"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 shiver.
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 furnishings 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-fashioned 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."
"Oh." Curtis looked startled. "Well, he may not take the bank job after all. He may just rest for a while. He"s been kind of sick lately. Or maybe he"ll just write his book. He"s been working on this great book lately and he practically has it sold already. He"s a great writer. There are a lot of great writers in our family."
"Why, that"s wonderful," Mom said. "How exciting." Her lips were twitching and she was careful not to catch Neely"s eye, as if she were afraid they both might laugh if she did. Neely knew what was funny, of course. Mom always thought it was funny when people did what she called ego-tripping...strutting around and trying to sound important.
After Mom went back in the house Curtis still hung around, walking around the yard and looking at Grub"s chickens and rabbits and turtles. Grub came out, too, and followed them around, but he didn"t say much. Curtis talked a lot. He asked about what school Neely went to and it turned out he would be in the sixth grade too. He also talked about the private school he"d gone to in Beverly Hills and how maybe he"d go to public school this year just for a change, but he didn"t think he"d like it.
"Well, maybe you"ll be in my cla.s.s then," Neely said. It was an interesting thought. She wondered what the other kids would make of him. He would not, she decided, be a big hit. Not if he kept on ego-tripping about his rich and famous family and other embarra.s.sing things like that.
"Well, I guess I"d better go," he said finally. And then to Neely"s surprise, "Why don"t you come too? Up to Halcyon House, I mean."
"Well, I don"t think we could right now," Neely said. "We"re going to be having dinner in an hour or two."
"Oh." Curtis looked disappointed. "Well, come tomorrow then. Okay? Come up tomorrow."
It was Grub who said okay first. Poking Neely, who was still speechless with surprise, Grub said, "Okay. Huh, Neely? We can come tomorrow. Can"t we?"
Neely said she guessed they could.
Chapter 25.
THERE WERE A COUPLE OF REASONS WHY NEELY DIDN"T really want to go back to Halcyon House. The most important one concerned the nursery, and it felt, she had to admit, a lot like jealousy. Somehow it really hurt to think about what Curtis probably had been doing to the nursery.
Especially to the dollhouse. Not that he was apt to have actually played with it, but she wouldn"t put it past him to ruin things just for the fun of it. She pictured the lovely cherrywood chairs and tables with missing legs, and perhaps even the beautiful doll family with broken heads and torn clothing. She hated even to imagine it.
The other reason was that going back to Halcyon House under the circ.u.mstances just might be a little risky. Of course, Curtis had lied to his father before, to protect her and Grub, but what if he got mad at them, or just changed his mind? What if he got them up there and then told his father that he"d been lying and that Grub and Neely were actually trespa.s.sers?
On the other side of the argument there was the fact that Grub definitely wanted to go. There was no doubt about that. Ever since Sat.u.r.day he"d been, if not in a full fledged gloom-and-doom attack, not very far from it. He"d been spending a lot of time in his room since then, reading or staring out the window. When Neely asked him he always said he was okay, or that he was just sad because it was August. August always made Grub sad because September came next and the start of school. But this time Grub"s depression wasn"t just the usual beginning-of-school blues, because right after Curtis showed up and invited them back to Halcyon he suddenly became a lot more like his normal self.
Neely tried to warn him that it wouldn"t be the same. "The nursery is his now, and he can do anything he wants to with all the stuff in there," she told him.
"I know," Grub said. "I know that. I just want to...go there again."
"Well, okay," she said. "We"ll go. But remember, it"s going to be very different now."
The first big difference was that they were able to enter the estate grounds by way of the grand front gate. Curtis had said it would be unlocked and it was. And the next one was that Lion didn"t come running to meet them.
"Let"s go look in his doghouse." Grub"s face was puckered with worry. "Maybe he"s just asleep."
Neely was afraid there was more to it man that. Lion had never been too sound asleep to come to meet them before. But she agreed to go look. It felt funny walking right past Reuben"s house on a Thursday. Neely almost expected him to burst out through the front door shouting at them, but he apparently wasn"t at home. Lion was however. When they got to his doghouse, there he was all right, lying at the end of a long chain. When he saw Grub he went into such convulsions of joy he almost tied himself in knots. Grub and Lion were still climbing all over each other when a voice said, "I knew it. I knew that poor animal was harmless if you treated him right."
