by Lynn Hones
“I tell you, Pearl. Every time I pull into this driveway, I feel like I’m coming home. Those two treat people like everyone should.” Ruth turned the car off, and they got out.
“Hello,” the two elderly people called.
“We had a taste for some goat milk fudge.”
Mrs. Schuster grew silent and put her hand to her mouth. “I-I can’t believe how you look,” she said, tears forming in her eyes. “You are sick, so sick.”
“I’m run down, is all. I’ll feel better, soon. Don’t worry.”
Mrs. Schuster looked down “Is this your little one?” Her thick Polish accent was hard to understand.
“Yes, this is my Pearl.”
“She is gorgeous. Come…come, I have fresh crullers just fried up and sitting on the table. Hurry in before they get cold. We need to fatten you up.”
Mr. Schuster bent at the waist and stared at Pearl. “Would the little one like to see our goat? Her name is Mildred and she loves little girls. She thinks they taste good.” He let out a laugh.
“Can I, Mommy?”
“It will be okay,” he said. “You can look right out the kitchen window to the fenced in area where we keep her.”
“Yes, you can.”
“Come, little one.”
They walked off together, Pearl exhibiting a bit of a skip in her step, something that had been missing for so long.
“So, how are things going with our Pearl?” Mrs. Schuster asked.
“About the same. She’s been seeing the same people, but now more of them are popping up.” Ruth shook her head. “I don’t understand it. It’s as if there’s a war going on, some type of spiritual warfare and my baby is caught in the middle.”
“She will be fine. We are all put here on this earth to play a roll, to perform a duty. Hers, then, might be to keep our lines of communication open with the other side.”
Ruth smiled sadly and glanced out the window at Mr. Schuster and Pearl feeding the goat. “I know. I just wish it would end. She’s so young.”
“I worry more about you. The dark circles under your eyes and your sunken-in cheeks.” She shuddered. “You remind me much of someone that was to me very dear.”
“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t want to upset you in any way.”
“I know. Here.” Mrs. Schuster moved the plate of crullers toward Ruth. “Food helps.” She started to laugh heartily. “Food always helps. You eat more of these.”
Ruth smiled and reached for a cruller. “I had a strange dream,” she blurted out.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Mrs. Schuster said.
“It was so bizarre. I think it might be from this entire thing happening to Pearl, but I had a nightmare that I was in line at a concentration camp. I was only about fifteen or so. A couple ahead of me was being horribly mistreated, and I watched the abuse, but couldn’t say anything. The thing is, when they wanted me to join them, to go to the left, I couldn’t. I felt so torn. Like I was betraying them, but a man told me that left meant death, so I screamed that I didn’t know them. I can still see the hurt in the woman’s eyes. Another girl, about twenty, went with them.” Ruth shook her head. “It’s all so terrifying.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Don’t beat yourself up for that.”
Her comment confused Ruth. “For what?”
“For not helping them. You, yourself, were only a frightened girl.”
With a sinking feeling, Ruth said, “It was only a dream.”
Mrs. Schuster smiled and patted her hand. “Yes, yes it was.” Something in her continence unsettled Ruth.
The older woman continued. “Life can be very terrifying, my dear. But it can also be very beautiful. Stay positive. Everything will work out for the best.”
“I wanted to ask you something,” Ruth said changing the subject. “Were you living in this area when a family disappeared? The family was named Schuster, too.”
“Yes, I do remember that. It was very sad.”
“Are you any relation?”
“Oh, no. Schuster is quite a common last name. Especially here, where there are a lot of people of German or Polish ancestry.”
Mr. Schuster and Pearl came in, both of them laughing.
“Mommy, that goat is so mean. She wanted to bite me.”
“No, little one. The goat wanted to eat you,” Mr. Schuster said. He got on his knees and gave Pearl a hug, while they all laughed. The old couple seemed to enjoy pampering Pearl—feeding her, giving her lemonade, little wooden carvings.
