Blackberry Winter

“I hope he’s getting along all right without you.”

“I hope his hair catches on fire,” Loran said as she pulled the SUV onto the road. “What?” she asked pointedly, because of Maddie’s startled look.

“Well, me, too, then,” Maddie said, making Loran smile again in spite of her worry. Her mother might be difficult to contain, but she was blindly loyal.

“Don’t ask me why,” Loran warned her.

“I don’t care why. If you want his pin feathers singed, that’s good enough for me. I think Meyer thinks you’re cute, by the way.”

“I am cute.”

“And so modest, too. Oh—” Maddie said, suddenly grabbing the door.

“What is it?” Loran asked, reaching out to steady her.

“I’m feeling a little…wobbly….”

“Wobbly? What do you mean, wobbly?”

“Just…tired all of a sudden. It happens sometimes.” She leaned back and closed her eyes, then took a deep breath. Then another one.

Loran was already slowing down the SUV, looking for a place to pull off the road.

“No, don’t stop,” Maddie said, opening her eyes. “Keep going. Just take me back to the house. I can rest while you go find us something good to eat. Maybe that place Meyer mentioned.”

“I’m not leaving you by yourself. This trip has been too much for you. Maybe we should find a doctor. I’ll ask Mrs. Jenkins where the closest—”

“I don’t need a doctor. I need to eat. Just drop me off at the B and B. It shouldn’t take you long. I’ll be fine while you’re gone. It’s already starting to pass.” She took another a deep breath. “Buy something with a lot of onions, will you?” she said as if it were all settled. “And watch the road, not me.”

“Mother—”

“Loran, stop worrying. Will you please just return me to my room? I’ll feel much better after I shower and eat something.”

“I wish I could believe you—you have no idea what it’s like having such a liar for a mother,” Loran said, and Maddie laughed.

“Ah, well. We all have our heavy burdens to bear.”

Loran kept driving. They weren’t far from the B and B now. Maddie did seem better. She was sitting up a little straighter at any rate.

“So what were you doing at the cemetery?” Loran asked after a moment.

“Just looking.”

“At what?”

“Headstones mostly. There’s not much else out there.”

“Right. And I’m supposed to believe that, I guess.”

“Well, what else would I be doing?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking. I just don’t…” Loran gave a quiet sigh instead of continuing, mostly so she wouldn’t say something she couldn’t take back.

“Don’t what?”

“Understand! I don’t understand why you wanted me to come. And now that I’m here you’re…hiding!”

“Farther along, daughter,” Maddie said.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s a song. About having patience because all will be revealed. Later.”

“A song. Great. Do you have any idea how much I want to help you—and how am I going to do that if you won’t let me!” The tremor in her voice was back, in spite of all she could do, and Maddie reached out to caress her shoulder.

“If it’s any comfort to you, I don’t understand what’s going on with me, either. I think I’m…filled with whims, that’s all. Well, actually, I’ve always been filled with whims. It’s just that now I’m giving in to them. And I kind of like it, you know?”

“Like…what?”

“Like eating whatever I want to eat. Going wherever I want to go.”

“Going to a cemetery in the cold with a total stranger?”

“That, too,” Maddie said, looking out the side window. There was nothing to see in the dark, nothing to see in the daytime, either. Maddie was clearly avoiding the cemetery topic again.

“So what did he mean?”

“Who?”

“Meyer, Mother. The total stranger. He said this wasn’t your day. He must have meant something. What was it?”

“He meant that you weren’t happy about me being there. And one of the locals had just left—she wasn’t happy about me being there, either.”

“Why not?” Loran asked, realizing she had probably encountered that particular local herself.

“I look highly suspicious,” Maddie said.

“Right. You look like everybody’s idea of a graveyard vandal. What about Meyer? I guess he’s suspicious-looking, too.”

“Well, the light was bad, and people here don’t like outsiders.”

“Tell me about it,” Loran said under her breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. How do you know they don’t like outsiders?”

“I’ve seen Mrs. Jenkins’s face,” Maddie said.