Getting Back to Normal Page 10

  We wander through the green houses, admiring the lush and colorful tropical flowers. I guide Tammy through the cacti section. I’m glad she likes these weird-looking plants the best as I do.

  “Now you have to see The Shed at the far end of MG,” I tell her when we’re outside again. “Daddy’s thinking of turning it into a small museum.”

  We go the long way, walking along the road that rings around the back part of MG. We’re startled by a small animal leaping about the Great Lawn to our left. The sight of two pointy ears and a tail has me laughing out loud.

  “Look, Tammy, it’s Theodore! Whatever is he doing?”

  “I think he’s trying to catch an insect.”

  At that, Theodore leaps high in the air and falls down, landing on his back. We burst out laughing.

  “Theodore!” I call to him. “Come here, Theodore!”

  The dumb cat flicks his tail and stares at me. Then, very deliberately, he looks away.

  “See how he ignores me?” I say, disappointed.

  Tammy laughs. “At least he knows his name.”

  “He does?”

  “Uh-huh. That was a definite snub.” Tammy walks closer to study Theodore. The cat watches her and doesn’t run away.

  “He’s not quite ready to join the family,” Tammy says. “Tell Robby to keep on giving him lots of attention. He’ll win him over in the end.”

  “Robby will be real happy to hear that. Theodore, come here!” I shout, deciding to give it one last try.

  Theodore’s ears stiffen as he looks at me. For one thrilling moment I think he’s going to come. Instead, he dashes across the path and disappears in the woods on the other side of the road.

  “Let’s follow him.” I point to an opening between two giant rhododendrons. “Through there.”

  “Er—I don’t know,” Tammy says. “It all overgrown. Maybe there are snakes.”

  “Oh, Tammy, don’t be such a baby. There’s not one snake in all of MG.”

  “Honestly?”

  “Honestly,” I say, though I don’t know any such thing. “Come on!” I shout over my shoulder as I dive through the opening. Poor Tammy has no choice but to follow.

  “It sure is dense in here,” she says a minute later. “I can’t even see the road any more.”

  The woods are overgrown, with many of the bushes taller than we are, and there are no paths to follow. It’s as if we’re some place wild and far from civilization. I’d pause for one of Mom’s “Moments of Beauty” only there’s no time.

  “Don’t worry,” I say a minute later. “The woods end there. See, at the cyclone fence where the ground slopes up.”

  “Oh, good.”

  “That’s the MG boundary line. We can’t go any farther. You couldn’t get lost, Tam, even if you tried.”

  Knowing this makes Tammy bolder. She veers to the left.

  “Hey, where are you going?”

  “I think I heard Theodore. Oh!” She stops so suddenly, I bump into her.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  But there’s no need for her to answer. Before us is a tiny one-room playhouse. It’s made of the same dark brick and slate roof as our cottage. We stick our noses against the window and peer inside. An old couch faces us from the opposite wall. Next to it is a wooden toy chest. In the other corner stands a child-size table and chairs with a tiny tea set on the table. Dolls sit in two of the chairs.

  “I wonder if Mayda played here when she was a child,” Tammy says.

  “I don’t think anyone’s played here for years and years. Weird, how it’s overgrown and deserted when all the other buildings are cared for.”

  “Like Sleeping Beauty’s palace,” Tammy says.

  “Kind of,” I agree.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  My eyes are drawn to the huge birdcage-type structure about ten feet past the playhouse.

  “Look, Tam, a gazebo!” I shout, and run to check it out.

  I step through the doorway of the peeling green wood. Inside are two benches, enough standing room for three or four people, and a cat.

  “Theodore!”

  He whizzes past me, chasing a small creature across the pebble-covered floor.

  “Ick, he’s caught a mouse!” Tammy shrieks as Theodore pounces.

  “Let go of that!” I yell.

  I lunge after Theodore, who has the mouse between his front paws. The mouse breaks free and darts out of the gazebo. Theodore spins around and takes off in hot pursuit. I lose my balance and fall on a pile of twigs and dead leaves.

  Tammy bursts out laughing. “Theodore’s not a very good mouser.”

  “Good. I’m glad.”

