Child of Darkness Read online

  "I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to think my cousin was weird or I'm weird or anything, but when we left the school, Trevor, Ami was parked across the street."

  "What?" He stepped back. "You mean she was spying on you?"

  "Yes," I said. "I'm even afraid she followed us here. She might get Basil to take back the car or something." He thought a moment.

  "Man, she is nuts," he said.

  "Maybe not in her way of thinking or even Wade's. After all, what happened was quite a shock to everyone, and they are responsible for me until I'm eighteen. Let's do this slowly," I said. "I have to live there, and they are my guardians, technically."

  He looked about his room and sighed.

  "What a waste," he said.

  "No, it's not. When you call me later, I'll be able to picture just where you are," I said.

  He smiled and then stepped forward to kiss me, holding me with his left hand while his right jetted out in that humongous cast, now splattered with stupid sayings and the signatures of our fellow students. Lester Hodes, a very good art student, had drawn a picture of a monkey riding on the back of a goat, an obvious allusion to Othello.

  I couldn't help laughing at the picture of the two of us caught in his dresser mirror.

  "We make some romantic sight," I said.

  "Yeah, but don't think a little thing like this or even your paranoid cousin is going to stop me from loving you, Celeste," he said, his face turning serious.

  "I won't," I promised, kissed him again, and turned to leave.

  He followed me to the door, and we kissed once more before I hurried to the car. He stood there watching me drive off, a look of frustration on his

  handsome face. As soon as I pulled out of his driveway, I looked again for signs of Ami's car, but I didn't see it anywhere. At least she hadn't gone this far, I thought, but I girded myself to face what would surely be a most severe lecture when I got home.

  To my surprise, it wasn't that way at all. She was in another one of her buoyant moods, coming to my room with a bag in hand from one of her favorite boutiques. She wanted to show me a new blouse she said she just had to get for me.

  "The moment I saw it, I envisioned it on you," she said, holding it up against me. "It's a color that brings out your eyes. Yes, it does. And you can wear it now. This is a warm material," she added.

  "Thank you, Ami."

  "Isn't it wonderful having your own car, being able to go and come when you please?"

  "Yes," I said, holding my breath in anticipation of what was to come.

  "I told you it would be," she said instead. "Just wait until it sinks into the heads of some of those other girls at school. They'll be beating down the doors to become your best friend. Anyway, go do your homework or whatever. I have to confer with Mrs. McAlister on tonight's dinner. Basil's coming. He wants to hear all about your first days with the car. I swear, he's acting like a teenager himself these days.

  "Oh," she continued in the doorway, "Wade won't be at dinner again tonight. Seems his manager's wife was in a car accident, and he's had to take her to a New York City hospital. Some serious spine injury or something," she said. "So naturally, Wade has to stay at the warehouse to deal with his new emergency. I think he feeds on these business crises. Like a vampire," she added with a short, thin laugh, and left.

  The nervousness did not leave my body, despite Ami's happy demeanor. I knew she had seen me take Trevor home. Maybe she had concluded it was better not to be so negative. Maybe she hoped I would come to her conclusions on my own if she stepped back.

  I went right to my homework. A little more than an hour before dinner, Ami returned, and to my surprise, she brought one of her dresses with her.

  "I thought you'd enjoy wearing this tonight," she said, spreading it on my bed. "I hardly wear it anymore because I have so many others that are similar. It's practically brand-new."

  It looked no bigger than a bath towel.

  "But I have so many of my own nice things to wear now, Ami," I said.

  "Basil loved me in this dress," she said with a cool smile on her lips. "He'll love it on you, too, and we so want to please him tonight after all he's done for you, don't we?" she asked, making it sound as if everything he had done for me, he had done for her as well. "It's just a little thing," she added, "but sometimes the smallest things please a man to no end."

  I looked more closely at the dress. It was a flared black short-sleeved dress with a low plunge front with a strap to hold the breast area together, cut out of a very slinky material. The skirt was really a true mini.

