Mystery of Drear House (18 page)

Mattie Darrow had refused sitting at the table that had been set. She had become agitated when anybody else tried to sit down. “She wants that set-up table to stay like a picture right where it is,” River Lewis said. He did not apologize for Mattie. He reached out with one hand and let his fingers touch her hair. “Miz Small, Mistah Small,” he said, looking down at the floor. “Mattie, glad ta be here. All us, too.”

Well, you sure don’t act like it, Thomas thought.

“We are certainly glad you all could come, and welcome!” Mrs. Small said, smiling warmly. “Come on, everybody, let’s all have a good time.”

Mattie then chose by herself where she would sit. “It doesn’t make a bit of difference where we eat,” Mrs. Small murmured.

Who knows the reason why Mattie Darrow is the way she is? Thomas thought.

His mama set the dinner as a buffet. Chicken and stuffing, potatoes, coleslaw, gravy. There were two baked ducks the Darrows had brought, which seemed out of place on an ordinary Sunday.

When was the last time I tasted duck? Thomas thought.

They all served themselves from the kitchen table. River Lewis kept his clumsy sons in line. When they filled their plates to heaping, he gave them a look, and they walked away from the table. When it was time for seconds, he stood by, staring hard at them. Wilbur, Russell, and River Ross Darrow were as meek as little lambs, pouring themselves milk or sparkling cider.

Whenever Thomas’s papa walked into the room to offer River Lewis some extra main course or fill his glass, Darrow backed up a pace or two. Now he was straight against the wall across from the parlor fireplace. Mattie sat on a cushioned footrest next to him. And beside her sat Great-grandmother, with the two little fellows in their rocking chairs right by their knees. Great-grandmother and Mattie were feeding the twins expertly. Billy and Buster didn’t find it odd that River Lewis was guarding the wall. Or that Mattie Darrow sometimes stared fiercely around, cackling.

All of them were in the parlor now. Thomas, Pesty, and Macky had fixed their plates right after the grownups. Pesty, Mrs. Small, and Mr. Pluto shared the parlor couch. Pesty was closest to Thomas. Mr. Small leaned against the wall next to River Lewis. Darrow’s sons moved away to make room for him. Once the sons were over being scared, they looked only halfway uncomfortable. But they ate everything in sight, Thomas noted, amused.

Thomas had a full plate of dinner in one hand and a warm roll in a yellow linen napkin on his knees. A glass of sparkling cider was next to his feet. His polished Sunday shoes weren’t scuffed yet. He had a fork in the other hand. Thomas could eat, chew. But he probably wouldn’t enjoy eating until he could eat the leftovers out of the refrigerator, after everybody
strange
had gone home.

“Macky, you bagged the ducks?” Mr. Small asked, commenting how good they were.

“Yes.”

“Yes, sir.” River Lewis corrected him, not unkindly, it seemed to Thomas.

“Yes … sir.” Macky looked surprised that his father had spoken to him. And he answered carefully to Mr. Small. “I brought them down as they went over— ducks like to fly from pond to pond around here.”

“He shot ’em clean,” River Lewis said. And Macky looked as if he would go through the ceiling from happiness.

All of us, looking nice, Thomas commented to himself. First time I’ve seen Pesty’s hair combed since the last Sunday at church, he thought. He told her it looked nice.

“Macky combed it. Mama told him how,” she told Thomas.

“Oh, girl!” Macky muttered.

Thomas smiled at him, to show him he understood how his mama’s hands might not always work right.

Macky sat on the other side of the hot fireplace from Thomas. “Looks like a department store in here,” Macky commented, talking about how dressed up they all were. That had broken the ice between him and Thomas. Made Thomas almost choke with the giggles. The two of them, big guys together. He unbuttoned his jacket and vest just the way Macky had. This was some Sunday! All dressed up together and nowhere to go.

Mr. Small made conversation as best he could. Rumors about Darrows were all over town and the college. Not just about the ten thousand dollars River Lewis and Mr. Pluto, too, had gotten. Rumor said that River Lewis had been hired by the foundation to show them the underground, all of it that he knew and his family had known over time.

As if on cue, River Lewis spoke. “Foundation given me a good job.” And partly unwillingly, he added, “I be thanking you for that, Mr. Small.”

Later Thomas and his papa found themselves in the kitchen alone, preparing coffee and coffee cake. Thomas waited for the dessert to warm up in a slow oven. He and his papa talked privately. “When the contents of the great cavern and the underground rooms are removed,” his papa said, “the cavern and the rooms are to be replicated. There is to be a museum for the Drear collections.”

