Summer Shadows (17 page)

The bedroom door creaking open interrupted his thoughts. He lifted his head to see Dana shutting the door carefully behind her. She made a great show of tiptoeing towards his bed, where she leaned over him and whispered, “Ron? Are you awake?”

“Yeah,” he whispered. He sat up and switched on the lamp, flooding the room with light. Dana blinked and crinkled her eyes against the sudden brightness.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Can’t sleep?”

She rubbed her eyes and shook her head. “No, I forgot to tell you.”

“Forgot to tell me what?”

Dana leaned forward conspiratorially. “Amelia – she’s in,” she whispered.

For the life of him, Ron couldn’t figure out what she was talking about. “In?”

“Yes. She said she’d help.”

“Help with what?”

“With the haunted house, obviously. She says the dogs won’t go near it.” She leaned in, her eyes glittering. “They can smell ghosts, you know.”

Ron stared at her, horrified. “You told her about Dylan? That was supposed to be a secret!”

“Amelia’s good at keeping secrets,” she protested.

“How do you know that?”

She fingered the trim of his blanket. “Um… Well, she told me so.” When he sighed and shook his head, she gave him an anxious look. “Is it all right, Ron? Is she in?”

They heard Julia then – it sounded as though she was at the bottom of the stairs, listening. They froze and waited. After a minute, she moved on, and Ron switched off the light.

“Is she in?” Dana’s voice conveyed her anxiety.

Ron nodded; then, realizing she couldn’t see him in the dark, said, “Yeah, she’s in, but no one else.”

“Okay – thanks!”

“Better get to bed, before Aunt Julia comes back.”

“Yeah, sure.” She scampered to the door. She turned as she stepped out and whispered, “Love you, Ron!” Then she was gone.

“Love you, too,” he muttered. He settled back down and fell asleep instantly.

21

R
on woke up staring through a skylight into a brilliantly blue sky. Unlike the other day, he knew where he was instantly: in his new room, in his new bed, with clean sheets and newly painted walls. The air in the room felt fresh, scrubbed clean. Someone, probably Aunt Julia, had opened the window and turned on the fan.

He didn’t want to move. The brightness of the day, the clean scent in the air, and the crispness of the sheets made him want to stay in his comfortable nest of blankets for a few minutes more.

He heard Horatio’s sharp bark from downstairs. The angle of the sun through the skylight told Ron that it was late. He threw on some clothes, made his bed quickly, and was halfway down the stairs with his toothbrush kit when he heard a knock at the side door. Julia called out for Dana to get it, but Ron beat her to it.

Mrs. Jurta gave him a friendly, hurried smile as she brushed past him, followed by Amelia.

“Good morning, good morning, and good morning!” she called out. “Well, hello there, Tigger! How are you today?”

Tigger wriggled with excitement. When Dana put him on the floor, he ran to Amelia and the little girl was delighted. At the table, Julia gave up trying to hold Horatio back and let him go, causing Jack to shriek in terror.

The whole kitchen was a confusing mess of noise and calamity. Ron pushed through the kitchen and sought refuge in the bathroom, and he didn’t come out until he heard Mrs. Jurta and the dogs leave.

He went into the messy, empty kitchen, too hungry to worry about anything more than breakfast. He was munching on a bowl of cereal when Julia and his siblings came back in.

“Whew!” Julia’s hair was mussed and her shirt wasn’t tucked in properly, but she looked wide awake despite the circles under her eyes. “Whoever said taking care of dogs was easy lied. It’s only 8:30 and I’m exhausted. Good morning, Ron.”

“Morning,” he mumbled.

Dana sat next to him. “It was a lot of fun having Horatio and Tigger and Amelia here,” she said, longingly. “I’m sorry they had to go home.”

“I’m not!” Jack said. “Aunt Julia, can I go outside?”

“Finish you milk first, Jack.”

“Aww….”

“Do you think we could have them over again?” Dana asked eagerly. “For a sleep over, like we did last night?”

“I don’t know, honey. That would be up to Mrs. Jurta and Officer Wilde.” Julia poured herself a cup of coffee.

“Maybe we could keep one?” she wheedled.

Julia sat and took a sip, looking over her mug at Dana. “A dog is a long term responsibility, not to mention an expensive one.”

“But these dogs are from the pound so Amelia says they’re free,” Dana pointed out. “They’re healthy and they’re good dogs, the best there is.”

“There’s more to it than just the expense, Dana. Dogs need a lot of attention and time, and during the school year, you’re very busy. Anyway, I don’t want to take on anything new until I get my new job.”

