The Spirit of Cattail County

by Victoria Piontek

  She tiptoed upstairs, opened the door to her bedroom, and nearly jumped out of her skin. Maeve, Johnny, and Elena sat on her bed.

  “Took you long enough,” Maeve said.

  “Holy palmetto bug. Y’all nearly scared the life out of me. What are y’all doing here? I mean, how are you here?”

  Maeve grinned like the devil. “Which do you want first? The how or the what?”

  “Either.” Sparrow wanted to run across the room and sweep all three kids up in a bear hug. She’d thought she would never see her friends again, and now Maeve, Johnny, and Elena were in her room.

  “The how. Easy-peasy.” Maeve pointed to the open window.

  “Not for me. That was a first,” Elena said. “I’ve been up and down fire escapes lots of times, but I’ve never climbed a tree into a window before. I don’t think I’ve climbed a tree ever.” Elena seemed pleased with herself.

  “She needs more practice,” Maeve said. “She almost got us caught.”

  “But I didn’t,” Elena said smugly. She looked happier today. She also looked different. Not as different as the last time Sparrow had seen her, but not like the fortune-teller Sparrow had first met either. Her chestnut hair was down, and she wore some jewelry, but not as much as she had that first day. She also wore shorts instead of a sundress.

  “Okay, so why are y’all here? Don’t get me wrong, you three are a sight for sore eyes, but did your uncle tell you what Auntie Geraldine said?” Sparrow asked.

  “He did. That’s why we’re here,” Maeve said.

  “And because we’ve got some news,” Johnny added.

  Maeve leaned close to Sparrow, and for a split second she thought Maeve was going to hug her. Instead, she sniffed her.

  Sparrow pushed her away. “What in the world are you doing?”

  “You smell different. You used to smell like roses, slightly rotten. Not bad exactly, but kind of creepy. It reminded me of a grave. Now you don’t. You smell like normal kid.”

  Sometimes Maeve was too honest. “Um, well …” Sparrow didn’t know how to respond to that observation.

  “That is exactly what I thought the first time I met her!” Elena shoved Maeve playfully, and the two girls smiled at each other knowingly.

  Sparrow lifted her hand to her nose.

  “I said you didn’t smell that way now,” Maeve reminded Sparrow. “Come to think of it. Your house feels different. It feels normal too. Less haunted house and more Beulah. Maybe it’s all this yellow.”

  Sparrow looked around her room and saw it through Maeve’s eyes. Mama had painted it the color of buttercups and bought pillows to match. “My mama picked it. She said it was cheery.”

  “It is,” Johnny said helpfully.

  “I didn’t say it wasn’t. I just said it was normal. I don’t know. I kind of expected you to live in a different sort of room. You know, something a little more”—Maeve indicated Sparrow’s overall appearance—“fitting.”

  “Maeve!” Johnny said.

  “What? If you said I looked like a carrot, I wouldn’t argue with you. Look at my hair. It’s just who I am. I might punch you in the face, but I wouldn’t argue.”

  “You punch people?” Elena’s brows knitted with concern as if she just realized she was holding a poisonous coral snake instead of its friendly cousin, the king snake.

  The three Beulah kids laughed.

  “Only the ones she doesn’t like,” Johnny said reassuringly.

  “Don’t worry, I like you,” Maeve said, jabbing Elena in the ribs.

  Elena shot Sparrow a dubious look.

  Sparrow chuckled, and as she watched the three kids she realized Maeve had a point. Each of them had a distinctive look. Maeve and Johnny had the Casto red hair. Elena looked like her uncle. Sparrow looked, well, she looked like herself. Actually, she looked a little like Elena. But the way they looked didn’t matter. They looked the way they did because that’s the way they’d been born. It didn’t make them one thing or the other. Dandelions and roses looked vastly different, but they were both flowers.

  “So, besides defying my aunt, why are y’all here?”

  “After we heard about your aunt’s call, we knew you’d have a hard time following up on the gravestone, so we went to see Elena for you.”

  Sparrow turned to Elena. “Did you come up with a new theory?”

  Elena gathered her long hair and drew it over one shoulder. Her enviable cascade of waves fell perfectly in place. “Nope, but I talked to Eli.”

