The Demon Conspiracy (21 page)

She’s pretty
upset
, he replied back.

Wonder if she’s ever done that before?

“Chris and I share
in
all
big
decisions,” said Angie. “If you stay here, well that’s a big one
all right. It’s as much his choice as it is mine.”

“I understand. I’ll go outside while you
talk to Chris. I have a tendency to intimidate people.”

“Really?” Angie’s voice dripped with
sarcasm, but she must have been smiling because both women chuckled
as they started for the foyer. I caught a flash of confusion from
Matilda when she saw that Jon had been sitting within hearing
distance.

Matilda stepped out on the porch and glared
at him. “Get an earful?”

“What?” said Jon, clueless. Travis
snickered, so I covered his mouth.

I peeked out the window
and saw Matilda shoot Jon a challenging glance. She stepped down to
the sidewalk. A moment later Angie came outside and marched right
up to her. Jon threw the ball almost to the mailbox by the street.
It came to a complete stop, then began to roll back to him. It
rolled past the big oak tree, bouncing over its roots, and
then
up
the steps
and into his hand. I was amazed. Travis tugged on my arm to make
sure I’d seen it. For the first time Matilda noticed what he was
doing. Jon shot a cocky glance to the older woman and went
inside.

“Does he always do that?” Matilda scratched
her head.

Angie ignored her. “Chris
doesn’t care if you move in as long as you don’t go in the
basement. He’s gotten kind of weird. On the other hand,
I’m
not so sure if you
should, even if you do pay room and board. You’ve been such
a
lousy
mother.”

I cringed. It wasn’t so
much the word as it was
how
she said it. She sounded almost nasty. Was she
testing her mother?

“Yes,” said Matilda, not reacting like I
thought she would. “I want us to be friends, if we can. I want to
get to know your husband and your kids, too. I want to be part of
your life, at least for as long as you’ll let me.”

Angie went on. “We don’t
know anything about you except that you rode up with a motorcycle
gang called
Satan’s
Sidekicks
. I suppose you can be nice when
you’re not crushing the hands of people you meet for the first
time. You could have hurt Chris, squeezing it like that! And I
wonder what kind of influence you’ll be on the kids, because I
assure you, the kids will continue to live here whether you stay or
not. Frankly, I don’t see you fitting in.”

Matilda hung her head and I kind of felt
sorry for her. I had a feeling Angie was going to tell her to hit
the road. She went on.

“The five of us, well, we’re a little late
getting together, but we’re a family. Matilda, as long as your
influence on the children remains positive, then the family
includes you, too. And if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor, you
can have the small bedroom at the top of the stairs. We’ll bring up
an old mattress from the basement.”

Matilda smiled and nodded politely.

Boy was I shocked. I didn’t expect Angie to
say anything close to that.

“Travis?” said Angie. “Kelly? Kids, you’ve
already met Matilda. Well, she’s going to live with us for a while.
One more thing, Matilda. Don’t you dare bring any guns into this
house. I am staunchly against firearms. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” repeated Matilda with a
slight nod. “Lots of folks don’t want guns around.” She lowered her
voice so only I could hear her. “Until they need ‘em.”

I smiled, but didn’t say anything. I nearly
raised my hand to tell on her, but that would have been stupid. To
my surprise Travis did raise his hand. I winced. I didn’t want him
to say what I’d just been thinking.

Matilda seemed bewildered. “Is that for
me?”

“Yes,” said Travis nervously. “I have a
question.”

“Oh. Well, go ahead, li’l mate. Fire
away.”

Travis lowered his head shyly, then looked
up. “Whutta we call you?”

I let out a breath of relief when he didn’t
mention guns.

“What do you call me? You mean, like Angie
and Chris call me Matilda?”

Travis nodded. Matilda thought about it for
a while then smiled again. This time the smile was warmer and made
her look pretty, like Angie.

“Well, li’l mate, here’s what I think. I’m
hoping you three and Angie and Chris will all be together for a
very long time. That would make me sort of like your grandmother,
wouldn’t it? So why don’t you call me Granny?”

“Granny?” Angie’s eyes nearly popped out of
her head.

“We’ve got a grandmother,” I said calmly.
“Wait till Jon hears.”

