Daisy Lane (35 page)

“I like your shoes,” Grace said. “I love your funny little house.”

“And so do I,” Kay said. “People still make rude comments about my weight, and they sometimes laugh at my shoes or my house, or tell me my bright lipstick is inappropriate for someone my age. Bad things will continue to happen. I just don’t let that stop me from being happy. Being happy is a decision I make every day and no one can talk me out of it without my permission.”

“I’d like to be happy,” Grace said.

“What would that look like?” Kay said. “What would that feel like?”

“What do you mean?”

“Imagine happiness,” she said. “Where would you be and what would you be doing?”

She told Kay about her imaginary apartment with the reading chair and the striped kitten.

“That’s as far as I got,” Grace said. “I can’t imagine anything more.”

“Then there’s some homework for you,” Kay said, “The kind that will make a real difference in your life. Once you know what it is that will make you happy, every decision you make, every action you take, can be consciously made to bring you closer to it. Then you won’t need to be invisible because you’ll have confidence in what you’re doing and where you’re going. You’ll be the captain of your own ship.”

“My school counselor said I should only think positive thoughts and say positive things. She says if I do that nothing bad will happen to me.”

“I know Beverly Pike and she’s an idiot,” Kay said. “Ask her if babies in Third World countries get cholera and die because they don’t have positive attitudes. She’s the kind of imbecile who blames people with cancer for getting sick. There’s a lady in my quilting club who’s like that, always reminding us to look on the positive side, for goodness sake stay in denial at all costs; pretend everything’s wonderful when it’s horrible. I call that getting hit with the positive stick. Sometimes, my dear, life is awful and it doesn’t do any good to pretend otherwise.”

“You should be a school counselor,” Grace said. “You have good sense.”

“I’m flattered you say so,” Kay said. “Let’s hope that means I’ll be a good mayor.”

“So everything you do as mayor will bring Rose Hill closer to being a happy place?” Grace asked.

“That’s an excellent campaign slogan,” Kay said. “I’ll have to talk to my committee about using it.”

Grace yawned deeply.

“Why don’t you have a good long, hot soak in the tub?” Kay said. “Then go to bed. We’ll talk again in the morning.”

After her bath, Grace could barely stay awake long enough to put on her nightgown. She fell into bed with wet hair, but a warm feeling inside.

‘Is this what happiness feels like?’ was her last thought before she fell asleep.

Grace woke up to a knock on her bedroom window. It was Stacey. Grace pulled the sash up and Stacey crawled in. Her huge handbag got caught against the frame and she fell the rest of the way in.

“The police are looking for me,” Stacey said. “If anybody asks, I was here with you all evening,” Stacey said.

“Nobody’s going to believe that,” Grace said.

Stacey’s clothes were disheveled and she reeked of alcohol and cigarette smoke.

She tried to stand up, stumbled, and almost fell, laughing.

“I am so effed up,” she said.

“Be quiet,” Grace said. “You’ll wake up Kay.”

“Oh, good, a bed,” Stacey said, and fell into it.

“You can’t stay here,” Grace said.

“I can and I will, Cuz,” Stacey said. “Aleesha’s mother has locked her out.”

“So where’s Aleesha?”

“She’s with Hugh and Lucas,” she said. “They’re going to blow up the newspaper office.”

“They’re what?!”

“They’re at the funeral home making some kind of cocktails that are bombs or something.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah,” Stacey said. “I’m just so tired, Grace. I need to sleep.”

Stacey passed out, and Grace couldn’t wake her.

Grace got dressed. As she climbed out the window, she thought about her promise to Kay that she wouldn’t do the very thing she was doing.

She ran across the lawn and climbed over the fence. She could see a light on in the funeral home, and Hugh’s truck was parked in the lot. She ran over and hid behind it just as the back door of the funeral home opened.

“I wanna come with you,” whined Aleesha.

“Go home, Aleesha,” Lucas said. “You’re underage and the police are looking for you.”

“Can’t,” she said. “Mom locked me out.”

“Then stay here,” Hugh said. “But you can’t come with us.”

“I hate you!” Aleesha screamed.

“Shut up!” Hugh hissed. “Do you want the cops to catch us?”

“Come right back,” Aleesha said. “I don’t want to stay in there with the dead people.”

“We’ll be right back,” Lucas said, and then to Hugh, “I told you we should have ditched them.”

Grace could hear their voices recede as they walked away. She crept around the truck and found Aleesha sitting on the back porch of the funeral home, drunkenly attempting to light a cigarette.

“Hey, Grace,” she said when she saw her. “My mom locked me out of the house. Can you believe that? I could totally call social services and report her for that. She could go to jail.”

“Where are Hugh and Lucas going?” Grace asked her.

“They’re gonna blow up the newspaper office on account of something that newspaper guy is gonna put in the paper,” she said. “He called their dad and Stacey’s dad about it. I don’t know what they did. Something bad, I guess.”

“Can I borrow your phone?” Grace said.

“Sure, sure,” Aleesha said. “Hey, Grace, can I stay at your house?”

“As soon as I get back,” Grace said. “I’ll take you to my house.”

“You’re a good friend,” Aleesha said. “Stacey’s still my best friend but sometimes she can be such a beeyotch.”

Grace took Stacey’s phone and dialed 911.

“This is Grace Branduff,” she said when the operator answered. “Hugh and Lucas Machalvie are going to set the
Sentinel
newspaper office on fire. Hurry.”

Grace hoped that if the 911 operator didn’t take her seriously, all the scanner grannies who were awake and listening would.

She crossed Rose Hill Avenue and ran down Peony Street to where the alley behind the Rose and Thorn began. She could hear the boys walking ahead of her, their shoes scuffling in the gravel. She stayed to the side, in the shadows, and hurried to catch up.