  “I thought he doesn’t believe in mystical stuff,” Sparrow said, recalling their conversation.

  “He doesn’t. But he is a history professor.”

  “What does that have to do with ghosts?” Sparrow asked.

  “If someone is going to have advice on how to figure out who’s buried in that unmarked grave, it’s him,” Elena said.

  “We’ve come to break you out and take you to Eli,” Maeve said.

  “She’s not in jail, Maeve,” Johnny said.

  “Might as well be. Have you met her aunt?”

  Johnny sighed. “You don’t have to say everything that comes into your head.”

  “Yes, I do. Otherwise it spills out anyway.”

  Sparrow watched the two siblings bicker. Even though they squabbled, the comfort and ease with which they spoke to each other showcased their closeness rather than the divide caused by their argument. Maeve and Johnny loved each other in that fierce way that only family can.

  “Should we break this up?” Elena asked Sparrow.

  “Definitely.” Sparrow remembered Maeve’s performance with Mason. She could argue all day.

  Elena motioned to Maeve and Johnny to wrap it up and the two bracelets she wore clinked together softly. “Should we go?”

  “Yes,” Maeve said, glaring at her brother.

  Johnny just smiled and shrugged before climbing out the window.

  Elena, Sparrow, and Maeve followed him out, and before Sparrow knew it she was running across the marsh she loved with three friends by her side.

  By the time they reached the flea market, the kids were hot, tired, and out of breath. Along the way, Sparrow had filled them in on seeing the Boy in the marsh the night before and told them about her encounter with the panther. Throughout the telling, Maeve looked enthralled, Elena pensive, and Johnny sympathetic.

  As they wove their way through the vendor stalls, Sparrow said, “I think the Boy is looking for something in the marsh.”

  Maeve paused at the faux fur coat seller and took a pink one off the rack. She slipped it on and posed. “That makes sense. You see that kind of stuff in movies all the time.”

  Sparrow watched Maeve preen. “I don’t think we watch the same kind of movies.”

  Elena nodded her head approvingly at Maeve’s outfit. “I think you need these to complete the look.” Elena pulled off her big sunglasses and put them on Maeve.

  Maeve modeled her getup.

  “You look like a movie star,” Sparrow said.

  “I foresee fame in your future,” Elena pronounced theatrically.

  Maeve laughed and returned the coat to the rack. “Let’s hope so. I’d love to be famous.” She draped her arms around Elena’s and Sparrow’s shoulders and ushered them forward. The three girls walked along like that, tripping each other up and giggling, until they came to a used bookseller.

  Johnny stopped abruptly and started rummaging through a box of books. “Back to our earlier conversation, I’d trust what Maeve says about movies. She’s an expert. She watches a lot of television.”

  Elena walked to Johnny and picked up a novel for sale. “So you’re the book expert and she’s the TV expert?”

  “Pretty much.” Johnny smirked and flipped through pages of a thick paperback.

  If they continued at their present pace, it would be nightfall before they made it to Eli’s antiquities booth. When they left Dalton house, Sparrow had still been raw with anger at Auntie Geraldine for calling Mason and telling him to k
eep his family away from her. Now, though, as she walked along in the sunshine, relishing the time with her new friends, her anger had been supplanted by growing unease. She would get in big trouble if Auntie Geraldine noticed her missing. As far as Auntie Geraldine knew, Sparrow was in her room pouting. She hoped Auntie Geraldine would be too mad to check on her. She probably would, but still … as much as she was enjoying herself, they should move faster.

  “We better keep moving,” Sparrow said.

  “Agreed.” Maeve grabbed Johnny by the collar and pulled him away from the vendor. “But if you let him get distracted by books, we’ll never get anywhere.”

  Elena put down the novel she held and followed the kids.

  Sparrow waited for Elena to catch up and then fell into step beside her. “What do I do when I find what the Boy is looking for?”

  “Give it back to him, of course,” Elena said.

  “But he’s a ghost. He can’t hold stuff,” Maeve said indignantly. Sparrow thought Maeve had a good point.

