Kin

by Lesley Crewe

  And for the first time she realized the enormity of Lila’s loss. If at the age of thirty-three Annie was terrified of losing her parents, what horror did seven-year-old Lila go through when her mother died?

  Thinking about Lila made Annie worry about something else. Should she tell her that David was coming or not?

  She heard Henry come down the stairs, saying, “I’ll be right back. I have some more glue in the garage.” That meant the boys were busy making models, all except for Robbie, who only liked to play with the glue.

  Henry came into the kitchen. “I didn’t hear you come in. How did it go?”

  “I need a hug.” Annie stood up and Henry obliged.

  “Let me make you a cup of tea,” he said after she sat back down.

  “I just had some. Sit with me.”

  Henry obliged once more and reached across the table to clasp her hand. “I know your dad will be fine. They caught it in time. And soon David will be here and he’ll be able to help you with the visiting part of it.”

  “I know. Should I call Lila to tell her David is coming home?”

  “Lila? You don’t honestly think there’s going to be a problem? That’s old news.”

  Annie reached over to pat Henry’s cheek. “You men are such simple creatures.”

  “And you females make life more complicated.”

  Annie paused. “I’d better call.”

  Henry got up for the table. “I’ll be in the garage gluing my mouth shut.”

  * * *

  Lila said all the right things to Annie, like she was glad David was coming home to see his dad. She told Annie not to worry, it was a lifetime ago, and made sure to mention that she was up to her eyeballs in work and probably wouldn’t have a chance to even see David’s family when they came out to Round Island the odd time. But when she got off the phone, she immediately went outside and sat in one of the old Adirondack chairs, a favourite thinking spot.

  She could hear banging in the distance, Ewan hammering the new enclosure for the sheep he was planning to buy. Lila couldn’t wait to have little lambs come spring. There was no chance they would become lamb chops. Ewan wanted the sheep to keep the grass down on their very large property, now that he had cleared more trees at the back of the house.

  Lila and Ewan painted the barn red and the hen house a bright yellow, and this new building was going to be blue. It looked like a little animal farm from a picture book and that gave Lila the idea that she and Ewan could have a petting zoo and charge families a few dollars to come see the critters. That’s what they did anyway when the neighbourhood kids dropped by. The donkey, goat, and two miniature horses were very popular. They might as well charge something to keep their menagerie well fed.

  Ewan’s colourful sign at the bottom of the driveway enticed lots of folks to come up to the house. Their enclosed front veranda had become a little shop, just as Ewan had planned. She sold her quilts, hooked rugs, and preserves, all the recipes that Eunie had taught her over the years. She had honey from their bees and even gathered driftwood and sea glass from the beach that tourists loved to buy. Her watercolours of the animals and views of Mira Bay were also snapped up.

  She and Ewan were content. They made good money and loved what they did. They wanted nothing more.

  And now David was coming to bugger it up.

  She wouldn’t let it happen. Lila got out of the chair and wandered over to the new sheep pen. Ewan saw her coming and gave her a smile. His face always shone when he saw her.

  “How’s it going?” she asked.

  Ewan wiped the sweat off his brow with the sleeve of his flannel shirt. “Good. Should be done by suppertime, and then I can go get them.”

  “What do we call these new kids?”

  “I was thinking Lambert and Ramsey.”

  “What about Ewen?

  They both laughed.

  “I’ll leave you be.” Lila started to go but turned back. “David and his family are coming home for the summer because of Kenzie. They’re staying in Glace Bay and I imagine they’ll be out to Round Island occasionally, but I don’t think our paths will cross. There’s no need to see them, so don’t worry about anything.”

  He gave her a long look. “Why would I worry, Lila?”

  Lila felt unexpected frustration rising. “No reason. I thought you’d want to know, that’s all. Don’t read anything into it. God!”

  “Why are you angry?”

  “I’m not! Annie happened to call and I’m letting you know what she said.”

