Bumstead's Well

by R E Swirsky

  "Yeah, I'm here."

  "Did you hear what I said?"

  "I heard you."

  "Then you'll go over?"

  "If it's what you really want."

  Dean smiled. He knew he was seeing the edge of Jet's problematic nature. "It is what I want. So how about you go over right now. The sooner you apologize, the better."

  Dean heard Jet release an infuriated sigh over the radio. "I'll head over now," he said.

  Dean could tell Jet was not pleased, but he wasn't about to let him stray. Not on his watch. He thought about asking Jet about the ghost Millie mentioned but decided to wait. He was more concerned about his cell phone.

  "Do you have my phone?"

  "I do," Jet replied. He sounded annoyed that Dean even asked.

  "Are you going to load the pictures?"

  Jet didn't reply.

  "Jet?"

  "I'm going over to the old man's place like you asked."

  "About my pictures..."

  "I just told you, I'm going over to see the old man. What the hell else do you want from me right now, Dean? I have your damn pictures. Just get off my back already."

  The dam holding back Jet's true nature had certainly cracked this morning. Dean decided not to provoke Jet any further.

  "Just go talk to Chris. That's all I want for now."

  Jet turned the radio off.

  CHAPTER 51 Day Seven - Thursday 12:58 PM

  "Where's Arlene?" Chris asked.

  "She went out for a walk along the river. She goes for a lot of walks it seems,” Anita replied. “She goes every day, around noon and again after dinner. I offered to go with her, but she said she wanted to be alone to think about some things.”

  “Think about things? What does she have to think about?” he said, but he knew there was a lot for her to think about after being away for so many years.

  “I really don’t know, Chris. I asked to go with her yesterday after dinner, but she said no then too.” She laughed lightly as she wiped her hands on the kitchen towel and grabbed the kettle. “I can’t really walk that far these days anyways.”

  Chris nodded and sat down at the kitchen table.

  Anita filled the kettle for tea. "You and Vincent were gone awful early. I didn’t even hear either of you get up."

  "I took him out to the Bumstead place."

  "Oh?" Anita frowned. "Whatever for?" she asked, but Chris could tell she knew why he went out there.

  Chris hesitated. He wanted to make up some reason to cover the truth, but her stare reached deep inside him. "You know I couldn't just go out there by myself. We were only out there for a bit and then grabbed breakfast over at Denny's afterwards."

  "And..."

  "Service was damned slow and it wasn't even busy in there today. Ever since that young girl, Alex, left the kitchen, it hasn’t been so good in there. I asked for eggs over easy like I always do and they were over hard. Not even a bit of runny egg to dip my toast into. I had half a mind to not leave a tip. I don't know why I keep going back there."

  Anita stopped fussing with the tea and stared at Chris. "Chris, you know what I mean. I don't care about your silly breakfast at Denny's."

  Chris smiled and forced a laugh. "That new Officer Wu, the one who was with Dean the other day, showed up just as we were about to leave. I didn’t expect to see anyone out there, and it was a good thing I brought Vincent with me. I don't like that Officer."

  "He came by the house while you were out."

  "What? Who did?" Chris asked. He sat up straight and stared at Anita in disbelief.

  "That Officer Wu. He stopped by the house looking for you and Vincent."

  Chris frowned. "How long ago?"

  Anita looked up at the clock. "Must've been half an hour.”

  "What did he want?"

  Anita shook her head. "I really don't know. Arlene answered the door and slipped out front to talk to him."

  "Out front?"

  "Yes." The kettle began to whistle, and Anita removed it from the burner.

  Chris's mind raced over what happened with Officer Wu at the well. Why would he come by the house?

  "Did Arlene say what he wanted?"

  "No. She looked awful upset though. I could see she was trying to hide it but I could tell he upset her. I think that's why she went out for her walk."

  "Surely she must have said something about why he came all of the way out here?"

  "Just that he wanted to talk to you and Vincent."

