Teardrop

Teardrop”

By

Jeff Sidebottom

         Teresa hated going to her Great Grandma’s house. Everything was old and it smelled stale. There was no one to play with.  All of the adults talked for hours. They would laugh and tell stories about past lives that none of them would ever live again. Teresa thought they were telling stories most of them had not lived at all. Every time they get together, they tell the same stories and laugh as if it was the first time that they heard them, she thought, rolling her eyes in boredom.

         “Mom, Mommm,” Teresa moaned. “Maauuummm.”

         “Yes dear.”

         “I’m bored. Can I go look around?”

         “Yes dear, but do not touch anything GG has a lot of old stuff in here.”

         Nothing as old as their stories and the people in them, she thought to herself. Teresa wandered around aimlessly hoping to find something, anything, interesting for an eleven year old to do. After drifting into the kitchen,          Teresa noticed there was a lot of stuff with cats on them, not real cats, but cat dishtowels, cat cups, cat salt and peppershakers, a cat calendar. I wonder how many things with cats on it GG has in here. She began to count aloud, “One, two, three...” touching each piece as she did, “thirty-three and thirty-four.”  Thirty-four things with cats on them, she thought, Hhmmm, GG sure does like cats.

         Teresa entered the hall from the kitchen. WOW! Look at all of this neat stuff GG has. How did she get those shelves to hang on the wall like that? Where did she get all of this stuff anyway? Look at these tables along the wall, she thought. Teresa knelt down closing one eye, and with her open eye, she looked across the top edge of the tables. That’s funny, she told herself, these tables are all in a row like the Queens cards protecting the shelves. “Off with her head” she said, pointing into the air with one finger extended, laughing aloud, remembering Alice.

         GG sure does have a lot of stuff crammed on these tables, she thought. Starting at the kitchen door, just above the tables and below the shelves, being careful not to knock anything off, she put her fingers on the wall and dragged them the length of the wall. Looking back, from under her arm, while her fingers still rested on the wall, she giggled; she could see the four trails her fingers left in the light dust. She grinned; it looks like four snakes had a race. I wonder which one won. How would a snake wear a gold medal around its neck? How would it hold a trophy? Teresa went to the opposite wall and started writing her name in the dust with her finger.

         Teresa let out a small screech, when she heard a door slam at the other end of the hall nearest the kitchen. What was that? She thought. On the wall, opposite the tables, she could see a door right next to the kitchen. How did I miss that door? She thought. I just came out of the kitchen and I did NOT see that door. Who slammed it? Was there someone else here? Must have been the wind, she thought. She tiptoed slowly down the hall, towards the door. As she approached it, the door opened with a creek. She looked down into the looming darkness where stairs disappeared into blackness. I wonder what’s down there.

         “Heelllooo,” she said softly, her voice shaking. Careful not to make any noise she slowly descended the stairs feeling for a light switch along the way. Yes! She thought, as she located the switch on the wall. She flicked it. What? No light? Maybe I should go back. Nah, there is a little light coming from that window. Besides, I want to see what’s down there. A small amount of light emitted through a thickly dusted window of the basement. Teresa stepped off the last step onto the basement floor. She felt a chill. She stood rigidly still and wide eyed for a minute or so until her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. However, her fear did not adjust.

         Look at all of this stuff, Teresa thought. Eewwh, the dust is an inch thick. I bet GG hasn’t touched this stuff in a hundred years. Yuck, I hate spider webs. Cobwebs hung thickly from the lamps, tables, chairs, and boxes filled with all kinds of junk. Looks like GG just threw all of this stuff down here. The tables, chairs, and standing lamps, crissed-crossed in no particular order, and Teresa thought it looked like a really mixed up road. This place gives me the creeps. Is that a rocking horse over there? It’s so dark I can’t tell. She stepped toward the horse shaped object. “Ahhh!” she yelled, when the cobwebs got in her hair. She frantically tried to brush them away while screaming and stomping her feet.

         Teresa calmed herself and looked to her right. The light from that window seems to be shining directly on that small box, she thought. Like everything else, a thick layer of dust covered it. Teresa slowly stepped towards the box. It was small, about the size of a shoebox. She blew the dust from the box; she coughed and sneezed as dust flew into the air like an erupting volcano. She wiped the top of the wooden box with her hand. It looks like some kind of weird old writing on the top, she thought. “Teh..Tehher of Mōd..Mōdor, humm, Tehher of Mōdor, I wonder what that means,” she said. Teresa began to open the top. At first, it resisted almost as if it were alive. It finally gave way to her insistent prying, as the lid opened, Teresa heard a sound like a sigh. Oh wow, an old necklace, it looks like it is made of some kind of clear rock or something. Like one of those crystals from science class. I wonder if GG even knows it’s down here, she thought, maybe I should tell her.

         As she started to close the box, a purple glow began to pulsate from the crystal. What is that? She thought. The purple radiance made her reach in and pick up the crystal. The crystal was attached to a length of thin leather cord that was about twenty inches in length. As she examined it more closely, she could see the crystal was teardrop shaped, and the cord ran through a little metal clasp that seemed to grip the crystal. It continued to pulsate and glow, almost as if happy to feel her touch. It feels warm when I touch it, she thought, and it makes me feel safer. She felt lucky, she felt light headed, and she felt happy to be here at this moment. Teresa took the length of cord and put her head through it allowing it to come to rest on her neck. She looked down and smiled at the crystal hanging just below her chest nearly to her belly. It however, was no longer glowing.

