Will O Wisp (10 page)

“
Wonder if she will be
back?” Melinda said between breaths.

“
I don't know, but I sure
hate to think about standing guard over the cemetery every night
just to wait for her to show up,” Gracie groused. “I'm going to
talk to Sheriff Logan first chance I get. He needs to
investigate.”

Melinda said, “Maybe there's some
mental patient loose that needs caught.”

“
That isn't the way I saw
it,” Shana said. “That woman was crying over a babe when she patted
the bare ground. I'm thinking she buried her babe there by yer wee
brother.”

“
Oh, Gracie. Shana may be
right,” Melinda said. “It did look that way.”

“
Nothing wrong with that if
that's the case. Except she should have asked my permission to bury
a body in my family cemetery. That way I could tell her where to
dig the grave. That spot happens to be my spot next to my baby
brother. No one else should be using it.”

“
Oh, Gracie, I'm sorry.
That's too awful,” Melinda managed to say between pants.

“
I don't think it's awful.
I have always thought I'd be resting along side the rest of my
family when I died. I shouldn't have to do any different,” Gracie
barked.

Melinda swallowed hard. “Of course,
you're right, Gracie. I meant it was awful for you that someone
would use your plot without asking.”

“
What do you figure to do
about this?” Shana asked.

“
Well, authorities need to
know when someone dies. Maybe the sheriff already has word that
happened in the area. I sure intend to find out,” Gracie said. “Now
let's head back to the house. We need to get some sleep if we're
going fishing in the morning.”

The next morning, Melinda started
breakfast early. Gracie got a cup of leftover coffee out of the pot
before Melinda cleaned it. When the cup went dry, Gracie was ready
to go to the barn.

As she opened the kitchen door, she
heard Melinda say, “Oh, no.”

“
What's wrong?” Gracie
asked, headed back across the kitchen.

“
The lid was off the crock
of last night's milk. A mouse is floating around in it,” Melinda
said. “I hate losing all that good milk. What do we do with
it?”

“
The cat, dog and chickens
will eat good for awhile,” Gracie said. “We can use it up pretty
fast that way. You forget to put the lid on the crock?”

“
No, I didn't,” Melinda
said slowly.

“
Well?”

“
Shana must have forgotten
to put it on after she strained the milk. She brought me back the
flour sack she strained with so I could rinse it out and went on
outside,” Melinda said.

Gracie shook her head. “I told that
girl this would happen.”

“
Now, Gracie, don't be too
hard on Shana,” Melinda said. “All this is new to her.”

“
You would do good not to
mollycoddle her. She needs to do her chores right,” Gracie
declared.

After chores, Gracie opened up Thad's
tool shed and brought out three cane poles with string and hooks
attached.

“
I'll carry the poles if
you can carry the worm can, girl. Melinda can bring the picnic
basket,” Gracie planned.

Shana and she walked back to the
house. Gracie leaned the poles against the porch wall and went
inside. “Breakfast ready?”

Melinda smiled at them. “Yes. I
suppose you two are wanting me to hurry up so you can go
fishing.”

“
Something like that,”
Gracie said. “Oh, girl, Melinda told me she found a mouse floating
in the milk from last night's milking. No lid on the crock. You
know anything about that?”

“
Oh, and for sure. that
would be my fault. I forgot, Aunt Gracie, and sorry I am,” Shana
said, looking like she really meant it.

“
Well, how about you help
Melinda carry the milk off by taking some to the cat and her
kittens. Give Spot some and take some out to the hen house and put
in one of the troughs. Keep checking. When the milk is gone, pour
some more in. It might take a day or two to get rid of all that
milk, but I'll have us some fresh pretty quick. Just don't forget
again, Shana. That was an awful waste,” Gracie said.

“
So sorry, Aunt Gracie. I
will do better,” the girl promised.

After kitchen cleanup and the chores
were done, Gracie called into the kitchen, “You ready to go,
Melinda?”

“
I think so. I'm going to
borrow Thad's straw hat so the sun doesn't get on my face too
much.” She took the hat off a peg and put it on over her gray
curls.

“
You carry the picnic
basket. I got the poles and the girl has the bait. Reckon we're
ready to go,” Gracie said eagerly.

“
Oh, dear. I knew there was
something I was forgetting. I haven't fixed the picnic lunch yet. I
just finished doing the dishes and cleaning off the table. You two
go on without me. I'll catch up as soon as I packed the basket,”
Melinda said.

“
Are you sure you want to
walk through the pasture by yourself?” Gracie asked.

“
Didn't you say the pond is
over that first hill behind the barn?” Melinda asked.

“
Yip.”

“
Well, I don't see how I
can get lost. I'll be along soon. Go on now and get started having
fun,” Melinda urged.

Gracie picked up the poles and headed
for the barn yard. “Come on, girl. Melinda will be along soon with
the picnic basket.”

Shana skipped along beside Gracie as
they climbed the pasture hill. Half way up, Gracie slowed down,
breathing harder from the climb. Shana took her hand and said in
concern, “Sure and do you think you should stop and rest a minute,
Aunt Gracie?”

“
Nope, we're almost to the
top now. It's all down hill from there,” Gracie said. She glanced
at Shana's hand in her's. She didn't try to remove the small hand
that gripped her's as she started climbing again.

Just before they reached the top of
the hill, Gracie said in a quiet voice, “Listen, we're close to the
pond now.”

“
How can you know
that?”

“
Hear the water tumbling
over the dam and going down the gully. The pond always gets too
full after the spring rains,” Gracie said.

At the top of the hill, Shana said,
“Sure enough, the water is comin' out of the pond.”

When they reached the pond bank, there
was a big splash in the water.

“
What was that?” Shana
asked.