Dana exchanged glances with Ron. Both had forgotten about Julia’s new job, the one she still hadn’t found. Both of them knew lots of kids with parents out of work, sometimes for years at a time.

Ron decided that it was best that they did not take on a dog just yet. Before he could convey his decision to Dana, however, she was saying, “It’s just that they could get adopted at any time, Aunt Julia. Then we’ll never see them again.”

Before anyone could respond to that, a roar from a large lawn mower erupted right outside the window, followed immediately by a sharp knock at the door. J. C. and his crew had arrived.

Julia answered the door and led Derval into the kitchen.

Derval was asking, “Do you want me to work today, Mrs. Lamontaigne?”

“Just Julia, please. And yes, that would be great. I have a lot of work to do and it’s such a nice day, it would be good to have the kids play outside.”

“But you said I might be able to work on my garden today,” Dana protested.

“Oh, that’s right, I did,” Julia said, looking at her watch in indecision.

Derval said, “I can help you with that. My mom has a big garden at home and I work in there all the time with her.”

Dana grinned. “Awesome. That would be
great
, Derval.”

“Yes, but, um,” she looked ruefully at her smoothly polished nails. “Do you have any garden gloves?”

“Yes, we do!” Dana jumped up and ran into the dining room, shouting over her shoulder, “We got them the other day for Aunt Julia and they’re brand new. It’s all right, isn’t it, Aunt Julia?”

“Yes, its fine, Dana,” she said, and then gave Derval a searching look. “Are you sure you want to go mucking about in a garden today?”

“It’s fine,” Derval said. “It’s a good way to get a tan. Unless, of course, you need help in here?”

“No, I’ll be fine, thank you. Ron and I have everything under control, don’t we, Ron?”

Ron nodded and dumped the rest of his cereal into the trash. He wasn’t hungry anymore and, anyway, there wasn’t time.

Derval took the two younger kids outside, while Ron and Julia installed air conditioners in Dana’s and Ron’s rooms. The window in the boys’ room was so small that they thought that it might not fit, but they managed it. Ron was glad that they had a skylight, because the air conditioner took up almost the entire window.

“The new owners should install central air,” Julia commented as they went downstairs. “Of course, there’s no way to tell them that without making the house look bad.”

“If we lived here full time, would you install central air?” Ron asked.

“Oh, like a shot. I’m such a baby when it comes to heat. All right, time to start on the living room.”

Ron thought that they should do Aunt Julia’s bedroom next, but she told him she wanted to be able to invite people in without being embarrassed.

They worked until 11:30, stripping what they could of the wallpaper, which wasn’t much. The wallpaper was as stubborn as Robert had warned.

Ron was hungry, and covered in sweat and dust. The lawnmowers had long since ceased to roar. Occasionally they’d see one of J. C.’s crew walking by a window with his head down, as though studying the ground.

“Would you go outside and see how Derval and the kids are doing?” Julia asked.

Ron was happy to. It looked like a great day to be outside and he wanted to get away from the dust and mold.

He found the little garden crawling with activity. Most of the dirt had been turned over and neat rows created with seed packets on Popsicle sticks (freshly cleaned off, judging by the pink stains) marking what was buried there. Jack was happily making mud castles in the corner. Derval and Dana, each with dirty knees and filthy gloves, stood off to the side, watching as J. C., Mitch, and Connor wrestled with a thin, young stump in the garden.

They were refilling the hole with dirt when Julia came out to call them in for lunch. She thanked J. C. and his crew and offered them lunch, but J. C. turned her down, telling her that they were obliged to two other lawns that day and they were already late.

“I’ve never in my life met boys like that,” Julia told Ron as they were going into the house. “They are really remarkable.”

“That’s my boyfriend,” Derval said, with thinly disguised pride.

Around 6:00 p.m., Ron, Dana, and Jack were outside, riding their bikes up and down the sidewalk. The road was almost completely still that Friday afternoon - only the occasional jogger or car disturbed their quiet. Derval had left a few hours earlier, and Julia was writing on her laptop in the shade of the porch.

She and Ron had worked hard all day; yet despite that, there was still so much left to do that Ron wondered how they were going to get it all done without hiring someone to help. He was silent as he rode alongside Dana, with Jack huffing and puffing on his trike behind them.

Their path fell far short of the haunted house. It seemed to watch them as they rode back and forth. Ron, for all his curiosity about the place, was content to stay in the sunlight.

Their silent riding came to an abrupt end when Amelia shot out of her driveway and challenged them to race.

