Will O Wisp (5 page)

All three adults said yes in
unison.

Shana slumped back on the love
seat.

Orie said, “One last thing you need to
remember.”

Shana groaned softly.

“
Now hear me out before you
get upset. I was just going to say when I come out to my farm I'll
stop in to see if you two are all right. If you get homesick,
Shana, and want to come home, you can ride back to Locked Rock with
me. All right?”

Shana brightened up considerably.
“Sure and it tis so?”

Gracie could see the wheels turning in
the child's head. She was thinking the first time Orie came to the
farm she head for home.

“
Now you go upstairs and
pack plenty of trousers and shirts, two Sunday dresses for church,
and a sweater and jacket for cool nights. Put in your good slippers
and wear your old shoes since you will be in the country,” Molly
instructed.

“
When will we leave?” Shana
asked Gracie.

“
As soon as you're ready.
I'm already packed. We have to be to the farm by mid morning,”
Gracie told her.

“
So soon. This all seems so
sudden,” Shana complained.

“
I just got asked by
Thaddeus Sawyer yesterday. It was sudden for me, too. The Sawyers
are leaving as soon as I show up. I told him I'd be there this
morning to get instructions about chores before they left,” Gracie
explained.

The meeting was over. Shana raced
upstairs to her room. Before Gracie headed for the kitchen to tell
Melinda and Madeline goodbye, she said to Orie, “Make sure you give
us about two weeks before you show up. That way Shana has had
plenty of time to get used to the farm and me before she makes up
her mind about going home with you.”

“
I understand, Miss
Gracie,” Orie said.

Miss Molly added, “Thank you for doing
this for us, Miss Gracie.

“
I don't mind. I got to
thinking the girl's company might be better than talking to myself
all the time,” Gracie said, smiling at them.

In the kitchen, Madeline and Melinda
waited until Gracie sat down at the table. Agnes brought her a cup
of coffee.

“
How did the meeting go?”
Madeline asked.

“
It went fine. The girl
only grumbled a little. I think she saw she was outnumbered. Mr.
Orie said she could come home any time when he visits the farm if
she doesn't want to stay. That sure brightened her up. She thinks
first time he comes she's going home,” Gracie said.

“
You don't sound like
that's the way it's going to be,” Melinda said.

“
It isn't. For one thing,
Mr. Orie isn't coming out for two weeks. I saw to that. Which means
the stay will be half over. That gives the girl time to get used to
the country and know if she wants to stay the other two weeks with
me,” Gracie said.

“
I see,” Melinda said. She
looked at Madeline and got a nod at Gracie with the words, go on,
mouthed at her. She took a deep breath. “Gracie?”

“
What?” Gracie uttered and
took a sip of her coffee.

“
I want to go to the farm
with you, too,” blurted out Melinda.

Gracie's mouth flew open and coffee
dribbled out of the side of her mouth. “Wh ---- what did you
say?”

“
I want to go with you,”
repeated Melinda.

“
Why?” Gracie
barked.

Melinda rushed through what she'd
rehearsed with Madeline. “I've been thinking about it. All the
times, you talked about your farm I don't know what the place
actually looks like. I want to see where you were raised for
myself.

Town is always so warm this time of
the year. I expect it's cooler in the country, and the fresh air
will do me good.” She stopped to take a breath.

Gracie stared at her, wondering if
Melinda was serious. “I can't believe it. You don't care a thing
about the country.”

“
The last time you were
gone almost a month, and I missed you,” Melinda added
lamely.

“
You got Madeline to keep
you company this time. She's some different than Libby Hook,”
Gracie said, nodding in Madeline's direction.

“
Oh brother! Thank you, I
think,” Madeline huffed.

“
What I meant was, you two
get along. No one could get along with Libby Hook even on her best
days. Madeline, you will be good company for Melinda while I'm
gone, won't you?” Gracie insisted.

