Dark Corner (12 page)

But the house held his attention as they walked past it. He
looked at the soft light that flickered in the windows, but
blinds prevented him from seeing through the glass and figuring out what was going on inside.

He thought he saw a dark face peering at him through a
dimly lit window on the second floor. But when he blinked,
the face was gone if it was ever there to begin with.

A chill rattled down his spine. He wasn't going to pay any
more attention to the house. He kept his attention on the
ground.

They walked along the side of the mansion, then across
the huge backyard, and finally entered the woods that bordered the lawn. Mamu led the way with the flashlight, but it
was so dark out there that when Junior turned away from the
light, he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face.

He quickly turned back to the spray of light cast by
Mamu's flashlight. The darkness gave him the creeps. Shoot,
this whole place creeped him out.

No wonder folks said the place was haunted.

They had trudged through the woods for several minutes
when they reached a clearing near a huge tree. At the edge of
the meadow, a gigantic, kudzu-covered hill rose high into the
sky. It looked like the side of a mountain.

"I didn't know they had all this back here," Andre said to
Junior.

"Me, neither."

Mamu turned on another light. It was one of those big circular lights that stood on a stand.

Equipment was spread out on the grass. Junior saw shovels, sledgehammers, a gas lamp, a hammer drill, a yellow
canister that had the word "gunpowder" written on the side,
several empty buckets, a heap of blankets piled on what
looked like a stretcher, and more stuff he couldn't name.

"This is our work site," Mamu said. He tossed a shovel to
each of them, and gave each of them a pair of gloves, too.

Mamu walked to the vine-covered hill. He pointed.

"We will begin digging here," he said.

"We gonna be digging into this mountain?" Andre said.

"It is not a mountain," Mamu said. His lips curved into a
mysterious smile. "It is a cave."

' round half-past midnight, David parked in front of Nia's
l lhouse.

"Want to take a walk?" Nia said. "I'm not ready to go in
yet"

"Sure. But you know, people in Atlanta don't walk around
the neighborhood at this hour"

"Let go of that big city paranoia, sweetie," she said. She
pinched his cheek. "It's safe here."

They climbed out of the truck. David glanced at the front
windows of her house. A curtain dropped, as if someone was
spying on them and didn't want to be seen.

"Your mother, huh?" he said. "She's up late."

"Oh, yeah. Mama won't go to bed until I come in. That's
how she is."

"Are you and your mother close?"

"We are," Nia said. "Maybe too close. I love Mama, but
she can be overprotective. She's always been like that with
me, her only girl, and what happened in Houston only makes
her worry more"

They took each other's hand-it felt like a natural gesture
they had been doing for years-and strolled along the sidewalk.

The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful. Lights shone
in the windows of many homes, but almost as many other
houses were dark. Cicadas, crickets, and other night creatures sang their timeless songs. A balmy breeze riffled the
trees.

"Have you mentioned anything to your mother about
me?" he said.

"Are you kidding?" Nia said. "She'd tie me to a chair to
keep me from leaving unless I told her who you were"

"What did she say?"

"You don't want to know."

"Why?"

"Let's just say that Mama knew your father's reputation
for being a player, back in the day. In her opinion, `the fruit
doesn't fall far from the tree.' I'm putting it more nicely than
she did."

"Great. So your mother doesn't trust me"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. You just be your normal,
sweet self."

Ahead, there was a small playground with swings, a slide,
monkey bars, and a couple of wooden benches. Nia sat on
the bench and pulled him down beside her. A street lamp
cast golden light over them.

They turned to face one another. David could feel the desire building between them. He stroked the back of her neck.
She put her soft hand against his cheek.

They kissed, lightly at first, then, more deeply.

"Do you realize," she said, "that we've spent almost the
entire day together?"

"And the day has passed way too quickly," he said, and
kissed her again. Moaning softly, she ran her fingers through
his short hair. She shifted her body to mesh into his.

He placed his hand on her thigh, stroked her smooth skin.
She felt so good against him that he never wanted to move.
The scent of her perfume enveloped him like a sweet fog.

What a fine, fine woman. Feminine and sexy, yet independent and strong. A perfect blend of every quality he had ever
dreamed of finding in a woman. If Nia were a drink, he
would've drunk himself into a stupor.

He didn't know how long they kissed-time stood motionless as their lips and tongues flowed together but at some
point, when his eyes were open for an instant, he glimpsed
the Mason place in the distance, between the tree branches.
Light glowed faintly at the windows.

His stomach heaved, as though he had swallowed something sour. Reluctantly, he broke off their kiss.

"What's wrong?" she said. "You look like you've bitten
into a rotten apple."

"That house" He pointed behind her. "Something about
it really bothers me"

Frowning, she looked over her shoulder. "The Mason
place?"

"I get a bad feeling every time I look at it. A feeling that
something isn't quite right there"

Her voice lowered. "It's supposed to be haunted, did you
know that?"

"I've heard. Someone just moved in there, too"

"What? Who?"

"I don't know who, but when Chief Jackson stopped by,
he said someone had moved into the place. He didn't say
much else about it. What do you know about the house?"

"Only the basics. I know that the man who founded the
town, Ed Mason, ran his plantation from there. He was
known for being cruel to his slaves. Around the time of the
Civil War, his slaves revolted and killed him-they hung
him from a tree. But many of the slaves who took part in the
insurrection were then killed themselves by the authorities.
A lot of bloodshed happened up there"

"What about these tales of the house being haunted?"

