The Doll In The Garden Part 2

For a few minutes Kristi watched me silently. Then, without saying a word, she sighed loudly and yanked a handful of weeds out of the pond.

Even with Kristi's help, it was hot, dirty work. The sun popped out from behind the clouds again, and in no time we were both sweating. Mosquitoes whined around our heads and gnats tried to get in our eyes, but we kept on working till the cherub was free of ivy and honeysuckle and the pond was weed-free.

"Maybe we could run a hose out here from your yard and fill up the pond," I said.

"And buy some fishes for it," Kristi said.

I nodded, glad to hear a little enthusiasm in her voice.

Even though Kristi wanted to stop and rest, I talked her into clearing a circle around the pond. While I was dumping an armload of weeds by the fence, I suddenly heard her scream. Starded, I ran to her side and stared into a hole she'd made pulling out a gigantic thistle.

"There's something buried here." Kristi pointed a wobbly finger at the corner of a wooden box sticking out of the dirt. Her face had turned white under her tan, giving her skin a grayish look, and she was shaking.

Except for the persistent cooing of the mourning dove, it was so quiet I could almost hear my own heart beating. "It's not deep enough to be a grave," I whispered.

As a worm coiled itself out of the dirt and wriggled away, I said, "Maybe it's a treasure chest." My voice was so loud it made Kristi jump.

Cautiously, I knelt down and gently brushed the dirt away from the plain wood box. It wasn't very big. Maybe sixteen to twenty inches long, no more than three or four inches deep, and six inches wide.

"Look, there's something caned on the top." Spitting on my finger, I cleaned the dirt from the letters crudely scratched into the lid. "I think it says Anna Maria," I said, but Kristi was standing too far away to see.

"Bury it again, Ashley, just the way it was," she begged. "It's the white cat's coffin, I know it is!"

But something in me wanted to see what was in the box. Telling myself I was going to find gold or silver, enough to make Mom and me rich for life, I lifted it carefully out of the earth.

Before I raised the lid, I glanced at Kristi. She was standing several feet away, ready to run.

"Don't you want to see?" I asked.

"No," she whispered. "It's going to be something awful."

Turning back to the box, I began prying the lid off. Kristi crept closer, and when I finally got it open, she screamed at the sight of its contents.

"It's a dead girl!" she cried.

She startled me so much that I hurled the box into the weeds and backed away from it, terrified.

"I saw it, I saw its face!" Kristi was kneeling in the weeds, her hands over her eyes. "Oh, Ashley, what should we do?"

My heart was thumping and I could hardly breathe, but I forced myself to look at what had fallen from the box. Too small to be a person, it lay in the weeds, face down, its clothing in rags, its hair tangled.

Cautiously I reached out and turned it over. Its china face was pale and smudged with dirt. One eye was half-open and the other was closed, its nose was chipped, but it was still beautiful.

I held it toward Kristi. "It's an old doll," I whispered.

"Are you sure?" Kristi peeked through her fingers like someone watching a horror movie.

I touched the doll's tiny teeth with the tip of my finger and then tried to wipe the dirt from her round cheeks. "Of course I'm sure. Isn't she pretty?"

Finally satisfied we hadn't dug up a dead body, Kristi came closer and stroked the doll's hair. "Can I hold her?"

"Be very careful with her." Reluctantly I handed the doll to Kristi and watched her anxiously. "Don't poke at her teeth or her eyes," I said.

"It's a shame she's so dirty." Kristi pulled the doll's ragged dress up and examined her jointed legs. "Her body's made of leather."

I reached for the doll, but Kristi ducked away. "Let me look at her," she said. "I've never seen one like this."

Although I wanted to s.n.a.t.c.h it back, I let Kristi examine the doll. I picked up the wooden box. Inside I found a scroll of yellowed paper tied with a faded blue ribbon. On the paper was written: Louisa Perkins, Please forgive me,

I am sorrie.

Your friend, Came.

I read the message out loud and then swapped the sc.r.a.p of paper for the doll. Kristi studied the words, her forehead creased.

"It doesn't make sense," she said finally. "Is the doll's name Louisa Perkins?"

I shook my head. "Her name is Anna Maria." I showed Kristi the letters caned on the lid of the box.

"Well, who are Louisa and Carrie then?" Kristi stared at me, obviously puzzled.

I gazed into Anna Maria's one open eye and wished she could talk. "I guess Carrie's the one who buried her," I said slowly, "but I don't know who Louisa Perkins is."

