Talisman (25 page)

“I can stay till
around three, Ms. Sutherland.”  I was in no rush to get home, and I still hadn’t gotten what I’d come for —
my answer
.

“Okay.  I’ll let you two get back to it,”
Ms. Sutherland said with a smile and then disappeared back down the hall.  Ty carried the knocked over boxes out to the van, and I went back to packing up the dining room.  Within minutes, he stepped back into the room.

“I’m going to start on the bedrooms,”
Ty announced and then left straightaway, his arms laden with as much packing paraphernalia that he could carry.

It was clear to me
that he was upset, but I wasn’t quite sure about
what
—
The “Ms. Sutherland” thing, or the “I don’t know if you were going to kiss me, but I’m not havin’ it” thing?
  I shook my head and continued packing.

In a little over an hour and a half, I had all
Ms. Sutherland’s china, sterling silver, and crystal stemware wrapped up and placed in various boxes.  After lugging them to the driveway, I started loading the boxes inside the truck.  It was a lovely fall day, but there was a bit of a nip in the air.  On my last trip of carrying miscellaneous dining room cartons outside, I spotted Mr. Estell walking down the street.

That’s
FOUR freaking times in THREE DAGGONE DAYS!
 
Crap.  I know Welch is “small”, but…come on!

Even in the light of day, that man
gave me the creeps.  I didn’t know if it was his mangy appearance or his eerie demeanor that bothered me more.  I’d never seen a smile on his face, but to be fair, I’d never really looked at him long enough to notice one.  There was just something about him that compelled me to look away.  His presence here disturbed me so much that I quickly slid the box inside the truck and turned to go back into the house.

I
happened to glance across the street before I strolled up the walk.  Mr. Estell had stopped directly in front of Ms. Sutherland’s house and appeared to be watching me.  I felt a shiver go down my spine.  I got a clear look at his face this time.  His expression was blank.  There wasn’t even an ounce of emotion.

Maybe he’s still ticked about the other day?
 
I did almost back into him
. With that guilt-wheel picking up speed, I decided to see if I could get some sort of reaction from a kind gesture, so I threw up my hand and waved to him with a cheery smile plastered on my face.

Unfortunately, I got one. 
Mr. Estell startled me with an awfully menacing grimace.  His eyes pierced through me like a dagger, and a feeling of sheer hatred pelted my entire body like a hail of gunfire.  This time, a whole lot more than just my spine shook.  Every daggone nerve in my body was quivering.

Immediately, I bolted into the house and slammed the
door.  I hurried into the living room and peered out the window.  Mr. Estell hadn’t moved from across the street, and his eyes were still eerily transfixed on me.  The bare window provided me with no cover whatsoever, so I backed up into the foyer and turned to go down the hall.  As I whipped around, I ran smack into Ty.

“C
RAP!”
I screamed as I clutched my chest.

“I’m sorry, Shi,
” Ty chuckled.  “I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

I caug
ht my breath.  “It’s not you,” I insisted.  “It’s that
Mr. Estell
outside.  He threw me an
awful
look and wouldn’t stop staring at me.”

Ty
darted towards the front door like a protective alpha-male and threw it open.  “
WHERE?
  I don’t see him.”

Confused, I rushed to the door and
ran outside.  I couldn’t believe it, but Mr. Estell was gone.  It was almost like he’d vanished in thin air.  I charged towards the road and looked up and down the street.

“Where the heck did he go?  He was
JUST HERE
a second ago,” I declared.

Ty joined me in the front yard.  “Someone probably came along and picked him up.  He’s always hitchhiking,” he reasoned.

I hurried back inside with Ty following right behind me.  “
No
…There weren’t any cars that passed by.  I didn’t see or hear a single one,” I stated adamantly.

“Well, he’s gone now.  You can stop acting like a
scared little girl
,” Ty cracked as he passed me and tugged on my ponytail.

His
“little girl”
comment flew all over me, especially thinking about how Professor Tanner Grey had thrown that perturbing phrase around on my behalf,
repeatedly
.

“I’m not acting like a ‘scared little g
irl’!  He just creeped me out…
That’s all!
” I barked.

“
Woah! 
I’m sorry, Shi…
Easy
,” Ty defended as he threw up his arms.  “I know the guy’s probably not playing with a
full deck
.”

In
an attempt to console me, he laid his hands on my shoulders and began rubbing them gently.  It started out as a friendly gesture, but the longer he massaged them, the deeper and more defined his touch became.  I wasn’t upset anymore, but as a warm tingle ran rampant throughout my body, I knew I was a heck of a lot of “somethin’ else”.

I looked over at his hands and then up at him
curiously.  Ty pulled away quickly, obviously embarrassed by his frisky, unconscious move.

I
desperately needed another tension breaker.  “Oh,
um
…I’m finished with the dining room.  How about you?” I inquired.

“The
spare bedroom is all packed up. I’m working in Bea’s bedroom right now,” Ty said, sounding more relaxed.

“Do you want some help?”
I asked.

“
Yeah
.  Come on,” Ty replied with a smile and motioned me down the hall to the rear of the house.

As I entered Beatrix Sutherland’s master bedroom, my eyes did a complete sweep of the extremely frilly and feminine
space.  The walls were covered in a yellow-striped wallpaper, adorned with a fetching pink floral motif.  Her grand cherry poster bed was draped in a soft white chenille quilt and smothered in decorative throw pillows.  I shook my head.  If I thought there were a lot of knickknacks in the living room, I was mistaken.  I discovered “the mother load” in here.  Little birdies lay positioned and perched on every table, in every corner of the room.  My attention then turned to an old wooden rocking chair sitting by a window.  Without a doubt, it was a picturesque addition to the room’s décor, but there was something funny about the way it was situated.  It faced
towards the window
, not into the room like you would see in most every other home — yet another little oddity that kept fueling my suspicion.

