Midsummer's Eve (30 page)

“I
can’
t believe I agreed to go camping down there with y’all. I have no
dethire
to
the
him at all.
We
muth
all be crazy.”

“
No. Just Teri.”

Mallory
beeped in and we
had a three-way conversation. “Traitor.”
I accused her, after we
had discussed the child’
s apparent fascination with wind and bugs.

“What?”

“
Don’t what me,
Mallory
! I agreed to go camping only if Teri could talk you into it, knowing full well th
at you wouldn’t even consider spending a night in those haunted woods
. Why did you agree to go?”

“
I’
m just curious.”

“About what?”

“About the little boy.”

“
About whose little boy,
Mallory
?”

“
Well, I am anxious to see JoJo
again. Has he changed much? Does he still loo
k as good as he did last time I saw him
?”

“Better.”
I wouldn’t spoil the surprise. I decided to let Teri inform her that she had been duped. I would just sit back and watch the fireworks.

“Who knows, perhaps the rest of us will get a chance to see the little boy in the corn.”

I knew by the way she s
aid it that she didn’
t believe a word of my story. We both knew the day
Mallory
saw the little boy would probably be the last day she ever drew breath. The only reason she was trailing along was in hopes of spending some quality time, alone, with my son
.
I
n a dark
cabin!
Huh! Over my dead body!

I cou
ld only pray that the child in the corn
had already made other plans for the weekend and wouldn’t make an appearance, even if it was my only hope of proving
that I hadn’
t imagined the entire episode. “
We’
ll see what happens.” Hopefully, nothing!

I tried not to spend every waking moment dreading the weekend but, unfortunately, Friday arrived all too
quickly. Right around dusk
the girls arrived and we loaded our supplies into the bac
k of Dad’
s old river truck.

“I brought the fixings for Dirty Martini’s,” Teri said. “I can get drunk off my ass
,
and not have to worr
y about making a fool of myself
or getting pissed off b
y one of Lawrence’s stern lectures on the dangers of alcohol abuse
,
at the river. That man expects me to be as stodgy as he is and never have any fun.”

“Do I detect a hint of trouble in paradise,” I asked.

“Nope, he has
way too much money for me to even think of hinting at trouble.”

“Goo
d point.
I brought the ingredients for Bloody Marys. I thought I might need some liquid backbone tonight. We all might.”

“I brought Corona and limes,”
Mallory
said. “If what you said is true,
Eve
, and I see that kid,
I will have to
get intoxicated
!”

We looked expectantly at
Tammy
.

“Y’all will
juth
have to
thare
.”

I stopped at the gate and
Mallory
hopped out to open it, her eyes darting back and forth through the rustling
cornstalks. “
Where did you see him,
Eve
?”

“
Hop in and I’ll show you.” I drove about a half mile down the road and stopped the truck. “The
bugs started right about here.”
As I was talking a mosquito landed on my arm and I jumped so hard I almost vaulted out the window. “Ouch!” I screeched slapping at it. Jerking the truck door open, I jumped out and listened for the humming sound of an impending
swarm. Thankfully the only noise was crickets chirping
.

“Take it easy,
Eve
,”
Teri said with a worried frown wrinkling her arched brow.
“It was just one bug. Come on, let’s go.”

I drove
a little further and stopped. “
The
wind started right about here.” I pointed into the cornfield. “The little boy was right there.”

I remembered the child’
s blood red eyes vividly. I stared into the corn almost expecting him to materialize and motion for me to follow him and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when nothing happened. I had to fight the powerful urge to slam the truck into reverse and go home. Could someone please tell me why was I here, again?

“Okay, keep going,”
Mallory
said nervously. “
We are surrounded by corn on all sides. I don’t like this, I feel trapped.
” Her face was turning an unsightly shade of blue and she seemed to be struggling to get air into her lungs. “In fact
…
I’m having
…
difficulty
…
breathing.”

“
Mallory
, take a deep breath
and chill out,” Teri said. “Why
must you
get so worked up about every little thing?
Eve
, start driving so she can feel a breeze before she blacks out.”

“Just wait.” I laughed, a sound that lacked even a trace of humor
, when I saw that
Mallory
’s breathing had returned to normal
. “You think you’re having difficulty breathing now? You ain’t seen nothing yet.” I drove to the river and parked beside the cabin.

“
Oh, I’
d forgotten what a lush, tropical paradise this is
!
”
Teri grabbed a baby wipe from her bag after climbing out of Dad's dirty old river truck and daintily scrubbed her hands.

