The Gingerbread Boy (3 page)

“We’ll have to wade through the teeming masses to get there,” Daniel practically shouted above the noise.

“Wonderful,” Catherine muttered under her breath.

Daniel reached back to take her hand, but a spike of fear forced her to pull her own hand away. She looked around, pretending she hadn’t noticed his effort. She barely knew this guy. She could hardly see his face. She wasn’t ready to throw caution to the wind just because Daniel was funny and had charmed her a bit.

But you’re going to head upstairs in a rooming house with a guy you can’t even describe?
Asked Tony’s voice in her mind.
Moron.

She pressed on behind Daniel, trying to ignore the shoving bodies, the noise, the smell of alcohol tingling her nose. She was going to get a ride home, that was all. It was quite innocent. She could take care of herself if she had too, she thought grimly.

But she sensed Daniel was one of the truly good guys. She knew it as surely as she knew that her starchy old friend from back home, Hazel VanHoofstryver, had a kind heart beneath all her crabbiness. Catherine had been wrong about Calvin, that was for certain, but she was much wiser now. So she pressed on, blindly dodging shoulders and rib cages and clumsy hands holding white cups of beer. A haze of cigarette smoke in the atmosphere stung her eyes and made it even harder to see. But soon she was most of the way across the room, and caught a glimpse of the banister before her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she scurried around one last drunken clod to find that Daniel was nowhere in sight.

“Oh, no,” she groaned, kicking the bottom step. An obviously intoxicated man arched his eyebrows and winked at her from the edge of the crowd. He raised a glass of beer. “Get your s-sparty on!” he blubbered drunkenly. She rolled her eyes, ignoring the slang term for college parties at MSU, and turned away. Now what should she do? What if Daniel got sidetracked and forgot she was with him? Worse, what if he didn’t plan to come join her at this stairway at all? She felt a sudden sense of dislocation, and turned around helplessly, trying to ignore the bleary-eyed people making her so uneasy. Did they realize she didn’t belong here, that she was totally out of place? Her throat constricted. What if it was another of Daniel’s jokes, like the hurt kneecap, and she was left alone with all these drunken strangers?

A wretched memory came to mind. She’d been in her high school gym class, and Doreen Black had asked her if she would do a coordination test. Catherine was to stand with arms outstretched at her side, then close her eyes, bring her arms in front of her, and try to connect her index fingertips together ten times without missing. Catherine tried the test, and was quite pleased to find that her fingertips met, all ten times. However when she opened her eyes, instead of receiving a round of cheers from the girls, she discovered she was standing in the middle of he gym floor totally alone just as the boy’s gym class paraded through the doors.

Think, girl, think!

The voice snapped suddenly into Catherine’s mind, startling her with its crispness. Hazel’s voice. Good old Hazel VanHoofstryver‘s common admonishment for Catherine to gather her wits and think through seemingly impossible circumstances. Too bad she was so far away, back in Maryland.

“You made it!” said a voice in her ear, startling her.

Catherine wheeled around, relieved to see Daniel. She snatched him by the arm and tugged him up the steps. “Let’s get out of this madhouse!”

Daniel nodded. Ignoring a rude whistle from a man with rheumy eyes and a scraggly reddish beard, Catherine wondered if Daniel’s face was turning as red as hers beneath his hat and scarf. But let all these guys think what they wanted. Pigs, every one of them.

Soon she and Daniel topped the first flight of stairs where the steps curved behind a wall, blocking the mob from view. Catherine sighed in relief when they reached the next floor, and the music and noise had dulled, the acrid smells dissipated. She found herself standing before a maze of rooms. Some doorways were open, and she heard voices and saw shadowy movement from the light spilling into hallways.

Daniel gestured toward the next flight of stairs. “We keep going up.”

It grew increasingly dark. The sound below evaporated into a dull hum as they climbed higher, and higher yet. The top of this flight looked much the same as the hallway below, except there were fewer open doorways and less light. The smell of old woodwork and musty wallpaper became nearly suffocating, and Catherine felt glad not to be alone. The place would be even spookier without anyone else around. Yet for the first time since meeting Daniel, an actual nervousness crept through her. If Tony could see her now, he’d probably warn that Daniel’s scarf hid a ghastly deformity and it was time to run back downstairs, screaming for help.