  I lean on one hand to get up, and the ground shifts beneath it. Not the ground, I realize, but loose stones under the leaves and twigs.

  “What’s that?” Tammy asks when I’m standing. She points to something in the scooped-out space my hand has left behind.

  “It looks like a piece of chain,” I say.

  I bend down to pick it up. It’s not a chain, but the tail end of a necklace spilling out of a jewelry pouch like the one my mother kept her pearls in.

  Slowly, I pull out the necklace. A tangle of blue stones set in an intricate pattern falls into my hand. Amazingly enough, the necklace isn’t damaged.

  “Wow!” Tammy exclaims. “Sapphires. Probably set in platinum.”

  “Tammy?” My voice squeaks with excitement. “Isn’t this the same necklace Elizabeth was wearing in that photo?”

  Tammy’s not my best friend for nothing. “The one Archie gave her to celebrate Christopher’s first birthday!”

  “The one the thief stole,” I say.

  We stare at it in awe.

  “Come on, Tammy,” I say. “We have to go back and hand it over to my father.”

  Daddy’s in his office, sending off a fax. Typical of my father—he’s more interested in scolding us for going into the woods than for thanking us for our amazing discovery.

  “And what were you doing there, anyway?” he demands.

  “We were just following Theodore,” I try to explain.

  “Chasing after a stupid cat! You could have tripped and fallen and broken an ankle!” He casts a sour look at Tammy and me.

  “Well, if living here’s so dangerous, let’s tell the Petersons we need our house back,” I say.

  “Don’t be fresh, Vanessa. That’s not the point and you know it.”

  “Aunt Mayda will be happy to see this necklace,” I tell him. “It belonged to her grandmother.”

  “How do you know?” Daddy asks.

  Tammy and I exchange furtive glances. “We saw her photograph in the library, and she was wearing it,” Tammy explains.

  “Is that so?” Daddy says. “I think you girls have had enough excitement for one afternoon. Why don’t you do something quiet around here, like your homework? Meanwhile, I’ll put this in a safe place until I can give it to Mayda.”

  “Where’s Robby?” I ask.

  “In the shed. Feeding that stray of his.”

  “He is?” Tammy and I both shout. We fly out of Daddy’s office.

  “I swear, that cat is everywhere,” I say on our way over to the shed.

  Robby puts his finger to his lips as we step through the open door. He doesn’t have to worry about our frightening Theodore. The greedy cat’s too busy gobbling down his food to pay us any attention.

  “Look,” Robby whispers. “He’s eating while I’m here.”

  “Of course. He’s hungry,” Tammy says, grinning. “He’s been out having adventures.”

  “You saw him?” Robby asks. “Where was he?’

  “All over MG,” I say. “He tried to catch a mouse in an old gazebo.”

  “What’s a gazebo?” Robby asks.

  “An outdoor type of structure,” Tammy explains.

  “And we found a necklace there,” I add. “An old, very expensive necklace.”

  “Really?” Robby’s eyes open wide. “You mean like buried treasur
e?”

  Tammy and I grin at each other. “Kind of,” Tammy says. “It belonged to your Aunt Mayda’s grandmother.”

  “Did she lose it?” Robby asks.

  I tousle his hair. “I think someone tried to steal it, but it never left MG.”

  “You mean, like a magic spell kept it here?”

  “Kind of,” I agree.

  “Cool,” Robby says.

  Now that his food’s all gone, Theodore moves to a corner to clean his paws.

  “He’s a nice cat, Robby,” Tammy says, “and he’ll make a good pet.”

  “And I’m a good master,” Robby says proudly.

  “You sure are,” I tell my brother, hugging him. “You sure are.”

  *

  Since Tammy’s father’s picking her up at five-thirty, we decide to wait for him at the entrance to MG. We start out early, in case I can coax Archie to make an appearance. Tammy’s longing to meet him, and I want to tell him about finding the necklace. Robby asks if he can come too, but I tell him we have girl things to talk about.

  He sighs. “But you had all afternoon to say anything important.”

  Tammy and I giggle. “We never have enough time to talk,” she says.

  I grin because it’s true. Tammy and I could talk for an entire twenty-four hours and never run out of things to say. And anything important is worth repeating once or twice.