For a moment we were silent, and a breeze sprung up, shaking the Queen Anne's lace and bringing the smell of roses to us. The garden was very quiet, and my voice seemed to hang on the air repeating, "Louisa Perkins, Louisa Perkins." Who was she? Why was Carrie sorry? And why had she buried the doll?

Suddenly Kristi grabbed my arm. "Look behind you," she whispered. "The white cat's under the bus.h.!.+"

Chapter 6.

s...o...b..ll I STARED AT the cat, and he stared back. His eyes were large and pale green, and his fur was pure white. He looked every bit as real as Oscar, and as he approached me, he began to purr. Timidly I extended a hand and the cat sniffed it slowly. This time he acquainted himself with every finger before he let me stroke his sleek side.

As the cat rubbed himself against me, I glanced at Kristi. Still hiding her face in her hands, she was crouching a few inches away. "Is it gone?" she whimpered.

"He's just an ordinary cat," I told her. "Can't you hear him purring?"

Keeping her eyes squeezed shut, Kristi moved her hands to cover her ears. "Make it go away, Ashley," she begged. "Make it go away!"

Ignoring her, I let the cat climb into my lap. While he sniffed Anna Maria's hair and clothes, I examined the leather collar he wore around his neck. On a little bra.s.s tag was the name s...o...b..ll. Not very original, I thought, but when I said it aloud, he purred louder and b.u.mped his face against mine.

"Kristi," I said, "stop acting like a baby. He's no ghost. He must belong to someone. He even has a name - s...o...b..ll."

Kristi slowly opened her eyes and stared at s...o...b..ll. She frowned and shook her head, obviously unconvinced. "n.o.body around here has a cat like that, Ashley."

"Maybe he jumped out of a car or something." I smiled at s...o...b..ll and he meowed and rubbed against Anna Maria. Then he slipped out of my arms and sniffed the box. He went over even inch of it with his little pink nose, his body tense, his ears p.r.i.c.ked. When his nose had told him all it could, he looked at me. For a second I expected him to speak, but he swung his head toward the house instead and crouched beside me, his ears pressed against his skull.

At the same moment, Max started barking. Peering through the jungle of rosebushes and weeds between us and the lawn, I saw Max running toward us with Miss Cooper hobbling behind him.

"Quick, hide Anna Maria!" I thrust the doll into the box and Kristi shoved it deep into the brambles. I was sure Miss Cooper would take her if she saw her. After all, we'd found the doll on her property.

s...o...b..ll followed Anna Maria into the shrubbery, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid Max. The dog crashed through the underbrush and chased the cat across the lawn. s...o...b..ll ran past Miss Cooper like a white streak and disappeared under the hedge separating her yard from the empty lot.

It would have been smart to stay hidden, but I was worried about s...o...b..ll. As I plunged out of the shrubbery, shouting at Max, Miss Cooper waved her cane at me.

"You, girl!" she cried. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of the garden?"

"Call your dog back!" I shouted. "He'll hurt s...o...b..ll!"

Miss Cooper stared at me. "That cat doesn't need any help from you or me," she muttered. "The devil takes care of his own!" Her voice quavered, and she clutched her cane so tightly the knuckles on her hands whitened.

Max came back then, and Miss Cooper called him to her side. He dropped to his haunches and growled at me as I edged away slowly, determined not to let the dog know I was scared of him. Suddenly Miss Cooper's hand shot out and caught my arm.

"Where's that Smith girl?" she asked.

As far as I knew, Kristi was still hiding in the garden, but I shook my head and pretended not to know what the old woman was talking about.

"She had better not be in my roses." Miss Cooper let me go and hobbled toward the garden. Prodding the shrubbery with her cane, she called, "You come out of there, girl, or I'll send Max in to get you!"

"Miss Cooper, Ashley, what's the trouble?" Mom was coming down the steps, and Miss Cooper wheeled about to face her.

"You better get some control of this girl," the old woman told Mom. "I already talked to you once today about her. Like I said, I'll have you out of here next week if she doesn't start behaving!"

Without another word. Miss Cooper snapped her fingers at Max and the two of them walked away. Mom stared after her, but she didn't try to stop her. As soon as Miss Cooper's door slammed shut, Mom turned to me.

"Ashley, what's going on?" Mom pushed her hair behind her ears, and I noticed the long silver)' threads s.h.i.+ning in the dark waxes. Ever since Daddy died, I thought, the gray hairs had multiplied along with the tiny lines around her eyes that saddened her face.

Feeling guilty for taking her away from her work, I put my arms around her waist and hugged her.

