Bunny Elder Adventure Series: Four Complete Novels: Hollow, Vain Pursuits, Seadrift, ...and Something Blue

by J. B. Hawker

  Sitting listlessly in the sparse shade on the ship’s gritty deck, Khu Khu tenderly smoothed the damp hair back from Htoo’s sweaty brow. The child was no longer feverish, but had yet to recover her strength. Now that Khu Khu was finally certain the little girl was out of danger, she allowed herself to be relieved, not only for the child’s recovery, but also that she didn’t require constant vigilance when they were on the deck. Htoo had passed through the crisis, but she no longer had the energy to attempt to carry out her foolish plan to jump overboard.

  Htoo was more fortunate than some of the captives. Three of their number had succumbed to the illness that swept through them in the past week. It was only through God’s mercy that everyone had not perished. Khu Khu was grateful her prayers for Htoo’s life had been granted.

  She continued to pray for protection and deliverance for all of the prisoners, because she feared that the end of their journey would make their time on this ship seem like a pleasure cruise. She could only entrust them all to God’s keeping.

  After choir practice that evening, Bunny approached the choir director.

  The group was working on a choral arrangement of the 23rd Psalm for the following Sunday.

  Bunny had heard Ellery performing this exact arrangement in her grandmother’s church in Idaho before leaving for Seattle, shortly before Bunny’s own move.

  “Say, Betty. My grandniece is coming down from Seattle University for the weekend. She knows this piece and has a lovely voice. Would you mind if she joined us this Sunday?”

  “Well, if she knows the music, I suppose she can sing it through with us at our warm-up, and then decide if she wants to join us for worship.”

  “Thank you. It means a lot to me to get a chance to sing with any of my family, especially my niece. I’ll let her know, right away.”

  Bunny hummed to herself all the way home. She was looking forward to spending time with Ellery on the weekend. Singing together on Sunday would be the perfect way to end the visit.

  Bunny unlocked her door and began to enter her code for the security system when she noticed that she had forgotten to arm it when leaving that evening. She was going to have to be more careful.

  She set the alarm and then went to her computer to send Ellery an email about the music on Sunday. Bunny hoped her niece would be as happy to sing with the choir as Bunny was to have her, and that she wouldn’t think Bunny was being pushy.

  This was going to be such a special weekend.

  Chapter Twenty

  …a chest was made and placed outside - 2 Chronicles 24:8

  Bunny found an unexpected payment in the bundle of mail that had been delayed by her address change. She knew right away what she would do with the money.

  “Hey, Shirley. It’s me, Bunny. I’m going to run into Tillamook to the big fabric and craft supply store and I thought you might like to come along.”

  Bunny spoke into the phone, and then listened to her friend’s acceptance.

  “Super. I’ll swing by and pick you up in about 15 minutes, okay? See you!”

  Bunny was going shopping for fabric for slip covers and throw pillows, so her niece could see the townhouse the way Bunny saw it in her imagination. She was going to pick up the dark red enamel paint for the desk and chest, too. She just hoped she had time to get it all done.

  As Bunny drove home, both women were weary but flushed with success and looking forward to their individual creative efforts.

  It hadn’t been easy, but Bunny had unearthed the very navy-on-white toile fabric she’d had in mind, plus some rich, nubby yellow for throw pillows. While Bunny pawed through the rolls of upholstery fabric, Shirley had browsed the arts and crafts section for her own supplies and snapped up a couple of cans of the Chinese Lacquer Red Bunny needed, too.

  “I’m going to use the craft paints I bought for a set of simple birdhouse planters Jack made for me. I’m hoping to sell them at Naidenne’s,” Shirley explained as Bunny drove.

  “Have you sold anything, yet?”

  “Nothing, yet, but it’s early days. Thanks for introducing Naidenne and me. We’ve both lived in Bannoch for years, but our paths just never crossed. Of course, most of my friends are from the church.”

  “That’s natural enough.”