  When we reach the pond, Tammy has me close my eyes and concentrate on calling Archie.

  “I’ll try,” I say, “but I don’t think he’ll show up unless I’m alone.”

  “Do your best,” Tammy says.

  Nothing happens. After ten minutes of squeezing my eyes and straining my mind, Tammy relents and we continue on to the gate house.

  “I bet I never get to see him,” she says sadly. “Never.”

  I feel bad for Tammy. “Maybe he’ll show up on Halloween. As you said, it’s a special time for witches and ghosts.”

  “Right—in fairy tales,” Tammy scoffs, with none of her usual enthusiasm.

  “Halloween must be magical, since it’s the only night Archie can leave here for good.”

  Tammy doesn’t answer. I’m almost relieved when her father arrives a few minutes later. We say good-bye. I turn around and head back to the cottage.

  I wonder about the necklace as I walk. How did it get there? And why hasn’t anyone found it, after all these years?

  But maybe it was hidden under the pebbles, and the pebbles got looser with time and rain and snow. How extraordinary that the necklace remained in one piece without being damaged.

  I wonder about the playhouse and the gazebo. Why were they abandoned when the rest of MG was lived in and used?

  “Good evening, Vanessa.”

  My hand flies to my heart. “Archie! You scared me again!”

  We’re near the pond. I don’t know if it’s the dimming daylight, but Archie appears less solid than usual.

  “I do apologize.”

  I sit on the bench. Archie leans against a tree. Yes, he definitely is more transparent. I can see the bark through his tuxedo.

  “You’ve had company this afternoon,” he comments.

  “My friend, Tammy. She really wanted to meet you. But I suppose you know that.”

  His smile is bittersweet. “It takes a great deal of effort to appear before more than one person. Please express my regrets. Tammy is a receptive person. I would have enjoyed meeting her.”

  “I’ll tell her.” I suddenly remember the necklace. “Archie, you’ll never guess what happened! We found the necklace! The one you bought your wife.”

  “Ah. You went exploring and discovered the gazebo.”

  I’m disappointed. “You knew it was there all the time!”

  Archie nods.

  “Who stole it? How did it end up under the floor of the gazebo?”

  “The culprit was a colleague of mine, someone I’d considered a good friend. I believe he took the necklace to pay off gambling debts. He buried it, intending to return to the party and retrieve it another day.”

  Archie gave a mirthless laugh. “I had my suspicions. When he returned a week later to pay a condolence call, I followed him into the woods. I watched him start to dig. Then I revealed myself in my new form and nearly frightened him to death. At least I ran him off.”

  “Oh, Archie! How awful. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because the necklace is of no importance. What news have you of Mayda and your father?”

  I frown. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up, Archie. Mayda said she’s looking after Daddy because my mother asked her to.”

  “Ah.” Archie watches me carefully. “Anything else?”

  I wasn’t going to tell him, but now I have to. “We’re all going out to dinner. Daddy wants to thank Aunt Mayda for being nice to us.”

  Archie’s eyes glow like two coals. I’ve never seen him so excited. “Good work, Vanessa! I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

  “Archie,” I say, exasperated, “all I did was give her Daddy’s message. And it doesn’t mean anything. Don’t think for one minute this is a date. Robby and I are going, too.”

  “Even better!” Archie rubs his palms together in glee. In his excitement, he reaches out to take my hands. A blast of cold air sends me leaping backward. “Sorry,” he says. “I forget myself. When is this dinner? Soon, I hope.”

  “This Saturday night.”

  “How fortunate,” Archie mutters to himself. “So little time remains.” He turns back to me, growing more transparent as he speaks. “Can I count on you to encourage their courtship?”

  I feel sympathy for Archie, but I’m unwilling to be a part of his ridiculous plan. “I can’t make Daddy and Aunt Mayda fall in love over one dinner, Archie.”

  He smiles his sad smile. “No, but you can let your father see how fond you are of Mayda.”

  “I am fond of Mayda, but what you’re saying is ridiculous. Romance is the last thing on my father’s mind.”

  “Perhaps, but if their love is starting to bloom, I beg you—please don’t be a deterrent to their happiness.”

