Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 3
© Denise Bossarte
Grace turned into the
cemetery entrance, the wrought iron decorative gates pushed opened to the sides
against the ivy-covered walls. There were no roses blooming on the trellises
bracketing the gates. It was too late in the summer for that.
She drove up the wandering
one lane road to the top of the hill at the back of the cemetery. Along the
way, she admired the well-kept lawn of green spotted with headstones stretching
away on both sides of the pavement. As usual, this part of the cemetery was
empty of visitors.
As soon as she pulled the car over to the side of the lane,
Danny jumped out and headed down the hill.
“Say hello to Samantha and
Joshua for me,” Grace called as Danny ran off.
“Sure will!” he yelled
over his shoulder without pausing, heading on his way back down the road.
Grace lifted the bunches of
flowers from the back seat, careful not to bump them against the front seats or
the steering wheel as she exited the car. Clutching the large bunch of daisies
and a double bunch of tulips in her right hand, she closed the car door with
her left hand. Turning, she walked up the gravel path leading up to a lone
Japanese maple on the hilltop shading two matching headstones.
Reaching the graves, she
removed the old flowers from each vase, replacing one with daisies and another
with the red tulips. The second bundle of electric blue tulips she nestled
within the roots of the sculpted tree, placing them alongside a small flat
tombstone sunken part way into the ground. With a nod of acknowledgment to the
diffuse form hovering near the tree trunk, she turned back to the matching
headstones. She circled around to the front of the graves to sit cross legged
between them facing down the hill.
“Hi Mom,” she whispered, laying one open palm on the grave with
the tulips. “Hi Dad,” she whispered, repeating the gesture on the second grave
with the daisies.
She bowed her head, taking a
long breath. Even after three years there was still an intense sense of loss
each time she came for a visit. She struggled with the temptation to run
through her list of “What ifs?” that often came to mind
whenever she visited her parents. What if they hadn’t died when they did? Would
Danny still be alive? Would Grace still be part of the police force? Would
peaceful dreams rather than nightmares of the accident fill her nights…?
Enough! She admonished herself, forcing the usual
litany out of her mind.
Acknowledging the ache she
felt deep in her heart, she raised her head and relaxed her hands in her lap.
She let her gaze wander across the landscape, noting a smattering of living
people in the lower part of the cemetery. The cemetery was never busy with
people, even on the weekends, which was the reason the Bishops selected their
plots here.
“Rest in peace means just that” her mother would say when she
brought Grace to tend the Japanese maple they planted here when they first
purchased the plots. Francene had wanted good shade for the graves and
visitors, and planted the tree to grow years before they expected to need it.
Grace appreciated the shade in summer and the beautiful leaves all year long.
But she regretted the tree did not have a long time to grow before the Bishops
were laid beneath it.
Grace smiled when she caught
sight of Danny playing hoops with a small girl in a gingham dress and a boy
dressed like a 50’s newsy. Samantha and Joshua were Danny’s
playmates whenever they visited the cemetery. Both ghosts had been at the
cemetery for so long their names had faded from their grave markers. They were
happy to find a new friend in Danny. They were shy around Grace, but were
uninhibited in their games with Danny.
They ran laughing and
shouting, chasing the hoop as it rolled and bumped over the rough ground and
through several headstones. The cemetery was only a half mile at its widest
point; she never worried about losing Danny there. It was good to see him
playing with children who were, for all purposes, his own age.
As her gaze continued to wander across the grounds she spoke in
the soft voice she used when greeting her parents.
“Danny is adjusting well, for a kid who is haunting his sister,”
she said. “We’ve finally settled into the new place. Nine months after the
accident, but we’ve the rest of the boxes unpacked at last. Now it’s starting
to be a real home.”
As usual, when thinking about Danny and his current “life,” she
couldn’t stop the wave of guilt rushing through her. All those times the
therapist worked with her on how the accident wasn’t her fault. Despite the
work, she still had not internalized the concept, not gotten rid of the guilt.
It was going to take more time before she could let go of the
idea she should have done something more to protect Danny. Something more to
prevent the accident from happening.
After a heavy sigh, she took
a few deep breaths, struggling to release her line of thought. With an effort,
she turned her attention back to her updates for her parents.
“I’m sorry you’ll miss his birthday this weekend. It’s hard to
believe this will be the third one since you died. It is a bit weird to be
celebrating a birthday for someone who will never get older, but it’s what he
wanted. I’m sure he will be happy with the presents I got. But he’s the most
happy I agreed to let Sophie know about him.
She’s the neighbor I told you about who does the palm and tarot
readings down at the strip mall on Lincoln. I’m not certain it’s a good idea to
tell anyone about us. But Danny thinks she might be able to help us figure some
of this out because he’s convinced she makes her living using some sort of
ability. I think he has a bit of a crush on her. He would love the chance to
spend time with her in person,” she said with a bemused sigh.
“It kills me he had to give up on going to college,” she
continued, the guilt making her voice rough. “He was planning on taking his GED
and then an early enrollment into MIT this fall, or was before the accident.