         The upstairs door slammed loudly, Teresa let out a shriek and raced up the stairs. She grabbed the doorknob and turned it in a panic. Relief came over her when the door opened with ease; she stepped into the hallway and sighed, light blinded her for a moment until her eyes adjusted to the brightness. Oh man, I am so dumb for being scared, she thought. She began tossing the pendant hanging from her neck, hand-to-hand, as if playing hot potato with it.  Making her way to the kitchen, happy with her newly found treasure, Teresa thought, I should go outside and see what other treasures I can find. Strangely, she felt like crying.

         I wonder where that window is that let the light into the basement, she thought. She made three trips around the house looking for the window; she was unable to find it. “That’s weird, maybe it is hidden behind some boards or something,” she said. I’ll look one more time. On her fourth trip around the house, just outside the screened in front porch, she saw a big black cat. It was hunkered down staying very still. The end of its tail was twitching slightly, other than the twitch, the cat did not move. Teresa froze in her tracks, holding the pendent in her right hand, she watched. What is that cat looking at? She thought. Then Teresa saw it. The cat watched a bird that hopped and fluttered in the grass, looking for food. She thought, oh that little birdie seems so sad, and lonely, and scared. She jumped when the cat leaped; it grabbed the bird from mid air as it tried to fly away. She watched in horror as the bird jumped and flapped trying to escape the claws of its captor to no avail. The cat tossed the bird from paw to paw before it realized the bird was no longer moving. It started to pick the bird up in its mouth. Teresa wacked the cat on the back with a stick, “Dumb old cat!” she yelled.

The cat jumped, let out a scream, hissed and ran off.  “Get outta here and don’t never come back!”

         Teresa began to cry when she saw the bird did not move. “Oh, poor birdie,” she said. The bird lay still and silent. She touched it lightly with the stick to see if it moved; it did not. The bird was dead. Its body lay twisted and maimed, its tiny eyes closed. She sat down and bawled.

         “Stupid cat,” she yelled, “I hate you!” Why would that dumb old cat want to hurt such a cute thing? She thought. What should I do with it? I can’t just leave it here that cat will come back and eat it. Maybe I should bury it, she thought, I will put it in a box and bury it real deep where that mean cat can’t get it. She stood up, reached down and picked up the bird. It was limp and without life; that saddened her even more, and she began to cry again. “Oh poor birdie, I’m sorry if I would have known what that nasty cat was going to do I would have saved you,” she said. She lifted the bird in her two hands and inspected it closely through teary eyes. It gave no sign of life. She put her cheek to the bird and hugged it lightly; she then gently kissed the bird. As she kissed the bird, she felt heat emanate from the crystal, and she saw its glow from under her hands. What is that? She thought.

         For a second, she felt lightheaded; a stabbing pain shot through her head. I need to sit down, she thought; she fell to her knees and closed her eyes as the pain slowly subsided. Teresa felt something move in her hands; she opened her eyes and saw the bird move. It moved a little. I know it did, she thought. At first, the bird twitched one wing and then the other; the bird opened its tiny eyes ever so slightly and began to blink. The bird turned its twisted head, and it fluttered in her hands trying to turn upright. Teresa could not believe it. She cried again, but this time it was tears of joy. The bird was full of life. The bird stood in her palms, gave her a look, blinked a couple of times and flew away. Oh my Gosh, she thought, that was just like one of those stories they teach us in Sunday school.

         Teresa ran into the house, letting the kitchen door slam behind her. She raced into the living room where all of the adults were weaving there tales. Teresa ran to her mom, interrupting the endless chatter.

         “Mom, Mom.” She said.

         “Oh my goodness, baby girl what happened to you?” She said as she took Teresa by the arm and led her toward the bathroom. “Your nose is bleeding.”

         “It is? Mom...”

         “What happened to you? Tilt your head back.”

         “Mom you are not going to believe what happened.”

         “Try me... Oh Teresa, that is your new shirt and now you have blood all over the front of it.” She said, dabbing at the front of Teresa’s shirt.

         “I’m sorry Mom, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t even know.”

         “Where did you get that silly necklace? I thought I told you not to touch anything. Here, tilt your head back and hold this tissue to your nose until it stops bleeding,” her mom said, as she continued to clean the blood from her shirt.

         “I found it in the basement.”

         “Don’t lie,” said her mom, “GG doesn’t have a basement, when we are done I want you to go put that necklace where you found it, and I mean it.”

         “She does have a basement, I was in it, come I’ll show you.”

         “Stop lying Teresa! Just go put it back where you got it from when we’re done!”

         “Okaayyy.” Teresa said.

         The drive home was filled with thoughts of happiness and confusion, Teresa’s head leaned against the window, and she thought of the bird coming back to life, the mean old cat, the pain in her head, the bloody nose, and the basement that wasn’t there. However, most of all she thought of the necklace. She smiled as she moved her hand on top of her jeans pocket; she could feel the outline of the teardrop shaped pendent and she could feel the warmth of its purple glow. She felt like crying.