When it came time to leave, Mrs. Schuster wrapped her arms around Ruth. The embrace lasted a long time, but Ruth didn’t mind. Being in the rotund women’s hold grounded her. It brought her to a mellow state nothing else could touch.
Mrs. Schuster let her go and bent down and looked into Pearl’s face. “You are a brave little girl. If these things are happening to you, it is for a very important reason. Trust God, trust yourself and trust your inner spirit.”
After she hugged Pearl, she handed her a small gold key. It was tied to a ribbon. Here, my darling, wear this. You will know when it is needed.
As they drove away Pearl wasn’t sure if she should tell her mother that Mrs. Schuster didn’t use her mouth to tell her about the key. She used her mind.
Ruth hadn’t heard one word from Paul, but that didn’t surprise her. He dropped the girls off and picked them up like they’d been a divorced couple for years, instead of just a married one having a disagreement. He waited in the car for them to come out, instead of coming in.
The weather, sunny all day, turned dark and ominous toward evening. A light touch of electricity, similar to before a storm, swam in the air, turning everything, and it seemed everyone on edge.
Later that evening, Al came back.
A crack of lightening brought them to full attention. The flash conveyed an eerie radiance. Ruth felt the current of Mother Nature to her very core. Always fearful during storms, she felt this one had a physically powerful element to it. The candle flames flickered steadily and cast their own ominous glow of dark combating good.
Ruth adjusted herself on the love seat in the corner while Al sat in front of the lit fireplace. A sound in the basement caught their attention.
“Sometimes they…”
“I know,” Ruth interrupted, “they don’t want to appear to the homeowner.”
“It’s nothing against you. You are so tired, sleep if you want.” He answered.
Ruth shook her head to clear her vision. “Yeah, okay. Go do your thing.”
The fire cracked and woke her. Alone, she saw the sun still hadn’t risen. Where is he? Bedraggled, muddled, and unbearably sick, she rubbed her throbbing temples.
She sat and surveyed the room. His equipment was still there. She stood and wobbled to the kitchen. “Hello,” she called out. No reply came. After a cold drink of water from the faucet, she walked around the house calling out for Al. Finally convinced she was alone, she started a pot of coffee.
A noise issued from the basement.
Red streaks danced on the beige tile of the kitchen, cast by the breaking sun coming through the window and catching in a wind chime. She opened the door and started down the stairs. Each step caused a slight pain behind her eyes, but she ignored it, and attempted to put a smile on her crabby face.
“Hello,” Ruth called out. “What’s all that horrible racket?”
“Ruth?” As if getting caught with his hand in a cookie jar, Al backed out of the shadows and smiled. “I was trying hard not to wake you.”
She made it to the bottom of the stairs. “Don’t worry about that. What are you doing?” She ran her hand through her hair and tied it up with a rubber band she had wrapped around her wrist. “Because, no offense, if my husband found out you were excavating down here, he’d have a fit.”
“No, I’m searching around.” He rubbed his hands together, still smiling.
“Oh, okay.” She wandered into the middle of the basement. “Have you found anything?” She gaze
d over the room. “I mean, anything that might lead you to find if there are any letters or documents?”
“No, not yet,” Al said. “But I have dowsing rods, and although they take a good, long time, they can usually spot things you’re looking for.” He held two bent metal wires in his hands. “When they cross, it means I might be close to something.”
“I see,” she said, although she really didn’t understand at all. “What’s this all over the floor?” A white dusting covered the entire basement.
Al explained. “I sprinkled baby powder to see if we’d get footprints.”
“Did you?” Achingly aware that she’d have to clean it all up before Paul saw it, she inwardly cringed.
“No,” Al enthusiastically answered. “But…if you look here, by the furnace, there’s a handprint.”
She followed him over. “Oh, yeah. See there.” The handprint of a small child disturbed the coating of white.
“I’ve been thinking there might be something in the area.”
“Something as in…”
“More letters,” he said. “But, I’m going to be off. I’m going home to rest for awhile.”