“
Of course, I would be, but
that isn't what Melinda wants,” Madeline said slowly.

“
Well, there is one other
thing, Gracie,” Melinda said, tapping her fingers on the table. She
was ready to say the one thing she thought would make Gracie agree
to take her along.

“
I figured there might be.
What?” Gracie asked sharply.

“
The sound of your voice
right now just tells me I might be right in going with you. You
don't know anything about how to handle a child. You're either
going to wind up hurting her feelings or scaring her to death by
barking at her. You need me along to help take care of Shana. She
gets along all right with me,” Melinda laid out.

Gracie sat in silence, thinking about
what Melinda said. Finally, she spoke. “You might be right. I don't
want to make things worse for the girl's folks by upsetting Shana.
Come along if you want to do it.”

“
Thank you, Gracie,”
Melinda said, all smiles. She got a wink from Madeline.

“
Don't thank me yet until
you see if you like country life. You might be the first one that
high tails it back to town with Mr. Orie,” predicted
Gracie.

“
No, I will not,” Melinda
huffed.

Gracie eyed Melinda's clothes and
looked down at her tan blouse and brown cotton skirt. “If you're
going with me and the girl, you best get upstairs, change into some
every day clothes and pack. Don't put in but one or two of your
frilly white blouses and Sunday go to meeting skirts. Going to the
farm ain't all a picnic. Hurry up about it, too. I'm all ready to
leave, and Shana is packing now. We're leaving as soon as we can
get to the livery stable and rent a buggy,” she ordered.

“
I'll hurry. I promise,”
Melinda said, going to her room. She pulled the clothes she thought
Gracie might approve of out of her closet and packed her valise in
a hurry.

Chapter Four

On the way by Shana's room, she heard
some thumping noises. She stopped at the bedroom door to see if the
girl was about finished with her packing.

Shana sat on the edge of her bed,
bouncing a red rubber jack ball off the floor. “Are you about ready
to go with Gracie?” Melinda asked.

“
As ready as I'm going to
get,” Shana said dejectedly.

“
This will be a fun trip if
you let it be. I'm going, too,” Melinda shared.

Shana leveled her with a searching
look. “Sure and tis so? Why are you goin'? You didn't get into any
wickedness and need to be gotten out of town like me?”

“
Is that what you're
thinking? That isn't entirely true. Your parents just want to let
you experience something different than living in town is all,”
Melinda said, trying to smooth over Shana's leaving
town.

“
That is what they are
saying, but me knows when I've been plotted again to get me out of
town,” Shana replied.

“
That's not so. I
volunteered to go. The reason I'm going is Madeline read her tea
leaves a few minutes ago for me. She said there's going to be
trouble at the farm while Gracie is there. I don't want her going
out there by herself like she did last time. I figure between you
and me, we should be able to keep Gracie out of trouble. Don't
you?”

“
Yes, Aunt Melinda. Sounds
like a grand idea if this is so,” Shana said, perking
up.

“
All right, now let me help
you pack so we can get going. Gracie is getting itchy to leave, and
when she gets like that she gets cranky,” Melinda
exclaimed.

Melinda went to the closet and pulled
out two pairs of trousers and two blouses. The girl didn't budge.
“Shana, get underwear from your dresser drawer. Hurry and help me
out.”

Shana rushed to the dresser, pulled a
drawer open and took out a nightgown, panties and socks. She
stuffed the underwear in the bottom of the tapestry valise on her
bed.

Melinda folded the clothes and laid
them on top. “Now we need to pick out a couple of your nice dresses
so you have a change for church.”

Melinda glanced up at the shelf above
the clothes. She noticed a glass jar half full of brown globs
floating in amber liquid. She pointed to the jar. “Shana, what's in
that jar?”

“
Nothing of importance,”
Shana said. “Tis just an experiment I was after tryin'.”

Melinda folded up the dresses and
packed them. “Really? How interesting. What kind of
experiment?”

