Singing "Ding Dong, the Wicked Witch is Dead," we ran up the lawn to Aunt Grace's house, almost dizzy with excitement.
We found Aunt Grace in the kitchen, bent over her drawing board, sketching a grove of trees outside the window. When she saw us, she sprang up, her face happy. "Oh, Laura, I have good news!" She nearly swept me off my feet with a big hug. "Jason is better this morning, much better! Your mother called about an hour ago."
I hugged her back as hard as I could. "When can I go see him?"
"As soon as you can get ready." Aunt Grace drew back and smiled at me, then looked puzzled. "How on earth did you get so scratched up? You look as if you fell in a briar patch."
I looked down at my scarred legs and shrugged. "Wanda and I went for a walk last night. I guess we sort of wandered off the path."
"You weren't out in that storm, were you?"
"Just a little."
"Well, no harm done. Go on upstairs and change your clothes. We'll go as soon as you're ready."
"Can we drop Wanda off at her house on the way?"
"Of course." Aunt Grace smiled at Wanda. "Would you like a cup of coffee while we wait?"
Wanda nodded and looked at the picture on the drawing board. "It sure is nice seeing you painting again. I just love the way you draw."
Aunt Grace smiled. "I was sitting at the table having my first cup of coffee and the light was so pretty on the trees, I just had to paint them. I'm glad you like it."
Leaving them in the kitchen, I ran upstairs. As I reached the bathroom door, Carol stepped out. She was enveloped in a cloud of warm steamy air and smelled of shampoo and soap and conditioner.
"Isn't it wonderful about Jason?" she said. "I've been so worried about that little guy." Carol shook her head. "And your poor Daddy, it's been an awful strain on him. Are you going to see him?"
"As soon as I get cleaned up."
Carol stepped away from the door and smiled. "Well, the bathroom's all yours. Hope you don't mind it all steamy, but I just love long, hot showers. All that water feels so good, opens your pores, lets your skin breathe."
I nodded and closed the bathroom door, hoping she'd left enough hot water to open my pores a little.
When I came downstairs, Aunt Grace and Wanda were finishing up a sinkful of dishes and chatting like old friends. "Ready?" Aunt Grace asked.
After dropping Wanda off, we drove into Harrisburg and parked in front of the hospital, a rambling old frame building that looked like a turn-of-the-century hotel, enlarged with brick additions and bristling with fire escapes.
Inside we wandered down miles of brown linoleum hallways, past door after door of sick people watching us go by. Some had flowers by their beds, some had dozens of get-well cards stuck in their Venetian blinds, and some were just lying there, looking sad and lonely as if they hoped we were coming to see them. I didn't want to look at them, but I couldn't help it. I peeped in each door, glimpsing people of all ages, and if I didn't see their faces, I saw their bare feet poking out from under sheets.
"Jason's room is just around this corner," Aunt Grace said. "He'll be so pleased to see you, Laura. I know he's missed you."
"You're sure he's better?" I felt my knees getting kind of trembly. I didn't want to see Jason if he looked awful; I wouldn't know what to say, what to do.
"Oh, yes, Laura. He's much better. His fever went down overnight and he says the pain in his legs is all gone. The doctors are absolutely mystified. They've never seen anyone recover as rapidly as Jason has." Aunt Grace smiled at me. "Don't be frightened." She squeezed my hand and led me to Jason's door.
And there he was, sitting up in bed, smiling. "Laurie!" he cried, "Oh, Laurie, I've missed you!" His face was pale and he looked thinner, but his smile was as big as ever.
"Oh, Jasie, Jasie, I've missed you too!" I sank down on the bed and hugged him. "I'm so sorry you've been sick!"
"Now, now, Laura, no tears." Daddy smiled at me from a chair next to Jason's bed. "He's been a brave boy and he's all right now."
Jason smiled. "That's right, Laurie. Even the doctors said how brave I was." He shot Daddy a look and then turned back to me. "Where's Wanda?" He peered around my shoulder as if he expected to see her lurking in the hall.
"She couldn't come, but she said to tell you she's glad you're better. Everybody was worried about you, even Annabelle."
Jason looked pleased. "When I come home, you and me and Wanda can build a great big sand castle. It can have towers and stairs and a moat around it and a dungeon underneath."