Full ride at the place of his dreams, and a career as a physicist all planned
out. All destroyed because I couldn’t move fast enough to avoid a damn drunk
driver or save him from getting crushed to death.”
She stopped as her throat squeezed tight. Overcome by the loss
her brother suffered, while she lived and was able to get on with her life.
Maybe not the life she dreamed of for herself, but one on the side of the
living nonetheless.
After the tightness in her throat eased she continued.
“He was invited to a large science meeting in France to present
the results from the physics project he completed last summer. No way he can do
that now and after all those long hours struggling to get the experiments to
work. At least the professor at the college can step in and share what Danny
discovered. His work won’t disappear with him.”
Grace raised her hand to cup
the crystal pendant on a thin gold chain around her neck, finding comfort in
holding it. She focused her will on the stone. As she did, she noticed it warm
to her touch as it began to glow faintly.
She was in the habit of leaving it close against her skin to
charge over time. But she wanted it to have a full charge for their meeting
with Sophie this weekend in case Danny needed the extra energy. Releasing the
pendant, she picked up a fallen twig from the grass and absently pushed it into
the ground, making small abstract patterns with the holes.
“The security jobs at the University and College are going well.
Danny enjoys visiting with the professors there while I’m working. He calls
them ‘Professor Espiritos’ which he thinks is a clever take off from ‘Professor
Emeritus.’ He goes there all the time, especially while I’m sleeping.
He still visits the main campus near our townhouse. But with me
working the security jobs downtown he’s discovered another group of experts to
show off to, now.” She shook her head, picturing Danny right in his element
arguing some detailed and highly technical issue with a gathering of professors.
“I completed my latest PI case last week.” Raising the twig, she
used it to point at a tombstone near the south wall of the cemetery.
“Mrs. Scarlotti’s son was killed in Afghanistan, but his ghost
hadn’t moved on after dying. He was confused from his violent death and he got
lost on this side for a while. She got in touch with me when she realized that
the odd things happening around her house might be caused by his ghost. She
asked me to see what I could do to help him get some peace.
She was open to my suggestion we spend the afternoons with her
telling me all about his childhood and the sports trophies crowding his
bedroom. With our help, he recognized where he was and what had happened to him
and it was easy for things progress from there.”
She paused for a moment, raising her head to watch the white
clouds slide across the pure blue sky.
“I got a call from DL last night. He wants me to help him with a
case,” she said, finally getting to the pressing topic at hand. She walked
through the details of the previous late night phone call and the breakfast
meeting that morning, giving herself time to absorb the conversations a second
time.
“I have a bad feeling this won’t be a simple case. I have a
sense there’s more going on than I can see right now.” She noticed the twig
still in her hand and started poking the ground again, this time in
frustration.
“I’ll call Billy and see what he has to say about it. I want to
find out if this situation is something he can take on himself. Or see if there
is some way he can help figure out what’s going on through his connections on
the force.”
She paused, gathering herself before admitting softly “I’m
afraid to go visit Beth at the hospital.”
She closed her eyes in shame at her own perceived cowardice.
Knowing the fear was justified but feeling weak since she couldn’t suppress it.
“I haven’t stepped inside a hospital since my last surgery.”
And she had been planning to keep it that way for as long as
possible. All the counseling sessions and the brutal rounds of physical therapy
happened in offices and clinics away from the hospital. At a different location
by the simple expedient she refused to enter the building again. Not convenient
for anyone, but she had not damn well cared!
The mere thought of the hospital immediately brought back the
smells of antiseptic cleaners adding to, instead of covering, the taint of
blood, sickness, and death. Brought back the sounds of pain and despair.
Recalled the overwhelming presences that crowded her room and nearly drove her
over the brink to insanity. It was as vivid as if it happened yesterday rather
than months ago. The idea of facing all those things again was terrifying.
But she had no choice if she was going to help DL understand
what happened to Beth and the other girls. She had to be there in person to
touch Beth and get a good reading from her. She needed to get Beth’s story
directly with no unintentional modifications by DL. She could take the easy way
out and ask DL to bring a piece of Beth’s clothing for her to read. But it was
better not to explain the real reason of such a request to him. Direct contact
gave an increased possibility of getting more detailed information during the
reading.
Determined to conquer her personal demons, Grace sighed and
dropped the twig, dusting off her hands before standing and turning to face the
graves. She removed a neatly folded cloth from her pocket and took some time
wiping off the tops, fronts, and backs of the gravestones. Satisfied they were
clean and debris free, she turned and walked back to the car.
“Danny,” she called. “Time to get going.”
Danny glanced up at her from the bottom of the hill and then
waved to show he heard her.
“Last round,” he
promised, racing after Joshua who was expertly using a stick to keep the hoop
upright. “I’ll meet you at the gate.”
Grace
smirked, knowing it would take more than one more round for Danny to catch up
with Joshua.
http://www.gracebishopnovels.com/
http://booklaunch.io/dbossarte/gracebishopnovel-glamorous
https://www.facebook.com/gracebishopnovels
http://gracebishopnovels.blogspot.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/gracebnovels/
No comments:
Post a Comment