Wonderland Creek Part 18

"Can you stay for a while?" he asked.

"No, sorry. I'm not getting off this horse." I still blushed at the humiliating memory of his hand on my backside as he had given me a boost. "I just came to drop off more food, then I have to get back. My family will be coming for me any minute. They might even be waiting for me."

"Weren't they supposed to be here by now?"

"Yes. I'm getting very worried about them. Listen, are you sure you don't want to ride back with me and hide out at the library?"

"It's not safe for me to ride anywhere in broad daylight."

I needed to leave. Belle was acting restless, as if she wanted me to either get off or go home. But I couldn't stop thinking about the people I was leaving behind and the problems that my leaving had created. "Listen, Mack. Everyone I talk to is worried about Lillie. She'll have no one to take care of her after I leave."

"Lillie will be fine."

"She won't be fine; she's one hundred years old! Doesn't she have a family we can contact?"

"Trust me. She'll be fine." His lack of concern for the frail old woman angered me. But then he might well ask why I wasn't concerned enough to stay with her.

"I'm worried about June Ann Larkin, too," I said, remembering her tears.

"That's a lot of worrying for someone who's leaving and never coming back."

"I guess I made some friends."

"Around here, we usually mind our own business and don't meddle."

"Well, while I'm meddling, you should know that I'm also worried about Maggie Coots. She seems depressed. You should have seen how she cried today when I told her I was leaving. If you and her husband were once friends, you should be concerned about her, too."

Mack turned away, but not before I saw that odd look on his face again-guilt or grief or maybe longing. I couldn't identify it.

"I have to go," I said again. "I would hate to keep my family waiting. Good-bye, Mack."

"Yeah . . . Bye, Alice."

Belle and I were back at the library by two o'clock. I expected to see Uncle Cecil and Aunt Lydia chatting with Lillie in the non-fiction section, listening to glowing reports about all my hard work and what a wonderful job I had done. Instead, I found Lillie asleep in her chair, alone.

"They're still not here?" I asked when she awoke and saw me.

"Guess they ain't coming today, honey."

All day Friday, I paced the creaking wooden floors, staring out of the library's front window, waiting. On Sat.u.r.day, Ike Arnett came to return his book. Had he really finished it in only a week? I decided it would be rude to ask. He tossed it down on the desk in front of me and said, "I hear you're leaving us. Is that true?" He wasn't smiling, for once.

"Yes, it's true. I only planned to stay for two weeks and it's been nearly three."

"Why can't you stay longer? You got a boyfriend back home waiting for you?"

"No, I don't have a boyfriend." I was surprised to discover that it no longer hurt to admit it. "Would you like to check out another book?"

"What I'd like is for you to stay." He had been holding one hand behind his back all this time, and he caught me by surprise when he whipped his hand around to reveal what he'd been hiding-a bouquet of flowers. "These are for you, Alice."

"Oh! They're beautiful!"

"Just like you." His magnificent smile returned. Ike was doing his best to be sweet and charming-and he was succeeding. Gordon had never brought me flowers. Or called me beautiful. I held the blossoms to my nose to inhale their scent.

"Thank you! I don't know what to say."

"Say that you'll stay. I'm going to be fiddling over in Pottstown next Sat.u.r.day and I'd love for you to come with me."

"I'm sorry, Ike, but I can't. My aunt and uncle will be coming to take me home any day." He looked so dejected that I quickly added, "But if it weren't for that, I'd love to come and hear you play."

He didn't seem to know what to say next-and neither did I-so I walked around from behind the desk to search for a vase for the flowers. The library didn't have one, so I went out to the kitchen to look for an empty Mason jar.

Ike followed me, sighing in disappointment. "They say our Arnett clan is jinxed, and I'm starting to believe it. Just when I find the prettiest girl in Kentucky, she up and leaves me."

Ike's last name, Arnett, registered with me for the first time. The Arnetts were feuding with the Larkins. That meant June Ann must be related to the Arnetts. I turned around to face Ike so quickly that I ended up walking right into his arms. I blushed as he held me for a moment, then I scrambled backward out of his embrace.

"Sorry, Ike. I didn't mean to b.u.mp into you-"

"I ain't sorry in the least!" he said, laughing.

"But I wanted to ask, do you know June Ann Larkin?"

"Sure. She's my cousin. Why?"

"I met her when I was delivering books up along Wonderland Creek. She just had a beautiful baby girl, but she's so lonely up there. Isn't there anyone from your family who would be willing to forget this stupid feud and pay her a visit?"

His smile wavered for just a moment, and he frowned slightly. "I'd like to help, but you know how it is . . ."

