by Gayla Twist
I’d heard that there were so many electric lights in New York City that the stars were washed away and you couldn’t really see them at night. That wasn’t the case in Tiburon. It was a small town. Actually, there were some houses on the outskirts of town that still didn’t even have electricity. I sighed, looking up at the sky. I’d always yearned for something outside of the life laid out before me. It wasn’t that I didn’t love my family and the house where we lived. I even enjoyed our modest town. But I’d always secretly pined for something more that I couldn’t place my finger on. And now that yearning had a name; Jessie Vanderlind.
Movement in a nearby tree startled me a little and drew my attention. The trees were nothing but black silhouettes at night. I stared at the closest trees rather intently for several seconds. Was there something up in the apple tree, over toward the trunk? It was a dark form, but too large to be an owl or any other kind of bird. There was definitely a mass in the tree and I thought I had seen it move. I scanned the ground below the tree. I didn’t see a ladder or a car or anything. The apple’s lowest branches were too far up for anyone to climb up there without assistance. What in the world was in our tree?
Feeling a shiver running up my spine, I drew the curtains and hurried back to bed. I knew I was being foolish, but I couldn’t shake the distinct feeling that someone or something was watching me.
The next morning I slept in a little. I was tired from my bout of insomnia. One of the benefits of having a job that didn’t start until ten o’clock was that I didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn. By the time I opened my eyes; Lilly had already gotten out of bed and opened the curtains. It seemed silly to be nervous about looking outside in full daylight, but I had a flash of anxiety. Whatever I had caught a glimpse of out the window during the night had seemed very real. But in the bright light of day, I felt ashamed of my cowardice. I forced myself to stand up straight and walk over to the window.
There in the tree branches, where I had thought I’d seen a creature the previous evening, was a large squirrel’s nest. I immediately felt like a fool, but at least it explained why I’d seen movement in the tree. What it didn’t explain was how a sizeable squirrel’s nest had magically appeared overnight. And didn’t squirrels usually build their nests in the fall? I wasn’t a squirrel expert, but I didn’t think they did their building in the spring. I shrugged it off. I had always thought of myself as an observant person, but I’d obviously overlooked a large nest just outside of the window I gazed out of every day of my life.
As I came downstairs, I could hear Lilly talking with our parents. “It’s because their one son has some kind of blood disease,” she was telling them.
“I wonder what kind of disease that would be,” I heard my mother say. “It seems an awful lot of money.”
As I walked into the kitchen, I heard my father shift his chair. “If they have the means, and don’t want to run out of blood, then it’s probably a smart move.”
“I wonder how the poor dear managed to make the voyage from Europe, if he’s in such bad shape,” Mother said. Then she noticed me as I headed over to the breakfast nook. “Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?”
“I had trouble sleeping,” I said, helping myself to some toast from a plate. “Say, has anybody noticed the big squirrel’s nest up in the apple tree near Lilly and my window? It’s huge, but I don’t remember seeing it before. When did the squirrels build that?”
“That’s been there for months,” my father informed me. “I’ve half a mind to knock it down.”
“I don’t see how it’s hurting anyone,” Mama said in a gentle voice. She was of the strong conviction that my father didn’t have enough to do. He was always starting small projects and then letting them expand into giant tasks. “I hear Mr. Thorton is putting a new roof on his barn this afternoon. Maybe you could ride over after you drop the girls off and see what that’s all about.”
Papa looked at Mama out of the corner of his eye. He knew she was worried that he’d end up cutting down the apple tree if he got started on the squirrels. “I guess I might as well leave the nest alone.” he said. “And Jim Thorton doesn’t know one end of a ladder from the other. I’d better go make sure he doesn’t bust his head.”
Chapter 28
Jessie
It was embarrassing to admit, but I followed Colette and her sister home. It was really more happenstance than anything intentional. I’d spent the day pacing in my room. I couldn’t get the vision of Colette Gibson out of my head and it was impossible for me to focus on anything else. By nightfall, I was restless and feeling like I needed to stretch my wings, so to speak. I headed to the castle roof. I figured no one would notice if I took a few laps soaring up and down the Tiburon River. I doubted there would be any fisherman around so late in the evening. There might be a few couples canoodling on the shore, but they would probably only have eyes for each other.
As I looked over the edge of the castle roof, I could see Colette and her sister climbing into an automobile. It sounded like their father had stopped by to pick them up. I rose into the air as the car drove away, fully intending to stick to the waterway, but then I found myself following the Gibson family through the streets of Tiburon.
I hid on a neighboring rooftop as Colette climbed out of the car, following her father and sister into an attractive house with a neat front yard. There was no distinction between the backyard and the open fields dotted with trees behind the house. After that I forced myself to fly back home. It would be inappropriate for me to spy on the family while they ate their dinner. I still missed sitting down to an evening meal each night. I wondered how long I had to be a member of the undead before I forgot how it felt to enjoy food that wasn’t blood red and in a cup.