  “All right.”

  Annie walked away. David wasn’t even here yet and he was already making a mess. She vowed to stay on this side of the field until he went back to Montreal where he belonged.

  * * *

  Colleen was thrilled to be at her grandmother’s house for the first time. The best part was that she let Colleen eat as much as she wanted. Of course, Colleen made sure her mother wasn’t around when she asked. Grammie didn’t know there was a problem.

  “It’s so wonderful to have a little girl around this table again,” Grammie smiled as she put a big piece of pie in front of her. “I wish you lived closer. Then you could come every day.”

  “I’d like that,” Colleen said with her mouth full.

  “Where’s your sister? Maybe she’d like a piece of pie too.”

  “She went with Mommy and Daddy to the grocery store.”

  Grammie poured herself a cup of tea and sat at the kitchen table. “So tell me what you’ve been doing since I saw you last. Are you still friends with the little girl across the street?”

  “No. She decided she didn’t want to be friends anymore.”

  Her grandmother frowned. “That’s not very nice.”

  “She didn’t invite me to her birthday party, either, but I didn’t care.”

  “If she behaves like that, she doesn’t deserve your friendship. Good riddance to her.”

  “That’s what Daddy said. Oh wait, I almost forgot.” Colleen put down her fork and picked up the bag she brought with her, filled with things she thought her grandmother might like. “I have some pictures of the ballet recital.”

  “Oh, wonderful.”

  Colleen passed them over and continued to eat. “There were a lot of people there.”

  “Frankie looks sweet in her blue tutu.”

  “I know. I wish I got to wear one.”

  Grammie looked up. “I thought you were in the recital too.”

  “I was. I was the Pied Piper. I had to wear black pants and a red-and-white striped shirt. I was the only one who didn’t get to wear a dress.”

  “That’s too bad. Well, I bet you were the best Pied Piper ever.”

  Colleen smiled. “Thanks, Grammie.”

  That night her family went over to Aunt Annie’s. The kids were told to go outside and play until they were called in for supper. Frankie spent most of the time swinging on the swing. She didn’t want to play cowboys and Indians.

  “Is she always stuck up?” John asked Colleen.

  “I guess so. She’s pretty boring.”

  They were up in the tree house waiting for the Indians to raid their compound. Daniel and George were hiding behind the garage. They sent Robbie out with a message. He had to take the sucker out of his mouth to deliver it.

  “There will be no peace treat.”

  John hollered from the tree. “What?”

  Daniel shouted from behind the garage. “Peace treaty, dumdum!”

  “Peace treaty,” Robbie repeated.

  “Then prepare for war!” John yelled.

  “Yeah! We don’t need your stupid peace treaty,” Colleen added.

  “Do you know how ridiculous you sound?” Frankie said.

  “Who asked you?” John answered back. “You better duck or their arrows will poke your eye
s out.”

  Frankie jumped off the swing. “I hope you’re all killed by dinnertime.” She went back into the house.

  John shook his head. “She may be the pretty one, but her attitude stinks. Come on, pick up your gun and follow me.”

  Colleen’s cheeks felt hot. They always did when someone mentioned Frankie’s looks. No one ever said that about her, which was mean and unfair, but she did as she was told and followed John’s orders to the letter. They snuck down the tree and ran to the back porch at the same time that Daniel and George ran to the gardening shed. Robbie galloped around the yard with his horse on a stick pretending to shoot everything with his index finger. John told Colleen to stand on a small folding chair to see if the enemy was on the left or right side of the shed. When she did, the chair broke and she fell to the ground on her knees. It was only when she saw they were bleeding that she started to cry.

  “You’ll be all right, my dad’s a doctor.” John helped her to brush the gravel away from her skin. Daniel and George came running to see what the fuss was about.

  “That’s my chair!” Robbie trotted over and shot her right between the eyes. “Why are you so fat?”

  “Robbie!”

