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.During lunch period, he called his mother at work.She said he could go as long as it didn’t cost any money.Will had a harder time getting out of shoveling mulch.“But it will be educational,” he pleaded into the phone.“Jack’s aunt is a geologist.Uh, I mean genealogist.And I’m going to write a paper about it for school,” he added.That must have been enough to clinch it, because he was smiling when he put the receiver down.When Jack arrived home, an unfamiliar white Land Rover was parked at the end of the driveway.A surprising choice for Aunt Linda, who usually leased a sports car when she came to visit.He found Becka in the kitchen, loading sandwiches into a cooler.“Linda is visiting with Nick,” she explained.“She said to tell you to go ahead and get packed.”Jack’s duffle sat open on his bed.Next to it was a small parcel wrapped in butcher paper with a bright blue block print design.He picked up the package and examined it curiously.It was almost weightless in his hands.“Mercedes left that for you,” Aunt Linda said from the doorway, making him jump.“She said it might come in handy on the trip.”How did Mercedes get involved? Were their travel plans posted on the town Web site? Or displayed on the magnetic sign in the university commons? Jack made a noise of disgust.Sometimes he hated living in a small town.He ripped the paper away.It was a sleeveless vest, woven in a lightweight gray fiber that seemed familiar.Three silver buttons decorated the front.When Jack looked more closely, he saw they were the faces of three different bears, in silver, gold, and copper.“Not exactly my style,” he muttered, tossing it onto the bed.“And it’s not even my birthday.But tell her thanks anyway.”What had gotten into Mercedes? She knew what kind of clothes he wore.Nothing more exotic than jeans and T-shirts.She saw him practically every day of the week.Linda remained in the doorway, her arms folded.“Try it on,” she said.Jack looked up, startled.He wanted to argue, but knew that if Linda meant for him to put the thing on, there was no point in fighting it.“I feel stupid,” he growled, snatching it up off the bed and pulling it on over his T-shirt.It fit perfectly.He finally realized what it reminded him of.It was made of the same yarn as the baby blanket Mercedes had made for him years ago, now packed away in a box under his bed.“Looks good,” Linda said.She twisted a lock of her hair between her finger and thumb.There was a tension about her that he hadn’t noticed in the morning.She had just come from Nick’s.Could the old caretaker have said something to upset her?When he went to take the vest off, she put up her hand.“Leave it on.”He supposed he should be glad it wasn’t pink with purple polka dots.Will and Fitch would have plenty to say about it.“Thanks a lot, Aunt Linda.I hear this is what all the guys are wearing.” Grumbling under his breath, he yanked open his bottom drawer and started packing.Linda took in his sullen expression.“Look, I’m not out to embarrass you.It would just mean so much to.to Mercedes if you would wear it.Why don’t you put a sweatshirt over it, if it makes you happier? It’s chilly out anyway.” And she smiled that smile that always made you want to please her.Jack wondered how flattered Mercedes would be to know he was wearing her precious vest like underwear.He found his Ohio State sweatshirt on the floor, pulled it over his head, and zipped up the duffle.Then he remembered what he’d meant to tell her.“Oh, yeah.Will and Fitch are both coming,” he said.He thought she’d be pleased, but she frowned and said, “Oh,” like she’d completely forgotten she’d invited them.“Maybe we should just go by ourselves,” she suggested, after a pause.Jack stared at her in disbelief.“You can’t be serious.You were the one who told me to invite them in the first place.”She wrapped her arms around herself, shifting from one foot to the other.“I.it’s just that—”“Mom’s packing enough food for an army.She even made brownies, for once, instead of those disgusting bran applesauce carrot bars.”“All right.Never mind.I just hope they get here soon.I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible.”She’s moodier than I remember, Jack thought.Back in the kitchen, Becka was just closing up the cooler.“This should tide you boys over if Linda won’t stop to eat.She really does seem to be on a mission.I’ll put your medicine in your duffel,” she added pointedly, sliding the big blue bottle in with Jack’s clothes.“Don’t get so involved in family history that you forget to take it.”And then Will and Fitch arrived, seeming to fill up the kitchen.Will was wearing his varsity jacket, T-shirt, and blue jeans.Fitch wore an army issue camouflage jacket, a bright yellow sweatshirt with the logo of a country music station emblazoned on the front, and gray-green climbing pants with a red necktie threaded through for a belt.Jack realized that no matter what he wore, he could never match Fitch’s display.Fitch played by his own rules, and it never bothered him that the preps called him weird.“Weird is good, strange is bad,” Fitch always said.Jack felt a little better.Chapter ThreeDigging Up Dead RelativesLinda had a heavy foot.She seemed determined to make up at least part of the time they had wasted at school.Whenever Jack, who was riding shotgun, stole a look at the speedometer, it hovered around eighty-five.He had been hoping she might ask him to drive, but realized they would only lose time with him at the wheel.They passed through a series of tired little towns: a traffic light, a gas station or two.As darkness fell, they began to see the debris of strip mining: heaps of slag and mine tailings.Iron oil rigs crouched like giant mosquitoes in the dusk, sucking the black blood out of the land.“Have either of you ever been here before?” Will asked.“My mom brought me down here a few years ago,” Jack admitted.Dragged was more accurate.Becka had made him walk all over those hills, looking for the family homestead.They never did find it.“My great-great grandmother Susannah lived here.She was quite a character, I guess.She played banjo and fiddle and made killer black cherry wine.”Linda took up the tale without taking her eyes from the road.“Susannah is the one we’re looking for.She had the Second Sight, they say.She communed with spirits, read the cards, and had prophetic dreams.”“She sounds like some kind of witch,” Fitch remarked.“Mom’s always been into that kind of thing,” Jack said, grinning.“It’s been rumored that magic runs in our family, you know.”“I’d prefer that to allergies,” Fitch said, sneezing.“Susannah had quite a following around here, mostly women.” Linda swerved to miss a groundhog.“In those days, it always seemed to be men who made the future, and women who needed to protect themselves against it.”Jack stared out the window.This home of his ancestors was on the way to nowhere; a place of graveyards, where they dug up the coal and buried the people.It was fully dark when they reached Coal Grove, the county seat, a town without a traffic light.An ornate old courthouse anchored one end of the square.The stores were all closed, although several cars littered the parking lot next to the movie theatre; light and music spilled from a place called the Bluebird Cafe diagonally across from the courthouse.Friday night in Coal Grove, Jack thought.Even slower than Trinity.Linda turned the Land Rover down one of the side streets off the square and parked along the curb under a huge maple tree.There were no streetlights, and it was pitch black in the shadow of the great tree.“Where are we?” asked Will, puzzled.“Aren’t we going to the motel?”“I need to go to the courthouse first,” Linda replied, climbing down out of the front seat.She slung a backpack over her shoulder and slammed the car door [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]