“Where to now?” she asked, forcing herself to remain calm.

“Follow me,” Daniel said, leading her through a twisting jungle of hallways, stairwells and turnarounds. Soon there were no other people in sight.

“This place is huge. Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Catherine murmured, rubbing her shoulders.

“We’re taking the scenic route,” he said, gingerly reaching back to take her hand. Again, Catherine shied back, but Daniel made no note of her discomfort and continued on. At last he stopped and gazed at a paint-scarred doorway.

“Is this Joey’s room?” Catherine inquired, remembering Daniel’s comment about the cheap rent. This far away from everyone, it couldn’t get much cheaper.

“Nope. One more flight to go.”

Catherine eyes widened. “How high is this house?”

“Pretty high. If you don’t mind, I’d like to show you something I found when exploring,” Daniel said. “I have a hunch you’ll like it.”

He dipped his hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a key then worked it into the keyhole and twisted until the door creaked open. A rush of cold air swept across Catherine’s face as she was confronted by a narrow black stairway.

“You should go first,” said Daniel. “The steps are rickety and I could cushion you if you stumble backward or fall.”

“Just how rickety?” Catherine said slowly, drawing in a breath.

“Don’t be afraid,” Daniel said, “You won’t fall through.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “Anyway, I’ve explored places with creepier steps than these.”

“You still sound nervous. Are you afraid of me?”

“No. I’m going to go up.” She pointed a finger at his face. “I’m fine.”

She couldn’t let him be aware of the quiet stirring of excitement inside of her, like a little girl’s sense of awe at living out an old Nancy Drew mystery. She climbed the stairs slowly, balancing herself with hands against cold, flaky walls. Her footsteps made scraping sounds on the wood. Suddenly she realized she wasn’t hearing Daniel’s footsteps from behind. She turned. “Daniel ” she whispered…then,

“Good heavens!” she cried.

A headless body was silhouetted against the doorway below.

“Heaven
is
good, but it’s not heaven. It’s just me,” came a voice emanating from where Daniel’s face should have been. There was a sense of movement, a faint
whoosh
, and Daniel’s face appeared. It was shadowy and indistinct but still his face at least what she could see of it. He’d apparently pulled his cap all of the way down, and then yanked it back up.

“I’m sorry,” he said, lifting his hands, “I couldn’t resist.”

Catherine could barely speak above the pounding in her chest. “You’re quite the prankster, “she scolded, “I should shove you down those steps and see how you feel!”

She clicked her tongue and turned, glad Daniel wouldn’t be able to see the grin forming on her face. She had to admit, it had been kind of a funny prank. What else could she expect? She continued to the top of the stairs and felt for the doorknob. She found and twisted it just as Daniel squeezed next to her to do the same. Crazy, maybe, but Catherine found she enjoyed being squeezed in the stairway next to him. She pulled open the door and an eerie light flooded the stairway. She stepped through, then stood, spellbound, at what lay before her. Dusty globes from an enormous chandelier filtered twinkling lights off of beveled windows lining a vast, empty room. The timelessness, the stillness, the emptiness in the air enchanted her.

“It’s a pity this place has been so neglected,” Daniel said, walking on ahead and tracing his foot across the floor, making a dark path in the dust. He looked toward the opposite end at a large wooden stage. “This ballroom must have been a wonderful place in its day,” he said, his voice echoing,” these high ceilings, tall dormer windows, thick crown moldings. It would have been a dream to play in a place like this.”

“Play?” Catherine asked as Daniel walked into the middle of the room.

“Play, goof around, like kids do,” he explained, stopping in quiet contemplation. “They don’t make places like this anymore.”

“They certainly don’t,” Catherine agreed, moving toward the closest window. She looked out, smiling at the magical scene; city lights winking on and off behind fat, thickly falling snowflakes, the white-frosted tree branches, the glow of East Lansing rising out of the distance. It seemed so serene outside, and
here
, inside, that it was hard to believe the lower floors of the house were littered with intoxicated people.

Catherine looked at Daniel in the center of the room. “Why did you bring me up here? Really?”