  I shrug, unable to offer him anything more. He fades away like a wisp of smoke in the twilight.

  Two headlights beam from behind me and light up the pond. A moment later, a pickup truck roars to a stop.

  “Hey, there, Vannie,” Casey calls out. “I almost didn’t see you in the dark. Want a ride home?”

  “No thanks. I’ll walk.”

  “Do you have a flashlight?”

  “Uh-uh. I don’t need one.”

  Casey scratches his head as he revs the motor. “Funny, I thought I saw something shining out here, but it must have been a reflection or something.”

  “I guess. Thanks, Casey. Good night.” I walk quickly toward the cottage so Casey can’t ask any more questions.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “Well, well, don’t you look nice!” Daddy exclaims when we call for Aunt Mayda on Saturday evening.

  “Stunning” would be a better choice of words. For a moment I wonder if Archie’s sent Aunt Mayda a fairy godmother. In her black nubby jacket and long skirt, she looks like a countess as she strides down Greystone’s steps toward our car. I tingle with pride when I see that under her jacket she’s wearing her new violet sweater.

  For once her hair’s trim and stylish. “Wow! Your hair looks great!” I say, wishing my amazement hadn’t come through.

  But Aunt Mayda’s too pleased to notice. She smiles as she pats the sleek back of her head. “Do you really like it, Vannie? My secretary sent me to her hair salon. She said I was in dire need of a good cut.”

  She settles in next to Daddy, clicks her seatbelt, and we drive off.

  “Where to?” Daddy asks.

  I groan. “God, Daddy, didn’t you make reservations?”

  Daddy and Aunt Mayda laugh as if I’ve told the funniest joke. It’s an “adults only” laugh, the kind my parents used to share when they thought Robby or I had said some
thing “cute.”

  “Trust your old father to take you somewhere nice,” Daddy says.

  “Where are we going?” I demand.

  Aunt Mayda turns around to look at me. “Your father asked for a suggestion and I said why don’t we go to the Thirsdale Inn, since you and Robby seemed to like it so much.”

  “Cool!” Robby shouts. “They have the best popovers!”

  “Fine with me,” I say as we drive out of MG.

  “I’m glad you’re happy with our choice of restaurants,” Daddy says. His words are for me, but he smiles at Aunt Mayda and she smiles back.

  All this smiling gives me a left-out feeling, which I don’t like. The feeling grows stronger when it hits me that Daddy actually called Aunt Mayda to discuss our plans for tonight.

  I tell myself to stop acting weird. Daddy had to call her to say what time he’d be picking her up—just as I’d call Tammy or one of my classmates to discuss a homework assignment. They’re friends, I remind myself. Daddy’s always calling Aunt Mayda to talk about MG activities and events.

  “Vannie.”

  I give a start as Aunt Mayda says my name. She’s turned around to look at me again, and there’s a big grin on her face.

  “I owe you a huge thank-you for finding the necklace. Roger—your dad—said you even knew it had belonged to my grandmother. Clever girl!”

  “Tammy and I looked through your family albums in the library. In one photograph, your grandmother was wearing the necklace.”

  “Mayda, I think we should get those albums back ASAP,” Daddy says. “They belong in the new Shipley museum.”

  Aunt Mayda laughs. “Oh, Roger, it will be ages before we raise enough funds for a museum. Meanwhile, the albums are safer in the library.”

  Daddy shakes his head, so hard I’m afraid it will fly off. “No, Mayda. As I’ve explained, one masked ball plus a concert featuring a big-name artist will have us well on our way.”

  They’re off and at it. Robby and I look at each other. It would be so easy to shout out, “No business talk when we’re going out for dinner.” Instead, we shrug our shoulders and put up with their animated discussion till we arrive at the Thirsdale Inn.

  It’s Saturday night and the restaurant’s crowded. People mill around in the small hall, waiting to be seated. Still, Mrs. Powett comes dashing over to greet us. She hugs Mayda and squeezes my hand, saying how nice it is to see us again. I tell her it’s nice to be here again. Then Mayda introduces her to Daddy. Mrs. Powett’s blue eyes scrutinize Daddy from head to foot before giving him a broad smile.