  “Yes, it’s natural, but sad, too. If every Christian only spends time with other believers, how can the Gospel spread? It’s like that book we are studying on Wednesday nights, ‘Out of the Salt Shaker.’ Christians are supposed to be the salt of the earth, both preserving souls and making lives tastier. If salt stays in the shaker, it can’t do any of the things it is supposed to do.”

  “So, you’ve been shaking yourself out onto Naidenne? How’s that working out for you?”

  Shirley chuckled a little before replying, “She was a tweensy bit touchy when I first talked about my faith, but I think she may be coming around. She’s asking a lot of questions and that is always a good sign.”

  “Good. But be careful. Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, you know.”

  After dropping Shirley at her home, Bunny was eager to start on her decorating projects. She dragged her worktable-desk and the lowboy dresser out to the patio outside the dining area onto an old sheet she’d spread as a tarp. After spraying a light first coat on the pieces, she went inside to begin her sewing projects while the paint dried.

  All afternoon and into the evening Bunny alternated pinning, cutting and sewing with painting and sanding.

  It was after eight when she was interrupted by the doorbell.

  When Bunny opened the door, Scott gaped at her; she had smudges of red paint on her face and in her hair, a tape measure draped around her neck and pins in the corner of her mouth.

  “Uh, hi Bunny. Is this a bad time?”

  “Not at all,” Bunny spoke around the pins, “Come on in. I’ve been working on a couple of decorating projects this afternoon and sort of lost track of time. I’m glad you stopped by, so I can take a breather.”

  She caught sight of herself in the oval mirror she had hung in the entry and cringed, quickly sticking the pins into the cushion on her wrist.

  The ‘old Bunny’ would have instinctively apologized for her appearance and dashed upstairs to clean up. But this new Bunny, Bunny 2.0, although still in beta testing, was determined to just brazen it out.

  “What brings you out tonight, Scott?” she asked while surreptitiously attempting to scrape a glob of red paint out of her bangs.

  “I, uh, found this in my mother’s old room, the one where you stayed, and I thought you might want it,” he said this while holding out an old-fashioned powder compact to Bunny.

  She took the round, pink plastic clamshell and looked it over carefully before returning it. The compact had obviously come from the late Mrs. Davidson’s cosmetics case.

  “I’m afraid that’s not mine, Scott. But, I appreciate you bringing it by. Say, are you hungry? I haven’t eaten since Shirley and I grabbed a smoothie at the Orange Julius stand in the mall in Tillamook this morning. Would you like to share some scrambled eggs?”

  “Why don’t you let me take you out for a bite, instead?”

  Remembering the vision in the mirror, Bunny almost declined, but she really didn’t feel like cooking, not even scrambled eggs. Remembering her earlier resolve, she replied, “Sure. Let’s go!”

  She went upstairs to get a sweater and her purse. While she was up there she couldn’t resist washing her face and running a comb through her hair, all the while feeling that she was caving in, just a bit.

  Scott drove them to a wine bar on the waterfront. Luckily it was dark inside, so Bunny’s paint spatters and lack of style were not too noticeable.

  It felt wonderful to sit down and rest.

  Without thinking of anything but her weariness, Bunny ordered a wine cooler.

  She was just remembering that many Baptist clergymen frowned on the consumption of alcohol, when to her amazement, Scott asked for a bottle of the local microbrew.

/>   “You look surprised. Have I just fallen out of my pulpit in your eyes?”

  “Not at all. Unless you are an alcoholic, I don’t think a glass of wine or beer, now and then, is a sin. It’s refreshing to see a pastor who is brave enough to drink in public, though.”

  “I keep forgetting that you were married to a minister. I don’t suppose you tend to put a pastor on a pedestal. And considering our recent misadventures, there’s probably not much I could do to lower your opinion of me, is there?”

  “Whatever do you mean? I don’t have a low opinion of you. I think you are a wonderful pastor!” Bunny protested.