“What does ‘replicated’ mean?” Thomas asked.

“It means to re-create,” his papa said. “The foundation will reproduce the cavern and the rooms on a smaller scale. And it will put back some of the treasure and the other things in the display.”

“Wow!” whispered Thomas.

“Yes, and the whole lot will look like a real underground, like the originals,” his papa said. “They might even have a figure of Drear at the desk, if they want to hoke it up a little. Then the museum will open to the public.”

“They’ll probably hire Pesty to play an orphan child,” Thomas said, half joking and half angry.

“Thomas, that isn’t nice.”

“Well, I don’t think it’s fair,” Thomas said. “They gave River Lewis a job. They gave him money. And even a couple of the gold triangles. That’s what everybody is saying anyway.”

“It’s up to the foundation to decide what it wants to give River Lewis,” Mr. Small said. “Who knows the countryside better than he? But they have asked him not to farm the land until they’ve emptied the underground.”

“Darrows have a brand-new pickup truck,” Thomas said. “And River Lewis has a new car. And his big old sons have a new jeep!”

“Keep your voice down,” Mr. Small told him. “Thomas, how can you resent their coming up in the world when they had nothing?”

“But it isn’t fair! What did
you
get?” he said.

“Oh, I see,” his papa said. “Well, I’m still cataloging everything, Thomas. And before there can be a museum, I’ll have to record the history of those rooms down there and all about the orphan children and the heroine, the Indian maiden. The foundation will pay me for my work, too.”

“I bet not as much as River Lewis gets,” Thomas said.

“Thomas, Thomas!” Mr. Small sighed and put his arm around Thomas. “Son, I’m a historian. I’m happy to save a great discovery from its worst enemies—time and greed. I’ve held the ‘villain’ in check. I’ve shown him I care about his welfare, and treat him like a friend. I’ve managed to help give him the possibility of a better lifetime. At least, to give him an even chance. Do you understand? And what River Lewis does with the rest of his days is up to him. And what you do with yours, Thomas, and Macky with his, is up to the both of you.”

Friend. Caring. Friend or foe? he wondered about himself and Macky.

Back in the parlor he had a piece of the cake and more cider. He felt Macky looking at him. Macky reached over and poked him in his arm. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, just slightly above the sound of the strained talking around them.

“Okay,” Thomas said as coolly as he could.

“Me, too?” Pesty leaned toward them, smiling at her brother.

“Yeah,” Macky murmured, “you, too, I guess.”

The three of them got up, hands full of plates, glasses, napkins. Macky went over to stand before River Lewis. “Daddy,” Macky said politely, “we wanting to go outside now.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Great-grandmother said, smiling. “You-all walk around in the fresh air a few minutes, you’ll feel like my pumpkin pie!” She smiled at Macky and his father. “That coffee cake was just the appetizer!”

“Macs,” Mattie Darrow said, smacking her lips, “get more glass.” She held up her empty cider glass.

“I’ll get it for you,” River Lewis said. He nodded at Macky. “Find Pesty’s coat for her then. She don’t never want to wear a coat.” He lifted his voice, saying that. Looking around, including everybody in what he’d said. Thomas realized River Lewis wanted them to know that he had bought Pesty a new coat. “She grows so fast,” he added as Thomas and Macky came back in with just scarves and gloves on. Pesty had on her new velvet-looking coat. It was awfully pretty, Thomas thought, with gold buttons and a velvet hat to match. She certainly had needed a new coat. She stood in front of River Lewis as Mattie raised her hands to her.

“She wants you to button the top button,” River Lewis said, speaking for Mattie. Mattie touched Pesty’s gloved hands. “Says, ‘Don’t get too cold, don’t stay out too long,’” he added.

“I won’t,” Pesty said, her eyes shining. She took a deep breath of happiness, gave her mama a big hug, and buttoned her top coat button. She gave River Lewis a loving look. And this time he bowed to her just slightly. That small touch of respect spoke through his gruffness. Not only “things” were different. He does care, Thomas couldn’t help thinking.

“You look so pretty, Pesty,” Mrs. Small said. “That’s a beautiful coat,”

“Thank you,” she said.

River Lewis looked stern but proud.

Outside, it was cold. But it was better than the oppressive, uncomfortable scene inside. “I hope I don’t have to go through that again soon,” Martha Small was to say later.