She nodded her assent.
Chapter Seventeen
Laura stopped by for coffee later that day to visit and check up on Ruth. Lotus and Pearl, home from school, were in their rooms.
“I’m so worried about you,” Laura said taking a sip from her cup. “I just wish there was something I could do to help.”
“Just be there for me.”
Laura sat back and crossed her arms. “Well, I have a little tidbit of info I bet you didn’t know.”
“What?”
“Guess who lived in your house years before you did.”
“Who?”
“The Eberstarks.”
“What?” A bolt of electricity ran through Ruth’s arms. It was an odd sensation and she shook to clear it. “Do you mean the Eberstarks?”
“Yep. The one and only. They didn’t live here very long, though. Only about one year. Then they moved on to bigger and better things. No offense.”
“No offense taken. Those people could afford a mansion.”
“Yes, they could.”
“Didja find anything else out?”
“Nada. Absolutely nothing. When their first child was born they lived here, and then realized it was just too small.”
“Hmm. Well, I guess that makes me kinda happy. I mean they were like the most popular couple in the city…”
“The state,” Laura emphasized.
“Yeah. It’s a bit of a claim to fame, in a way. But I wonder why Mrs. Eberstark never said anything?”
“Did she know where you lived?”
Ruth smiled. “No, I guess not. Well, thanks for your research. It really doesn’t help us much, but it’s interesting.”
A thud-like sound reverberated in the air. “What was that?” Laura asked twisting in her chair toward the noise.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the—”
The sound came again, louder this time.
“It’s coming from the basement,” Ruth said. With concern, they stood and headed cautiously down the stairs.
Once there, they saw Pearl wielding a large sledgehammer that weighed more than she did. She hit the ground again, as best as she could, near the old furnace. Puddles pawed and whined by the spot.
“Pearl, stop this instant.” Ruth walked up to her, and grabbed the hammer from her hands and laid it on the ground. “What in the world are you doing?”
“Mommy, I have to get the box out of the ground.”
“What box?”
“My friend, the one from the backyard. She said there is a very important box buried in the basement next to the furnace. I looked and this part of the floor looks different than the other part.”
The basement, though redone into a family room before they bought the house, had a furnace area rarely used, except for storage.
Laura knelt to where Pearl pointed. “She’s right, Ruth. Look here.”
They were indeed looking at a part of the flooring not in sync with the rest. “What do you suppose is down there?”
“I don’t know, but I’d say it has something to do with what Pearl’s been going through, wouldn’t you?”
Ruth quickly glanced at her daughter. “Give me that hammer.”
Pearl picked it up and handed it to her mother. Ruth hit at and worked around the spot, noticing the mortar giving way easily. Once they removed all the bricks from the area, she had Pearl run upstairs for a knife to cut around the edge of some linoleum glued down underneath. “I’m ready to pull it up,” she said. “Stand back.” Once she’d gotten that out of the way, she ripped up the thin wood floor and a hole containing a large box greeted their eyes.
“Look,” Ruth said.
“Mommy. What did you find?”
“I-I don’t know, but if Auntie Laura would give me a hand, we can find out. Here, Laura, you go grab that side.”
Together and with great difficulty, the two women lifted the box.
“This thing weighs a ton,” Laura said.
“You can say that again,” Ruth answered. After dusting it off, she went to lift the latch and saw it was locked. “This thing is solid as a rock. We’ll need dynamite to open it.”
“No you won’t. I have the key.” Pearl took it out of her pants pocket.
“Where did you get this?”
“Mrs. Schuster. She told me to wear it like a necklace, but it’s just not my style, ya know.”
Smiling Ruth patted her on the head. “Yeah, kiddo, I know.”
Ruth stuck the key into the lock and it turned. When she lifted the lid, gold bars shone back at them. Awestruck, Ruth and Laura looked at each other.