  “Never mind. Just a bad joke,” Scott wanted Bunny to see him as a man, not just a minister, but he didn’t know how to explain without looking like an idiot, so he changed the subject.

  “Looks like the fog is rolling in.”

  “It’s thick tonight. I love to watch it creeping in on “little cat feet,” but I don’t like to try to drive in it. I guess we should finish up, so you can get home while you can still see to navigate. I know Rosamund would blame me if you got into another accident.”

  “Thanks, Scott! Goodnight!” Bunny waved to him from the doorway and was safely inside before hearing him drive away.

  After entering her code, she paused by the security system panel thinking about what a nice man he is. Then her gaze fell upon her sewing things and interior decorating thoughts crowded everything else from her mind.

  She brought her furniture back inside to protect it from the damp air. Just one more coat of paint and the pieces would be gorgeous against that pale mustard yellow wall.

  Bunny plugged her iron back in and set to work, finishing her slipcover before wearily climbing the stairs to her room for the night.

  After putting the final touches on her projects the next morning, Bunny logged on to her banking website to pay bills and balance her statement. The skimpy balance reminded her that she needed to get that sea chest posted for sale. But, where was it?

  Every box was now empty, flattened and in the recycle bin behind the townhouse, with the exception of two that were filled with memorabilia and Christmas ornaments, and those had remained sealed since her move from Idaho. The chest must still be at the parsonage.

  Later that morning Bunny drove over to the parsonage to look for the chest. Rosamund was on her knees in the yard playing tug-of-war with an especially brawny specimen of milkweed.

  “The roots of this weed must be watered by the Yangtze River! They go clear to China. Want to hand me that weed poker thingy? No, the skinny one with the pronged end. Thanks. What are you doing back here?” Rosamund greeted Bunny, rather ungraciously.

  “Hi. I didn’t find the sea chest in my boxes, after all, so I thought I would take another look around, if you don’t mind.”

  “You can poke around, if you must, but I’ve already given Mother’s room a good going over and I didn’t find it.”

  Rosamund hadn’t been kidding about giving the room a full turn-out. The mattress was stripped; the curtains and bed skirt, along with the vanity table’s ruffles, were all gone for cleaning. The window glass sparkled and Bunny suspected that even the walls had been washed in Rosamund’s efforts to rid the room of any trace of its last occupant.

  Bunny looked under the bed, in the blanket chest and in the closet without finding her little box. There was really no place left to look.

  Rosamund had taken quite a shine to the sea chest…was it possible that she had taken it? Bunny shook her head, chastising herself for such a suspicion. Still, if Rosamund didn’t have the thing, where could it be?

  Bunny sat at the newly bare vanity table to think. She really needed the money from the sale of that chest. Maybe she should sneak up to Rosamund’s room, just to be certain that she hadn’t taken the box upstairs and forgotten it.

  Picturing herself being caught going through Scott’s sister’s things quickly quashed that idea.

  Bunny got up with a sigh. Any money she might get from selling that old box was not worth permanently damaging her relationships. She would not accuse Rosamund of taking it, nor would she make any further attempts to find it. The sea chest had drifted into her life and now it had drifted back out. It was a mystery destined never to be explained.

  Bunny paused in the garden before leaving.

  “You were right, Rosamund. It wasn’t there. I must have it somewhere that I just haven’t checked, yet. Thanks for letting me look around. You’ve really been busy in there.”

  “It was past time for a good clear out. I’m afraid that until we let you stay in there I had been postponing the ordeal. Going into that room made me think of Mother’s last painful days, so I’ve been avoiding the inevitable. Your stay in there banished the ghosts and removed that obstacle. Thanks for that,” Rosamund replied, sheepishly.

  “Well, don’t work too hard. See you on Sunday.”

  Bunny drove off, well pleased with her decision about the box. She and Rosamund just might become friends, after all.

