The Daughters of Julian Dane Page 5

  “It’s my fault, Mr. Martin,” Donnie said apologetically. “I had to stop by the office about my transfer. It took longer than I thought.”

  “It’s okay,” Ben assured him as the two of them quickly downed their milk and cookies. “As soon as you’re ready, we’ll be going.”

  Addie got into the truck between her daddy and Donnie. She liked the feeling of Donnie’s body against hers. As Ben pulled out of the driveway, he began giving instructions as to what he expected of each of them before they would be ready to return home.

  Donnie’s only comments were those necessary when Ben addressed him until Addie asked, “Will you be finishing your high school education here at Riverbend?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ll have to wait and see.”

  “Do you like it here?” she asked.

  “It’s okay.”

  “I saw you coming out of Mr. Lemay’s math class. Do you like him?”

  “He’s all right.”

  “Most of the students don’t like him. I’ve never been in one of his classes, but I will be next year.”

  “He’s strict, but he seems fair.”

  She wanted to ask him where he had moved from, and why he had changed schools, but it was obvious that he was not in a talkative mood. So rather than make a nuisance of herself, she decided to ride the rest of the way in silence.

  Soon, the truck was turning into a driveway in an older section of town unfamiliar to Addie. It was obvious that this had at one time been one of the better sections of Riverbend. The houses were large, made of brick and stone mostly, but a few of wood like the one in front of them. The houses sat close together and no more than thirty feet or so from the street.

  “Nice old houses,” Donnie remarked.

  “Yeah,” Ben said. “It’s still a pretty nice neighborhood – just needs fixing up some. It’s mostly rental property now. Some of the owners keep their property up better than others. Well, this is it.”

  It was a modest, square, white, clapboard house with elaborate wood trim around the eaves and the porch. Its roof slanted upward, above the dormers, front and sides, to a small flat top, giving it a rather odd, unfinished look. It was about the best looking house on the street, a house that had been well taken care of.

  From the moment they turned into the driveway and Addie saw the house, she could not take her eyes from it. It was as if she was mesmerized by it. Ben and Donnie got out of the truck, but she still sat there, unmoving, just staring.

  “Are you getting out, Princess?” Ben asked.

  She didn’t answer, but slowly slid out of the truck, her eyes glued to the house, a frown on her face.

  Donnie brushed past her to take some of the cleaning supplies from Ben’s loaded arms.

  “Coming, Addie? I think we have all your things,” Ben said.

  “I don’t like this house,” she mumbled.

  “You don’t have to like it, honey, just clean it. Now, you know what has to be done. I’ve told you.”

  “Daddy, have I ever been in this house before?” she asked as she ventured slowly, reluctantly toward it behind Ben.

  “I wouldn’t think so,” he answered.

  “Then how do I know what it’s like on the inside?” she asked studiously.

  “That’s not possible,” Ben said.

  “But I do,” she insisted quietly, as though to herself.

  Ben and Donnie both turned and looked at her, as she hesitantly followed them onto the steps of the oblong, wood porch.

  “Maybe you’ve been in an old house like this one somewhere, and a lot of them are pretty much alike inside,” Ben said.

  “I don’t think so,” she said slowly, shaking her head as she crossed the porch. She stopped suddenly at the door. “This house gives me the creeps. I don’t want to go in there,” she announced firmly with fear in her voice.

  “You wanted to earn some money, now didn’t you?” Ben asked a little annoyed as he deposited the cleaning supplies beside the door in order to unlock it.

  “Yes, but ...”

  “No buts about it, Addie. What on earth has gotten into you? It’s not like you to balk at doing a little work. I thought you wanted to work for some extra money.” He had swung the door open and now headed back to the truck. “I’ve got to get my tool box.”

  Donnie picked up a broom, a mop, and a pail filled with sponges and old clothes, leaving a box of bottles and cans of cleaning detergents for Addie as he went ahead of her into the house.