It turned out to be Carmen, the old woman who had been Curtis"s father"s nursemaid, and was now, according to Curtis, the family"s cook and housekeeper. She had seen them, she said, from the kitchen window and had come out to say h.e.l.lo. Carmen was short and st.u.r.dy, and gloomy in a cheerful sort of way, as if she thought everything was pretty bad but she was too used to it to let it get her down.
"Guess you"re the Bradford children," she said to Neely as she led the way into the huge old kitchen. "Curtis said you"d be coming to play today but I didn"t know whether to believe him. You can"t always tell with Curtis. Come on in. Real nice to have company in this lonely old ruin. Terrible old wreck of a place. Not like it used to be, I can tell you."
That was intriguing-the "used to be." The thought of talking to someone who knew so much about the way Halcyon used to be fascinated Neely. She had several questions in mind, but to her surprise Grub asked one first-several actually. Stepping in front of Neely he asked, "Why is Lion tied up? Did he do something bad? Can I untie him?"
Carmen put her hands on her hips and stood for a moment staring down at Grub while her grumpy frown gradually got mixed up with a halfway smile. "No," she said, "he didn"t do anything bad that I know of, but I don"t think you"d better untie him. He"s just tied up because Curtis and his father are afraid of dogs."
She studied Grub"s face for a moment more before she said, "He"s only tied up during the daytime, dearie. Mr. Hutchinson lets Reuben turn him loose as soon as it gets dark."
"But-" Grub was beginning when Curtis suddenly appeared in the kitchen door.
"Hi," he said, "you"re late. Come on. Let"s go upstairs."
As they were leaving the room Carmen called after them, "Don"t forget to introduce your friends to your mother, Curtis. You promised you would. She"s in the game room."
"Oh, yeah," he said. He changed directions and headed for the front of the house. In the entry hall he stopped and said, "Wait till you meet my mom. She"s really something."
"Something?" Neely asked.
"Yeah. Like glamorous and beautiful. And young. Like, she looks a h.e.l.l of a lot younger than your mom, for instance."
"Well, she probably is younger," Neely said. "My parents had another family that were almost grown up before they got around to Grub and me." She started to explain about Aaron and Julie and Lucie, but Curtis didn"t seem interested. Instead he just went on about his mother.
"She was working in Hollywood when she met my dad," he said. "She was thinking about being in the movies. She could have been if she"d wanted to. She was about to get discovered when she met my dad."
When they got to the game room Curtis"s mother was sitting at one of the card tables smoking a cigarette and playing solitaire. She was wearing a purple velvet robe with silver embroidery, her hair was so blond it was almost white and she had on a lot of makeup. She looked young all right, and glamorous maybe, but not exactly what Neely would call beautiful.
"Well, would you look at this," she said when she looked up from her cards and saw them. "Here you are, just like Curtis said you"d be. The new little girlfriend and her brother. Come over here and let me look at you."
The way she rolled her eyes and smiled when she said "girlfriend" made it obvious she was making a big mushy deal out of it. Which was pretty ridiculous, but it didn"t bother Neely all that much. She"d met adults before who thought it was pretty funny to make comments like that about kids.
When kids made unfunny jokes Neely tended to handle it with a very long, very cool stare, but with adults she usually pretended she hadn"t heard. That"s what she did this time. Going over to the card table, she put out her hand. "Good morning, Mrs. Hutchinson," she said. "I"m glad to meet you. My name is Cornelia Bradford and this is my brother, Gregory."
"My, how poised and polite," Mrs. Hutchinson said. "Curtis, you could certainly take lessons from this young lady. And, oh my. Look at this."
Curtis"s mother was staring at Grub. Neely had a sinking feeling she knew what was going to happen-Mrs. Hutchinson was about to start making a fuss over how gorgeous Grub was.
"Oh my," Mrs. Hutchinson said again. "What a handsome child. What a heartbreaker. My dear," she said to Neely, "have your parents looked into getting an agent for this child? They should, you know. He is simply outrageous."
Neely knew Grub was hating it. His eyes said so.
"Mrs. Hutchinson," she said firmly. "Please don"t fuss over Grub. He doesn"t like it." She turned to Curtis to say something like "Let"s go"-and wound up not saying anything. Something in his face made her forget what she"d meant to say. It wasn"t till later, when she"d had time to think, that she figured it out. Actually it wasn"t too hard to understand why homely old Curtis had been looking so angry.
Chapter 26.