“My God, Ruth,” Laura said. “These have to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.” A rustic file folder sat next to the big box and Ruth pulled that out, opened the folder, and noticed hundreds of bills, of varying denominations, stuffed inside, along with certificates of some kind.
“They’re written in German,” Ruth said.
“Mom, there’s something else.” Another smaller box sat in the corner. Ruth bent down and lifted it out. This one used the same key, and when opened, displayed hundreds, perhaps thousands of diamonds. “This can’t be happening. Why are these things in my house?”
“Is that some sort of tarp?” Laura pointed down.
Under everything lay a large green canvas. “Do you suppose there’s more?” Ruth questioned.
“Might as well take a peek.” Laura swung her legs over into the hole and slid down. She knelt and took up a corner of the thick fabric and pulled it back. “Hmm. It’s just more earth.”
“Pull it up all the way,” Ruth suggested.
Listening to her friend, Laura pulled it back completely and let out a scream. There, in front of their eyes, lay a small skeleton, broken and flattened by the heavy cases placed upon it so many years before.
After they calmed down, Ruth brought Pearl up to her bed and laid her down.
“That’s my friend, Elise, Mom. That’s her. Oh, Mommy, is that what death looks like?”
“Yes, my darling, but most people don’t see it. No one digs up graves. We had no idea she’d be there.”
“What are we going to do now?” Pearl sobbed.
“I’m going to call your daddy. He’ll know what to do. You just rest.”
She yelled for Lotus. “Stay with your sister and don’t leave her alone. She saw something in the basement and it frightened her.”
“Can I go see?”
“Heavens, no. One traumatized child is enough for today. Keep Puddles with you, too.”
Ruth and Laura stayed in the basement with their discovery. Something about the sad little skeleton brought out the maternal instinct and both felt they should not leave it alone. Paul came home and Ruth heard him come down the basement stairs.
“What do you mean you just found it?” he said. “This is asto
unding. People don’t just find this kind of stuff in their house, Ruth.”
“It’s a child. Pearl said she is a friend who visits her. This friend, Elise, told Pearl that she stayed in our house even though she was dead and now—this. Do you believe her now?”
“That’s not important. What is important is that we contact the authorities and get this child a decent burial.”
“What about all this?” Laura asked sweeping her arms over the found money, gold, and diamonds.
“I don’t know. It’s not ours,” Paul said.
“Don’t you think I know that? The question is, what do we do with it?”
“Hell if I know.” Paul rubbed his hand over his face. “There’s millions of dollars worth of gold and jewels alone, not including the cash.”
“The money is so old, too,” Ruth said. “It’s from the nineteen-forties.” Sitting on the basement floor, in front of the treasure, Ruth shuddered. “Should we call the police?”
“I-I just don’t know. I mean, legally, it’s ours. Isn’t it? I mean if you found something on your property, it belongs to you.”
“I know, but I don’t feel right keeping it, do you?”
“Let me get a handle on this for a minute. I need time to think.”
Ruth paged through several of the documents and looked up at Paul. “These certificates, they’re made out to a Frieda and or Fritz Wagner. Everything is written in German, so I can’t understand what they are?”
“Here, let me have those.” Paul scanned them. “Tell you what, I have a relative who speaks German. I’ll take these over to him and see what he has to say. In the meantime, hide all of this. We’ll take care of one thing at a time. Call the police and they’ll let us know what to do next about the—those bones.”
The police came and called the county coroner. Laura left, so Ruth watched as the coroner removed the bones with care and dignity. She felt the mother of this child would appreciate it, but it got to be too much for her in her weak condition and she went upstairs to lie down.
Later that evening, Ruth tossed and turned on the couch. Her body ached and she wondered if she was coming down with the flu on top of her already flu-like symptoms. She wanted to get up to take something to make her feel better, but found she was too weak to even move. She tried to call out to her daughters, but her throat felt closed up, suffocating. Drifting in and out of consciousness, her mind went to that place of gray once again. She fought to stay awake. She didn’t want to go back there, back to that place of pure evil.