“We never had a grandmother before,” said
Travis. “Not a live one, anyway.”

I smiled and nodded but I wasn’t sure how I
felt about this unusual woman. Something else got my attention.
“What’s burning?”

Angie looked up with a start. “Omigosh! The
burgers!” Suddenly, she charged back into the house. We started to
go with her, but we didn’t want to leave Matilda—Granny—stuck
outside alone.

“So much for supper,” I said.

Travis smiled. “Granny, I hope you like
pickles.”

16

THE FIGHT

KELLY

Giant flames from the grill shot up in the
air, licking at the vinyl siding on the back of the house. Angie
freaked when she saw it, but reacted like a pro. Crouching, she
moved the grill away from the house to the center of the deck. Then
she carefully scraped the ruined burgers and hotdogs onto a large
plate. When the juicy meat was off the grill, the fire died down a
bit.

Granny helped by grabbing a box of baking
soda from the fridge and sprinkling it all over the coals. It was
mostly dead in seconds.

The burnt siding looked and smelled as bad
as the burgers. The heat had melted and charred an area eight feet
above the grill, warping the vinyl, and giving it a curdled
texture. Angie hung her head.

“I wonder how much that will cost?” She was
so frustrated I gave her a big hug. Travis joined us. Granny looked
on without comment.

“I’m sorry about supper,” said Angie. “Chris
is the one who usually cooks on the grill. Would anyone like to go
with me to Tony’s Pizza?”

“Why not send Jon or Chris?” asked Granny.
“Though it’s not my business.”

“They forgot how to drive,” said Travis.

“Forgot how to drive?” Granny half shrugged.
“How does that work?”

“We’ve had some, uh, issues to deal with,”
said Angie. “Kelly, can you make a list of what everyone wants?
Travis, I’ll need you to help carry the drinks, okay?”

“Okay!” said Travis. “Kelly, I want a turkey
sub!”

“Figured that.” I found a sheet of paper in
a kitchen drawer and jotted it down. “Can I have a pepperoni
pizza?”

“You can have whatever you want,” said
Angie. “Let’s get a large, we’ll split it. Matilda, what would you
like?”

Matilda “Granny” Price had two requests. “A
roast beef sub would do me fine, Angie. Thanks. Would you mind if I
joined you on this trek? I’d like to pick up some job
applications.”

“Not a problem. Let’s go, guys. I’ll get
Jon.”

When Angie left the room Granny looked at me
confused. “Forgot how to drive? I mean, Chris must have been
driving for what? Twenty years? Kelly, what’s going on?”

“It’s complicated,” I said. “One of those
long stories.”

“Can’t wait to hear it.” She called out to
the other room. “Angie? Would you mind giving me five minutes to
freshen up a bit? I don’t want to make a bad first impression with
any potential employers.”

“Hurry.” Angie was so
upset over burning both dinner and the house that Granny’s delay
nearly set her off. I heard her think,
If
you
hadn’t shown up I might not have burned anything. At the very
least I wouldn’t be waiting for you now!
I
quickly got out of her head.

I followed Angie into the den where Jon sat
on a bar stool, staring out the front window. She tapped him on the
shoulder to get his attention.

“Jon, Tony called yesterday. He asked me to
remind you about your paycheck. He also wanted to know when you
were coming back to work. He hired Brandon to fill in while you’re
out.”

“I know Brandon,” said Jon in his British
accent and deadpan expression. “I met him at school.”

“He’s your best friend, or he was. You
really need to go with us and talk to Tony.”

“I will talk to Tony. You must introduce
me.”

“Introduce?” Frustrated, Angie gave up any
attempt to spark his memory. She tried a different strategy.
“Maria’s working tonight, so if you want to take some time and
visit with her we can eat at the restaurant.”

“I know Maria. It took me three tries to
learn her name.” Jon spoke like a robot with half a brain.

Twenty minutes later Granny had showered and
changed into a newer looking pair of blue jeans and a white blouse.
Her hair was fixed nice, too. I was impressed. Without the do-rag
she looked a lot like Angie. But waiting twenty minutes was nearly
too much. Angie was beyond irritable.

“Can we go now?”

“Sorry,” said Granny. “Yes, certainly.”