  “It’s symbolic, obviously.” Elena kind of sounded like she was bickering with Maeve, but neither girl showed any signs of animosity. Rather, they seemed to enjoy matching wits. The two girls kept bantering, and by the time Eli’s booth came into view, Maeve and Elena had moved on from discussing ghosts to arguing about the probability of aliens.

  Sparrow left the girls to their debate, choosing instead to walk next to Johnny in harmonious silence. Johnny was easy to be around. He didn’t require Sparrow to be anything other than herself. After weeks of living with Auntie Geraldine, she found it a relief to be near someone like him.

  When Eli saw the kids approach, he set aside the book he was reading, Orphan Trains: Small Towns, Big Hearts. It was the same book the Monroes were selling for charity at church. The one Mr. Monroe wrote. “Well, this is a nice surprise.”

  “Hey, Eli. Sorry, I’m not reading fortunes today.” The doors to Elena’s purple tent were shut and a sign that read BACK SOON was pinned to the fabric.

  Eli stood up. “Doesn’t matter to me, kiddo. The trip was my idea, but the fortune-telling was yours, remember?”

  Sparrow, Maeve, and Johnny looked at Elena curiously, but Elena didn’t offer any extra details on her fortune-telling business, and the three Beulah kids were too polite to ask after private affairs.

  Elena pointed to the kids. “You remember Maeve and Johnny from this morning. And you know Sparrow.”

  Eli adjusted his geeky-chic glasses. “Of course. Good to see you all again. Sparrow, I’ll have your watch back by Saturday. Think you can stop by to pick it up?”

  “Sure.” Sparrow had forgotten all about the watch.

  Maeve squinted at Sparrow, clearly wanting to know what Eli was talking about.

  “Tell you later,” Sparrow said to Maeve.

  “Can I help you kids with something?” Eli asked.

  “We were wondering if we could ask you some questions about historical research,” Elena said.

  Eli pretended to swoon. “Be still my heart.”

  Elena laughed and playfully swatted at her uncle. “Be serious, Eli.”

  “Of course. Grab some chairs and gather round. I’m a fountain of information.” Eli bowed grandly.

  Sparrow wondered if Eli had been the one to inspire Elena’s dramatic side, and it made her curious about which of her traits she had inherited from her father. Once she had Mason, she would be able to find out. That is, if Mason still wanted her after what Auntie Geraldine had done. She had been waiting for the right time to ask Maeve and Johnny about the plan for telling him that he was her father, but she hadn’t found it yet.

  The kids grabbed chairs and set them up in a circle so they could chat.

  “Elena told you about my research on childhood in New York City at the turn of the century?”

  “Um … no.” Sparrow didn’t understand half of what Eli just said. “She only mentioned that you were a history professor, and knew a lot about research.”

  Eli shot Elena a pretend injured look.

  Elena rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.” She turned to Maeve, Johnny, and Sparrow for sympathy. “You have no idea what it’s like to live with a pack of academics. Someone is always either working on a book or reading a book. It’s impossible to keep up.”

  “Sounds like my kind of household,” Johnny said.

  Maeve groaned. “Not mine. I’m with Elena. Living with Johnny is bad enough.”

  Eli chuckled.

  “What about your grandmother?” Sparrow asked, recalling her conversation with Elena the first day they met. “Is she a professor too?”

  Elena looked at her fortune-teller tent. “She died about a year ago.”

  Eli squeezed Elena’s shoulder. “She was a traveling fortune-teller. Elena and I struck out this summer to retrace her footsteps.”

  Elena turned back to the group and smiled, but her eyelashes were damp. “Anyway, back to how to research.”

  “Yes.” Eli slapped his hands on his knees.

  Elena told Eli about the gravestone with the missing name and then handed the conversation over to Sparrow.

  Eli leaned forward, giving Sparrow his full attention, and she could see the professorial side of his personality. She thought he must be very good at being a professor, even if he didn’t look the part.

  “Remember how I told you I was looking for someone who lived at my house a long time ago? I’m searching for a boy about ten years old, and I found a gravestone that could be his, but I’m not sure. I don’t know the boy’s name. And there’s no name on the tombstone anyway,” Sparrow told Eli.

  “Hmm … do you have anything else to go on?”