The race degenerated into a chase, the two girls trying to catch Ron, and the pursuit had them crisscrossing the quiet street, going up the sidewalks and off again, into the driveways and out. They didn’t notice the lengthening shadows of the trees or the steadily darkening sky. They didn’t notice that Julia had long since laid aside her laptop, contentedly watching them from the sidelines. They shouted and laughed until their lungs hurt, their sides ached, the sweat poured down their backs, and Dana complained that she was getting a headache from the heat.

Then Julia called them in for supper. She plucked Jack off of his trike while the three others circled her with their bikes.

“Oh,” Amelia sounded disappointed. “Do we have to stop? I’m not hungry yet.”

“I am,” Dana said. “I’m starving. Aunt Julia, can Amelia eat with us?”

“When is your father coming home, Amelia?” Julia asked

“Any time now,” Amelia said cheerfully. “He won’t mind if you invite me over to dinner. I’ll even help with the dishes.”

Just then, the familiar police car pulled into the Wilde’s driveway and Amelia ran to greet her father. Ron saw Julia’s smile broaden when she saw the officer. Wilde gave them a friendly wave before going into the house, which Julia returned, and the Budds were left alone.

“Well,” Julia said, shaking her head as though to clear her thoughts. “That’s that, then. Dana and Ron, please tidy up the yard while Jack and I make supper.”

“I don’t want to make supper,” Jack declared. “I want to play with my chalk.”

“We’ll play again tomorrow, pal,” Julia said soothingly. “Come on. I’ll make you noodle soup.”

Dana and Ron started cleaning up and were still at it when Dylan rode up on his bicycle. He wore a towel tied about his bare chest like an ancient Roman stole and rolled over the new front lawn, jerking to a halt inches from Ron.

“Hey, Budd,” he said, grinning.

Ron grinned back. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Just finished swimming,” he said, twisting to look back at Katy. “It was a good time – you should have been there. We ate a ton, too.”

“Cool,” Ron said.

Dana raced over. “Hi, Dylan, guess what? We have a new member on the team!”

Dylan frowned. “We do? Who?”

“Amelia, from next door. She’s a real good watcher, and she has her own camera, too.”

“Oh, man, Ron!” Dylan whined. “We don’t need to be dragging little kids into this! They’re going to slow us down, you know?”

The older boy’s tone hurt Dana – her face began to crumble.

“The more eyes we have, the better,” Ron said firmly. “My sister is a good observer and so is Amelia. Besides, we could use another camera, don’t you think?”

“But, dude, what if they scream or something? I mean, I don’t want to be babysitting the whole time we’re out.”

“You won’t be,” Ron said. “Dana’s solid. She won’t run or scream, will you, Dana?”

She shook her head.

“Besides,” Ron continued, “Amelia also has use of Mrs. Jurta’s dogs. They’d be helpful, sniffing around the place and warning us of danger.”

“Ghosts don’t smell,” Dylan pointed out.

Ron had no answer for that, but fortunately, Katy did. “Dylan, you dope, animals sense ghosts. They won’t go near the place if they detect one.”

“Oh, fine, all right then. You’re in, Dana,” Dylan declared. “Amelia, too, I guess.” He went on to the next point of business. “Okay, so, like, are you available tomorrow for a bit of reconnoitering?”

“Dylan.” Katy shook her head, annoyed. “We’re going to Dad’s tomorrow, remember? For the Fourth of July thing he’s doing?”

“Oh, bummer!” Dylan said. “When are we getting back?”

“Monday afternoon.” She swatted a mosquito on her arm.

“Okay, how about Monday afternoon, Ron?”

“We can make it,” Dana said confidently. “We work with Aunt Julia in the mornings, not the afternoons.”

“Awesome,” Dylan said. “We’ll see you then.”

“Let’s
go
, Dylan,” Katy whined. The insects were gathering and she was getting tired of fending them off.

“Oh, all right,” he said. “Later, guys. Monday, remember.”

They raced away, and Ron turned to Dana.

“We don’t know that we’re available on Monday,” he said. “Remember what I told you about Aunt Julia needing extra help? We have to get everything done by the first week of August. We won’t have time to play.”

“This is important, Ron. Besides, we promised Dylan that we’d help and a promise is a promise.” She turned her back on him and started to collect the scattered pieces of chalk from Jack’s set. “Aunt Julia told me that one of the most important things we can do in life is to keep our promises.”

He sighed. She was right. And, anyway, he really did want to find out.

“Okay, you’re right, Dana. But we’ll have to keep an eye on Dylan. I don’t really trust him.”

Dana stopped, staring at him wide-eyed. “You don’t?” she whispered.

He reached out and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Dana. I can handle it.”

She looked up at him and smiled bravely.