  "It will fit you better and look better on you than it did on me," she insisted. "You have a firmer, larger bust than I do, and your hips are fuller as well. Go on, put it on, and don't forget to use that cologne Basil loves. We're going to have a wonderful dinner. Mrs. McAlister has prepared one of Basil's favorite meals, rack of lamb. Scrumptious," she said.

  She stepped forward to fluff my bangs a bit and then looked at me with what I thought was more like a mother's pride than a sister's or friend's.

  "You're very beautiful. Never be ashamed of it. Never," she admonished, as if she was afraid I had been infected with too much humility.

  She checked her watch.

  "We'll go down on time tonight. He'll

  appreciate that," she said.

  After she left, I tried on the dress. It was a little more than tight and left little to imagine about my body. I felt constricted, afraid to move, to bend. So much of my bosom showed, my nipples prominent under the thin material. I debated with myself. It makes me look cheap, I thought. I am not a prude, but to wear this to a family dinner? On the other hand, Ami had made it sound so important to please Basil and show gratitude. Wasn't there a nicer way? Wasn't a sincere thank-you enough? I hadn't asked him for the things he gave me. I was excited and overjoyed about them, but there was such a thing as going too far.

  "Rip it off," a voice resembling Noble's told me. "It's disgusting on you. It's too tight; it's too short. You actually look ridiculous, look like a caricature of a sexy young girl. It's not you, Celeste, and doesn't Basil like you for who you really are? Didn't he compare you to his wife when she was younger? Ami's wrong."

  On the other hand, she is so volatile these days, I thought. Her mood swings are so great. Disobeying her, rejecting her suggestion, could make her maudlin, angry, and the dinner and evening would be ruined. She might get one of her headaches. You'd be the cause of new trouble. Just get it over with, I thought. Wear the stupid dress, spray on the cologne, and get through the evening.

  In the end that was what I decided. Of course, when Ami saw me, she exclaimed that she had been right.

  "I just knew you would be a knockout in that dress. You could be a movie star easily. How far you've come from that homely, dark-faced waif at the orphanage. They made you sexless and took your selfconfidence. Now you have it back, and how!"

  That wasn't how I recalled our first meeting, I thought. She made me feel as if we really were sisters, that my features were very attractive, and that I was bright and lovely and simply perfect.

  I smiled, but noted that she was wearing a far more conservative dress, with three-quarter sleeves and an ankle-length hem.

  We started down together.

  "Wade's missing a very special occasion," she said as we descended. "He's such a fool to be so devoted to that plumbing business. He says he hates it, but just try to tear him away during the day. Just try to get him to attend a luncheon or go to a matinee or anything. He acts like it would be a cardinal sin to desert his precious pipes and fittings."

  "Maybe, like us, he's just trying to make his father happy," I offered, and she stopped on the steps as if I had tugged her hair. I didn't mean it to sound sarcastic.

  She looked at me and smiled.

  "We're just being beautiful, appreciative young women, Celeste. We're not bung up on pleasing anyone more than he should be pleased."

  "I didn't mean--"

/>   "Well, there you are," Basil cried from the hallway. He wore a black sport jacket, red tie, and black slacks with sporty-looking black leather loafers. "The two of you make my heart race like an Olympic runner's heart. This woman's done wonders with you, Celeste. You're going to conquer the world!" he cried. His exuberance brought a smile to my reluctant, timid lips. "Let's get to that dinner. I'm starving. It smells like gourmet paradise in there."

  When we stepped into the dining room, I saw a small, nicely wrapped box by my place setting. I looked at Ami, who wore a conspiratorial smile.

  "What's this?" I asked immediately.

  "A graduation gift," Basil said.

  "Graduation? I didn't graduate from anything."

  "Oh, yes, you did, young lady," he said sternly. "You graduated from the world of the unfortunate to our precious little kingdom of happiness. You have become independent and confident and your own young lady, a young lady I'd match against any of those back at your private school or anywhere, for that matter, no matter their upbringing or how much money their parents have.