  Chris watched Anita pour the water for the tea and cover the teapot with a tea cozy to let it steep. Was it possible that Officer Wu saw what he saw at the bottom of the well? He certainly didn't act like he saw anything at the time. Could he really have loaded and viewed those pictures that quickly?

  "I don't like that man at all," Chris said. "He was really belligerent and rude to Vincent. He nearly had the poor boy in tears. I was so damned angry I would have liked to have thrown him down that bloody well."

  "Chris! Don't even pretend to talk like that."

  Chris was furious again. "I'm sorry, but that officer had no right to behave the way he did with us. You should have heard him. Taunting Vincent and then threatening to lower him down to the bottom with that rope that was still hanging out there."

  "Oh my. He doesn't sound very nice."

  "I don't like him. And that reminds me..." Chris stood up to leave the room. "I left the rope in my car. If Officer Wu thinks I'm turning that rope over to him, he's got another thing coming."

  "Rope?" Anita asked.

  "The rope the boys lowered into the well. Vincent took it from the shed out back. That officer wanted me to hand it over to him."

  "What in heaven's name for?"

  "That, Anita, is a very good question. I don't like that man."

  "You keep saying that."

  "Well I don’t, Goddamn it,” Chris said. He left the room to return the rope to the shed.

  CHAPTER 52 Day Eight - Friday 8:49 AM

  "Hi Millie. Has Jet been in yet?"

  It was Friday morning and Dean had a lot on his mind.

  "He just called and said he has some bad stomach cramps."

  "What? He seemed fine yesterday morning when I spoke to him.”

  “He might come in later. He said he went to Timmy’s like he does every morning for breakfast, and it just snuck up on him when he hopped in his truck. He’s going back home for now. Said he’d be in later if it lets up.”

  “Did he at least drop off my phone before he left last night?"

  Millie looked at Dean. "Sorry. Did you check your desk?"

  Dean quickly scanned his desk and logged onto the computer. The phone wasn't anywhere around and none of the photos were uploaded.

  "What the hell is Jet thinking? I need my phone. I only gave it to him to the load the photos, and now he's had it for two days. I probably won't get it back until Monday if he doesn’t come in."

  "You should have used the shop camera. Nobody to blame but yourself on that one. He is entitled to a sick day."

  Dean hated it when Millie was right. "How hard is it to upload a few bloody photos?"

  Millie laughed.

  "I know, I know. I should have done it myself." He wondered for a moment if Jet had deliberately failed to load the photos and feigned being sick after their minor altercation yesterday.

  "Yes, you should have done it yourself. But Jet did seem out of sorts when he came in at the end of his shift last night."

  “Out of sorts? What kind of out of sorts are we talking about?"

  “Maybe that’s why he didn’t load those photos of yours. He looked awfully pale and said that he saw that ghost again."

  Dean was tired of the ghost talk. "Aw, Jesus, Millie. There's no ghost. What is the matter with this guy?"

  Millie chuckled. She liked knowing all of the strange tales. "He didn't say too much last night, and I could tell he was in a hurry to get out of here. He just said that he saw the ghost again. And he spoke to her thi
s time."

  “Her?” Dean shook his head in disbelief. He hated listening to this crap. “The ghost is a female?"

  "Yup."

  "Did she at least speak back to him?"

  Millie laughed again. "He didn't say."

  "Well, did he say what he said to the ghost?"

  "He didn't say that either. He just said that he saw the ghost again, and he didn't know what to do about it."

  Dean heard enough. "He's sick all right. He's starting to see things. Did you give him some advice about these ghosts he claims to be seeing?"

  Millie shrugged. "I told him if he's starting to see ghosts then maybe he's low on Vitamin B or something. My mother had a deficiency of Vitamin B once, and she swore she saw miniature wildebeests running around the house, hiding in the closets, and scooting around corners. The doctor said it was because she was very low on vitamin B and watched too many of those nature documentaries."

  Dean smiled at Millie. "Your mother is a very nice lady."

  "But she did see miniature wildebeests. It's true."

  He nodded. "I think Jet is missing something more than just Vitamin B."