But after being home for a few hours, I found myself circling the Gibson house again, viewing it from all sides. I just wanted to be near Colette, but I knew there was no excuse for my behavior. I wouldn’t like it very much if there was some stranger sitting outside the castle, just hoping for a glimpse of Emily. So I decided to stop acting like a love-sick fool and go home.
Giving one more glance toward the darkened house where a girl lived that I didn’t even know, I was shocked to see that very girl gazing out the window. There was no time for me to fly away before she would notice me, so I concealed myself in the branches of a tree. I knew she must have caught a glimpse of me because, after staring in my direction for several seconds, she swiped the curtain closed.
I sat in the apple tree for at least an hour, never taking my eyes off the window. I wanted to make sure that no one was peeking out. Then I quickly gathered as many dead leaves and dried grasses as I could find, rolled it all into a ball and stuffed it into the crook of the tree where I had tried to conceal myself. It wasn’t the best deception, but it was the only thing I could think of to explain the dark figure that Colette had obviously glimpsed.
I spent the next week trying not to think about Colette and failing miserably. It would have been one thing if she was just some girl I had seen through a shop window and found attractive. But I had spoken to Colette. I knew the music of her voice. She had rushed to my aid when she thought I was grievously injured. She had held my hand and tried to ease my pain, not realizing she was creating the excruciating pain of longing, just by doing so. And then the fates had arranged it so she was in my home six days a week, dusting, and polishing, and scrubbing at things. It was true that the castle was an enormous structure. It was easy enough to avoid someone else in the building, if that was what you desired. But I desired to be with Colette every minute of every day. Keeping away from her was exquisite torture.
I was acting like an idiot. I knew that without a doubt. Colette Gibson was just a charming young woman who had caught my fancy. There was nothing more to it. I arose each evening with the new determination to forget about the pretty housemaid who probably thought no more of me than she did my brother.
“Your sweethearts going to a dance,” my sister
told me one evening after I had just gotten out of bed and made my way downstairs. Emily had become very good at engaging Colette in casual conversation, whenever she had the chance. I hadn’t asked her to pursue more information from the maid after my first request, but she somehow decided to take it upon herself.
“She isn’t my sweetheart,” I told her in a stern voice. “And I’m sorry I asked you to find out about her in the first place. She’s just a young woman who works in this house and she deserves her privacy.”
“So you don’t want to know about the dance?” Emily asked, her eyes a little wide with surprise.
“No,” I told her, trying to make my voice sound firm, although inwardly I felt stung. I couldn’t imagine Colette going to a dance with any young man, but me.
“You don’t want to know that it’s next Saturday night at the Mansfield Country Club in Mansfield, Ohio?” she said. I could tell that my sister was enjoying taunting me.
“It’s none of my business,” I informed her. “And I want to hear nothing more about it.” The truth was I desperately wanted to hear about it, but knowing the details would do me no good.
“And I suppose you don’t care that she doesn’t want to go because she doesn’t like her date,” Emily said, her voice teasing.
“Why would she go if she doesn’t like her date?” I couldn’t help but asked.
My little sister shrugged. “I guess she’s double dating with her sister and her boyfriend,” she said. “She wants to get out of it, but then her sister wouldn’t be able to go.”
“Oh,” I said. This piece of information made me frown. Any man would be lucky to having Colette Gibson as his date, so I assumed her escort would behave like a gentleman, but that didn’t explain her reluctance to go.
“There’s going to be swing music,” Emily went on. “Aren’t you a fan of swing music?”
“I enjoy all types of music,” I muttered, still thinking about Lettie’s date.
“Maybe you should get out some evening and go see a swing band,” Emily suggested with a suppressed giggle in her voice.
I immediately understood what she was suggesting. “No,” I told her, shaking my head. “That wouldn’t be right.”
“Why not?” Emily wanted to know. “Then maybe you could talk with her. Or even dance with her.” My little sister’s eyes started glowing again. “Come on,” she said, nudging my arm. “I know you want to.”
“Emily,” I said, taking both her hands and bending down so that we were forehead to forehead. “I’m not going to any dance. Not a mortal dance,” I informed her. “You know that would be dangerous for everyone, including me.”
“But you’re getting a lot better at controlling your appetite. Aren’t you?” she asked, leaning her weight slightly onto me.
“I am, but a dance is not a place to test my new found self control,” I informed her, straightening my spine, but still holding her hands.
“I suppose not,” my little sister said with a sigh. “It’s just that I like her so much. She’s really funny and she seems really nice.”
Closing my eyes for a second, I indulged in a sigh of my own. “Can we please not talk about Miss Gibson anymore?” I really didn’t need any more confirmation about how wonderful she was.
“She brings flowers to Arthur. Did you know that?”
“What?” I opened my eyes and frowned at my little sister.
“There have been a couple of days now where she shows up to work with a bouquet of wildflowers,” Emily reported. “I guess Colette and her sister ride over here on their bicycles. Sometimes she stops and cuts Arthur some flowers.”
“Why would she bring Arthur wildflowers?” I was puzzled. Arthur didn’t even exist; not that she knew that.
“I asked her the same thing.” Emily preened a little, pleased by her own cleverness. “She said that she hoped it might cheer him up a little to have some nature in his room. She said she felt bad that he was sick and couldn’t go outside himself.”