I still didn’
t know how the diva was going to survive a night at the river wi
thout a single luxury, although
the cabin was comfortable. It had two sets of bunk beds with regular size mattresses and a
tiny
kitchen. The one room house on s
tilts had all
the amenities, except a bathroom. You still had to go to
the outhouse for that. I couldn’
t wait to see her face after her first trip to the latrine. 

“
Let’
s walk to the Almond House and the gr
aveyard before dark,”
Teri said after we had unloaded the supplies. “He is, or was, a little black boy so I assume his parents were slaves on the A
lmond Plantation. Right? Wouldn’
t you think that’
s probably where he hangs out?” She clapped her hands togeth
er. “I can’
t wait to see him. I’
ve only seen one ghost.”

“You did? When?”
Tammy
asked
,
while at the same tim
e looking like she wasn’t really anxious
to hear the answer.

“Oh, it was during my drug day
s. I was high on coke, so I can’
t swear what it was that we saw. But the fellow members of the witch coven and I were having a séance and a dark figure was looming, well, actually
floating, in the corner. I don’
t remember
him carrying a sickle
though
. However
that was the night I overdosed, so it was probably the Grim Reaper just waiting to swoop me to the fiery pits.”

“Oh,
t
hit
!”

“That’s exactly what I
said, well…
almost,” Teri said with a shudder. “I haven’t touched an illegal substance since that night.”

I could tell
Mallory
and
Tammy
were fast rethinking their hasty
decision to tag along.
I
w
as having serious second thoughts myself.

“
Why do
you want to go to a graveyard?”
Mallory
’s voice was taking on that whining note that none of us particularly cared for. “And what’s so special about the Almond House anyway?”

I didn’t exactly know why, but everyone in the area would agree that the
re was something sinister
about the old plantation house. It just felt haunted. “You’ll see.”

The Almond House was once a thriving cotton plantation. During research at the library, I had discovered that in its heyday the plantation had produced more cotton than any other plantation in the area and the Almond’s owned practically the entire town. The family graveyard was in the woods
situated
across from the plantation house and the slave graveyard was behind it. The house was about a half mile from the river. I was wondering if we could walk there and back before sundown or if I should drive the truck.

“
Come on,
Eve
.”
Teri
joked, sensing my hesitation. “
I’
ll protect you from the wicked
witch and her winged monkeys…
I mean the little boy
and his evil bugs.”

Teri made my decision with that comment. I could have chosen to drive the truck or w
alk up the road. But, nope! Let’
s take Miss Fashion Icon
through
the woods and a couple of wild
,
red bug infested
blackberry patches! Trust me, you won’t understand the true meaning of the word itch until an e
ntire community of chiggers
relocate
s
under your skin. I was definitely going to t
ake her on a walk to remember. “
And who is going to protect yo
u
?”
I asked, falling in step beside her.

Tammy
and
Mallory
hesitantly walked behind us as we parted dense vegetation and headed through the forest. Teri quickly lost her holier than thou attitude and complained every step of the way.

“My shoes will be ruined!”

“Probably.” I agreed, perhaps a bit to cheerfully.

“Oh!
I
just
know I’ll have
perma
nent scars from all these briar
scratches.”

“Most likely.”

”Ouch! Oh, shit!” s
he cried, slapping at a mosquito. “Didn’t you bring any insect repellent?”

“Yes, I s
prayed.” I said
innocently. “Didn’
t I offer
you the can of bug spray before we left the cabin?”

“No! You didn’
t
,
you twit
! As a matter of fact you failed to mention that you even brought any.”

“Watch out! That’
s poison ivy
!” I warned, pointing to several vines snaking through the forest.

“Oh, dear Lord!” Teri squawked. “How do I know which green thing is poison oak?”

“Be wary of anything with five leaves.”

“
Thit
!”
Tammy
fretted, eyeing the many five leaved plants.

I actual
ly saw sweat glistening on Teri’
s brow. She was nervous. Good! At one point we had to crawl on our hands and knees through a tangle of thorny briar bushes. You can just imagine how thrilled Teri was with that indignity. T
eri? On her knees?
Without a single man in sight? Please.

“Oh, now this is simply
absurd! You didn’
t tell me we were going to have to walk through a briar patch. I feel like Brier Fucking Rabbit.”

“You didn’
t ask.” I was stilled pissed at her, so I grabbed a small tree limb as I walked. When she
got right behind me I
let it go.

“Ouch! Watch what you’
re doing,
Eve
. You did that on purpose, didn’
t you? Girl, don’t make me put a hurting on your
narrow
ass.”

“Of course not.” I fibbed as we finally emerged from the woods. “Oh my God!
Would you look at that?
”
My anger dissolved
immediately
as I witnessed the
breathtaking
panorama before me
.