  CHAPTER 53 Day Eight - Friday 7:22 PM

  "Just look at him!" Arlene said to Barbara. "He looks like Richie Cunningham."

  Barbara rolled her eyes, reached over, and tugged at her husband, Charlie, who was trying hard not to be pulled into the conversation. Barbara found Arlene's manic behaviour annoying and preferred not to entertain Arlene alone.

  "I really don't see the resemblance at all," Barbara replied. She knew Charlie was not about to step in to rescue her.

  "But, look..." Arlene tilted her head and puckered her lips. "He's got those little dimples on his cheeks." She tittered like a school girl.

  "Vincent doesn't have freckles and his hair's not the same,” Barbara replied.

  "If his hair was thin and reddish instead of blonde then you'd see what I mean. He's even skinny like Richie Cunningham."

  Vincent looked up and across the room when he heard his name. His mother and other relatives were staring at him. He turned away and whispered something to his Gramps sitting next to him. His Gramps laughed and rubbed his hand across Vincent's head. Vincent smiled back and whispered something in Anna's ear, and she laughed too.

  "Who's this Richie?" Darrel piped in.

  "He's from a TV show from the seventies," his mother replied.

  Darrel snickered. "No wonder I have no idea what she's talking about. I wasn't even born then."

  "The rest of us have no idea what she's talking about most of the time either, Darrel,” Jennifer replied and chuckled.

  "You don't see it? Really? None of you?" Arlene asked again.

  "No!" Barbara and Charlie said in unison and laughed.

  Arlene was clearly disappointed that her siblings didn't see things the way she did, and she continued to stare giddily across the room at Vincent. The resemblance was so very clear to her.

  "So tell me," Barbara said to Arlene to change the subject. "You never updated any of us on what it is you’ve been doing out in Vancouver."

  Arlene's giddiness fell away like a heavy stone, and she lowered her eyes.

  "Arlene?" Barbara prompted. "You must be doing something out there," she said pleasantly. "What have you been up to all of this time?"

  Arlene turned and glared at Barbara. "Why do you want to know?" she snapped. "Why does everyone have to know what everyone else is doing? What does it matter what I do? Huh?"

  Barbara recoiled at Arlene's sudden change in temperament. "I didn't mean..."

  "What!" Arlene spewed loudly. The room went immediately quiet and all eyes shifted to Arlene.

  "You didn't mean what?" she hollered. "I didn't ask you what you do! Why can't everyone just be satisfied with knowing what they know, huh? Why does everyone feel like they have to know everything?"

  Barbara sat upright and reached out with one arm towards Arlene in an attempt to console her. "I'm so sorry, Arlene. I didn't mean to upset you. I was just trying find out a bit more about you."

  Arlene recoiled from Barbara. “Well, you don't need to know!" she shouted and stood up. "What I do is my own fucking business and no one else’s!" She stormed off down the hall to Chris' study.

  "Arlene," Chris called as she brushed past him, but she continued to race away without so much as a glance.

  Barbara looked at Charlie, shook her head, and tried not to laugh at the strange outburst. Charlie recognized everyone's discomfort and immediately stood up and raised his beer in the air. "Um, hey! Everyone!"

  The uneasiness about the room remained as Charlie pumped his glass in the air a few more times urging everyone to grab their drink and raise it high into the air. "Where's mom? Mom needs to be here with the rest of us. Mom?"

  "I think she's in the kitchen," Chris said. "Anita!"

  Barbara got up and leaned into the kitchen. "Anita, just leave the dishes. I'll help you with those later. Charlie wants to make a toast and he wants us all in the living room."

  Anita dropped what she was doing, followed Barbara into the room, and stood by the door wiping her hands with the towel.

  "Barbara and I have to leave soon, and I really wanted to say something to Vincent before we go." He pumped his glass one more time higher into the air and smiled at Vincent.

  "Vincent, I don't know when we'll see each other again. Maybe Thanksgiving or even Christmas."

  "I'm coming back for Thanksgiving," Vincent replied.

  "Thanksgiving it is, then. I just wanted to say it's so good to have you back. It's not every day you get to have someone very special in your life return from the dead."