She smiled, but it was a nervous smile. "Are you sure you
want to hear this?"

"Definitely, now that you've got me curious."

"Okay," she said. She drew a breath. "My brothers and I
went up there, once. I was nine, I think ... they would've
been eleven and thirteen. Like I told you earlier, the three of
us were always into stuff we had no business doing. We got
the bright idea in our heads that we'd see if the Mason place
was really haunted.

"We rode our bikes up there one summer afternoon.
Eric, the eldest, led the way, I was in the middle, and
Robert brought up the rear. We left our bikes at the gate,
then climbed the fence. There were so many tall, old trees
up there, throwing deep shadows everywhere. And it was
so still, too, like the quiet before a storm.

"We walked down the path, to the mansion. We were
bunched so closely together I'm surprised we didn't stumble
over one another's shoes.

"We'd decided that we were just going to look in a window. But we had to get close to do it. We had to go onto the
veranda. We climbed the steps and walked across the veranda, trying to keep from tripping on all the vines that covered everything. We went up to one of the front windows. It
was covered with dirt, so Eric cleaned a spot with his shirt.
Then we looked inside."

"What did you see?" David said. Although she was telling
the story, his own heart hammered.

"We saw a gray-haired white man, dressed in a black suit.
He sat in a rocking chair in the living room. I could see
every detail about him-it was Edward Mason. For real. I
recognized him from pictures. His face was bluish, and his
eyes bulged. He looked like someone who had been cut from
the noose after he'd been hanging for a while. He turned and
looked right at us.

"I think all of our hearts froze. We were paralyzed. The man rose up out of that chair-floated out of the chair, really-and started to come toward us. He levitated through
the air, walking, but his feet weren't touching the floor.

"We snapped out of our daze and ran away from the
house, screaming. I was as fast as my brothers, and I don't
ever remember running so fast. But as we were bolting across
the yard, there were people watching us from the shadows
under the trees. Black people dressed in work clothes, like
slaves on a plantation. I couldn't see them clearly-they
flickered, sort of, like images cast by a film projector. But
they were there. All of us saw them.

"My brothers and I hurdled that fence like it was only two
feet high instead of six. Got on our bikes and zoomed away
from there. I've never been back since, and never will if I
can help it."

Finished speaking, she hugged herself. He put his arm
around her, drew her closer.

He didn't need to ask her whether, in hindsight, she believed the incident had truly happened or was only the creation of a child's overactive imagination. Her reactions in
recounting the story made it clear that she believed what she
had seen, even nearly two decades afterward. He had no
choice but to accept the reality of her experience. Although
accepting the existence of ghosts was a stretch for him.

But I can't deny the feeling I get in the pit of my stomach
when I look at that house.

"I need to stop asking so many questions," he said. "You
ever heard that line, `Don't ask a question if you aren't prepared for the answer'? I wasn't ready for your answer."

"I've never shared the story with anyone," she said. "I
don't think my brothers have, either. After it happened, we
never talked about it."

"I appreciate you sharing it with me, but I doubt that I'll
bring it up again, anytime soon"

"Learn to do what I do, David: don't look at the Mason
place. You'll feel better."

They rose from the bench and began to walk back to her
house. She wrapped her arm around his waist and nestled
her head against his shoulder. He held her protectively
within the span of his arm.

When they reached the narrow walk that led to her front
door, they faced each other, hands clasped together.

"I want to see you tomorrow," he said. Under normal circumstances, he'd never ask a woman out two days in a row.
But nothing about their situation seemed normal to him.
This was one of those rare times when all of the standard
rules of dating were worthless.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she said. "I want to see
you, too"

"I'm going to the church in the morning, New Life Baptist.
How about you join me?"

"Oh, David, I would, but I have to meet a client tomorrow
morning for a really big project" She tapped her lip. "How
does dinner sound? I'll cook. Do you like lasagna?"

"Love it. So you can cook, too?"

"I'm Superwoman, baby, didn't you know that?"

He laughed. "What time?"

"Around three," she said. "We'll have dinner at my place,
okay?"

"I'm there" He looked toward the house. A silhouetted
shape waited behind the window. "Guess I'll meet your
mother, too"

"Don't worry, David. She'll like you. She better, because
Ilike you"

They melted into each other's arms and shared a fiery
kiss.

"We better quit," he said. "Your mother's gonna come out
here and beat me off of you with a broom"

"I'm a grown woman, sweetheart. Mama might make a
comment, but that doesn't mean I have to listen to her." Her
tongue darted across his neck. Then she bit his tender flesh
there, lightly, and a shiver of pleasure rippled through him.

"Nia, Nia, Nia." He pulled her within his arms. "Who
would've thought a walk in the park ..."

"I know," she said, her head buried against his chest. "I
know."

They kissed again, and then she went inside, waving before she closed the door.

Without her presence, the night was dull. He realized how
tired he was. He had been floating on an adrenaline high
while in Nia's company, and in her absence, fatigue hit him.

But he wasn't too tired to remember to avoid looking at
Jubilee as he drove home.

Nia's mother was waiting for her when she came inside.

"I thought I was going have to come out there and separate you two," Mama said. "It's not proper for a young
woman to be kissing and carrying on outdoors, where everyone can see"

Nia dropped her purse on an end table, and sighed. She
had hoped to make it to her bedroom with fielding only a
minimum number of questions and comments about David,
thinking that her mother would be too tired for much conversation. But one look at Mama swept away those hopes.