Free Mystery of Drear House by Virginia Hamilton

her face. Her mouth was a thin line with great creases at either side. She might have been smiling. But she was not. She was staring. Her black eyes fastened on Thomas.
    Something else, Thomas thought. I hear … humming!
    She was humming and had been humming, like a soft buzzing from the time she had come around from behind the wall. The humming had buzzed inside his head, as if it had belonged there. He hadn’t noticed it until now.
    “Can’t you say hello to my mama?” Pesty was asking him.
    “Oh, oh, hello! I’m sorry, Mrs. Darrow, I was ... shoot. Hello!” Thomas said.
    “Thomas and I are glad to meet you, Mrs. Darrow.” Great-grandmother Jeffers finally spoke, in a natural, soothing voice, not too loud.
    The humming did not cease. Great-grandmother took a step forward and extended her palm in greeting. Mrs. Darrow swung her head around toward Great-grandmother. Eyes, burning black fire, glinting so, that Great-grandmother drew back; she could not help herself. It was clear the woman was awfully, terribly different.
    At once Pesty stepped between her mother and Great-grandmother. Mrs. Darrow had dropped her arms. Her hands clenched into fists.
    “Great Mother Jeffers, you got to move slow, please,” Pesty said. “See, my mama is all right, once you know what to do and what not to do.”
    Pesty had hold of her mother’s hands, fists. She rubbed and rubbed at them until Mrs. Darrow relaxed them a bit, opening them partway.
    “She can’t help herself,” Pesty said simply. “Doctor calls it something.” She started again, carefully. “Doctor says she is ill, mental. She is chronic. See, that means it comes and goes.”
    “Chronic,” Great-grandmother said softly. “Did she take her medicine today?” she added, gazing back at the black eyes that froze on her now.
    “She might not’ve,” Pesty said. “Well, how did you know she might’ve forgot?” She was surprised that Great-grandmother Jeffers would think of that. “Mama might not’ve, with me run off to go around with Mr. Thomas.”
    “Well, then we’ll take her back and see that she gets her medicine and gets warmed up,” Great-grandmother said. “I suspect that the way she came was chilly.”
    Thomas couldn’t believe he’d heard right.
    “Thomas,” she continued, “go get my shawl for Mrs. Darrow to put on, please—move slowly now, we don’t want to upset her—and get my coat and hat for me. My scarf. Don’t want to catch my death. You might do well to bring a flashlight, too.”
    The humming ceased suddenly. “Sooky,” Mrs. Darrow murmured. Her voice was strangely clear and childlike, not at all like the sound of her humming.
    “What did she say?” Thomas asked, trying not to move even his lips.
    “She always says that for a few days,” Pesty said. “Sooky. That’s what she calls me when she starts in talking again. See, when she is sick, she won’t call me at all. She will sit in one place forever unless somebody move her. She don’t want to eat until she comes out of it. And then she eat everything in sight.”
    “Great-grandmother ...”
    “Thomas,” Great-grandmother said, “we’ll go back there with her, see that she’s fine. Oh, and how about one of the pies in the refrigerator? Yes! Just bring it on up here.”
    “But you don’t know what went on,” Thomas said quickly. “Her sons … what they did to the kitchen.” He glanced up at Mrs. Darrow and away before she could swing her eyes at him. “I don’t think Papa—”
    “Thomas,” Great-grandmother interrupted, “I heard about some of what went on here when you-all first come months ago. Well, your papa is my grandson, so don’t you worry. Hurry now, Thomas,” she said. “We don’t want to keep Mrs. Darrow waiting!”
    She smiled bravely at him and all around. Great-grandmother was going to help Mrs. Darrow even though she was a little afraid of her. Thomas could tell.
    He hurried downstairs to the closet. First, he grabbed his and