“
A frog. Look over the side
the bank. You might see little green heads watching you. The frogs
are usually half out of the water, waiting for a bug.”

As Shana peeked over the bank, a frog
let out a deep “Ribbit.”

“
That's what the frogs
sound like when they're talking to each other,” Gracie said, laying
down the poles. “Frog legs are good fried. One of these days, we'll
come frogging if you want. Now I always sit under this big burr oak
tree. We have shade when the sun gets high and hot.”

Shana picked up one of the poles.
“Sounds good to me, Aunt Gracie.”

Gracie studied the girl a moment.
“Where are you getting that Aunt business? We aren't
related.”

“
I call Melinda aunt. She
said I could, and we aren't related, either. I don't think it
matters as long as we like each other. Do you?” Shana
said.

“
You're right sure you want
me for an aunt?” Gracie asked.

“
I don't have any other
relatives except Mama and Papa Lang and the babes. You don't have
any kin so why can't we be kin?”

Gracie shrugged. “No reason that I can
see right now. If I come up with a reason down the line, I'll be
sure to let you know.”

“
Sounds good to me, Aunt
Gracie. Now is there a certain way to put the worm on the hook?”
Shana asked.

“
Just start running the
hook through the inside of the worm until it's threaded on the
hook. If the worm is too big to get all of it on the hook, break
the worm off. Put it back in the can for the next baiting,” Gracie
said. “Only if we were to want to save what worms we have left for
another time, we can't leave the broken worms in the can. They die
and cause the other worms to die so we have to sort them
out.”

“
Sure and it tis, I
understand.” Shana worked a worm on her hook as Gracie talked. “I
got the hook baited so am I ready?”

“
Yip, just get over some so
you got room to throw without hitting me or the tree. Hold the pole
over your shoulder then give the top end a toss and the string goes
out in the water. Just stay away from the tree until the line is in
the water so you don't get the hook caught in the limbs,” Gracie
said.

When Melinda showed up, she was
tuckered out. “Mercy, that seemed like a lot farther to walk than
just over the hill, Gracie Evans.”

“
Sit down and rest a
while,” Gracie invited, grinning as she inspected her empty
hook.

“
I intend to. How far is
this pond from the house?” Melinda asked.

Gracie rubbed her chin. “Oh, I expect
it's a quarter of a mile.”

“
No wonder I'm tired,”
complained Melinda.

“
Well, you're the one that
thinks walking is good exercise,” Gracie said, threading another
worm on her hook.

“
Walking on flat ground in
the city is a lot easier than up and down hills in this rough
ground,” Melinda groused. “Catch any fish yet?”

Shana pulled the stringer out of the
water to show Melinda. She pointed out her yellow bellied bullhead
with pride. She whispered, “The wee one is Aunt
Gracie's.”

“
You're doing so well. I
better get my hook in the water and catch up. We want plenty of
fish to fry for supper in case Mr. Sokal comes tonight.” Melinda
looked sideways at Gracie.

“
Did you have to bring that
up?” Gracie groused. “Just the thought of that man at our supper
table and eating our fish spoils my day.”

Melinda waved her hand at Gracie and
laughed.

“
Can I go around the other
side of the pond and try my luck, Aunt Gracie?” Shana
asked.

“
I don't care. Just be
careful when you're close to the bank so you don't fall in.” Gracie
asked as an after thought.
“Can you
swim?”

“
Not a drop,” Shana
said.

“
I can't either so you're
on your own if you fall in the pond,” Gracie warned the
girl.

Melinda cast her line into the water
and sat down by Gracie. She held onto the line, feeling for a bite.
“It's nice that Shana calls you Aunt Gracie now?”

Gracie grunted.

“
I don't see anything wrong
with it. Do you?”

“
It's all your fault. She
says you said it was all right to call us aunt since she doesn't
have any kin,” Gracie said.

“
I did say something like
that to her about myself, because I like it,” Melinda whispered. “I
didn't include you, but I think it would be good if you let her
call you aunt.”

“
And why is
that?”

“
Shana really likes you,
and she looks up to you,” Melinda declared.

“
I don't know why she would
want to do that,” Gracie said bluntly.

“
Frankly, I don't either. I
think I make a much better role model, but sometimes, a child sees
things differently,” Melinda said frankly. “Maybe it has something
to do with you being so bluntly honest with her. Or, maybe it's
because you're teaching her new and fun things to do like going
fishing.”

“
Don't ruffle your
feathers.
I told the girl it was all right
to call me aunt until further notice. If I change my mind, I told
her I'd let her know,” Gracie said firmly.

Melinda shot a searing glance at her
and back at her line. “Honestly, Gracie, sometimes I don't
understand you.”

Chapter Eight

Later that afternoon, Shana complained
while they cleaned the stringer full of fish. She said that part of
fishing wasn't any fun. Gracie rubbed it in that cleaning the fish
was part of fishing. She'd remind the girl of that when Shana ate
her share of fried fish for supper.

After supper, Gracie said, “I'm going
out on the porch and sit a spell. Anyone want to join
me.”

“
We do,” Melinda said.
“Come on, Shana.”

Gracie and Melinda took the two
chairs, and Shana sat with her legs dangling off the porch. Spot
laid down beside her with his head resting on his front legs. Shana
rubbed his head between his ears as she studied the darkness around
them.

“
Gracie, aren't we lucky
someone thought of building front porches on houses,” Melinda
said.

“
Coolest place in the
country during the summer unless it's that swing out there in the
yard.” Gracie pointed to the tree in the corner of the yard where
the swing swayed in the breeze.

“
I'm so glad I came with
you. This is the best place to visit to get away from the city,”
Melinda said adamantly.