CANDLELIT CHRONICLES: HISTORIC HAUNTS

June 11 Free read 18+ 1676 wc

Chapter Eleven

“You will born for the right reasons but you can't even do this one important thing! You KNOW what Mr. Joe wants! You KNOW! And you still did it wrong! What in the world is the matter with you?”

Monica's rage was near to overflowing now, and its eruption scalded her son Danny with the lava of her resentment. When “Mr. Joe” had first singled her out for his attention twenty-nine years ago, visions of upscale mobility danced in her eyes. A fine-looking educated man like “Mr. Joe,” in a position of importance, the second most important person at The Testament Corporation-interested in Monica Wilber? What a fairy-tale dream come true! Finally, all Monica's little girl dreams of a fancy big house, her own suite, gardens and laws cared for by a legion of gardeners, her own maid, a housekeeper, a butler, and a kitchen staff; a nanny for the children, all of whom would be lovely or handsome, depending on their respective genders: oh, the dreams that Monica Wilber wove! So of course she acquiesced to anything “Mr. Joe” asked of her:


first the coffees shared in his office, then a lunch, then dinner dates at an expensive restaurant (also owned, though Monica didn't know it, by Testament Corporation, with Management and employees who knew not to gossip), then the inevitable dalliance, to which she agreed because she was sure she had heard a proposal.





          About eight months after this “courtship” began, Monica discovered herself expecting. Still not wed, but expecting; by now of course she feared that “Mr. Joe” would not marry her, but dump her. But neither occurred: not what she dreamed of, not what she feared. Instead, he asked her to resign her employment at Testament Corporation, where she had now progressed from file clerk to Second Secretary to the Vice President of Finance, and instead to remain at home resting and caring for herself and her unborn child. In return, her lover promised that she, and the babe, would be cared for financially, in perpetuity. In this, the Vice President of Personnel (who did, after all, hold the present and future of all Testament Corporation employees in his tender care) kept his word, and continued to do so. A tidy small house in Heathside was purchased for Monica and her child-to-be, not too far from a nearby park; farther, of course, from The Testament Tower, so she would not be encouraged to visit. A trust fund in addition to a Savings account and a checking account were set up in her name at First Stoneforth Bank in Rennald, which conveniently opened a branch just at that time in Madison Mills, near the Heathside Shopping Center (which itself had just opened, including a small but well-stocked grocery, a pharmacy, and a small clothing store offering both women's and children's clothes). “Mr. Joe” was nothing if not an efficient and generous provider.

”I thought he wanted Alice,” Danny finally mumbled sullenly. He had backed so far against the front wall that if he had been any scrawnier he would have seemed like just another wall tapestry.


“He told me to get the little girl, make sure she drank the poison so he could work with her this weekend.”





“Not the pale one, you precious fool! The redhead! The little meanie! The smartmouth, arrogant, conceited, Little Miss Everything-My-Own-Way one!”

For a minute Danny, who in addition to having been stillborn, was also not of high-level intelligence, understood his mother to be referring to herself, but as he opened his mouth to ask why, she interrupted him.

“Don't you know anything, Son? THE HUDSON GET! Mr. Joe wants the HUDSON GIRL!”

[Oh, Danny realized, guess she isn't talking about herself after all. Well then who?]

“Alice Cavendish's playmate! Will you listen?! No? Then look!”

And with that, Monica marched to Danny huddled against the outside wall, clapped a hand across his forehead, and SHOWED him. Inside his mind replayed the entire day, from the moments he had first left his house early in the morning to walk to the Root Beer Stand, which he always tried to open by ten AM, especially on weekends and during the Summer months. He saw himself unlocking the Stand, preparing the float ingredients, checking the ice cream levels, and heating up the grill for chili dogs. He wondered for a moment why he didn't watch himself interacting with the RC Cola truck driver, but then he realized that delivery had occurred yesterday, on Thursday, not today. It didn't occur to him to wonder why, since his mother had tapped his forehead, he was revisiting his day. The replay continued, and Danny saw himself serving customers, some of the neighborhood kids, and adults on their lunch hour, some of whom headed to the park to enjoy the warm sunshine. Eventually his mother came to the back door of the concession stand and tapped. He noticed now that this happened after the last lunchtime customer rush, when no one else was around. He could hear laughter and conversation from the park, but no one was in sight. He opened the rear door and his mother handed him in a dark, opaque bottle. Once again, he heard her instructions, cemented with the essential information: “on orders of Mr. Joe.” Then he saw himself place the bottle in the hidden cupboard beneath the front cabinet, and place a single root beer glass beside it.