"I'm sorry, Mom," I whispered. "She's such an old grouch."

"I know, honey," Mom said. "But if she evicts us, where will we rind another place? Until I get a job, we have to be very careful with money."

"I'll try not to bother her," I promised, but I knew the very fact that I walked on the floor over her head annoyed Miss Cooper.

"Let's go inside," Mom said. "I made some iced tea."

Although I hated to leave Anna Maria in the garden, I followed Mom toward the house. Miss Cooper was probably watching me from her kitchen window, just waiting to catch me, her finger poised on the telephone dial ready to call the real estate company.

As I started up the steps, I glanced back and saw Kristi run across her yard. I was glad she, at least, had escaped Miss Cooper's anger. ^ ***

That evening while Mom and I were sitting on the porch, I glanced at the garden, darkening now as night approached. Poor Anna Maria was lying alone under the bushes. It wasn't right to leave her there with nothing to protect her. Later, when Mom was asleep, I decided I'd sneak outside and bring Anna Maria into the house where she'd be safe.

"Is that the cat you saw?" Mom asked suddenly.

I peered into the dusk and glimpsed s...o...b..ll's white fur as he vanished into the garden. A little s.h.i.+ver ran up and down my arms and lingered at the back of my neck as Miss Cooper's words echoed in my ears. Was s...o...b..ll the devil's creature?

Chapter 7.

A Midnight Adventure WHEN I GOT into bed, Oscar was curled up on my pillow waiting for me. He purred happily while I petted him, and when he'd had enough affection, he settled down on the windowsill to watch the night.

Was he waiting for s...o...b..ll? Crawling to the foot of my bed, I peered down at the yard. Mom was still typing, and an oblong of light from Miss Cooper's kitchen window slanted across the gra.s.s. Fireflies winked and blinked in the shadows, but the garden was nearly invisible in the darkness.

I waited till my eyelids got so heavy I could barely see, but there was no sign of s...o...b..ll. Just the crickets chirping, the leaves rustling, and now and then a pa.s.sing car. Once the kitchen door opened and Max bounded out. I watched him run around the backyard, his dog tags jingling, but he didn't go into the garden and he didn't bark. He just did his business and went back inside.

After the door shut behind Max, the kitchen light went out, and the backyard surrendered itself to the moon. Its full face peered down from high in the sky, brightening the water in Miss Cooper's birdbath, illuminating the cl.u.s.ters of Queen Anne's lace in the garden, casting black shadows everywhere else.

A little later, Mom's typewriter stopped clicking. I listened to her moving around, getting ready for bed.

When everything was still, I looked at my clock radio, glowing green on top of the bureau. It was after twelve. Taking my flashlight, I crept out of my room, shutting Oscar inside to keep him from following me.

I eased the back door open and tiptoed down the steps. They were already cool and damp with dew, and I s.h.i.+vered as a little breeze puffed my nightgown away from my legs. All around me, the night lived its secret life. As I ran across the gra.s.s toward the garden, I felt as if a host of creatures watched me from the inky black shadows.

I paused at the end of the lawn and looked back at the house. All the windows were dark, but the moonlight shone full on the white clapboard and sent an intricate shadow from the stairs slanting across the wall. I was sure Oscar was still at his post, and I hoped he was the only one to see me slowly push aside the bushes and creep into the garden.

Brambles s.n.a.t.c.hed at my hair and my nightgown as I made my way slowly toward the goldfish pond. A spider's web brushed my face, frightening me with its clammy touch, but I told myself I wasn't a baby like Kristi. There was nothing in the garden to hurt me. Nothing to scare me.

When I was sure I was invisible from the house, I sent the beam of my flashlight darting through the underbrush, seeking Anna Maria's box. Shadows danced around me and another gust of wind flipped the leaves silver side up. Where had Kristi hidden the doll?

Hearing a faint meow, I turned the flashlight in the sound's direction and saw s...o...b..ll crouched beside the box. His eyes reflected the beam of light, and his fur glimmered.

"You found her for me, didn't you?" I whispered as he rubbed against me.

s...o...b..ll purred louder when I shone the light into the open box. In its beam, Anna Maria looked pale and worn with age; her face seemed as sad as Mom's.

"You'll be safe now," I told her. "I'll take good care of you and love you and never let you go, Anna Maria."

As I whispered to the doll, s...o...b..ll tried to wedge himself between her and me. Putting his paws on the doll's body, he kneaded her with his claws and meowed like a baby kitten.

"No, s...o...b..ll." I pushed him away. "You'll tear her clothes."