Part 6 (1/2)

”And the things in the trunk. Tell about that too,” Grub said. ”Tell about all the things that were in Monica's trunk and how people were afraid to touch them anymore after she died.”

So Neely told about that, too, and Curtis seemed very interested. When she finished talking he was quiet for a minute and then he said, ”Monica. Yeah. Carmen knows about her. I'm going to ask Carmen to tell me some more about Monica.”

”Yeah,” Neely said. ”I'd like to know too. I'd sure like to find out what Carmen knows.”

By that time they'd reached the crest of the hill and Neely stopped to point out their house.

”You live there? In that little old house?” Curtis said, in a scornful tone of voice, as if he thought the picturesque old Bradford house was some kind of a slum. When Neely gave him a cool stare and said yes he grinned and asked, ”You got anything good to eat down there?”

Neely was definitely surprised. ”Well, sure,” she said. ”Are you hungry?”

”Yeah. There's no food up there. Nothing except this rice and vegetable gunk the old guy, Reuben, was eating. See, he wasn't expecting us till Sunday. We were going to ride up in the car with Carmen but then we decided to fly and so we got here early.”

”Oh,” Neely said. ”That's probably what he's doing right now. Buying some food.”

Curtis's face brightened. ”Yeah? You think so?” But then he frowned. ”How soon do you think he'll come back?”

”Well, usually he stays all day. But maybe he'll come back sooner this time.”

”Yeah, and maybe not. I think I'll eat at your house,” Curtis said, and started off down the hill.

Grub and Neely looked at each other and rolled their eyes before they hurried to catch up. They were almost to their driveway when Neely heard a familiar sound and looked up to see Reuben's old blue pickup turning in off Highway One.

”Hey, look. There he is now,” she said. ”There's Reuben.”

”Is that him?” Curtis said. ”All right!” Waving his arms over his head, he jumped out into the middle of the road so quickly that Reuben had to slam on his brakes.

The last Neely and Grub saw of Curtis Hutchinson, he was climbing into the pa.s.senger seat of the pickup truck. He didn't even turn around to wave good-bye.

Chapter 24.

”WELL,” NEELY SAID WHEN REUBEN'S PICKUP HAD disappeared over the top of the hill. ”That is one weird kid. Have you ever seen such a-” She stopped when she realized that Grub was no longer standing beside her. Running after him, she caught up as he trudged blindly up the driveway, his face blank and empty.

”Hey,” she said. ”It's all right. We couldn't have gone up there much after school started anyway. Only on Sat.u.r.days and not even then if the weather was bad. We just have to forget about it, that's all.”

”I'll never forget about it,” Grub said. ”It was so-so fascinating.” (Fascinating had been a favorite word of Neely's for a long time and Grub had picked it up lately.) ”And now everything's so-tragic.” (Another favorite word of Neely's.) Grub's voice definitely had a gloom-and-doom ring to it. ”No, it isn't,” Neely said quickly. ”It's not as tragic as all that. It's just something that was great but now it's over.”

Grub's sigh almost sounded like a sob. ”We didn't even get to say good-bye,” he said.

Neely thought she knew what he meant. It would have been so much better if they'd only had a little warning-and time to say good-bye-to the nursery and the library and the whole fantastically beautiful old house. And to Monica? Was that what Grub meant? To say good-bye to Monica?

To change the subject she said quickly, ”Can you imagine, we went right in the house without knowing they were there, and you went down to get the key, and then we both went down to look at the guns, and n.o.body saw us and we didn't see any of them. And we probably walked right by the rooms they were in.” The very thought made her s.h.i.+ver.

Grub nodded. ”They were sleeping,” he said.

”You'd think we would have seen something. Like a car in the driveway or-”

”He said they came in a taxi,” Grub said.

”Oh, yeah. He did. But they must have a car. How can they live up there without a car? I guess Reuben could take them shopping, but how would they get to work and things like that?”

Grub only shrugged, so after a moment, Neely said, ”They must have a car somewhere. Don't you think?”

”I guess so.” Grub's face was still blank and stiff, but at least he was talking. ”You can ask him next time we see him.”

”I don't know,” Neely said. ”I doubt if we'll see him again.”

”I think so,” Grub said.

”What do you mean, you think so?”

Grub nodded slowly. ”I think we'll see him again.”

That night at dinner Neely told her parents about meeting Curtis-without saying exactly where. Without actually saying so, she made it sound as if they had met first in the grove. ”This kid was there, and we got started talking and we met his father-and everything. They're Hutchinsons and they're going to live at Halcyon for a while,” she said.

Mom and Dad were very amazed and interested and there were lots of questions about what the house looked like inside and what the furnis.h.i.+ngs were like. Mom loved to hear about things like that, so Neely went room by room telling about the most interesting things like the gorgeous pool table and the inlaid hardwood card tables in the game room.

While she was still telling about the game room, Grub said, ”And the gun cupboard. Don't forget about the gun cupboard.”

Neely gave him a warning frown because of the way Mom felt about having guns around the house, but then she made it all right by quickly explaining that the gun cabinet had unbreakable gla.s.s doors and a big padlock. Fortunately Mom was busy wondering if there would be any chance that she might get to see the inside of Halcyon House, now that it was occupied again. Mom had always been interested in all kinds of houses.

It turned out Grub was right about seeing Curtis again. A few days later, around five o'clock in the afternoon, there was a knock on the back door of the Bradfords' house-and there he was, Curtis Hutchinson in person.

”Hi,” he said, holding out two wrinkled paper bags. He was smiling, but instead of his usual c.o.c.ky grin, this one was squinty-eyed and nervous, like a dog that doesn't know whether to expect a pat or a kick. ”Hi. I brought you these. You left them up at the house.”

Neely laughed. ”Well, thanks, but no thanks. They're probably pretty rotten by now.”

”Well, actually, I ate the cookies,” Curtis said. ”But not the sandwiches. I don't like tuna. The sandwiches are still in there.”

Neely took the bags to the garbage pail and just a minute later her mother came out to see who had knocked. ”Well, who's this, Neely?” she asked.

”This is Curtis Hutchinson, Mom,” Neely said. ”This is my mother, Connie Bradford. I told you about meeting Curtis last Sat.u.r.day.”

”Well, well. Welcome to Halcyon Hill, Curtis,” Mom said. ”It's nice to know someone will be living in that beautiful old home again.”

”Yeah, for a while at least. The old dump is pretty run-down right now but my dad will have it fixed up before long. You know, get rid of a lot of the old-fas.h.i.+oned junk. Put in new bathrooms and stuff like that. It won't be too bad once that's done.”

”No, I suppose not,” Mom said. ”Anyway, we're glad you're here. Neely says your father came back to Halcyon because he has a job at a bank. I was wondering if it might be where we do our banking.”