Nobody Knows Your Secret

40

Maury could not believe Hadley was hunched over and taking such care as she walked. Her older sister looked as if she was a paper-thin eggshell dancing on shards of broken glass.

"What happened to you? Did you get hit by a truck or something?"

"Feels like it," Hadley said. "Let's just say Beanie and I had an altercation with a pile of junk and Eustian's stairs and leave it at that."

"No, we will not, Hadley Jane Pell," Maury said. "You tell me what happened."

"Well, we had cleared out the bottom floor, minus Mother Singlepenny's shrine of a bedroom, and the kitchen where Eustian's body was found. Beanie wants to save those for last so we don't make their ghosts mad or something.

That's okay with me. Any way Beanie wants to do it is fine. If he's happy, he works harder. I don't care what rooms we do so long as they're all done in the end.

There's a staircase that leads up to the second floor that's crammed as full of junk as the rest of the house.

"How do you live that way, Maury?"

"I dunno." 

"So, we are cleaning off the stairway. Halfway up, Beanie reached up on top of a pile to pull off an old suitcase. It must have been the keystone holding up the whole mess together. When he grabbed the suitcase, the towering stack came crashing down on us. And we tumbled down the stairs in an avalanche of trash. I told Beanie we'd be sore pups, today. And boy howdy was I right!"

"Oh Hadley, you are lucky the two of you weren't hurt or killed," Maury said.

"I think all the trash kept us from getting hurt badly," Hadley said. "Cushioned the fall. Gave us something to ride over as we slid down those steps."

"Well, I'd say your guardian angel has a few tattered feathers."

"Yeah, but I think Beanie thinks it's Eustian getting revenge on us for cleaning out his house. You know how he is. Always ready to blame anything on spooks, goblins, or ghosts.

I wish he wasn't so anxious about all that stuff. I talk to him until I'm blue in the face, but he doesn't seem to be able to process it. 

Maybe, he just doesn't want to, who knows. 

Old superstitions die hard, I guess. And Beanie's still convinced if it's not Eustian's ghost we've stirred up, then it must be Mama Singlepenny's.

We were lucky, though. I tried to make light of it to ease Beanie's mind, but we did take quite a tumble. 

We both ended up with some bruises and sore muscles. I don't remember feeling this bad since you suckered me into taking that zoomba class with you. 

That next morning I was one big ache! I was pretty sure my muscles had ripped off my bones."

"Ha!" said Maury. "I remember that! I grunted every time I moved. I think Bill thought I was constipated. I was bound and determined not to let him see how much pain I was really in.

He'd already laughed at me for wanting to take that class in the first place. So, I just stood real straight and moved around the house like a tortoise. 

But sometimes, I'd grunt. Even though I was trying so hard not to. It was unconscious, I guess. 

He kept looking at me funny, you know, like which door was he going to run out of if I took a dump in my pants."

"Speaking of dump," Hadley said, "I did find something interesting in one of the old piles of newspapers. I brought it home with me to get a closer look at it. It's so old and dirty and yellowed, it's hard to make out."

"Hadley, you didn't bring any of that man's cootie-infested rubbish into your house, did you? What are you thinking! Are you crazy! You know cooties are catching. They probably multiply like the dickens.

And if you bring them in your house, they will more than likely end up in mine! 

Don't breathe too deeply when you unfold that musty old newspaper, Hadley. If you inhale, you might suck some muck up into your lungs. When you exhale, we will only be able to see the whites of your eyes in the dust cloud. And who knows what crud you'll be blowing out around me and my airspace!"

"Oh, shush, Maury. Don't bust your corset. It's just an old copy of the Hope Rock County Gazette. Here, take a look. It's the story about the roller coaster accident. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. You know me. Curious Cora. I just couldn't pass it by."

They booth looked at the paper.

"I can't believe it's been that long ago." said Hadley. "Look at this photo. There's a crowd shot of people looking at the wreckage of the coaster cars. I think I saw Hardy Branwell, but I'm not sure. Let me get that old magnifying glass, and we'll see who we recognize."

"It's so yellowed and grimy," Maury said. "Are you sure we won't contract some weird lung fungus from this nasty old thing? 

It looks like it might dissolve into a million pieces in our hands. And I'll bet there are molds clinging to this paper that have not even been discovered yet. It looks like something you pulled from the pyramids."

"Here's the glass," Hadley said. "Can you make it out any better?"

They hunched over the paper spread out on the kitchen table.

"You will seriously think about burning this tablecloth, I hope," Maury said. "Do they make vats of bleach big enough to soak this table in? Maybe we should fumigate the whole room later. What do you think?"

"Will you chill out? I am constantly wiping off counters and tables. Don't you think I know that Onus explores every surface he can while I'm out? I know a cat's feet are nasty. Not to mention his bottom when he plops down to rest a spell."

"Exactly why I do not have an indoor pet," said Maury. "And can I just take a moment to thank you for all those glorious pictures you have just put in my head!"

"The filth is a tradeoff for the company," said Hadley. "You have Bill."

"Yep," said Maury, "he's a nasty little bugger sometimes, too. You would not believe how often I have to tell him to toss his skivvies into the dirty clothes bin. I think he'd wear them until they fell off his bottom. Why can't he just change them every day like clockwork? He drives me crazy over that. But don't tell him I said so. "

"Your secret's safe with me, Sis," Hadley said. "Lips are sealed and locked tighter than FortKnox."

They bent down closer for a better look.

"There's Lou Edna, you can tell by her wash-tub hairdo," Hadley said. pointing to a woman in the crowd of faces. "That's young deputy Bill. I can tell by that Smokey the Bear hat he's wearing. That may or may not be Hardy Branwell. Shoot. This picture is so grainy. With this magnifying glass, all I can make out are a bunch of gray and black dots. I wish I could get a hold of the original photo."

They tried to figure out more of the faces, but it was useless.

"You busy?" Hadley asked.

"No," Maury said. "I got nothin' pressin' on my social calendar, today."

"Good," said Hadley. "Grab your purse."

"Where we goin'?"

"To the library."