  She picked up the box, took one step inside the doorway and stopped. “That’s the living room,” she said with a nod of her head to the left, “then the dining room, the pantry, and the kitchen across the hall on the right.” Then with a nod of her head to the right, “two small bedrooms, a bath, and a larger bedroom.”

  “Addie! Move!” demanded Ben from behind. “These tools are heavy!”

  Addie didn’t move. She stood in the doorway completely oblivious of the present. “The stairway!” she exclaimed. “THE STAIRWAY!” she screamed. She let go of the box, it falling to the floor as she turned and fled from the house, back towards the truck, screaming in terror.

  Ben had dropped the toolbox when Addie bumped into him. Now he stood staring in amazement at the fleeing, screaming Addie .

  Donnie reappeared in the doorway. “What is it?” he exclaimed. Ben just stood there in stunned silence. Donnie looked incredulously at Addie running wildly across the yard, screaming hysterically, and at Ben just standing there as though in shock. He leaped off the porch and ran after Addie. He caught her as she reached the street and paused, apparently not knowing which way to run in her terror.

  “Hey! Hey!” he exclaimed, enveloping her in a strong grip. “What’s wrong, Addie? What happened?”

  Struggling to free herself, she turned in his arms to face the house. “NOOO!” she screamed. “Nicki! Nicki! NO!” she yelled, pushing at Donnie, pounding him with her fists.

  Ben came running to them. He reached out to the screaming, struggling Addie. Then she suddenly went limp in Donnie’s arms and burst into wild, uncontrollable sobbing. Donnie looked from Addie to Ben, bewildered.

  “Addie!” Ben called to her. “What’s wrong? What is it, Princess?”

  “NO! No! I can’t go in there! Daddy, don’t make me go in there!” she begged through her sobbing, turning from Donnie’s strong hold on her into Ben’s waiting arms.

  He took her tenderly, but firmly and tried to calm her down. “Honey, what’s frightened you so? Hush, Princess! You’re safe right here. There’s nothing to be so scared of.”

  “Daddy! Why am I so frightened?” she pleaded. “What’s wrong with me?” she begged through her tears.

  “I don’t know, Princess. You have ...”

  “Help me! Daddy, help me!”

  “What can I do, Addie? I can’t help you until you tell me what’s wrong,” Ben said in distress as Donnie stood by helplessly.

  But Addie just covered her face in the crook of Ben’s neck, her body shaking with sobs.

  “I guess I’d better take her home,” Ben said. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her, maybe her mother will. “Come on, Princess, let’s get in the truck.”

  Donnie helped Ben get the sobbing Addie into the truck. “I won’t be long,” Ben said. “Get the trash to the front porch while I’m gone.”

  “Yes, sir,” Donnie said. “I’ll stay busy while you’re gone. I sure hope you find out what spooked her so. I’ve never seen anybody so frightened.”

  Ben got into the truck and closed the door. Now safe inside the truck, Addie’s sobs began to lessen some. She sat trembling, her face in her hands. Ben shook his head hopelessly. “Sometimes these old houses can be spooky,” he said to Donnie as he started the motor. He had to wait to back out until a slow moving red Camaro passed. “Honey, I’m taking you home. Every thing’s going to be all right,” he tried to assure the crying Addie. He reached over and pulled her to him, and she rested her head on his
shoulder. He’d get her home to Della. She would know what was wrong, and what to do.

  Chapter Four

  Addie’s crying began to subside as Ben drove hurriedly through the streets back towards home. She raised her head from his shoulder, and he gave her his handkerchief.

  She blew her nose and wiped her eyes, still sniffling. “Daddy, I’ve never been afraid of empty houses before. Why was I so frightened? How do I know what that house looks like inside?” she pleaded. “How do I, Daddy?”

  “Now, princess, just calm down.”

  “The wallpaper in the living room has small pink roses running up and down, and the French doors in the dining room open out onto a small porch with roses climbing on a trellis. And the stairway! Why was I so terrified of the stairway?” She was becoming almost hysterical again.