  “The gravestone was really worn, but I was able to make out the year of death. 1901,” Sparrow said.

  “That’s a great clue!” Eli said encouragingly. “If I were looking, I’d start with newspapers from that year. Childhood deaths were common then, but Beulah is a small town. It’s unlikely more than one ten-year-old died that year. It might have been news. The most important thing when researching is to be open-minded. Sometimes history unravels in unexpected ways once you start digging.”

  “Where do I find newspapers from 1901?” Sparrow bit her lip. That was ages ago.

  “I’d start with the Beulah archives,” Eli said.

  “What are they?” Sparrow had never heard of the Beulah archives. She thought she knew her town inside and out.

  Johnny answered. “A collection of historical documents about a place or a group of people.”

  “Exactly. You’d make a good history professor,” Eli said.

  “I’m going to be a lawyer.” Johnny’s expression had the same hope and determination Sparrow had seen on his older sister’s face when she talked about Vanderbilt.

  “A more lucrative option, to be sure.” Eli smiled. “Anyway, I’d start there, but it might be hard to get access.”

  “Why?” Maeve asked.

  “It’s a private collection. Private collectors don’t have to share or even show anyone what they have. It’s unusual, but it happens. The Beulah collection is difficult to access. I was hoping to have a look there myself, but I haven’t been able to get an appointment.” Eli adjusted his glasses again.

  “Why not?” Sparrow asked.

  “The person who owns it doesn’t think my uncle is a real scholar because he came to town with the flea market.” Elena scoffed. “Can you imagine? Spend five minutes listening to Eli and you know he’s the real deal.”

  “Who are the snobby folks that own this private collection?” Maeve asked.

  “The Monroes,” Johnny said.

  Maeve crossed her arms over her chest. “Figures.”

  Sparrow had to agree with Maeve. Looking down on Eli because he sold his antiques at the flea market sounded like the Monroes.

  Sparrow started to say something comforting to Eli to make him feel better about being snubbed by them, but he got a customer before she could.

  Eli left the kids
to talk to the shopper about an antique magnifying glass, and the foursome decided it was time to start walking back toward Sparrow’s house.

  “I told you talking to Eli was a good idea.” Elena nudged Sparrow with her elbow, pleased with herself.

  Johnny kicked the dirt as they walked. “Checking out the archives is a great idea, but how will you get an appointment?”

  “No clue. But I’m going to figure out a way.” Once Sparrow knew what the Boy wanted, she would be closer to what she craved—Mama back. Simply thinking about seeing Mama again made Sparrow’s insides squishy with anticipation.

  “Better you than me. Just the idea of going to the Monroes’ gives me hives.” Maeve shuddered and rubbed her arms like they were crawling with chiggers.

  Maeve, Johnny, and Elena walked with Sparrow to the edge of the marsh and stopped. Sparrow hated the idea of Maeve, Johnny, and Elena leaving, but she understood that they needed to go home. They had families waiting for them.

  When it was time to say goodbye, Maeve gave Johnny a knowing look.

  Johnny pulled Elena away to show her something in what was obviously a preplanned ruse to let Maeve have a private moment with Sparrow.

  Maeve checked to make sure Johnny and Elena were out of earshot and then said, “Everything is all set for Saturday. We’ve got your proof like we promised.”

  “Do you still think the family party is a good idea?” All day, Sparrow had been searching for the right opportunity to ask about Mason but it never seemed to come around. Now that they were talking about it, she realized she had been avoiding asking the question because she was afraid of the answer.

  “Of course I do,” Maeve said with absolute conviction.

  “But my auntie Geraldine. She told Mason to turn me away and … he agreed.” Sparrow looked at the ground. Tears stung her eyes and she didn’t want Maeve to feel bad. Maeve and Johnny had been great friends to her. They’d done everything they knew how to do to help her.

  “Never mind about that.” Maeve waved her hand dismissively. “That was to get your aunt to stop lecturing him. You should have heard him after. Well, Uncle Mason is really nice so he didn’t say anything mean. But he said your auntie Geraldine needed to remember what it was like to be a kid and your mama would want her to do right by you. He plans to get you. I know it. Come to the party Saturday and you’ll see. You’re not an orphan.”