         It wasn't long from that point in the replay of the day's events that Danny saw Lisabeth and Alice appear from around the corner. They had walked up from the cross street, which led to Lisabeth's house, just a couple of blocks from the park. Danny's face lit up when he glanced out from the side of the open front of the Stand and saw Alice, little Alice, his favorite child of all. Now that really made his day! Danny smiled as he watched the replay too, until his mother's other hand came up and slapped his right cheek smartly. Since she did not remove her right hand from his forehead, the replay didn't stop, but continued on. The Danny watching it bit his lip in pain, and to keep any more emotions from showing on his face. He really liked Little Alice-slap!





         In his mind Alice and Lisabeth walked up to the Stand, and of course as always Lisabeth had to order first.

“I want the BIG vanilla cone, Mr. Danny! Two scoops, no sugar cone cause I won't eat it! And no sprinkles either, like you tried to give me last time!”

Danny, who was already all moony-eyed over Little Alice, forbore to remind Lisabeth-as if it would do any good-that he had never put sprinkles on her cone, he had never even offered her a sugar cone-except the very first time she had come to the Stand-and besides that, it was someone else-hmm-yes, the little Standish girl, what was her name? Another little blonde, but about Lisabeth's age, hmm-anyway, it was the Standish girl who had asked for sprinkles on her strawberry ice cream AND a sugar cone and that's what he gave her. Lisabeth had just happened to be standing beside her at the time, because they had come to the Stand together-an after school play time excursion-and of course Lisabeth had had to order first and then the Standish girl-yes, Janice-had ordered second. But Danny had NOT given Lisabeth sprinkles!





Now Danny-in the replay and watching it at home in his mind, slumped against the front wall, realized that he had spaced out yet again and was standing there with his mouth crumpled, arguing with himself about who got sprinkles. So he turned on the charm, and asked that lovely Little Miss Alice what she would like, even though he already knew.

“Just a root beer float, please, Mr. Danny, but a tall one. Lisabeth and I just had lunch a bit ago.” and she smiled at him.

         Danny's heart skipped half a dozen beats, then he smiled at her, and added,

“Tall root beer float comin' right up! And you know what? I think I'll have me one too! It's a hot day and we've been real busy for a while!

         Alice didn't see why he needed her permission to have whatever he wanted, but she just smiled a little and nodded, then turned slightly away, staring toward the park so it wouldn't seem like she was rude. Lisabeth was skipping and jumping in place, pretending she was pounding out a hopscotch pattern, and so neither child saw Danny walk to the back wall and select two glasses, then move to the front cabinet, where he was hidden by the front wall, and setting down one glass, replace it with the one he had earlier hidden, into which he poured a substantial offering from the opaque brown bottle his mother had carried to him earlier. The bottle was tall and narrow, oddly shaped, like a cylinder with a rounded top, almost as if the glass had been blown to contain folds. It looked antique, but Danny didn't have the time nor the inclination to study on that, so he poured some of the poison into the “special” glass, recorked and replaced the bottle, and then carrying the specially-prepared glass in his right hand, so that his body would hide his actions if the girls did happen to glance in, he moved to the founatin against the back wall and filled Alice's glass first, making sure to put two extra scoops of whipped cream atop it to distract her from the taste. Then he filled his, not quite so full and without the whipped cream, and returned to the front window, where he handed Alice her special concoction, with a smile that would have scared off adults and most birds of prey.