Authors: Shirlee Lewis
“Sure, I will see you this afternoon.”
“Thank you, Jess.”
Hanging up the receiver, I couldn’t imagine what paperwork could possibly have questions. “Tony,
” I called looking at the recliner. “Where is he?” I went to the garage, he wasn’t there. “Hmm,” I shrugged. It wasn’t like him to leave without telling me. Heading back into the house, I heard a vehicle backfire. I went to the front door to see where the noise came from.
A moving truck pulled
up in front of Tony’s house. Frank got out of the truck and headed to the back. Mildred grabbed a box from the cab and headed to the house. Frank and Mildred were moving in. Sitting the box on the porch, she went to the back of the truck. Mildred carried a box into the house. After all the boxes were unloaded, Frank and Mildred drove away. Tony’s car wasn’t in the driveway. “Where could he have gone?”
After lunch, I dressed in blue jeans and my sweatshirt. Before I closed the front door, I remembered a manila envelope that needed to be dropped off at the post office. Victor had sent Tony papers for his signature regarding the blood bank he had purchased in Portland.
Arriving at the hospital, I went straight to the elevator. When the doors opened, Doctor Hynes was already on the elevator. He was the medical examiner for County Hospital. I pushed the button for ten. “Is Detective Cooke in the basement?” I asked in a quiet voice.
“Yes, he is.”
“Have you performed the autopsy?”
“We will start the autopsy today.” The elevator stopped at the basement. Doctor Hynes exited and headed down the corridor to the autopsy room. I pushed the close door button so the elevator would take me to ten.
Waiting for the tenth floor, I thought back to the accident of the semi and Detective Cooke. The driver’s door hadn’t crushed him when the semi hit the car. Now I wondered if something else had caused his death, maybe a heart attack.
The doors to the elevator opened at ten. Just as I was getting off the elevator, Mr. King opened the door to his office. “Hi Jess, it’s good to see you. Please come in,” Mr. King said, with a smile.
Mr. King had paperwork from when I worked there lying on his desk. Mrs. Johnson’s chart didn’t have the time of death. It was something I must have overlooked at the time. I vaguely remembered, but I was sure of the time.
“Do you happen to remember the time of death for Mrs. Johnson?” Mr. King asked.
“I do believe it was 11:15 am. My shift had just started when Tim ran down the hall to get me.”
“Are you ready to come back?” Mr. King asked writing the time on the chart.
“I do miss it, but I’m getting married soon.”
“Congratulations Jess. When is the big day?” he asked getting up. He came around the desk and hugged me.
I hugged him back. “We haven’t decided yet. It will be soon.”
“Don’t forget to invite me,” he laughed.
“Mr. King, of course I’ll invite you. Is there anything else you needed?”
“No, that was all.”
I wanted to visit with Ginger. Getting off the elevator at the fourth floor, Ginger wasn’t at the nurse desk. Looking at the clock, I knew she must be at lunch. Stopping at the cafeteria, I noticed the table where I used to sit in front of the window was empty. The mountain peaks in the background had looming, gray clouds with a promise of rain today. Looking around the cafeteria, it was full of new faces I didn’t recognize. I didn’t see Ginger, so I went to my car.
Sitting in my car, I stared at the hospital. I missed it. I missed coming to work and taking care of my patients on the tenth floor. Someday I might come back, but for now I had a wedding to plan and help Tony with the blood bank for opening day. Stopping at the post office, I mailed the manila envelope back to Victor, and then headed home.
Chapter Two
For several weeks, I watched the moving van make several trips to Tony’s house. Frank and Mildred would unload the truck, and then leave. Surely they didn’t have many more trips. Watching them, reminded me when Tony and I moved from his house to mine after rebuilding from the fire.
At the end of the month, Frank and Mildred
had completely moved into the house. I hadn’t seen Mildred get into the moving van when it headed back to the highway. I decided to see if she needed any help. The front door was open. Before I knocked, I saw Mildred coming from the kitchen. She smiled and came to the front door. Her demeanor was normal, unlike the first time I met her.
“Hi Jessica, please come in.” She smiled opening the door.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked looking at all the boxes in the living room.
“I have a lot of things to put away in the kitchen. Sure you don’t mind helping?”
“Not at all, that’s why I’m here,” I said, enthusiastically. I went to the kitchen. Sitting on the floor were four huge boxes. Before I put anything away, I opened the boxes and looked inside. All the kitchen appliances, pot and pans, and dishes where in each one. “Any particular place you would like for me to put these?”
“No particular place. Where ever you find an empty space will be fine.”
“Okay.” Remembering where Tony had his dishes, I put Mildred’s in the same place. After the boxes were empty, I went to see if Mildred needed any help in the living room. Coming around the corner of the kitchen Mildred was standing at the front door looking toward my house. “Is everything okay?”
Mildred jumped when I spoke. “Sure,” she said, but kept looking toward my house.
“Mildred, are you worried about something? Is it Tony?” I couldn’t fathom why she was looking at my house because Tony wasn’t even home.
“I don’t mean to stare, but Tony seems odd to me,” she said, turning around.