"We can build a regular Camelot all our own," I agreed. "And you can be the king, Jason."
"Don't forget this, son." Daddy picked up a brand new football and tossed it to Jason. He missed it, and it landed on his table, knocking his pitcher of water into Mom's lap.
"I'm sorry!" Jason's eyes filled with tears and he looked from Mom to Dad, as if he weren't sure which one he should apologize to.
While Mom blotted up the water with a towel from the bathroom, Daddy retrieved the football. "No need to cry about it," he said. "Just shows you need some practice. As soon as you get home, I'll teach you a few tricks." He ruffled Jason's hair and smiled at me.
"But first of all, the castle," I said firmly. "Because you can't just get out of bed and start playing football and stuff like that." I looked at Daddy out of the corner of my eye, but he didn't say anything. He just sat there
tossing the football from one hand to the other as if he were thinking about something else.
Turning back to Jason, I started describing the sort of castle we could build. I guess we spent half an hour planning it, from turrets to dungeon.
Suddenly Jason leaned toward me, his face worried. "But what about Maude, Laurie? She'll see us at the creek."
I shook my head. "She won't come, Jason."
"How do you know?"
"I just know. You don't have to be scared of her."
"What's this about Maude?" Mom looked up from her magazine. "Did she scare you, Jason?"
Jason glanced at me, remembering his promise not to mention Maude. "She's a scary old lady." He picked at the fuzz balls on his blanket, his face hidden.
Daddy smiled. "Oh, Jason, your imagination carries you away so easily. Next you'll be saying she's a witch."
"She is," Jason whispered so softly only I could hear him. "I know she is."
Just then a nurse came into the room, pushing a cart that tinkled with bottles and test tubes and all sorts of sinister medical things. "Well, it's time to run a few more tests, Jason," the nurse said. "The chief vampire wants some more of your blood."
"Oh, no." Jason lay back on his pillows. "Not again. My arm already looks like a pincushion."
"Everybody out," the nurse said, "unless you like the sight of blood."
"Well, old man," Daddy said, "I think I'll take your sister for a ride. I haven't seen much of her lately."
"But she just got here." Jason stuck out his lip, and for the first time in my life I was glad to see it. More
than anything else, that pout said Jason was feeling like himself again.
"I'll see you tomorrow when you come home," I said, giving him a kiss.
Daddy patted Jason's head. "Be good now and don't break this nice young lady's heart."
The nurse giggled and Aunt Grace said, "Leave that to you, right, George?"
Outside the sun was hot, and I winced when my bare legs touched the vinyl seats in the car. As we pulled away from the hospital. Daddy noticed a Dairy Queen down the street. "I could really go for a nice, cold shake, couldn't you?" Turning into the parking lot, he took a space vacated by an old pickup truck full of sunburned teenagers. "What kind do you want?" he asked.
"Usually all they have is vanilla," I said, following him up to the counter.
Thé girl at the window reminded me of Charlene. She had the same easy smile and slow way of moving as she took our order. Like Charlene, she wore her hair long and winged back from her face, and her cheeks were powdered orangy red. When she handed the shakes to us, she smiled at Daddy.
While he paid for the milkshakes, I wondered if Charlene would come back to Blue Hollow. Now that the spell was broken, maybe she'd see that Eddie wasn't really so hot as a husband and father. It was funny to catch myself thinking that some people might be better off not married to each other, that some kids might be happier not living with their own fathers. I could see now that Wanda had been right when she'd said that she and Annabelle and Charlene were all the family Tanya Marie needed.
As we drove away, I sipped my milkshake, but it was too thick to come through the straw.
"What's the matter? Don't you like your shake?" Daddy asked.
"It's too thick and it's got too much vanilla in it. It burns the back of my throat." Turning my head, I looked out the window for a while, watching the scenery flow by. Fields, hills, mountains, woods, their monotony broken by scatterings of farms and an occasional store or church. And the sky, always the sky, high and clear and blue without a single cloud.
Turning back to Daddy, I looked at his profile. With the wind from the open window ruffling his hair, he looked more like Robert Redford than ever. "Are you and Mom definitely getting a divorce?"
He looked at me, his face puzzled. "I thought you knew we were, Laura. Probably next winter sometime."
