Free Will O Wisp by Fay Risner Page B

go along,”
Shana agreed.
    “ You better stay in the
house, girl,” Gracie said.
    Shana said, “You can't be after
leavin' a child home alone when there's somethin' strange afoot,
now can you? It wouldn't be safe for me.”
    “ Gracie, she's right. Shana
better come with us,” Melinda agreed.
    “ Thank ye, Aunt Melinda,”
Shana said. “Let's go before the lantern goes out so we know where
to head.”
    “ We need to find a rock or
small board to put over our worm can, or the worms will all crawl
out before morning,” Gracie said.
    Shana picked up a rock. “Will this
do?”
    Gracie set it on the can opening. “It
will do just fine. Set the can near the porch door, girl, while I
get the rifle.”
    Shana raced to the house with the can.
She set it on the porch and joined Melinda in the yard. Gracie came
from the house, carrying Thad's twenty-two rifle. She handed
Melinda the lantern and a handful of matches. “Now you two are
going to have to learn to soft foot Indian style in the trees and
no talking,” Gracie said softly as she slipped off the lane into
the timber.
    Melinda and Shana got in behind Gracie
and eased along. Shana stepped on a twig. The snap seemed twice as
loud in the quiet timber. Gracie uttered, “Shhh!”
    “ Sorry I'm, but I can't see
where I'm walkin',” Shana complained.
    “ We cain't use the lantern
until we're ready to go home. We want to surprise the person
wandering around in the trees,” Gracie hissed.
    They reached the edge of the timber
where it met the evergreen grove behind the cemetery. Gracie held
her arm out to stop Melinda and Shana. The glow from a lantern
wavered over the stones. The person using it was a woman in a white
dress. Her large brimmed white straw hat was tilted down, shading
her face from view. She was dressed fashionably for the times, but
usually, that sort of outfit was used for a garden party or a
wedding. Other times, women wore white clothes to church and for
special occasions. Wandering around in a timber at night and
someone else's cemetery in the dark didn't exactly fit as a dress
up occasion.
    The woman set the lantern on the
ground and leaned over the bare spot. She appeared to be gently
patting the earth. She picked the lantern up and with her back to
the watchers, she climbed over the cemetery fence.
    “ Hey, what are you up to,
trespassing in my cemetery?” Gracie yelled.
    The woman broke out running. Gracie
yelled, “Stop or I'll shoot you.” The woman thrashed noisily over
dried leaves and sticks. Gracie took off after her with Melinda and
Shana racing along behind. The amount of noise they made was enough
to warn any night prowling animal to leave the area.
    The woman had too much of a head
start. Once she got ahead of them, she put the lantern out. She
seemed to know the area better than they did in the dark. The white
dress, glowing in the moon light, was the only way the women barely
made out the strange woman as she dodged through the trees. She
soon disappeared from sight.
    Gracie panted loudly as she leaned
against a tree. Melinda tried to catch her breath. Even Shana was
winded.
    Finally, Gracie huffed, “We lost
her.”
    “ Wonder if she will be
back?” Melinda said between breaths.
    “ I don't know, but I sure
hate to think about standing guard over the cemetery every night
just to wait for her to show up,” Gracie groused. “I'm going to
talk to Sheriff Logan first chance I get. He needs to
investigate.”
    Melinda said, “Maybe there's some
mental patient loose that needs caught.”
    “ That isn't the way I saw
it,” Shana said. “That woman was crying over a babe when she patted
the bare ground. I'm thinking she buried her babe there by yer wee
brother.”
    “ Oh, Gracie. Shana may be
right,” Melinda said. “It did look that way.”
    “ Nothing wrong with that if
that's the case. Except she should have asked my permission to bury
a body in my family cemetery. That way I could tell her where to
dig the grave. That