“
I'm growin' bugs in that
jar,” Shana explained.

Melinda shut the valise and went back
to the closet. She brought the jar off the shelf and noticed as the
liquid in the jar moved so did the brown globs.

“
Best set the jar back on
the shelf, Aunt Melinda. If the lid was to come off we would have a
mess,” Shana said, growing nervous.

“
What kind of
mess?”

“
The bugs would escape and
be crawlin' all over the house,” Shana said sincerely. “For
certain, that means the bugs will start by goin' in everyone's
bedroom upstairs, before they crawl downstairs.”

Melinda pressed her hand to her
throat. “Mercy! That sounds horrible. You will be gone for a while.
Can the bugs be left alone in the jar until you get
back?”

“
I'm sure they can. As soon
as they are big enough, I will take them outside and let them go,”
Shana assured her.

“
Maybe you should let them
go now,” Melinda insisted.

“
To be sure, they are not
ready quite yet. The bugs wouldn't survive if I turned them loose
now,” Shana said.

As she inspected the contents inside
of the jar, Shana sneezed, then she hacked.

The hack turned into a coughing spasm.
Melinda patted her back. “Oh, dear, do you want me to go get Miss
Molly?”

“
No, I will be able to get
rid of this cough meself,” Shana gasped. She unscrewed the lid on
the jar and took a big drink of the amber liquid as the brown globs
floated up and bounced on the bottom of the jar.

“
Oh, that's awful,” Melinda
cried, looking sickly. “How could you drink the liquid off of those
bugs?”

Shana smiled at her. “It worked great,
didn't it? My cough is gone as you can see.”

Melinda shut the valise and grabbed
Shana by the arm. “Come alone with me. You have to let your mother
check you over before we leave. I don't want you sick while we're
gone from you drinking that awful stuff with bugs in
it.”

“
Ah, nah, Miss Melinda. We
don't need to tell Mama Molly,” Shana said, trying to brace her
feet as Melinda tugged her down the stairs.

“
Oh yes, you will, too,”
Melinda declared.

Molly came out of the parlor with Orie
and Gracie behind her. “Is something wrong?”

“
You might say that. I was
helping Shana pack when I found this jar on the closet shelf. Shana
says it contains bugs in their juice. She has been growing
them.”

Orie took the jar from Shana's hand
and held it up to the doorway light. He unscrewed the lid and
smelled the jar's contents.

Melinda went on to explain. “I don't
mind that so bad. Shana says if the jar's lid came off while we're
gone the bugs would be loose in all our bedrooms. I was trying to
get Shana to turn the bugs loose outside before we leave. She got a
coughing attack which was really bad. It worried me so I told her
she should check with her mother before she leaves to make sure
she's well enough to go.”

Molly said, “I see.” She placed her
hand on Shana's forehead. “You don't have a fever,
Shana.”

“
Sure and I know I don't,”
the girl said sheepishly as she lowered her eyes to the
floor.

“
She might get sick anyway
later. When Shana couldn't stop coughing, she took the lid off the
jar and drank the liquid around those bugs,” Melinda explained,
holding her nauseated stomach.

Orie ordered, “Tell Miss Melinda
what's in the jar, Shana.”

“
Tis swelled up raisins in
apple juice,” Shana said and stifled a snicker behind her
hand.

“
Forever more, is that
all?” Melinda said, looking upset at being tricked. “Well, young
lady, your joke isn't the least bit funny to me. I was very
concerned about your health.”

Madeline suggested, “She just might
get a bellyache yet from drinking that apple juice if its been
sitting in that hot closet long enough to turn bad.”

“
I might?” Shana said,
looking hopeful.

“
That will not be a problem
if we hurry up and get to the farm before the urges strike her.
There's a perfectly good outhouse at the farm for her to go in when
she needs it,” Gracie said. “Now thanks to you two, we have fooled
around long enough. Let's get going before the Sawyers think we've
changed our minds.