“I thought you would appreciate it,” he said. “You have a love for animals. You must think about more than just what color of lipstick to wear, or what kind of shoes to put on, like so many girls do.” His voice lowered. “I wondered if you’d hear the same kind of music I hear when I come to this place.”

Catherine opened her mouth to reply, but held back as visions of graceful women and gentlemen waltzed in ghostly fashion before her eyes. Soon a haunting melody also filled her ears. Moments passed before Catherine realized the melody wasn’t her imagination.

Daniel was humming.

She watched, spellbound, as he pulled off his cap and gently tossed it to the side. He unraveled the scarf from his neck and face, held it at arm’s length, and let it glide to the floor. He pushed away layers of shoulder-length dark curls, revealing a narrow face with high cheekbones. He smiled, his teeth glowing in the dim light. Then, standing in the middle of the cold, abandoned ballroom, Daniel closed in, and held his arms out for a dance.

The sight of Daniel, like this, made Catherine’s throat clutch. So elegant, and handsome. Exquisitely handsome. For the first time, she really looked into his wondrous eyes. They were the eyes of a young man that held such a sense of kindness and depth that the unearthliness of it, if that’s what she could call it, sent the world spinning beneath her feet. She lost her breath. Her whole body went numb. She wanted to tell him that she had no idea how to dance as he beckoned her forward. She tried to work her tightened throat muscles to explain, but no voice would come out. Yet she found her hands rising to his nonetheless, as if in a spell. The touch of his hands as he folded hers in his sent a glorious shiver throughout her system, yet was magnetic at the same time, as if they’d melded together.

Soon she was looking silently into his eyes, and he took her in his arms.

A sense of unreality enveloped her as she flawlessly followed Daniel’s lead. Round and round they circled the room. The chandelier sparkled above and the windows revolved around them. It wasn’t until Daniel squeezed her hand and the warmth of his breath caressed her cheek that Catherine knew this was real. Around and around they danced. Around and around in his dizzying embrace. She neither felt the cold, nor smelled the dust. This was a dream, it had to be. She couldn’t feel her feet. She was as light as air, dancing on air.

“I thought it was you carrying on up here, Mowgli,” a sudden voice with a southern drawl said near the stairway.

Daniel’s humming ceased, and the dream dance ended. Catherine and Daniel stared into the darkness, hands limp at their sides now, as a lanky figure stepped out of the shadows.

“Sorry, but I couldn’t watch you two any more,” the man said, drawing closer. “When the guys downstairs told me you were headed this way, Daniel, I figured you went up here. I especially figured it out because you’re the only person I’ve ever given a key to the old servants’ stairway.”

Daniel shook his head at Joey.

“Joey,” he said, “You’re an epitome.”

“No, you’re the epitome.” Joey replied, stepping closer.

Catherine wondered just what they were each an epitome of, and why Joey had called Daniel “Mowgli.” But it seemed to be a private joke. The room began to take on its former chill and she wrapped her arms in front of her, feeling abandoned all of a sudden, and so peculiar that she missed Daniel’s embrace.

“Look at your lady friend,” said Joey, gesturing toward her. “She’s freezing. She’s going to get sick if you stay up here any longer.”

Daniel seemed about to reply, but Catherine found her voice. “Don’t worry about me. People don’t get sick from the cold, it’s the germs that make you sick.”

“Then you might not want to head back down to the first floor again.” Joey said. “Never saw so much bacteria. Probably latched onto y’all like a bad smell.”

Catherine cocked her head to study this “Joey.” Everything about him, from his lazy Southern drawl to his boyish face and huge, gangly body suggested a simpleton, but Daniel said Joey was one of the smartest people he knew.

“Uh, Joey,” Daniel interrupted,” I’d like you to meet Catherine. Catherine, spelled with-a-C. And Catherine, this is Joseph Thayer, the Third.”

Joey stretched out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.” Catherine took it, and her hand disappeared into his.

“Consider yourself lucky to be serenaded by this guy,” Joey said, releasing her hand and gesturing toward Daniel. “Even if it is some silly waltz he probably just made up.”

Catherine looked at Daniel in surprise. “You made up that song you were humming?”

Daniel shrugged. “I’m a musical kind of guy.”

“It was beautiful,” she said. “I love classical music. You must enjoy it too.”