  Ellery sat in the student union reviewing a paper for her decryption class. She was startled when someone sat down at her table, jostling her plastic cup of iced tea.

  She was annoyed until she saw that it was Gilles.

  “Sorry to slop your drink, Ellery. I’ve wanted to speak with you and when I saw you here I thought I’d stop. Can you come to my office this afternoon, about half-past-five? I won’t keep you long.”

  “Of course. Do I need to bring any books or anything? This paper isn’t due, yet, but did you want to go over my draft?” Ellery asked, nervously.

  “No. That won’t be necessary. There are just a couple of things we need to get worked out for after this semester ends. We’ll discuss it this evening. See you then.”

  Professor Argyle picked up his briefcase and left as suddenly as he’d arrived, leaving Ellery confused.

  She was so glad that she would be seeing Bunny the next day. If this evening went as she hoped it might she would need her aunt’s advice more than ever.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly

  – Leviticus 19:32

  There! Everything was finally ready.

  Bunny placed a blue ceramic pitcher of Shasta daisies on one of the two wooden apple crates she was using as end tables on either side of the loveseat and stepped back to admire the effect.

  This room was really coming together. The slipcover and throw pillows on the little sofa made such a difference.

  The bedroom was ready for Ellery, the guest towels were in the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen was stocked for the weekend’s meals. The inflatable mattress, bedding and air pump were stashed in the entry closet, along with Bunny’s favorite pillow.

  What had she forgotten? There was always something. She couldn’t think what it might be, but then that was the definition of “forgotten,” wasn’t it?

  As usual, Bunny was ready hours before her guest could possibly arrive. She tried to work on a writing assignment, but couldn’t concentrate, so she decided to take a walk to the beach. She could use the exercise and the fresh sea breeze might clear her head.

  Grgur was watching as Bunny walked off toward town.

  His plan was coming together. He just needed to work out a few little details. Taking advantage of Bunny’s absence, he approached her front door and rattled the handle. It was locked with a new-looking deadbolt. Strolling around the building, trying to look like he belonged there, he tried the gate to the small patio area behind the townhouse. It opened easily, so he slipped inside. The glass door to the dining area was locked, but there was no security bar. Grgur smiled with satisfaction. These sliding patio doors were no challenge for an experienced housebreaker to open.

  Grgur now had all the information he needed. He returned to his car and drove away to eat and to rest. Tonight all of his planning would pay off. He would finally taste success and be able to vent his frustration on the interfering wo
man who had caused all his difficulties.

  On the Coast Highway, Ellery was having trouble concentrating on her driving. Her meeting with Gilles the day before kept replaying in her brain.

  She had arrived at his office promptly at five-thirty.

  His secretary had already gone home, so Ellery stepped in and tapped on the door frame to get the professor’s attention.

  Gilles jumped up when he saw her. He ushered her in, closing the door behind them.

  “Sit down, Ellery. Can I offer you a cold drink? I have bottled water or a coke in this little refrigerator here,” he spoke almost diffidently, gesturing behind his desk.

  “No thanks. I’m fine.”

  Calm on the outside while her nervous system was doing calisthenics, Ellery waited silently for Gilles to explain what this meeting was about.

  “Um, I think you know why I asked you to come see me…don’t you?”

  “Well, no.” She didn’t dare admit what she had been hoping for. “I’m afraid not. You said it was something about the end of the semester.”

  “Ellery, you must know how fond of you I am.”

  She nodded; her eyes wide with suppressed anticipation.

  “Well, registration is coming up, and once this semester is finished, I want to be certain you don’t enroll in any more of my classes.”

  “What?” Ellery blurted. “But, I need your classes for my major! I thought I was doing good work.”

  She was nearly overcome by disappointment and embarrassment, realizing just how badly she had misjudged this situation.

  “Of course you are doing good work. You’re one of my brightest students. But I want you to enroll in Dr. Hosking’s classes, instead of mine from now on, until you get your degree.”