“… idiot try to hurt our family,” Hugh was saying. “We’ll teach him a lesson.”

“Shut up!” Lucas hissed. “You wanna get caught?”

“You shut up,” Hugh said. “I’m tired of you tellin’ me what to do.”

“If you’re so smart then you do it,” Lucas said. “Here, take it.”

“Which door is it?” Hugh said. “Is it this one?”

“Try the one with the sign that says ‘
Sentinel
’ on it, genius,” Lucas said. “I’ll break the window and then you light it. Throw it in as soon as you light it.”

“Did you bring a lighter?” Hugh said.

“Yes, you idiot,” Lucas said. “Now wait until I break the window.”

Grace heard the glass break and knew she had only moments to stop them. She looked around but couldn’t see anything she could use to defend herself with.

“Light it,” Lucas said. “Light it and throw it.”

“You light it,” Hugh said. “I don’t wanna blow up.”

“Give it to me,” Lucas said.

“Dammit, Lucas!” Hugh said. “You got it all over me. You wanna blow me up?”

“Stand over there, then,” Lucas said. “Get out of the way! Gah, you are such an idiot.”

“Light it then, if you’re so brave,” Hugh said. “You’ll probably blow yourself up.”

“I’ll show you,” Lucas said.

Grace could hear the click of the lighter.

Grace saw a flash of fire and Lucas screamed.

“Lucas!” Hugh yelled. “Are you alright, broh?”

“My hair!” Lucas cried. “I burned my friggin’ hair!”

“Did you throw it?”

“No, I didn’t throw it, you moron. I caught my friggin’ hair on fire and I dropped the lighter.”

Grace could hear a window rattle open in an apartment high above the alley.

“Lucas, Hugh, you boys stop that right now,” an older lady’s voice said, “or I’m going to call your father.”

Another window opened and another older woman’s voice could be heard.

“Letisha, is that you?”

“Yes, Edith,” the Letisha said. “Hugh and Lucas Machalvie are down there trying to set the
Sentinel
on fire.”

“You boys ought to be ashamed,” Edith said. “I’m going to call your mother.”

A siren started.

“Let’s get out of here,” Hugh said.

“What do I do with the bottle?” Lucas hissed, with panic in his voice.

“Drop it!” Hugh said. “Run!”

Grace could hear the glass break as the bottle hit the ground. She flattened herself against the wall and slid down until she was deep in the shadow of the closest dumpster. Hugh and Lucas ran past her back toward the other end of the alley behind the Rose and Thorn.

“Here comes Malcolm,” Letisha said. “I called the fire station and told him the Machalvie boys were going to burn down the
Sentinel
office so he better get over here.”

“Those two boys have always been trouble,” Edith said.

“Spoiled is what they are,” Letisha said. “Peg and Stuart have no one to blame but themselves.”

Grace saw the flashing lights of the fire truck come to a stop in front of the newspaper office. She ran toward it. The sirens stopped as she exited the alley and ran straight into the arms of the fire chief, Malcolm Behr.

“Whoa, there, little bit,” he said. “What’s going on?”

Grace told the fire chief what Hugh and Lucas had done. She led him back down the alley and showed him the broken window and the remains of the bottle. The formaldehyde label could still be seen on one of the bigger pieces, and the hand towel that had been stuffed in the narrow end was embroidered with the logo of Machalvie Funeral Home.

“Those two rocket scientists are lucky they didn’t blow themselves up,” the fire chief said. “Did you make the 911 call?”

Grace nodded.

“Malcolm,” Edith said, from on high. “Is that Grace Branduff with you?”

“The poor thing,” Letisha said. “Did you know Mamie Rodefeffer is her great-grandmother?”

“I heard that,” Edith said. “I also heard Mamie beat the poor child to within an inch of her life.”

“Ladies,” Malcolm said. “Did you witness anything in this alley tonight?”

“We saw them,” Letisha said. “You need us to come down to the station and pick them out of a line-up?”

“I’ll tell Chief Gordon,” he said. “If he needs you he’ll call you.”

“Did you know Scott proposed to Maggie in the bookstore and she finally accepted?” Edith said.

“No!” Latisha said. “I was in Pendleton all day at my sister’s. Go inside and call me.”

Grace could hear both windows close.

“You’ve had quite a night,” Malcolm said. “You better come with me to the station. I’ll call Scott to come and take your statement.”

“What about Hugh and Lucas?” she asked. “They’re getting away.”

“We’ll just look for the one with no eyebrows,” Malcolm said. “He shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

When Deputy Frank brought Hugh and Lucas in, Lucas’s singed eyebrows and hair, along with the strong smell of formaldehyde all over them both, made up the best circumstantial evidence the police could have asked for. They both wailed for their mother, their father, and a lawyer. When Stuart arrived, he pointed a finger at Grace.

“Think long and hard before you accuse my boys, Grace Branduff,” he said. “You won’t be doing Kay any favors.”

“Don’t you threaten her,” Kay said as she came through the door behind him. “If you have a brain in your head, Stuart Machalvie, you will shut up until your lawyer gets here.”

Kay hugged Grace.

“I’m so sorry,” Grace cried. “I promised I wouldn’t sneak out and I did. Please don’t hate me.”

“I couldn’t hate you,” Kay said. “Why in the world didn’t you wake me up?”

“I didn’t want you to get involved in a scandal,” Grace said. “But I couldn’t let them burn down the newspaper office.”

“That’s slander!” Stuart yelled. “I have witnesses!”

“Frank,” Scott said. “Please escort Stuart to the holding cell where he can stay with the boys until their lawyer arrives.”

“False arrest!” Stuart yelled. “I’ll have your job for this!”

Scott rolled his eyes as Stuart left the room.

“Tell me what’s happened,” Kay said.

Grace looked at Scott.