The only one I thought odd was her, but I had to ask anyway, “Odd, what do you mean?”
“I don’t want you to be upset with me, but he doesn’t seem to be
all
human.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked. I thought back to when we first met Mildred and Frank. I couldn’t think of anything Tony did or said to make her think that.
Mildred moved a box out of the armchair and offered me a seat. I sat down and Mildred went back to the door. “I’ll try to explain what I mean.” She cleared her throat, while I looked at her. “I met some people from Italy that looked a lot like Tony and they were not human. They seemed to follow a person dressed in black.”
“Follow?” I couldn’t imagine anyone following anyone. “What do you mean?”
“There was a rumor about a cult in the forest of Italy. On certain nights you could hear drums and chanting. Soon people would disappear, never to be seen again. The one dressed in black was the leader. He gave orders and they were obeyed.” Mildred shuddered when she thought back to this time.
“Did you ever see this place?”
“No, but Frank and I vacationed near there a few years ago and I did hear the drums. Thinking it was a wild party and some locals having fun, I didn’t think anymore about it. Later that morning, at the local market, I overheard the clerk saying something about ‘another one disappeared last night: Cilia’s youngest son’. A search party was organized, but the boy was never found.” She paused from the memory, and then continued. “Frank and I were hiking in the general vicinity of the old ancient ruins just outside of Parma. We stumbled upon a man, but he was no ordinary man. His complexion was dark. His eyes were wild. He stood in front of a hut with a large spear across his chest. He looked to be protecting something inside the hut.”
“How do you know this?”
“The man’s mother came out of the hut. He watched her every movement. For one second if he thought she was going too far, he immediately went to stand beside her. I got the impression he
was
protecting her. She told us to move on because her husband would return home soon. He didn’t allow strangers and it wouldn’t be good if we hung around.”
“Out of the clear blue she told you this?”
“Yes,” Mildred paused. “Before we left, we caught a glimpse of the woman’s husband. Pale and red eyes, but the man guarding the hut had green eyes. The woman looked at us with fright and mouthed for us to leave. Her son looked toward the cliffs behind them, then back to us. Tanned skin, she repeated.
“That doesn’t mean anything. Isn’t everyone in Italy tan
ned?”
“I guess,” she shrugged.
“Tony is as normal as you and me,” I said, sounding offended. “Once you get to know him, you’ll see.”
“I’m sorry. Tony reminds
me of those people, I met,” tapping her finger on her chin. Mildred looked at me, and then went straight to a box. She rummaged through the box until she found some sheets.
Mildred didn’t say another
word about her experience in Italy. I watched her face change from serious back to subtle as she continued to unpack. After a few minutes she said, “Frank and I are hoping tonight is our first night here.”
“Well, that is why I’m here, to help.”
Over by the door leading to the room at the north end of the house was a box marked bathroom. I carried the box to the bathroom, unpacked the towels and wash cloths. Coming back to the living room, Mildred was standing at
the front door again looking toward my house again with a smile on her face.
Why does she keep looking at my house?
Before Mildred turned around, I retrieved another box and carried it to the spare bedroom, the room I recuperated in from three years ago. Mildred passed the doorway on her way to her bedroom. Tip-toeing to the doorway, I saw she was busy putting her bed together. I went to the front door, looked at my house and Tony’s car was still gone. I went back to work clearing the living room of the boxes.
Mildred and I worked all afternoon getting everything away. It was beginning to look like a home. Exhausting, but at least she would feel at home this evening.
We were unpacking the last box. A truck back fired. Mildred and I went to see Frank returning with another load. Frank got out of the moving van, kicked the tire followed by a few choice words. Mildred and I laughed and then went outside to help unload the van.
“I’ve never had a vehicle give me
so much
trouble as this one,” Frank said, opening the back of the van. “I’d been here hours ago, if I didn’t have to stop every few miles to check the engine. The darn light stayed on and the gears were grinding.”
“This is the last trip, right?” Mildred asked.
“I have one more and then I’ll be finished. I’m not going to use this piece of junk,” Frank said, kicking the tire again.
Mildred and I both laughed. The truck had a few items in the back consisting of furniture, a washer and dryer, and refrigerator. We managed to get them inside the house
thanks to the lift attached to the back, and a dolly attached to the inside wall. After helping with the big things, I said, “I need to get home. If you still need my help tomorrow, let me know. I’ll be more than happy to help,” and then headed back to my house.
“I’ll do that
, Jessica. Thanks for all you’ve done,” Mildred said.
Tony’s car wasn’t in the driveway when I started for the house. He was good about telling me where he was going. I didn’t worry much because the blood bank was taking up most of his time anyway. Victor was pushing for a grand opening in a couple of months. I was worn out from helping Mildred and decided a hot bubble bath would be relaxing. Settling into the bubbles, I had forgotten how much it took out of you to get settled into a home. Closing my eyes, I thought of Mildred’s encounter in Italy. I laughed it off thinking Mildred was just trying to scare me. The only thing she had proved to me so far was she was a tad bit on the nutty side.
After my bath, I went to the front door and looked toward Tony’s house. His car came around the corner with the trunk half open.