  "Hey," he said in a less laudatory tone, "you're my first complete success in a long time. I wasn't always this good with my own kids. You make me feel twenty years younger. Go on, open the gift," he urged, nodding at it.

  I sat and began to undo the thin ribbon. Then I peeled off the paper neatly and opened the box. Inside was a gold key chain with the key to the Mercedes sports car already attached. What's more, the key chain had my name engraved in it.

  "It's beautiful," I said, taking it out to admire it. "Beautiful things for my beautiful ladies," Basil declared.

  "Thank you, Basil."

  The sight of it brought tears to my eyes now. He laughed, and so did Ami. She hugged me, and then he approached to kiss me on the cheek. He kept his face close to mine, with his eyes closed, as if he could in-hale my very essence. I drank in his strong, masculine aftershave and cologne. Then he bounced back and cried, "Let's pour the wine."

  He filled our glasses and then proposed a toast.

  "To Celeste. Let this be the beginning of many, many successful accomplishments," he said.

  The three of us drank. I felt bad about Wade not being here to enjoy all this. It promised to be a very special dinner. There was none of the tension I usually felt when Wade was here. Perhaps Ami had been right, I thought. When Basil was happy, the house seemed to take on more light and be filled with the echo of more laughter.

  Mrs. Cukor stepped out of the kitchen to serve us our dinner. Although she looked at me with the same dark eyes filled with foreboding, she didn't seem as aggressive or angry. I wasn't happy about that, how-ever, because she looked more defeated, fatalistic.

  There was an air of doom about her as though angry, bruised clouds hovered over her head and followed her about the dinning room, into the kitchen, and back, never leaving her and threatening constantly to rain down a tragic storm. She moved almost listlessly, placing dishes, serving potatoes and vegetables in silence. She didn't appear to hear Basil's laughter and joyous voice, Ami's thin crystal giggles, or my own happy protests at Basil's endless

  compliments about my learning abilities, my motor skills, my politeness and mature ways.

  "When they first brought you to this house," he said, taking on a more serious tone, folding his hands together and leaning forward, "I thought, what a foolish thing to do, bringing a teenager to live here, and only for a short time at that. Of course," he said, nodding at Ami, "I thought it was nice of my children to do generous things, but I know firsthand how difficult young people can be. Why add more turmoil to your life? Just give the orphanage or whatever a donation. Other people are better equipped for this sort of thing.

  "Little did I know that Ami was bringing so refined and accomplished a young lady into our lives. I've heard about your piano teacher's compliments already," he said. "And your accomplishments at school, of course, which is why I said I would like to help you continue your education.

  "Ami's our little shopper," he continued, smiling at her. "She always buys the right things, gets Wade the right things, gets the right things for the house, whatever. It shouldn't have surprised me that she went out and did her homework when it came to bringing the right young lady into our home. You're to be congratulated, Ami," he said.

  She smiled, glanced at me, and looked down, out of not modesty but sadness, I thought, which sounded a discordant note.

  Basil slapped his hands together before I could think any more about it.

  "No more speeches. Let's eat!" he declared, and Mrs. Cukor brought out the rack of lamb, staring ahead, I thought, like someone assisting an

  executioner, bringing the victim her final meal.

  Later I discovered that Mrs. McAlister had baked a chocolate cake inscribed "Congratulations Celeste" in whipped cream for our dessert.

  While we ate, Basil asked me if I had any questions about the car and how I was enjoying it so far. I looked at Ami to see if her face would betray what she knew--that I had taken Trevor home after school--but now she looked amused and happy, her small smile stuck around her lips.

  I wondered why Wade wasn't home yet, and hoped he would at least appear for dessert. As if my thoughts could affect events, Basil was called to the phone a few minutes later and returned to tell us there had been an accident at the warehouse. One of their workers had been struck by falling pipes and taken to the hospital.

  "It's just one of those days," he said, referring to the manager's wife's car accident.

  Mrs. Cukor muttered, "Trouble always comes in threes."

  "Please," Ami moaned. "We don't need to add to the sadness with dire predictions."

  Undaunted, Mrs. Cukor glanced at me sternly before leaving.