“Oh.” I thought this over. “That’s very sweet.” And, unfortunately, it made me admire Miss Gibson even more.
“She’s perfect for you,” Emily said. “I mean, really perfect.”
“Perfect, except for one thing,” I reminded her, letting go of her hands. “We can never be together.”
Chapter 29
Colette
I didn’t know if Jessie Vanderlind was avoiding me or if he was never home. Or maybe he was always just in another part of the castle. Their home was so massive and the family usually slept so late, that it wasn’t unusual for us to never see any of them for days at a time.
Except for the youngest girl, Emily. She seemed to be a morning person. She usually popped by to see Lilly and me at least once a day and frequently found a reason to spend time in whichever room we happened to be cleaning. She was a charming girl and I felt a little sorry for her. The rest of the family never seemed to be around, so she rambled the house by herself most of the time.
Sometimes Emily would go to the back of the house where the makeshift clinic was set up to draw blood from the volunteers. She liked to put on a little apron and play nurse, chatting with the people and serving them sandwiches, along with something to drink. Word had started to spread around Tiburon that the Vanderlinds would pay good money and supply a meal in exchange for a pint of blood. The first few days only two or three people showed up and these were people who looked very down on their luck. But it didn’t take long before there was a line of people each morning as the nurses hired to draw the blood opened the back door. The clinic began using a signup sheet where people were supposed to write their names. But then it became clear that some of the people willing to volunteer were unable to sign their names, so rather than embarrass some poor fellow who was struggling, the nurses started listing the names themselves. It didn’t take long before the Vanderlinds had more blood than they could handle, but they never turned anyone away. We’d heard that some of the local hospitals were happy to take what could be spared and that rumor was confirmed by men in white jackets driving up to the castle in an ambulance and then leaving with chests packed full of ice.
Lilly and I had only caught a few glimpses of the rest of the Vanderlind family, Jessie’s mother and brother. The brother, whose name was Daniel, was a lot like Jessie in general appearance, but he was made with less generous lines. His lips were thin and his hair was flat. He was somewhat handsome, but his features didn’t have the ample curves that Jessie’s had. No one ever saw poor Arthur, of course. He didn’t seem to ever leave his room and his isolation weighed on me.
The real surprise was the mother. She didn’t look a day over twenty-five. In fact, she looked more like a sister than a mother to her two sons. She had raven black hair and a flawless complexion. “I wonder what she puts on her face at night to keep it so wrinkle-free,” Lilly said one day while we were having lunch with Millie.
“You know, I asked her lady’s maid that very question,” Millie said between bites of a sandwich. “I’m not sure if she just didn’t understand me because of the language barrier, but she insisted that her mistress applied nothing to her face at all. She’s just naturally like that.”
“Hmmm...” Lilly frowned. “I’m not sure I believe that. I bet she has some face cream from Europe that costs about a hundred dollars a bottle.”
We didn’t have all that much to do as downstairs maids at the castle. Yes, we dusted quite a bit, washed windows, beat rugs, freshened drapes, and whatever else Mrs. Denkler could think of, but none of the things we were assigned to clean were actually all that dirty. If I found a thin layer of dust on any surface, it was always a surprise to me. There were only five Vanderlinds, after all, so it came as no wonder that there wasn’t much of a mess. Plus the family kept barely any kitchen staff. I’d only ever seen Emily seated for a meal. When I asked Mrs. Denkler about it, she said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but the family are practicing vegetarians. They eat very little, and their food is usually
raw, so they don’t need a dozen chefs to prepare it.”
Even with the peculiarities of the household, I loved working at the castle. The Vanderlinds had such beautiful things, and some of them appeared quite ancient. There were a few full suits of armor that we were assigned to oil one afternoon. We polished ornately carved chairs that were so massive, I thought of them as thrones. And they may very well have been thrones, for all I knew. But the best thing about working at the Vanderlind Castle was that it was where Jessie lived. Although I rarely caught a glimpse of him, I could feel his presence all around me and it kept the metal string running through my body vibrating all the time.
“I’ve not been disappointed with your performance,” Mrs. Denkler told the two of us the next morning.
Lilly and I exchanged glances. This was high praise from Mrs. Denkler.
She went on, “As long as you girls don’t do anything silly, then I’d like to keep you on as part of the downstairs staff.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Denkler,” we said in unison. I hadn’t even realized we were still under review.
“If you keep up the good work, then after a period of six months you will receive a wage increase of fifty cents per day,” the housekeeper informed us.
Lilly and I exchanged another look. That would be a whole extra dollar between us per day. That would be six dollars per week. Mama and Papa would be thrilled.
“I’m afraid school starts in the fall,” Lilly felt the need to point out. “I can stay on because I’ve graduated, but our parents will expect Lettie to finish up high school.”
“I could still come after school and on Saturdays,” I blurted. I’d been so happy working at the castle that it never occurred to me that I would go back to school.
The housekeeper scowled at both of us. “That’s ridiculous,” she said. “Why would you waste your time at school when you already have good paying jobs?”