  Aunt Annie was on the porch. She hurried down the steps and ran over to her.

  “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

  Colleen needed to cry all over again. It wasn’t only her knees that hurt.

  “Boys, take her inside and let your dad look at it.” Aunt Annie then stood up and marched over to Robbie, who ran away when he saw her face.

  “I didn’t do nothin’!”

  “Get over here, mister. Stop! And I mean now.”

  The last glimpse Colleen had of Robbie was Aunt Annie holding him by the elbow and smacking him on the bum, while he tried to get away. The more he did, the more she smacked. Now he was crying too. Good.

  The next day, Colleen and the boys piled into the back of Uncle Henry’s big station wagon. Uncle Henry, Aunt Annie, and Grammie were in the front. Frankie sat between Mom and Dad in the back seat. They were off to see Grampy. Not that any of the kids were allowed in the sanatorium, but they planned on waving to him from the parking lot while Grampy stood in the window.

  It was a hot and sticky summer day and all the windows were open in the car. Frankie and Mom complained that their hair would be ruined. Dad laughed at them and mussed their hair up even more. Mom laughed, but Colleen could tell Frankie was annoyed.

  Her cousins spent most of the time pushing each other out of the way so they could make faces at the cars behind them. Daniel had the worst face. He pushed his nose up with his thumb so that his nostrils were huge.

  “Yuck!” Colleen closed her eyes.

  Once they knew that made her squeamish, they started making some really revolting faces, until their father saw them from the rear-view mirror. “Boys! Knock it off.”

  They were allowed to go to the corner store and buy a pop, a chocolate bar, and a bag of chips, as well as one comic book. That would keep them occupied while the adults went to see Grampy. Frankie and Colleen got Archie comics and the boys got Superman.

  They all piled out of the car and John and Daniel were put in charge of the kids. Frankie said she didn’t need looking after. The adults had been gone for what seemed like forever when suddenly the curtains moved on the second-floor window and there was Grampy, wearing his bathrobe. He waved at them and someone opened the window for him. They heard a faint, “Hello!”

  They yelled, “Hi, Grampy!” and waved like mad. He waved back.

  Colleen missed him. For the second time in as many days, she cried.

  “What’s the matter with you?” George asked.

  Frankie put her arm around Colleen’s shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with her.” She opened the car door and told Colleen to get in, then closed it on the boys.

  “It’s okay.”

  Colleen wiped her eyes. “They’re lucky. They get to see Grampy all the time. It’s not fair.”

  “I know. Remember the night he and Grammie were babysitting and there was a thunder and lightning storm?”

  “Yeah, he let us stay up and rocked us in his lap.”

  “I like these grandparents best,” Frankie confessed. “Don’t tell Mom.”

  “I won’t.”

  Frankie told her to read her comic and they ate their snacks. Frankie didn’t want all of her chocolate bar so she gave it to Colleen. Sometimes she was really nice.

  A few days later, they went out to Round Island for the first time. Straight away, Colleen felt like she was home. She belonged to the big field and the tall trees and the blue water shining in the distance. The sky and the clouds and the wind that bent the daisies and buttercups were all hers.

  There were bumblebees and salamanders, toads and chipmunks, rabbits and seagulls. Her father showed her the eagles and the ospreys, the terns and the hawks. On the third night he took her outside to hear the owl hooting from the very top of a gigantic fir tree. It swooped down towards them with its wings spread six feet across.

  The next evening a bat got into the cottage and Frankie and Mom screamed blue murder and hid their heads under the covers along with Bear. Colleen and Dad were the only ones brave enough to shoo it out with a broom, and poor Frankie almost fainted the night after that when a flying squirrel looked through the cottage window with its huge brown eyes.

  “That’s it!” she screamed. “This place is terrible! There’s nothing but mosquitoes, blackflies, horseflies, houseflies, and every other fly in the world!”

  “But there’s also butterflies and fireflies,” Colleen argued.