  Many laughed.

  "I was never dead," Vincent said and smiled.

  "Well that shiny black coffin looked pretty darn real to us. We all believed it, and we all cried terribly hard. Let me just say that those few days were very hard for all of us. Especially for mom and dad." Chris nodded, and Anita smiled at Vincent and blew him a kiss. "You mean a lot to us, kiddo. We almost lost you, and that is something that will stick with us for a very long time."

  Multiple comments of agreement were uttered.

  "You have made a difference in our lives. The biggest in the lives of mom and dad. Just look at them."

  Anita was wiping away a tear that rolled down her cheek, and Chris was looking very stoic.

  "In a few days you'll be going back to university, and that, my young nephew, is a very big deal. Only two more years and you'll have your degree and be on your way to a great future and great adventures. But hopefully the rest of your life will not be quite as eventful as this last adventure of yours." Chuckles echoed his sentiment. "We are all very proud of you, Vincent. I just wanted you to know that."

  "Hear, hear!" Graham shouted.

  "Let's all raise our glasses and drink. A toast to Vincent!"

  Glasses were lifted, arms stretched, and glasses clinked in response to Charlie's toast and the many other toasts that followed. Vincent grinned and smiled humbly. He accepted the praise in stride.

  The family gathering ended with Anita and Chris giving hugs and thanks as the guests departed.

  ***

  Arlene remained alone in Chris' study long into the evening. When she finally emerged, she behaved as if her episodic outburst of earlier never even happened. No one dared to bring up her shameless behavior, and Arlene was soon sitting on the sofa next to her mother in silent restlessness. She fidgeted about until it seemed she couldn't stand it any longer.

  "Ahem," she grunted loudly to clear her throat. Chris, Anita, and Anna all looked up at her curiously. "I want to say something. It's mostly to Vincent, but I want you all to hear what I have to say."

  Vincent gazed out the window when she entered the room. He cast a short glance her way as she cleared her throat. It was no secret that he didn't want to listen to a single word his mother had to say.

  "Just so you all know, I'm leaving tomorrow." Her expression was tight and serious, but
her eyes danced around manically as if the unspoken anxiety behind her earlier rage still lingered precariously below the surface.

  Vincent turned towards her. "I hope you're not expecting to sit next to me and Anna on the plane."

  "Vincent!" his Grams scolded.

  "I'm not sitting next to her all the way back to Vancouver! I'm not! She knows Anna and I are leaving tomorrow. That’s probably the only reason she has to leave the same day as us.”

  Anna looked at Vincent's grandparents.

  Arlene clenched her fists and thumped one of them on the seat beside her. "Darn it, Vincent!" She clenched her teeth as she spoke. "I'm not even on the same flight as you. I made sure of that."

  "Good," he replied.

  "Vincent, please stop talking like that to your mother," his Grams insisted.

  Vincent stood up to leave. "She's not my mother."

  Anna grabbed his hand to prevent him from walking away.

  "Like it or not, Vincent," his Gramps said. "She is your mother, so please sit down."

  Arlene beat the couch with her fist. "Hey! I'm trying to say something here! Would you all just shut up and let me talk!"

  Anita was startled by Arlene's aggression.

  "Just all of you, listen to me!" she shouted, and stood up with her fists tightly clenched.

  Vincent moved nearer to Anna and glared openly at the others with his mouth open as if to say, "See? Can’t you all see she is crazy?”

  "I only wanted to say that I am glad I came back here! I am! I really don't care what you all think of me. I know Charlie and Jennifer hate me..."

  "They don't hate you," Anita interjected.

  "...but I probably deserve it. I never wanted to come back here and be a bother to anyone, but I am glad I came back.”

  She turned her attention to Vincent. “And mostly I'm glad I got to see you, Vincent. You don't have to like me and you don't even have to talk to me ever again, but I will always be around if you change your mind someday."

  He grunted. "How about never?"

  "Someday..." She said forcefully and forced a smile at him. He didn’t return it. "And thanks mom and dad for putting up with me this week."