"I just wondered if Jason's being sick had changed anything."
He shook his head. "Not really. It's funny though. For a while, when he was in intensive care, we talked about staying married for his sake. He seemed to need us both so badly." He sighed. "But it would have been a mistake. I just don't think we could be happy together, your mother and I. In the long run it would have been bad for all of us."
"But you must have been happy when you first got married, you must have loved each other then. How come it all stopped?"
"People change, honey. Their feelings change too." He looked at me. "I know you're disappointed, Laura, but you've got to accept it, you and Jason both. After
all, I'm divorcing your mother, not you. I'll always be your father and I'll always love you. That's one thing that won't ever change."
I nodded and sipped some of my milkshake. It still tasted bitter, as if there were something nasty in it that all the sugar couldn't hide. "Are we going back to Aunt' Grace's already?" I asked as Daddy turned off the main road.
"I thought we'd pick up Carol and take her with us. She's probably pretty lonesome in that big house all by herself. You don't mind, do you?"
"I thought you and I were going by ourselves."
"I want you to get to know Carol better, Laura. You'll be seeing a lot of her next fall when you're back home."
I didn't want to ask the next question, but I had to know. "You're going to marry her, aren't you?"
"We're thinking about it, honey. You like Carol, don't you? She thinks you two are just terrific." He smiled. "She's a wonderful girl, she really is."
I looked down at my lap, at my two hands holding the milkshake, not wanting to say anything till I was sure I could do it without crying. "Do you mind if I don't go with you?" I asked without looking at him. "Could you just drop me off at Wanda's house instead?"
"But I was going to take you out to the lake for a swim. Wouldn't you like that?"
"I sort of promised Wanda I'd come over and tell her about Jason as soon as I got home."
Daddy looked disappointed, but he said, "All right, Laura, if that's what you really want to do."
For the next half hour we drove along in silence, and I watched the scenery again, thinking about what
Daddy had said. I felt sad, but in a funny way I was also kind of relieved. I could see now that, like it or not, the divorce was out of my hands. There was nothing Jason or I could do to change things.
"How does Mom feel?" I asked suddenly.
"The same way I do, Laura. She seems to be looking forward to finishing school and getting a job. She's changed a lot since we separated last January. Don't you think so?"
I shrugged. "I don't know." But I knew he was probably right. Mom really did seem to be a lot more sure of herself now. Not like Aunt Grace, not that kind of independent, but I didn't think she'd cry into the meatloaf anymore.
"That's Wanda's house, right up there on the hill." I pointed and Daddy slowed the car.
"We'll miss you," he said, as I opened the door. "Sure you won't change your mind?"
"I'll come some other time, I promise." I smiled at him and waved as the car picked up speed and disappeared around a curve. Then I ran up the hill to Wanda's house, ignoring Chief's bark as I passed the truck.
Dashing up the steps, I pressed my face against the rusty screen door and peered into the living room. "Wanda?" I called. "Are you home?"
"Come on in," she yelled. "I'm in my room."
Letting the door slam behind me, I ran down the hall and flopped down on the bed next to her. "Guess what? Jason's all right! He's coming home tomorrow! Isn't that great?"
Wanda punched me up and down my arm. "You mean he's all well again?"
I nodded. "Nobody at the hospital knows what was wrong with him. They're calling it one of those mysterious viruses."
"Is that you, Laura?" Annabelle poked her head into the room. "I thought I heard your voice, but I didn't expect to see you back so soon."
"I just got back from the hospital. They're letting Jason come home tomorrow."
"Well, that's just wonderful!" Annabelle bent down and gave me a big perfumy hug that almost broke every rib in my body. "I knew he'd be all right, I just knew it."
Annabelle sank down on the bed, toppling me downhill into her soft side. "You be sure and bring him up here to see me the minute he's well enough and I'll bake him a big chocolate cake. Never knew a boy who didn't love chocolate!"
Turning to Wanda, Annabelle gave her a little poke. "Did you tell Laura our good news?"
Wanda grinned. "I haven't had a chance. Guess who's coming home?"
"Charlene?"
Wanda nodded. "She called a couple of hours ago to tell us. Her and Tanya Marie are probably on the Greyhound right now."