The Hole in the Wall - Lisa Rowe Fraustino [79]
So much for all our fears and worries. The second I saw the house, I knew things had changed for the better. It actually seemed to stand a little straighter, like Miss Beverly’s neck. The front door opened right away as soon as Ma turned the key, no kicking necessary! There was hardly any water left in the basement, and the remaining puddles just looked like ordinary yuck water, no colors except rusty brown.
Same thing in the yard—most of the water had been sucked away, even that almost-pond the henhouse had been swimming in and Pa had soaked in. Plus, there were really cool looking swirls etched into the mud. All the drag marks and footprints had been erased from the night Pa got adrified. The walls in the castle had lost their colors, but there were grayish shadows of swirl shapes left behind there too. I put a cuckoo back on the wall, and it had nothing to say.
When we got done checking everything out, Ma put her hands on her hips, shook her head, and sighed towards the jam-packed SUV. “I’m pooped. Let’s hit the hay and leave all that junk to take care of tomorrow.”
Just then the car door opened and out stepped Pa, looking fresh as a daisy. “Hey, what are we doing back home? I thought we were going camping!”
“That was when we were running for our lives, Craig,” Ma said. “Our property’s fine, Stan Odum’s off our backs, and I’m going to bed.” She turned toward the front steps.
Pa grunted in a sort of disappointed way. He looked at me and then Barbie with a question in his eyes. It reminded me of the look he used to give when he was teaching us something and wanting to know if we’d gotten it—how to start a bonfire, how to worm a fishhook. Then he turned all around, looking for something, someone . . . Jed. Pa’s eyes lit up at the sight of him playing chase with Stupid. I mean Fluffy Kitty.
Then Pa stepped toward Ma, calling, “Claire, wait, don’t go.”
Ma paused at the kitchen door and turned her head toward Pa. Just her head. “What now?”
“We’re all packed and ready,” he said. “What do you say to a spontaneous camping trip, Mrs. Daniels?”
Cocking her head in amusement, Ma turned our way and looked from face to face. I made prayer hands and begged with my eyes. Say yes, Ma. Say yes!
“Tomorrow’s . . . a school day,” she said slowly.
“Oh, so what. Let the kids have some fun for a change,” said Pa. “We ain’t had a vacation in years.” He didn’t sound all blustery and bossy, though. He sounded a little nervous.
“No school for the rest of the week!” Grum called from inside the house. “They just announced it on the news. All the public water and sewer lines in town have been damaged. Electricity’s out all along Main Street too.”
“Yay! No school!” I said while Barbie said, “No school? Darn!”
“Well, I guess,” said Ma, getting my hopes up, “if you really want to go camping, you all can go ahead and have fun without me. I have to work. We can’t afford for me to take time off.”
Down went my hopes. What if this Pa wasn’t the jolly old camping Pa, just the couch warmer Pa in a rare good mood? I didn’t want to go anywhere with him and without Ma.
Pa was still working on her. “You can go to work from the campground, dear. In fact, you’ll be closer. It’s just a five minute drive from there to the factory.”
“That’s a fact, but everything’s easier at home, getting ready for work, cooking, all that.” Ma’s voice had a kind of wishful tone behind her excuses, though. We almost had her. I knew she wouldn’t appreciate any unsolicited comments from the peanut gallery, so I just begged her harder with my eyes, and jiggled a lot.
“Sebby, do you have to use the bathroom?” Ma asked.
“No, I just really want you to go camping with us.”
At that, Pa stepped between me and Barbie and put an arm around each of us. “Myself and the twins’ll have the fish all fried up in the pan when you get out of work. Right-o, kids?”
Wow. I nodded my head off, because “Right-o” couldn’t get by the lump in my throat. This was beautiful.
“Sure, Pa,” said Barbie. She looked pretty pleased, too, in spite of her horrible disappointment at having to go a week