We packed up everything she wouldn’t need for the next week.  I could see Tyler out of the corner of my eye.  He seemed to want to say something, but
kept hesitating for some reason.  His restrained silence was driving me a little nuts.

“
So
…What do you have to do this afternoon that’s more important than helping ’ole Bea?” I inquired.

Ty
smiled and paused for a moment.  “I have to drive over to Pineville and pick up my tux.”

The last time I’d spoken with Ty about anything to do with tonight’s dance he seemed a bit miffed.  I’d passed off Katie’s theory as “totally delusional”, s
o I tried to lighten the mood.

“
Oooh
…That is
important
,” I mocked as I whipped out one of Ms. Sutherland’s evening dresses from a garment box nearby and draped it over my body.  “After all, the Homecoming dance is one of our school’s biggest social events,” I proclaimed.  “With the notable exception of the prom. 
Anyone who’s anyone will be there
.”  My playful, southern accent was laden with sarcasm.

“
I know
,” Ty replied, mirroring my tone.  “You wouldn’t believe
who
will be there…and
who
they’re coming with
too!
”  Ty’s innuendo was as crystal clear as Ms. Sutherland’s stemware that I’d just packed away an hour ago.

I frowned as I hung the dress back in the cardboard garment box.  I didn’t wan
t to talk about the dance.  It would be here soon enough.  Ty took the hint from the look on my face.  He’d hit the target when he shot that one out of the chamber.  Once again, a deafening silence swiftly filled the room and stagnated like a thick, suffocating cloud while we continued packing.

N
o sooner than we had finished up, Ms. Sutherland came strolling into the bedroom.  “How’s it coming in here?” she asked.

“I just have to carry out the last box.  Then we’ll be officially done,”
Ty announced proudly.

“My, you both have worked so hard today.  You two make a good team,”
Ms. Sutherland stated with a smile.  An awkward vibe bounced back and forth between us.  “Please…Come into the kitchen and get something to drink.”

Ty hoisted the remaining box onto his firm, broad shoulder and motioned me ahead of him.  “After you,” he insisted politely and waved his hand.

We followed Ms. Sutherland down the hall and into the kitchen.  Two steamy cups of apple cider were already waiting for us.  We both pulled out our chairs and sat around the round oak table, eager to sip on the warm treat.  Her cider recipe turned out to be second to none — plenty of sweetness, with a hint of spice and not too tart — the perfect drink for a crisp autumn day.

W
e sat there for a spell, singing Ms. Sutherland’s praises and telling her how much she would be missed.  Her eyes began to tear up from our heartfelt wishes for her happiness.

“Goodness, you both are so precious.  Your words mean more than you’ll ever know.  Thank you so much for helping me today.  You’re both so thoughtful and caring.” 
Ms. Sutherland continued to weep.  “Those are rare qualities in teenagers nowadays.”  She walked over to where her paper towels sat on the counter and fiddled with the empty tube.  “Please excuse me for a moment.  I need to get some tissues.”

“Sure,” we replied.

As she exited the room, I found myself wondering how I could ever think “sweet old Beatrix Sutherland” would be trying to deceive anyone with a fake disability.  My time was almost up, and I still hadn’t uncovered anything.  I sat there empty-handed and feeling uncomfortably ashamed.

A
nother moment of awkward silence passed.  This seemed to be the recurring theme of the day.  However, it came to an end when Ty noticed the time on the clock above the refrigerator.  It was 1:30 PM.

He shot up
out of his chair.  “I’m
late!
” Ty exclaimed as he pulled his keys out of his pocket.

I guess he
can’t keep his tuxedo waiting.  Kara wouldn’t appreciate that one bit
.  Secretly, I wished I was
that excited
about the dance tonight.  The only thing I felt was miserable, with a touch of dread.

Something in the back of my mind surfaced as I watched him race over to grab his jacket off the wall.  Most every guy in school usually went to
Primo Formals downtown or to one of the shops in Bluefield to get their tuxedoes.  It just seemed odd.

“Hey, Ty…Why did you go to a tux shop
over in
Pineville?
”

“Well,
I um
…hadn’t planned on going to the dance,” Ty revealed as he slipped on his jacket.  “All the other stores were out of my size by the time I decided to go, but I found one over there at Ava’s Formals.  My mom knows a lady who works there.”

“
Oh
…So Kara being crowned Homecoming Queen changed your mind?
Last night?
”

That’s
probably why he wasn’t at the Drive-In. He was trying to track down a tux
.  That made sense, but what I couldn’t understand was why Ty wouldn’t naturally assume that he’d have to go to the dance with his “girlfriend”.  I couldn’t fathom the thought of Kara being happy about not attending the Homecoming dance, let alone going without a date.  She lived for that crap.

Ty smiled and shook his head.  “That’s not
why
I changed my mind,” he replied with a shy grin.  “You are still coming tonight,
aren’t you?
  I mean, I
will
see you there?”

“
Trust me
…You won’t be able to
miss me
,” I replied caustically as I thought about the hideous layers of puke yellow fabric that would advertise my “grand entrance”.

Ty was in such a hurry he seemed oblivious to my sarcasm.  He rushed out the door and then stopped before he completely exited.