thanks, Man. I’d appreciate that.”
“Meanwhile, let me let some air in here,” said Daniel. “Thank goodness it’s still morning. It’ll be two hundred degrees in here after while.” He stood up and tried to open some windows, but they wouldn’t budge, so he opened the front and back doors to let some air circulate.
“Hey,” said Ethan, “I just thought of something.”
“What’s that?”
“Sometime when we get back, if Cynthia don’t care, I’d like to show you this neat cave she took me to the other day, belongs to her uncle.”
“That’d be cool.”
“Yeah,” said Ethan, “we thought it would be a great place to fix an amphitheater some day. Maybe you can be in on it.”
“Sounds fun.”
“I’m sure Cynthia wouldn’t mind if we took you there. She’s pretty cool.”
The two sat quietly for a moment.
“I’ve got one question,” said Daniel, finally, putting his right hand against Ethan’s left shoulder and looking him in the eyes, “and it’s really bothering me right now.”
“What’s that?” asked Ethan, swallowing.
“Were you trying to die when you came here and just laid down and didn’t eat or drink?”
“I guess it was more that I didn’t care if I lived or died, and laying here was a way of dying without putting any effort into it.”
“Well, don’t you ever do that again, not ever. You come to me next time you’re feeling depressed or something. I’ll kick your ass if you ever do something like this again.”
Ethan laughed and said, “You’ve got a deal, Bud. And vice versa to you too.”
“It’s written in stone then,” said Daniel. “We come to each other if we’re feeling down from this day forward.” He removed his hand from Ethan’s shoulder, extended it towards him, and said, “Let’s shake on it.”
The boys shook hand warmly and Ethan said, “I feel one-hundred percent better now.”
“I’m glad of it,” said Daniel. “This was really a close call.”
“I’m also starting to feel a little less weak now,” said Ethan, standing up slowly, “thanks to you.”
“Yeah,” said Daniel, “I don’t want to rush you, but I’m ready to get moving as soon as possible. I thought this house was spooky before, but now I’m really creeped out about that whole Miss Green thing, coming in here after she’d already died. I hope she don’t come back.”
“I guess that was pretty amazing, thinking back on it,” said Ethan. “And I just thought of something else that’s a little aggravating.”
“What’s that?”
“She was telling me these really interesting stories about her life and sort of just left me hanging. Now I’ll never know the rest of the story, sort of like reading a good book and finding out the last chapter is missing.”
“Is there anyone else you might be able to ask about it, who might know?”
“I suppose I could talk to Miss Satterfield who works for her, or did. She’s known her for a long time. But I doubt if she’ll even talk to me. That woman has hated me from the start. And there’s something weird going on down in the cellar of that house. That Miss Satterfield about has a stroke every time I even get close to the door. Miss Green said she was going to tell me about it, but she was taking her time getting around to it. That’s another thing I’ll be left wondering about if I can’t convince Miss Satterfield to talk to me, which I’m sure I can’t.”
“Of course you’ll have to fill me in on it if you ever find out,” said Daniel. “You’ve got me curious. “But for now, I’m ready to get out of here if you are.”
“Me too,” said Ethan. “Let’s go.”
“Besides, you smell like you need a bath.”
“That’s the first thing I’m going to do when I get home.”
The two boys walked out on the porch where they sat for a while longer, as Ethan was still feeling weak. Finally, feeling stronger, he climbed on his bike and Daniel followed him home, leaving the forsaken mansion behind them.
“It looks like Mom’s home,” said Ethan, as they pulled into the driveway of his little home. The bike ride had nearly exhausted him, as it was very hot out, and he hadn’t fully recovered yet. “She must have stayed home from work.”
“Do you want me to help try and explain things to her?” said Daniel. “I’m pretty used to having to deal with my mom about something all the time. I can be a pretty smooth talker.”
“No, but thanks anyway,” said Ethan. “This has to be between me and her. I’ll catch up to you as soon as I get a chance. I may be grounded for a while, but hopefully not.”
“Okay, Man, I’ll head on home then. Good luck.”
“Thanks, I’ll need it,” said Ethan. “And thanks again for everything.”
“Don’t mention it. Just helping out a friend. I know you’d do the same.”
“You bet I would.”
Daniel rode away, and Ethan stood staring nervously at the house for a few moments. He wasn’t sure how his mom was going to react to his return. He hoped he wasn’t going to be grounded and ruin the rest of his summer. He at least had a little leverage. If she tried to ground him, he’d remind her that it was her fault that he ran away because she’d lied to him all those years. What did she expect him to do: be happy about it? Thinking it over, he was pretty sure he could get out of being in too much trouble. Finally, he parked his bike, leaning it against the front porch, and walked up the steps. Slowly, he opened the squeaky front door.
“Ethan, is that you?” he heard his mom say. Sandy ran up to him from the kitchen and hugged him tightly. He didn’t return her embrace. “Oh, Ethan, I’m so sorry for everything. I was so worried about you. I haven’t slept a wink since you left. I know I did the wrong thing. I should have been honest from the beginning.
Ethan started crying, surprising himself. He had a flashback of his mom hugging him the same way the moment they got official word that his dad’s body had been recovered. Sandy hugged him tighter and cried too.
“Can we start over?” said Sandy. “I know I’ve made a mess of things, but all we can do now is make a new beginning, a new honest beginning.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said Ethan, pulling away from her embrace and wiping his eyes dry with his forearm. “I’ve thought hard about a lot of things when I was away, and I think I’m going to be okay. But I’m still pretty upset over it, not to mention extremely tired. So I won’t be over it right now, not today. I need some more time to be mad. But tomorrow, if it’s okay with you, tomorrow when we get out of bed, it’ll be a new beginning. I don’t want us to drag this out and be miserable. And I don’t think either of us needs to be pun
ished for anything that’s happened involving this. Punishment will just drag this whole miserable episode out. How about tomorrow we put it all behind us and start a new life?”
“That would be wonderful,” said Sandy, crying and again hugging him tightly.
Ethan coldly pulled away from her. “Not today,” he said, “I’m still mad today. I need to be mad today.” With that he walked to his room and slammed the door and locked it. Sandy timidly pecked on the door. “We’ll talk tomorrow,” yelled Ethan. “I’ll be okay then, so please go away for now.”
“Just wanted to say I love you,” said Sandy.
“That’s fine,” said Ethan, feeling confident that he’d successfully dodged any punishment. After a quick bath, he lay down on his bed and fell into a deep sleep. He awoke at some point during the night and snuck quietly into the kitchen and ate Oreos with a glass of milk. Returning to his bed, he slept soundly until the morning sun touched his face. Feeling refreshed and happy, he decided to put all the bad thoughts behind him and live the best life he could live from that point forward.
“Get up, Mom!” he said, gently tapping Sandy’s shoulder, arousing her from sleep.
“What’s going on, Ethan?” she asked, rubbing her eyes and sitting up in bed. “I guess you want to talk about all that’s happened.”
“Nope,” said Ethan. “Don’t want to talk a thing about it. I told you it was going to be a new day today. Why don’t we go do something fun. That is if I’m not grounded and you don’t have to work.” He sat down on the bed.
“Of course you’re not grounded,” she said, quickly kissing him on the cheek. “I’m the one who should be grounded, if anybody. And I took the rest of the week off from work. So what do you want to do? I think getting out and doing something fun is just the thing we need to refresh our minds. Things have been too heavy between us for a long time.”
A Million Doorways Page 18