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Suddenly, she burst back into the dining room, this time with her hands over her ears.

"I can't stand the humming. Do you hear it?" she asked.

"No. Mommy," I said, my lips trembling. I couldn't help myself. I started to cry again.

"I've got to go upstairs. I've got to get some rest. I want you to clean up when you're finished, and put everything away. Fix the sofa in the living room for yourself tonight. And keep quiet, keep as quiet as you can." she whispered, her eyes wide. "Do you understand? Do you?"

I nodded quickly. She didn't even notice I was crying. "Good." she said, straightening up. "Good,"

Then she walked through the dining room and out to the hallway. I heard her going up the stairway. For a while I just sat at the table. I was still too frightened to move a muscle. Finally, I rose slowly and took the empty plates back into the kitchen.

Except for putting the meat loaf ingredients back into the pantry, there was nothing else for me to do. I really wasn't very hungry myself, just thirsty. so I poured myself some orange juice, washed the glass, put it away, and went into the living room to fix the sofa. Afterward. I sat and listened for Mommy. but I never heard her moving around. I thought she might have fallen asleep.

My curiosity about Noble was too strong to contain. I went to the stairway, listened, and then when I thought it was safe enough, walked quietly up to the door of our bedroom. I tried the knob, but found it was locked.

"What are you doing?" I heard, It didn't sound at all like Mommy, but when I turned she was standing there in her bedroom doorway, and she was totally naked. "Well?"

"I just... I wanted to..."

"Go to sleep!" she ordered. "Didn't I tell you to stay quiet? Its important. Do it!"

She stepped forward threateningly, so I turned and hurriedly descended the stairs. I went into the living room and stood listening, my heart pounding. The lights went out above. I went to my pullout sofa bed and sat until I was tired enough to close my eyes and lie back. I didn't fall asleep quickly. I listened to every sound in the house because now it was creaking again and the wind threaded its way through every small opening in the roof and shutters. Finally, mercifully, sleep took me prisoner, and I. like an exhausted combatant, surrendered without delay.

Spirits swirled around me like the water in the creek. My dreams tossed and turned me. I felt hands on me and muttered for Mommy. but I didn't wake up fully.

I fell back into the raging water of my twisted nightmares, where I was carried off into a darker and darker place.

The morning light woke me, and for a long moment. I really didn't remember why I was sleeping in the living room. My body ached in places it had never ached. My empty stomach rumbled. I took a breath and sat up, grinding the traces of sleep out of my eyes. When I pulled my hands away, I gasped and felt as if I had just swallowed a spoonful of pure ice.

Mommy was standing in the doorway, her face nearly as white as milk. She was dressed in black, the same dress she had worn for Daddy's funeral and the day after Mr. Kotes had been killed. Her lips were caught in a crooked smile. The way she was looking at me frightened me.

"Mommy?" I said and nearly burst into tears.

"Your sister is gone." she said. She has been taken from us to live with our ancestors and her father. We can do nothing but accept it."

"What?" I asked, puzzled over her remark.

"You must come outside with me now." she said. "We're going to say goodbye to her body. You remember," she added, now smiling nicely. "the cup and the water?"

"Outside?"

"Yes, follow me now," she said. "Come along."

She turned and went to the front door. I slipped my shoes back on quickly and stood up. I had fallen asleep in my clothing.

She waited at the open door. I saw she had our old family Bible in her hands. What was all this? Why did she say "your sister"?

As soon as she saw me, she walked out. I followed behind, moving slowly, as slowly as she was moving. As she turned toward the old cemetery, she began to chant something I didn't recognize at all. Then she stopped, lit a candle she was carrying, and carefully, so as to keep the flame from going out, cupped it and continued toward the cemetery. At the gate, she lifted the candle, let the wind snuff out the small flame, but then waved the smoke around her.

I watched everything she did with my eyes so wide my forehead folded in pain. The moment she stepped through the gate. I started and stopped. So did my heart.

There was an open grave right beside Infant Jordan's. When had she dug that? She had to have done it during the night when I was asleep.

"Quickly," she said, turning toward int. "Under the smoke," she indicated, nodding at where she had twirled the candle.

My feet were in mutiny. They didn't want to obey. but I forced myself to walk into the cemetery and stand beside her. Every part of me was trembling.

"-We've come to say our final .good-bye. Noble," she told me, and she nodded toward the open grave.