We hurried to the van before Angie blew her
top. Granny looked back at the house. “Did anyone get Chris’
order?”

“Chris doesn’t eat anymore,” said Angie. “Or
he doesn’t appear to, though he hasn’t lost any weight. And don’t
ask why because we don’t know what’s going on either.”

***

I walked into Tony’s Pizza with Angie, Jon,
Travis, and our new grandmother, too. I’ll admit it felt weird
calling this total stranger “Granny,” but that came easier for me
than calling her Matilda. Angie was a little ticked off about it,
but like Travis said, we had a grandparent. We should just enjoy
her while we could.

Maria waited on a table by the window. She
waved when she saw us and hurried over to hug Jon, who was totally
unresponsive to her. She hugged Angie and me, too, before rubbing
Travis’ hair again. Maybe the hair rub was a ritual, or something,
because she did it every time she saw him. She also offered him
another piece of gum, which he took, of course. That kid just loves
gum.

“Maria,” I said. “This is our foster
grandmother. You can call her Granny Price.”

“Glad to meet you, Ms. Price.” Maria smiled
pleasantly at Granny. Granny nodded politely, though I think she
felt a little out of place.

A balding Hispanic man behind the counter
got Maria’s attention and pointed to a table. Maria nodded. “I
gotta work. Brandon’s in the kitchen. It’s good to meet you.” She
went off to her customers.

“She’s spunk,” said Granny. “Looks like a
model and seems nice, too.”

“Nicest person I know,” I said. I looked at
Jon, wondering why he didn’t react in some way to the girl he
wanted to marry. “Jon said her parents are nice, too. Her dad’s a
good boss. That’s back when Jon remembered things.”

“Were Jon and Chris in an accident?” asked
Granny.

“You could say that.” Angie gave their order
to Tony, who took it all down and thanked her. He nodded to
Jon.

“Sure you don’t wanna work tonight, Jon?” he
asked. “We’re busy as hell.”

“I must work hard and fast. I will be the
greatest magician in the world.” Jon stepped away from the counter
and instantly became distracted by a nickel-sized spot on the
floor.

Angie introduced Matilda to Jon’s boss, Tony
Sanchez, who was Maria’s dad. She told him Matilda was looking for
a job.

“I can get you an application,” said Tony.
“But I just hired Brandon. I don’t really need more help now,
unless Jon isn’t coming back. Has he given you any idea what his
plans are?”

Angie looked at Jon, who still studied the
spot on the floor. “I wish I could help you with that, but Jon is
having…problems.” She and Tony nodded in agreement. He lowered his
voice. “He’s really bad, isn’t he? Maria said he wasn’t the same.
Has he seen a doctor?”

“Yes,” whispered Angie. “Physically he’s
fine, but we’re scheduled to see a psychiatrist, too.”

I listened to them, but I watched Jon
because something was happening on the floor. The spot, probably
made of grease, began to lift away from the surface. It drifted up
to Jon’s hand where he caught it midair and held it tightly in his
fist. He gave me a sly, sidelong glance and opened his hand. The
spot was gone. I looked at Granny and Angie and even Tony, but they
hadn’t noticed the trick at all. Travis missed it too. Jon winked
at me and became distracted again. I tried to wink back, but as
usual, I only blinked.

“I saw a help-wanted sign in the window next
door,” said Granny. “Do you know if the job’s still open?”

“At Mike’s? Yeah, it’s open, but Mike’s kind
of particular who works for him.”

“Thanks, mate. I’ll be back.” Granny
adjusted her hair and left the restaurant.

Tony looked at Angie. “Is she serious?
Mike’s looking for a bouncer. Hey, Jon, your paycheck’s in my
office. Let me know when you’re coming back okay?”

Jon gave Tony the deer-in-the-headlights
look. “What is your office?”

Tony looked at me. “Kelly, you know the way,
don’t you?” I nodded. “You can all go back, Brandon’s there. Maybe
you can give him some pointers on washing dishes.”

“Kelly, I’ll be in the car,” said Angie,
taking out her cell phone. “I need to find a good doctor for Jon to
see as soon as possible.” Angie and Tony nodded at each other and
she left through the front door. I tapped Jon on the arm.