  “Addie, please! I’ve got to get you home to Della. Let’s just forget about it until we get there,” Ben begged frantically as Addie began to wail. “Princess, honey, please calm down! I’ve been in that house before, and believe me, there is no wallpaper in the living room. It’s painted a pale green, and there are no French doors, and certainly no roses in March, and there is no stairway.”

  “It’s a horrible house, because she’s always there! We should never have moved there! Nicki! Nicki!” Addie screamed, covering her eyes with her hands as though to blot out something terrible, too terrible to be seen.

  Ben looked at his daughter. This hysterical person didn’t even sound like his Addie. He drove faster, as fast as the old truck would go, his nerves taut. He had no idea how to cope with the situation. “Addie!” he pleaded. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re right here in the truck with Daddy.” But, somehow, Ben had a feeling that Addie was not in the truck with him – not the Addie he knew – not his daughter. And who in the world was this ‘Nicki’ she kept calling?

  This frightened, hysterical girl was not his quiet, gentle Addie. He didn’t understand what was happening to her, and he was almost as distraught as she was. He was pressing the accelerator to the floor hoping that Buddy nor Cleo would show up, while Addie huddled in the corner of the seat crying uncontrollably again.

  Then, to his amazement, the crying stopped suddenly. He looked at Addie with relief. She was fumbling in her jacket pockets for tissues, as she snuffed and sighed heavily.

  “We’ll be home soon, Princess,” He said gently. “Del will know what’s wrong.” He reached over and patted her on the shoulder.

  The rest of the way home, Addie was quiet, except for the snuffling and heavy sighing. It was as though she was in deep thought, and Ben decided it was best to leave it that way for fear of bringing it all on again.

  He was so relieved when they were finally turning into their own driveway. He was helping Addie out of the truck when Della appeared in the back door.

  At the sight of Addie’s face, she exclaimed, “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

  Ben shook his head at Della. “She’s just upset. I think she needs to go to bed. She’s probably coming down with the flu or something.”

  Della opened her mouth to protest, but Ben pursed his lips in a ‘shh’ and shook his head, as he led the still snuffling Addie to her room. Della followed in silence. They removed Addie’s jacket and shoes, and she willingly crawled into her bed, and let Della cover her up. Della kept looking at her husband for some explanation.

  As soon as she had Addie under the covers, Ben took Della by the arm, pulling her toward the door.

  “Are you going to tell me what happened? Why has she been crying so? Why, she’s completely exhausted. She was trembling!”

  Ben was shaking his head as he looked at Della. “You’re never going to believe this,” he said as he steered her over to the kitchen sink – as far from Addie’s door as the small house would allow.

  “Tell me!” Della demanded impatiently.

  Ben started walking back and forth in the small space and rubbing the back of his neck. Della thought he looked almost as exhausted as Addie. “Well?” she said.

  “Del,” he began, “we pulled up to this house on South Street, and from the moment Addie saw it, she acted like she was hypnotized or something. At first, she just sat there in the truck staring at the house. She didn’t seem to want to get out of the truck, then she didn’t want to go in the house. She asked me if she’d ever been in that house before. When I told her no, she wanted to know how she knew what the house was like on the inside. I told her that wasn’t possible, but when she finally gets to the door, she stands there listing the rooms.” He paused and took Della by both arms. “Del, she was all right until she said something about a stairway.”

  “What happened then?”

  “Well, honey, she screamed ‘STAIRWAY’, then she absolutely went into hysterics. She dropped the box of cleaning supplies and ran screaming into the yard towards the street like the devil, himself was after her. I don’t know what I would have done if Donnie hadn’t been there.”

  “Ben, what are you saying? That doesn’t sound like Addie!”

  “I know! But I’m telling you exactly what happened. I was so stunned I couldn’t move. Donnie went running after her and caught her just as she got to the street. And listen to this! She kept screaming somebody’s name that I’ve never heard before -’Nicki’. At one time she yelled, ‘No! Nicki! No!’ Della, I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anyone so frightened in my life.” He was leaning on the counter as though exhausted by it all.

