I bumped up the long drive, parked, and went around to the
trunk to get Amy's books. My feet didn't make any noise
on
the driveway, gravel once upon a time, but now grown over
with grass and weeds. Amy cut everything back in October,
but since she didn't drive, she didn't see the need for
much in the way of weekly maintenance. Like, none.
Shutting the trunk with my elbow, I walked up the path
that led to the house. Here, with trees growing close and
birds singing overhead, it was hard to believe that Amy
lived in the heart of Rynwood.
The back door looked as it always did—in need of
paint and new weather stripping. I pulled open the
wooden–framed screen door and knocked on the door's
glass window. "Amy?" I called loudly. "It's Beth."
There was no answering call, but that was normal. It
usually took three sets of knocking and calling to convince
Amy to come to the door.
Knock, knock. "Amy?"
Knock, knock. "Hello? Amy?"
It wasn't until the fifth set, that I realized what any
rational person would have figured out some time ago: She
wasn't home. Which didn't make any sense, because Amy was
always home.
Always.
My knuckles were getting sore from knocking. "Amy? Amy!
"
She had to be here. Any second now she'd scurry to the
door and apologize for making me wait. She'd . . . been in
the attic. Sure, that was it. She'd been looking for—
"Looking for Amy?"
I whirled around.
A man stood in front of a long row of lilac bushes;
their waving branches on this breezeless morning solid
evidence of his passage. Which was a good thing, because in
this fairy tale–ish setting, his small stature and
thick white hair gave him a very elfin look.
"Yes," I said. "She's not sick, is she?"
He walked to the porch and trotted up the stairs.
Somehow the fact that he carried a pair of pruning shears
didn't bother me a bit. Elves just aren't threatening
creatures.
"Thurman Schroeder is the name," he said. "Selling
cars
is the game. Or it was, until I retired. Now I clip shrubs
and try to pretend I'm useful. My wife says she'll keep
me
around as long as I can take out the garbage, but I don't
want to push my luck."
He grinned and I grinned back.
"You're not selling anything," he said. "Not dressed
city enough. And you're not one of those church ladies;
not
old enough. You're . . . say, I know." He snapped his
fingers. "The book lady. That's who you are. Amy liked
you,
you know."
"Today's book delivery day." I nodded at the box I'd
set
next to the door. "I can't believe she's not here."
The elf's cheerful smile turned upside down. "Oh,
dear.
You haven't heard."
"Heard what?"
His next words explained everything; why he felt free to
stand on Amy's back porch, and worst of all, explained his
use of past tense.
"She's dead."