Free Laughter in the Wind by SL Harris Page A

road. As she rounded a small bend to the abandoned, ramshackle farmhouse she eagerly turned and took the picture from Olivia. “I thought I recognized that house. This is it, I’m sure of it. This house used to look like that house in the picture.”
    At first, Olivia looked at the decaying building doubtfully. The roof had partially collapsed into the second story and the porch roof curved down like a grotesque clown smile between the first and second stories. Some of the rusted tin from the roof lay scattered across the yard, and the faded plywood that had once boarded all the windows had been removed in places, probably by vandals. She had a hard time imagining the house as it must have once appeared. After studying the picture again, however, she became as convinced as Rebecca. The windows were in all the right places, the general outline was the same.
    Olivia grabbed Rebecca in a quick hug and jumped up and down with her. “You did it, Bec! You found the house!”
    Suddenly both stopped moving, straining to hear a distant sound. From back around the bend came a sound of women laughing. “Did you hear that?” Olivia asked.
    “Yeah, come on.” Rebecca grabbed her hand and they dashed back along the route they had just taken. When they rounded the bend, they saw no evidence that anyone was there or had been there.
    After looking around for a few more minutes, Rebecca walked back into the cemetery to look at Mary’s headstone. She said, “I think I did more than find the house, Olivia. You know, the Farthings lived in that house when the picture was taken. I’ve seen copies of the deeds. I may have found MJ for you.”
    “Wow. I get it. You think MJ was Mary J. Farthing.” Olivia had walked up behind her to consider the stone again and looked and sounded shocked that they had linked so many things together. “So, who was Ralph?”
    “I’m not sure.” Rebecca laughed. “You expect me to figure everything out for you? Do I look like Sherlock Holmes or something?”
    Olivia donned a serious face and studied Rebecca from head to toe, causing Rebecca to blush hotly. “I would choose something to answer that question, and I don’t believe you are all ears, either.” She smiled that funny smile, turned before Rebecca could gather herself to respond, and headed back through the pasture toward Uncle Jim’s house.
    Rebecca followed, not hurrying to catch up immediately but letting her thoughts catch up with all the light flirting that had taken place so far. She decided she was okay with the direction things were heading so she picked up her pace to finish walking quietly beside Olivia.
    On the drive back to Rebecca’s house, they decided to look through their research again to see if they could find a link between MJ, Jane, or Ralph. They chose to combine their mysteries as one and the mood stayed light as they speculated wildly about how they could be linked. Olivia joked about getting a shovel and coming back to the graveyard at midnight. Rebecca told her she was crazy and if she fell into an old grave or was pushed into one by a ghost, it would serve her right. They entered Rebecca’s house still laughing and teasing each other.
    “I didn’t realize your father and Uncle Jim were that amusing,” her mother chimed in, which added to the girls’ laughter. “And thank you for wearing your caps.”
    This only made them laugh more. As soon as they were able to control their giggles, they filled her in on the events of the afternoon. They both brought their notebooks to the table and looked through them as Rebecca’s mother prepared supper. They had offered to help but she had shooed them away, telling them to work on their mystery instead. Although they were disappointed to not discover more clues in their papers, they still considered the afternoon a wonderful success.

Chapter Seven
     
    Supper went quickly and Rebecca’s parents asked Olivia questions about her experiences growing up on and around army