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My sobbing and shaking stopped. She still held me by my shoulders firmly, but her attention lifted from my face and went toward the forest. Her lips twisted with anger, and then she closed her eyes and nodded.

"You don't have to worry," she said. "I'll take care of things now. Go on into the house and clean yourself. Ill be up to put something on that nasty scratch on your cheek. Go on," she told me.

"What are you going to do. Mommy?" I asked.

In my mind's eye. I saw her at the cemetery, praying to an army of spirits, asking them to take vengeance. I was frightened for Elliot and the girls. Something terrible was going to happen to them. I had no doubt that my mother could do it.

"Don't you worry yourself about any of that," she repeated. "Go on. Do what I say."

She released me and stepped back.

I glanced at the forest and then I walked into the house. I stripped off my clothes and threw them in the hamper and then, after removing the corset, went into a hot shower, When I was drying off. Mommy appeared with one of her salves and put some on my scratch. Then she gave me one of her herbal pills to help me relax.

"I want you to lie down for a while. Noble. I want you to take a good rest, a good long nap. I'll be gone for a while. Don't answer the phone. Don't go to the door. Understand'?"

"Where are you going?"

"I have an errand. Just do what I say, and all will be well," she said.

She kissed my forehead and then she left me. I was tired. Every part of my body ached. I had jerked and twisted myself in a frenzy when I ran from that house through the woods. Now I was a little ashamed of my show of panic. Could I have made a more graceful exit?

I crawled under my blanket and hugged my pillow. In moments I was asleep, and when I opened my eyes again, it was dark.

It confused me, and for a few moments I couldn't remember what had happened. The pill Mommy had given me had been quite strong. I thought when I began to recall all the events. I sat up and listened. There was music. Mommy was playing the piano. Full of curiosity now, I rose and put on my bathrobe and my slippers. Then I started down.

She wasn't playing anything melancholy. The tune was robust, and when I looked in at her. I saw she was pounding with great energy, the strands of her hair flying about her face as she turned and twisted at the keyboard. Usually she sensed my presence when she played, but if she did this time, she didn't acknowledge it until she had completed what she wanted to complete. Then she sat back, exhausted but satisfied. Finally, she turned to me and smiled.

"How are you, darling?" she asked. "I slept so long."

"That was what you were supposed to do," she said. "Are you hungry?"

"A little," I said.

"Good. I have some cold chicken and some wonderful potato salad with string beans waiting for you," she told me as she rose. She approached me and then turned my head to look at the scratch. "It will be gone in a few days," she muttered, more to herself than to me. I thought.

She started toward the kitchen.

"Where did you go, Mommy? What did you do?" I asked her.

She turned at the doorway and smiled. "I told you not to be concerned."

"But I am. I can't help it."

"Yes," she said nodding. "I guess you can't. It's only natural." She paused and then said. "I went to see that man."

"What man?"

"The man who bought the property, who has that miserable son," she said. "I went to where he works, and I pulled him aside and told him everything you told me. He nearly passed out. I never saw a grown man turn so pale. I had to comfort him. Can you imagine? I was the one giving the comfort when I should have been the one receiving it. He went on and on about how difficult it has been for him to raise two teenagers alone.

"Of course, he couldn't thank me enough. He babbled like a fool, apologizing for not coming over to introduce himself, for listening to stupid gossip about us. It became embarrassing, if you want to know. How I miss a man like your father, a man of strength. These people have children and then they shatter like brittle glass. What was a family crumbles into shards of selfish stupidity," she said. "I thought he was going to break out into tears.

"He blamed everything on his wife." She looked away and then she turned to me with fire in her eyes. "She didn't die, you know. That was a blatant lie you were told. The woman left them. She left her own children. She was so self-centered, she couldn't stand the idea of being tied down with children and ran off with someone, leaving this soft noodle of a man with the responsibility of raising two young children.

"Well, he's obviously made a mess of it. He told me more than I wished to know. Apparently, his daughter is an even bigger problem than that boy who tempted you.

"But," she said, punctuating the air with her closed fist. "that's all behind us, all behind our wonderful wall of protection. That imaginary moat and castle you once built with Celeste is all there again. Noble. You need not be afraid. Tomorrow," she said. "is just another day, another wonderful day for us.

"Let me get your dinner now," she concluded and left me standing there. trembling.