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"Jeanne is right. It looks like a gigantic tomb," he muttered. "They should either fix it up or knock it down," he declared angrily. Then he started the car and backed up. As we drove down the long driveway, I gazed back and saw Jack Clovis still standing there watching us leave.

Off to the left, my well pumped on as if it had a heart and a life of its own. For the first time, I thought of the wells as something other than monsters. Maybe now the nightmare would end.

Was there another waiting to take its place?

10

A Candle

in the Wind

.

Daddy muttered to himself all the way back to

New Orleans. He chanted his hope. Sometimes it sounded more like a prayer. "Maybe she's back. Maybe she came up here just to put that picture in the shack for some reason-- one of her rituals, right? I mean, for all we know, we could have passed her on her way back when we were coming into Houma. That's possible. And if she got home before us, she found out about Pierre and went with him to the hospital. She would, and that would help the little guy snap out of it, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, Daddy," I said when he paused for a breath. He was driving so fast now, it made my heart thunder like a train. I was worried because he seemed to be gazing at his thoughts and not at the road ahead of us.

"No one saw her up here, so she didn't go anywhere but the shack as far as we know. And she wasn't at the shack when we arrived. Right? Where would she go? Certainly not to see the Tates. She would only go home. Yes, that's it. She's home. She's snapped out of this insanity just in time. We'll be able to help Pierre now, won't we, Pearl?"

"Of course we will, Daddy. Don't you think you're driving too fast?"

"What?" He looked at me and then at the speedometer. "Oh. I didn't realize." He checked his rearview mirror. "Lucky we didn't get a ticket."

"Do you want me to drive, Daddy?"

"No, I'm fine. I'll watch what I'm doing." He lowered his shoulders and relaxed. "Terrible how they're letting that beautiful mansion rot in the swamps, isn't it? Terrible. Did you remember much?"

"No," I said. Mommy had once told me that Daddy would like to forget I had ever lived there. She kept very few pictures of us taken at Cypress Woods, and the ones she had were buried deep in drawers.

"Well, the oil wells are still going, making the Tates millionaires over and over. They were wealthy people before the wells. Money doesn't discriminate, unfortunately," he added bitterly. "I can't imagine what it's like working for Gladys Tate. But those oil riggers are something else, aren't they? A breed unto themselves, I hear."

"He seemed very nice," I said.

"Who? Oh. Oh, yes." Daddy smiled. "How did you like seeing your well? It must eat Gladys Tate's heart out that she can't stop you from collecting the income."

"It didn't look any different from the others, but Jack explained a lot about it to me."

Daddy smiled. "He was buttering up the boss, eh? Can't blame him. Especially when the boss is as pretty as you."

"He wasn't buttering me up, Daddy. He was just being polite and informative," I said. I turned away quickly so Daddy wouldn't see me blushing.

Jack's beautiful dark eyes flashed before me, and so did his soft smile. I couldn't recall meeting a young man who radiated so firm a sense of strength and yet appeared so gentle and compassionate. I had felt comfortable and safe when I was beside him. He worked with his hands and his muscles, but there was something poetic about his love for his work.

"You've got to be careful about who you meet, Pearl," Daddy said, turning serious. "Once a young man learns how wealthy you are, his interest in you will grow; only that might not be the sort of interest you need. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? I'm not as good at this as your mother is, I know."

"I understand, Daddy."

"I bet you do; I bet you do. I'm not worried about you. No, sir, not you."

He was quiet again, and then he started to repeat the mumbling. "She has to be at home. Has to. She must have come to her senses by now. She loves her family too much to stay away."

As we drew closer to New Orleans, the clouds closed up the holes of-blue between them until there was an ominous gray layer above us. The first drops hit the windshield as we went over the bridge and onto the city streets. The wind had kicked up as well. People were losing their umbrellas and rushing about to get to shelter. The downpour started before we reached the Garden District. It got so heavy that the windshield wipers couldn't clear a view.

"Damn this," Daddy moaned. He had to pull to the side for a few moments. The rain swept over us in sheets, pounding the roof and pounding at the windows.

But it was one of those quick summer storms. It slowed, and the wind calmed down. Daddy started for home again. By the time we reached our driveway, the sun had pierced the thin veil of trailing clouds and dropped rays of hope down over our camellias and magnolia trees. The cobblestone sidewalks glittered. It was as if Mother Nature had washed away the sadness staining our walls and grounds.