Free Scary Creek by Thomas Cater Page B

dead also do her bidding.”
    “Did you ever see anyone do her bidding?” I asked.
    “She had a powerful influence over her pappy,” Amy
said, “and all the young men seemed to like her, even though he wouldn’t let
them come within a mile.”
    She covered her mouth with a hand and laughed
silently. “But we had our ways, didn’t we, Frank?”
    The reference was beginning to make me feel uneasy.  “What
do you mean, ‘we had our ways?’” I asked, embarrassed.
    “Being blind didn’t make that girl different from any
other woman. She had feelings and needs and enjoyed the company of a young man
now and then. Her pappy said, ‘no,’ but we had ways.”
    “Amy, do you mean that Elinore had a…secret boyfriend?”
Violet asked, unable to restrain her curiosity.
    “She had lots of ‘em,” the old woman said, “I used to
fix it so’s she could meet ‘em all the time. I wouldn’t let ‘em hurt her. I
just brought them together so she could do a little spoonin’.”
    “Were they lovers or just friends?” I asked, indulging
my own curiosity.
    Amy frowned.  “Just friends; I wouldn’t let a man hurt
her, she was my baby.”
    “How old were you, Amy?”
    “I was just a child, in my teens.”
    “How old was Elinore?”
    A wrinkle troubled her brow. “She was old enough;
older than me, but I couldn’t tell.”
    “Did you ever meet her mother?” I asked.
    “Didn’t have one,” Amy said. “Never knew a mother’s
love. Her pappy said she died givin’ birth and the child was snatched from its
dead mama’s womb, which is why she had organic weaknesses.”
    “What about Mr. Ryder?” I asked. “What kind of man was
he?”
    “He was a hard man,” she said frowning. “He kept her
locked away for years, and when her eyes got bad, he gave her to me. I never heard
him say a kind word to nobody, not even his daughter. What kind of a man would
treat a child like that?”
    The old woman was beginning to tire. I tried to be
brief.
    “Was the wall around the house finished when you arrived?”
I asked.
    “There has always been a wall around that house,
though I don’t know as you could rightly call it a wall,” she said. “The first
wall was just a bunch of old stones piled up a long time ago, in the
dreamtime.”
    The dreamtime? I was getting confused and nervous.  “Do
you know who put it up?” I asked.
    She shook her head. Words were coming more slowly.  “There
was a man who came to make it high and strong. I do not know his name, but once
he got started, he didn’t stop for fire nor famine. Miners’ houses burned down,
the water went bad, sheep and cattle died, and even the fruit on the vine and
the vegetables in the ground withered. It was the worst year in the history of
the county, at least for Elanville.”
    I was wide-awake, but our elderly host was beginning
to nod and drowse. I wanted to continue, but courtesy demanded a short respite
no matter how anxious we all were to hear about the events that may have decimated
Elanville.
    I begged the grandson for more questions and he
agreed; his own curiosity was aroused.
    “How long were you with Elinore and when did you
leave?”
    “A long time,” she said from behind closed eyes, “maybe
fifteen years. One day her pappy said, Amy, your services won’t be needed anymore.’
That’s all he said.”
    “Was she all right then?” I blurted out. “Was she
showing signs of…insanity?”
    The old face was tranquil in sleep for a moment then
she spoke in murmurs.
    “She was puttin’ on weight, but seemed to be happy. He
let her wander through the flowers with her ‘magic glass,’ that’s all.”
    “Amy, did she ever try to run away?” I asked
    “Run away?” she replied. “Where’s a blind baby goin’
to run?”
    We waited for more, which never came, and then she
began to snore. We were all relieved. Virgil covered a yawn with his hand and
stretched. Violet got to her feet. Rodney Taylor clamped the pipe between his
teeth