"Actually, I have no idea how it is. I can't understand what this feud is really all about."

"You'll get a different answer depending on which side you ask. But the truth is, them Larkins are a bunch of liars and thieves. As far as the Arnetts are concerned, our great-granddaddy died without telling us where the treasure was buried. His no-good Larkin partner died a few days later, so you can guess who ended up with the map and all the money."

I wondered if he was joking. Buried treasure? A map? But the look on Ike's face told me that he believed this crazy tale. I decided to drop it. I filled a Mason jar with water for the flowers and thanked him again.

Sunday was a magnificent day. The weather was warm and the trees were sprouting leaves. Spring had arrived in Acorn, but my aunt and uncle had not. If only there was some way to get in touch with them. Were they lost? Had Aunt Lydia's condition deteriorated? After all, she had been seeing monkeys and castles on the trip here. I had feared I would need a water cure myself after the trauma I had endured, but instead, the ordeal had made me stronger in a lot of ways. I remembered worrying that I was more like my flimsy aunt than my strong, self-a.s.sured mother. At least my visit to Acorn had settled that issue in my mind. I was stronger than I thought I was, capable of coping with some very trying experiences. But now it was time to go home.

I decided to get up early on Monday morning and ride my route so I could stop and see Mack on the way back. He must know where I could find a telephone. I had to call home and find out what was taking so long. I made Lillie swear again that she would watch for my family and ask them to wait for me. "I'll tie them to a chair if I have to," she promised. "You go on, honey. And don't worry."

June Ann looked happy to see me in spite of her tears. "I been praying all morning that you would come," she said, "and here you are. Can you set down and talk awhile?" I tied up Belle and followed June Ann into the dreary cabin. "The baby and I are all alone up here," she said as we sat by the hearth.

"Alone? Where's Wayne?" I hoped the stupid oaf hadn't left her because she'd failed to give him a son.

"He got all the crops in and decided to go look for work. They say the government will pay a couple dollars a day for that conversation corpse."

I had to smile. "You mean the Civilian Conservation Corps?"

"I guess. Feather and I get really lonely up here now that he's gone." She pushed the baby's cradle with her bare foot to rock it. The baby didn't stir. She looked like a little angel with her sweet, round face and halo of fuzzy red hair.

"Why don't you come down to Acorn with me and stay in town?" I asked on impulse. "That way, you won't be all alone up here." Maybe June Ann could take care of Lillie after I went home.

"I can't. I have to look after the animals. I can't leave them. But I been waiting and waiting for you to come back. I'm so glad we're friends."

By the time I left, guilt weighed me down like a heavy, wet overcoat. I was surprised Belle's back didn't bow in the middle from the load. Instead, she behaved so well for me that Lillie might have traded her in for a different horse.

I rode up to the Sawyer place and read the children a story. Then I stopped to see Gladys and Clint and their pipe-smoking granny. I knew better than to meddle, but since I was leaving soon, I threw caution to the wind. Who cared what anyone thought of me? I sat Gladys down for a little talk.

"Listen, you said you were related to June Ann Larkin? Well, I was just at her place and she's so lonesome she's in tears. Her husband, Wayne, went out to find work, and she's all alone with a beautiful new baby. Couldn't you find it in your heart to visit her once in a while? She could use some company."

Gladys glared at me as if I had asked her for the deed to her cabin and all of her livestock. At gunpoint. "You should be asking that Larkin clan, not me. June Ann's made her bed with them, and now she'll have to lie in it. She's a Larkin now."

"I would ask one of them if I knew who to ask."

"We don't mention any of them Larkins by name. There's bad blood between us."

"Yes, I know but-"

"When you see Cora, tell her we said howdy." Gladys stood and opened the door for me.

I fumed all the way down the mountain to Mack's cabin. Belle took me right up to the porch. "Mack!" I hissed, afraid to raise my voice. "Mack, where are you?" I waited, reluctant to climb off Belle. But when several minutes pa.s.sed and there was no sign of him, I had to dismount. I tied her to the porch railing and went inside.

The cabin's interior was even creepier than I had imagined, dark and shadowy and stinking of mildew and rotting wood. Cobwebs festooned the rafters, dead leaves littered the floor. I expected to see the empty feed sacks I had used to deliver Mack's food or at least the empty Mason jars, but there wasn't a single clue that Mack or anyone else had ever lived here. When a mouse skittered across the floor, I yelped and hurried outside again.