  “And I think I just saw a mouse! Weren’t these cats supposed to catch them?”

  “That was the idea,” Dad said. “Looks like they’ve been city cats too long.”

  Charlotte and Tigger both purr-meowed from up in the rafters. They were having too much fun inside.

  The beach was another source of delight for Colleen. Finding crabs and starfish and sand dollars occupied her for hours. She’d wander to the rocky part of the beach when the tide was low and pick up snails, hermit crabs, and minnows to put in her bucket. She even liked the jellyfish, but didn’t touch them.

  Sitting on the beach in a damp bathing suit, with sand and salt drying on her body in the hot sun, she’d stay perfectly still, holding the hermit crab under the water to see if it would come out of its shell. Once one came out so far it started to crawl up her arm, but it disappeared in a flash when Colleen moved.

  After they’d been at the cottage for a couple of weeks, her dad took her snorkelling. He taught her how to spit in her mask so it wouldn’t fog up. He pointed to a flat fish hiding in the sand and she dove to see it better, only to get water up her nose and have her mask fill up. She spent a lot of energy trying to get her equipment to work, but when Dad chased her through the waves with his flippers on, it was all worth it. She started snorkelling as much as she could after that.

  She would yell from the water at Frankie and Mom, tanning in the sun.

  “Mommy! Watch me! Mom! Watch me!”

  “I’m watching!” she’d yell back.

  Colleen would do a somersault in the water and come up brushing her wet hair from her face. “Did you see it?”

  “Great!”

  “Come in the water, Frankie!”

  “That’s okay. I will another time.”

  But she never did.

  The really fun days were when Aunt Annie and Uncle Henry brought the boys out for the day. The boys knew the summer kids in Round Island and ran with them as a pack. As long as her cousins were there, Colleen would play with the summer kids, but on her own, she was too shy.

  On rainy weekends, they’d play cards and Monopoly and make fudge. The only problem Colleen had was trying to sneak more than her share of the fudge, but she was pretty cle
ver in that regard, thanks to all the practice she’d had. She could open anything without anyone hearing, or she knew how to cough at the right moment to cover the sound of cellophane. Only occasionally did she get sloppy and take too much.

  “Who ate the brownies?” her mother asked once. “I was saving them for supper.”

  “Not me,” Colleen said.

  “Not me,” Frankie said.

  “Don’t look at me,” Dad said. “Perhaps the boys had some this afternoon before they left.”

  The best time was when Grammie came out for supper too, with Aunt Annie, Uncle Henry, and the boys. After dark, Dad and Uncle Henry made a bonfire on the beach, where a trillion stars hung above them in the black night. When the waves rolled in, Colleen saw the white foam approach and then recede back to the inky bay.

  Dad began to tell them ghost stories. Colleen and Frankie shivered under the same blanket. The boys poked at the fire with sticks and tried to burn their marshmallows while they listened. Mom sipped her wine and Aunt Annie’s cigarette glowed as they giggled together in the firelight. Grammie was the only one in a folding chair, bundled up in a blanket. The rosy fire made her face look young.

  “They say,” Dad said, “that the old man woke up out of a sound sleep. He sat up in bed. “Who’s there?” It felt like someone was in the house but he lived alone. And then a key on the downstairs piano began to play. The same key over and over. ‘What do you want?’ the old man cried. The piano key got louder and louder. It sounded like it was coming up the stairs. Now it was outside his room…a deafening sound pulsing…”

  George stood straight up and pointed into the night. “There it is!”

  Coming down the beach was a gauzy apparition that shone brighter and brighter as it approached. It was floating three feet in the air!

  Colleen screamed and so did all the other kids. They jumped up and ran around the fire, escaping in different directions into the night, scared out of their brains.

  Only after they stopped screaming did they realize the adults were killing themselves laughing. Uncle Henry approached the fire holding a balloon draped in a sheet, a flashlight shining behind it.