“They were trying very hard,” Great-grandmother said, and Walter Small had agreed.

Thomas and Macky and Pesty walked around the house on the veranda. Thomas shivered. It still snowed. They leaned against the outside wall of the veranda between the long window and the front door. Pesty was in the middle. For a time they didn’t speak. Then, suddenly, Macky said, “Everybody talking to me, talking about how we rich. Shoot. We ain’t rich.” He laughed contemptuously. “We just now gettin’ what everybody else
been
having.”

“I … guess that’s true,” Thomas said. “What—what did the foundation give you all? I mean, there are such rumors.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said resentfully. “Everybody lying so.”

“Because he don’t know what they give Daddy besides a job. Daddy don’t tell nobody,” Pesty said.   ,

“Did they give him some triangles?” Thomas said.

“I said …” Macky spoke but didn’t finish. He sounded angry.

“Okay then,” Thomas said. He went tight inside as he said to Macky through his teeth. “It was you in Mr. Pluto’s cave, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was.” Pesty piped up.

“I can speak for myself!” Macky said, raising a hand to her.

“Mr. Pluto said you wasn’t to bother me!” she said, cringing toward Thomas.

“I’m not
touching
you. I’m not
studying
you!” Macky said. He let his hand drop. “Girl! I just can speak for
myself
.” He hung his head and was silent a long time. “Don’t tell anybody,” he said finally, looking at Thomas.

“It’s—it’s over now,” Thomas said.

“I was just hoping …”

“I know,” Thomas said.

“But that’s not all,” Macky said. He looked away.

“What then?” Thomas asked.

“Mama,” he said. “Worried about her doing something, didn’t know what. Didn’t want you-all Smalls to see her like she was.” He swallowed hard.

“Lots of people can get sick like her,” Thomas said.

“Well, I didn’t know you would think that,” Macky said softly.

“You and Pesty had the same idea,” Thomas said.

“How’s that?” Macky said.

“Because your mama was sick and your daddy was mad at you, you wanted to hurry and find treasure maybe to make it all better. That’s why you went ... to Mr. Pluto’s. Pesty wanted the same thing, kind of, because your mama was in the tunnels and in our house. She was afraid we’d see your mama or she’d get hurt, what all. But you didn’t know that there is a tunnel from your house to the underground.”

“No, I didn’t know that,” Macky said. “There is?”

“Mama’s closet opens to a tunnel,” Pesty said. “She love the orphan place and to sit in the parlor room down there. You better come see it before they empty it. Once they empty it, maybe we can fix it up for her a little. Mr. Small never did tell the foundation about that closet opening. You can tell Daddy if you want. Just don’t tell him I knew about it.”

Macky looked stunned.

“If you tell your dad about the tunnel from your house to Drear house,” Thomas said, puzzling it out, “well, he can tell the foundation.”

“And that’ll make Daddy real happy, because of you!” Pesty told him. “And he’ll look real good to the foundation. And everybody will know about everything.”

Macky nodded. “Thanks!” he said to both of them. He was silent again, looking at his feet, before he said, “Mama shouldn’ta been in the tunnels. It kept her down in an unreal world. I never want to see the place!” He’d seen the orphans’ room and the parlor room on television, and that was enough.

“Mama likes it down there,” Pesty said.

“Still,” Macky said, “it must’ve kept her too much in the past.”

“We should know about the past,” Thomas said, “but we shouldn’t let the past take us over.”

“You can’t live in it,” Macky said. “We got to try to change Mama’s mind about that.”

“Man, do things turn around fast!” Thomas said.

Macky shook his head with the mystery of it all. He walked to the edge of the veranda, stuck his face out, and looked up at the falling snow. It fell into his eyes. “Feels like I’m rising up,” he said.

Pesty followed and leaned her head out. “Just does feel like I’m uprising, too,” she said.

“It makes you dizzy,” Thomas said, coming over. He looked up, felt himself lifted into the snowflakes at a dizzying speed.

“Now what you think you-all doing?” Mr. Pluto said, coming out on the veranda. Nothing on his shoulders but his shirtsleeves. “Brrrr! Come on, they say it’s time for punkun pie and whip cream.”

“Oh, goody!” Pesty said.

“Look at it snow!” Mr. Pluto said. “Glad I don’t have to go home this night. Ha! Already home. Home with Mr. Drear, in his house! Ain’t that something?”