  "What's Wade doing?" Ami asked Basil.

  "He's gone over to the hospital," he said. He was thoughtful a moment. "I lost a young man once, almost the same way. Someone else was careless, and the pipe struck him in the right temple and killed him on the spot. Second year after I began the business, matter of fact.

  "Wade takes it all too personally," he concluded. "Accidents happen everywhere. Anyway," he cried, "let's not permit this to spoil our

  celebration."

  Basil decided we all needed an after-dinner drink, so we went into the living room for what he called "our final toast of the night."

  It was a rather sweet, but strong cognac. In fact, it made me a little dizzy.

  As soon as we finished the drink, Basil decided he had to go over to the hospital.

  "My name is still on everything that happens there," he explained. "It's a family business and will always be."

  He kissed me, and I thanked him again for the gold key chain. Ami walked him out, and I returned to my room to finish my homework and begin another newspaper assignment, but as I felt a little giddy from all the wine and the after-dinner drink, I decided it would be better if I just woke up a little earlier and did the rest of the work before breakfast.

  Just after I got undressed and ready for bed, Ami knocked on my door.

  "Have you heard from Wade?" I asked immediately. "How is the employee?"

  "No, he hasn't phoned yet. Don't worry about it. I'm sure they'll do what they can. The Emersons always look after their own. That's why they're so successful," she added, finally giving Wade a decent compliment.

  She hesitated a long moment, keeping her eyes down.

  "Is there anything else wrong?" I asked.

  She looked up at me with tears clouding her eyes. "I'm so happy for you, happy for us all. But--"

  "But what?"

  "I know," she continued, "that young love is often blind and relentless. It's the nature of young people that they have to make their own mistakes. My father used to say wisdom is wasted on the old. I know you're still involved with Trevor Foley, and I've already seen how deep that involvement is."

  "Ami, I just took him home. Nothing else happened."

  "I believe you. We didn't get you a prescription for
the pills the other day, but I'd like you to start with this," she said, holding out her palm, in which she had a small white pill. There was something written on one side of it, but my vision was too cloudy to read much of the small lettering beside an R at the beginning of whatever word was embossed. I did see an encircled 2 on the other side.

  I realized Ami wasn't going to leave until I took the pill, so I got some water and did it in front of her. She looked relieved.

  "I really don't think it was necessary, Ami," I said. She smiled at me.

  "Oh, it was necessary," she said with a strange assurance.

  I shrugged.

  Whatever, I thought.

  "It's so wonderful how Basil has taken to you, Celeste. He'll do wonderful things for you. Let him. It gives him so much pleasure. You know his own daughter won't let him do things for her."

  "But you said that was because of what he did when her mother was alive."

  "Yes, yes," she said, waving her hand, "but you'd think children would be more forgiving of their parents."

  "You told me--" What had she told me? Everything was so mixed up.

  "We've got to go with the flow, silly. We've got to do whatever makes life happier and easier for us. That's what I've been teaching you.

  "Don't worry about all this," she said, closing my schoolbooks and my notebook. "You can do it later."

  "I know. I--"

  She pulled back the blanket on my bed.

  "Go on, get some sleep," she said. "You've had quite a day and quite an evening. Come on, silly," she urged, and I laughed and climbed into bed. She tucked the blanket in around me. "Sweet dreams, Celeste, my Celeste," she said as she stroked my hair. "You're always in mine. You've been there for some time. Even before I set eyes on you," she added, which made no sense to me.

  But then, nothing was making sense to me. I started to think about things that happened at dinner, things that were said, but everything was so jumbled. I felt her kiss me on the cheek, brush my hair again, and then I heard her walk out, turning the lights off as she slowly closed the bedroom door.

  Moments later, I felt as if the room was spinning. I closed my eyes and surely blacked out, but it wasn't for long. I opened my eyes again and tried to move my arms, but they seemed disconnected. The same was true for my legs. A moment later I was drifting back, falling into the bed, sinking deeper and deeper. I closed and opened my eyes, but nothing changed.