  Della stared at her husband, unable to believe what she had just heard, and not knowing what to say or do. Finally, she asked as though of herself, “Who is Nicki?”

  “How the hell should I know? I just told you ...”

  “Ben!”

  “Sorry, Del, but you don’t know what I’ve been through. That was the longest ride home I’ve ever made. When she got over the hysterics, she started crying harder than I’ve every heard anybody cry. She did the same thing on the way home, and, honey, this part you’ll never believe.”

  “I can’t believe what you’ve already told me!”

  “On the way home, she started screaming that it was a horrible house because ‘she’ was always there, and, that ‘they’ should never have moved to that house. Then she started screaming that name again, and, Della, she didn’t sound like Addie. She sounded like somebody else.”

  Della could only stare at her husband in open mouth disbelief.

  “What’s wrong with her, Del? What’s wrong with our girl?” Ben pleaded.

  “Ben, I don’t know. It sounds like she was having nightmares while she’s wide-awake. I’d better go to her and try to find out.”

  “Della,” Ben said hesitantly, “you don’t think Addie is taking – well, drugs, do you? I know a lot of kids – nice kids do.”

  Della put her arms around the distraught Ben. “Honey, I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t think so – not our Addie, but until we find out what this is all about, I guess we can’t ... Oh, Ben, let’s just hope not. I know you have to get back. I’ll take care of her – see if I can find out what’s going on with her.”

  “I wish I didn’t have to leave, but I do. I’ve got to get this job done for Cutler so I can give all my time to Johnson’s remodeling. He has a set time he wants it finished. Listen, there’s a phone still in the house. It might not be cut off yet. I saw it yesterday when I was checking the place out. I’ll call you if it’s still connected.”

  “All right, but hurry home. Oh, and, Ben, have you been up the stairway of the house?”

  “Honey, there’s no stairway, or wallpaper with small pink roses like she claims, and no French doors that open onto a side porch.”

  “Oh, my!” Della exclaimed.

  “I’ve got to be going. See what you can find out from her. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said, kissing Della goodbye.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her,” She assured him, wishing she was half as confident as she was trying to sound for Ben’s sake. />
  He kissed her again and said, “Maybe some warm milk and a couple of aspirins would help her to go to sleep.”

  And when she wakes up the problem will be gone and forgotten, Della thought to herself, knowing that was Ben’s way of dealing with too many of life’s problems, especially those he didn’t know any other way with which to cope.

  As soon as Ben was out the door, Della rushed to Addie’s door and pushed it back quietly, almost hoping she would be asleep. Yet, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to stand the suspense of not knowing what was going on with her daughter until she awakened.

  Addie was lying on her side, one arm folded up under her head, staring into space, still snuffling now and then.

  “Honey,” Della said softly.

  “Oh, Mama, I’m sorry to cause so much trouble,” Addie said as she turned a tormented face to her mother, then raised up to sit on the side of the single bed.

  “Oh, Addie, darling, our only concern is you,” Della said as she sat down beside her daughter, and taking her into her arms. “We don’t know what happened to frighten you so. Ben told me all that went on, but, well, can you tell me about it, tell me what caused it?”

  Addie didn’t answer right away. Della waited, thinking it was almost as if she was afraid to answer her. “Oh, Lord,” she prayed silently, “don’t let it be drugs. Anything but that, please.”

  Tense, silent moments passed before Addie asked softly, quietly, “Mama, do you have just one memory?”

  The question caught Della by surprise. All she could stammer was, “What, what do you mean – one memory?”

  “I know other people have only one memory, but, since you’re my mother, I thought maybe you ...”

  “Addie, what are you talking about – memories? I – I remember different things at different times, but everybody has only one memory. I’m not sure I know what you’re asking me. I don’t know quite how to answer you.”

  “I have two memories, Mama,” Addie said flatly, looking Della straight in the eyes as though she had to know exactly how such a statement would be received by her mother.