"Stay here," I told Belle. "I'm going to look for Mack." She was tied to the railing and couldn't have gone anywhere, but I needed to talk to someone in the eerie silence. I followed the narrow path through the trees to the glade where Mack's campfire had been. The pile of firewood was gone and the ashes spread out as if Mack had never cooked mushrooms there a few days ago. He was nowhere in sight. I called his name as loud as I dared. Waited. Called again. Mack had vanished.

Belle was waiting patiently for me when I returned. I had to perform a circus act to get on her back, balancing on the rickety porch railing like a tightrope walker, but I made it into the saddle without falling or breaking any bones.

I muttered beneath my breath as we ambled down the hill toward the library.

"Stupid man! Stupid, stupid man!"

My family still hasn't come?" I asked Lillie when I reached the library. I found her sitting at the kitchen table, peeling potatoes.

"No sign of them today, honey."

I paced in front of the sink, feeling desperate. "I need to get to a telephone. Do you know where I can find one?"

"Now, what do you need a telephone for?"

"I need to call home and find out if my parents have heard from my aunt and uncle. They were supposed to return for me a week ago. I'm worried sick about them."

"Worrying don't do no good. You just get yourself all worked up for nothing."

I continued to pace and to worry, watching Lillie remove a potato peel in one long, thin spiral. "What about the post office?" I asked. "Do they have a telephone up at the post office?"

"Why would they be needing a telephone to deliver the mail?"

"I just thought . . . since it was a government office . . ."

"You could always send your folks a letter."

"Letters take too long. I'm very worried, Lillie. My parents must be worried, too."

"Now, why would they be worried? They know where you are, don't they?" She laid down the knife and pushed the little pile of potatoes across the table toward me. "Chop these up for me, would you, honey? We're gonna make us some soup for dinner."

"In a minute. I'm trying to think . . ." I paced some more. "How do I get to the sheriff's office? He must have a telephone."

"Maybe he does and maybe he doesn't. I ain't never had a reason to go there and find out."

"Is it far? Could I ride there on Belle?"

"Sit down, honey. You're gonna wear out my floorboards."

"I can't sit. I need to find a telephone!"

"No, you need to sit down."

There was something about the way she said it that made the hair on my arms stand up. I'd had the same sensation once before when I accidentally touched a live wire on a frayed plug. "Why do I need to sit?"

"Something I got to tell you, honey." I pulled out a chair and sat, afraid to breathe. "Those relations of yours that you been waiting for? They come by when you was out delivering books last week."

"Last week? But you promised you would make them wait! You swore to me!"

"No, by the time I swore to you, they'd already come and gone. Seems they arrived a day earlier than you was expecting. The day June Ann had her baby, in fact. No, by the time I made all them promises to you, honey, they'd already been here and gone again."

"But . . . but . . . where did they go?"

"Home. They decided to go on home when they heard you was busy helping out here."

I leaped to my feet."What?"

"I told them all about the tragic accident that our librarian had, and how you was kind enough to step forward and take his place. I told them the library needs you-which is the gospel truth, honey. The gospel truth."

"But . . . I know my uncle. He would have waited until I came back. He would have talked to me and made certain-"

"I explained to him that I'm one hundred years old, and that I'm all alone here with no one to help me and no one to take care of all these books except you. I told him that you've been making new friends, and that these friends are counting on you, too. It's the truth, honey, ain't it? So, once your kinfolk saw how much we needed you, they agreed that it was very sweet and kind of you to stay a little longer."

I sank onto the chair again and lowered my face in my hands. "No . . . no . . ." My moans sounded like June Ann's when she'd been in labor. Lillie got up and came around the table to pat my shoulder.

"Your aunt asked if you'd met any nice young men, so I told her that a fiddle-player named Ike Arnett was sweet on you. She's the one who decided they should go on home without you. She told your uncle, 'Let poor Alice have an adventure for once. She doesn't have a job or a beau back home.' I promised that city uncle of yours that we would make sure you got home safe and sound, just as soon as we got somebody else to help out."

I couldn't stop my tears. "You kidnapped me! You're forcing me to stay here when you knew I wanted to go home!"

Lillie stopped patting and put her arm around my shoulders. "We won't make you stay if you don't want to. But the truth is, we do need your help, honey. Mack and me, we need your help real bad. I can't cook and clean and take care of this library all by myself. And who's gonna keep feeding Mack?"

"How long are you going to hold me captive?"

"Just till things get straightened out."

Did I want to know what things needed straightening? Or how long that might take? I wiped my tears, angry for losing control, and looked Lillie in the eye. "I know I'm not supposed to ask nosy questions, but since I've ended up in the middle of these 'things,' I think I deserve to know what's going on."