Free Kit's Law by Donna Morrissey Page B

in the first place to find out what the matter is that dirties up his pretty platter.”
    And it was a dirty job he done Nan during her burial service. Fixing his eyes on Josie and me, sitting in the front pew alongside of Doctor Hodgins, he left off on his sermon on sin and went into another on the folly of foolish pride with such hissing and spite that most of the congregation hung their heads in shame for the way he was taking the final say in the bad blood between him and Nan and the bad blood that, in a way that wasn’t quite clear to anyone in Haire’s Hollow, had silently grown between him and Doctor Hodgins. And by the way Doctor Hodgins laid his hands protectively around mine and Josie’s shoulders as he stared down the reverend during his preaching, and by the way the reverend’s words lost some of their spite whenever he tripped over Doctor Hodgins’s brooding look, it became clear that the battle was far from over simply because the general lay dead in a box at the reverend’s feet.
    It was the day after the funeral that they came—in much the same way Nan said they came all those years ago when they first tried to take me away from the gully. Excepting for the reverend and Jimmy Randall. They didn’t come on this day. Just May Eveleigh and Mrs. Ropson. And it wasn’t Nan who stood to greet them. It was me and Doctor Hodgins.
    Nodding politely at Doctor Hodgins, May sat down straight as a ruler on the edge of the daybed and looked expectantly to the reverend’s wife who was easing herself a little uneasily into Nan’s rocker. I could tell by the way Mrs. Ropson kept looking to a spot besides the door where Doctor Hodgins was now standing that that was where the reverend must’ve stood as they faced down Nan, who must’ve been sitting on the far end of the daybed, away from May Eveleigh, where I was now sitting. After greeting them by name, Doctor Hodgins smoothed back his tufts and pleasantly asked, “Would you like a cup of tea, ladies?”
    “I wouldn’t put you to the trouble, Doctor,” Mrs. Ropson said, wiping her cold, red nose with a small crumpled hankie, her voice a trifle too pleasing.
    “No trouble at all,” Doctor Hodgins replied. “Kit?”
    I rose and went to the bin, taking down the teacups.
    “A little cold water in mine,” May Eveleigh said. Then she tut-tutted shockingly, “Some cold for October, Doctor. I allows we’ll never see the sun again.”
    “It’s always colder out here by the gully,” Mrs. Ropson said with a little bivver. “No trees to buff the wind.”
    “Some of us like a good breeze, Mrs. Ropson,” Doctor Hodgins replied merrily. “Need any help, Kit?”
    I walked slowly towards Mrs. Ropson, carefully holding out the cup and saucer so’s not to flop the tea over the sides. The tip of a cold fingernail grazed my knuckle as she accepted the cup and my hand shook a little as I went back to the bin for May Eveleigh’s. Everyone served, I glanced with relief at Doctor Hodgins and sat back down, stealing a look at May Eveleigh as she copied sipping her tea as smartly as Mrs. Ropson. Aside from slurping a little too loud, she appeared to be doing it just right. Doctor Hodgins watched, too.
    “It’s a good cup a tea,” May finally said, lowering her cup. “Thank you, Kit.”
    “Yes, thank you,” Mrs. Ropson said, smiling up at Doctor Hodgins. “Well, well, it’s a good turn you’re doing the family, Doctor, helping out like this. The reverend’s disappointed he couldn’t come with us today, but he’s got a wedding down in Pollard’s Point and a baptism in Purpy’s Cove. And then he’s off to St. John’s. But, he feels blessed he was here to bury Lizzy.”
    “I’m sure Lizzy feels blessed as well,” Doctor Hodgins replied solemnly. Mrs. Ropson gave a curt nod and tracked May Eveleigh’s eyes around the place. There wasn’t much— the room we were sitting in served as a kitchen and sitting room, with three small bedrooms leading off from a