The Big Dig Read online

  Lucy heard the smack of the screen door. Josie was back. She quickly jammed the bags back in the pouch, put the pouch back in the bunny, and shoved the bunny under the pantyhose, plumping up the heap so it looked as it had. Running back to her room, she perched herself on the edge of the bed and tried not to look guilty as she listened to the thump, thump of Josie making her way up the stairs.

  She appeared at Lucy’s door, an unlit cigarette dangling out of her mouth. “Thought you might want to go for a swim, wash off the day.”

  Lucy shook her head. “Maybe later?” Her head was too jumbled—she’d probably forget how to float and drown.

  Josie scratched her chin. “Mabel Lauther? Honey, she’s been dead for years.”

  What? “No.” Lucy shook her head again. “Maybe swim later,” she repeated, making breaststroke motions with her arms.

  “Ha!” Josie laughed. “That makes more sense. Because how would you know Mabel? Mabel. Now she was a piece of work.” Josie wagged her finger at Lucy. “A bigger cheater at bridge there never was. And let me just say, if it hadn’t been for her prize-winning strawberry jam, I wouldn’t have ever let her step foot in my house.”

  Lucy nodded, as though she totally knew what Josie was talking about.

  “Ha!” Josie laughed again. “Mabel Lauther. Haven’t thought of her in ages.” She continued to mutter and chuckle to herself all the way back down the stairs.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “Hi, pumpkin. How’s it going up there?”

  “Okay, I guess.”

  “You don’t sound like yourself. You all right?”

  Lucy hadn’t slept well. Her brain wouldn’t turn off. “Yup. Just a little tired.”

  “All that fun can be exhausting, huh?”

  “Yeah.” She felt her eyes start to get hot. “That must be it.” She wanted to change the subject. “Dad. Am I named after Lucy from Charlie Brown?”

  He laughed. “That’s a funny question. I guess I don’t really know. Your mom had the name picked and ready to go. Though now that I think about it, we do have a cat named Linus.”

  “And remember how we could never miss any of the Charlie Brown specials?”

  “Yeah. She made us all sit together on the couch.”

  They were both silent for a moment. “How are things in town?” Lucy asked.

  “It’s pretty quiet around here without you.”

  “I can come home,” she sniffed. “You can come get me.”

  “No, no. I’m hardly here anyhow. You’d be bored out of your tree.”

  Doubt it.

  “Your meeting with Ellen,” he said. “How was it?”

  Lucy made a face into the phone. “Okay. Sort of weird. She looks a lot like Mom.”

  She heard him swallow. “She does, doesn’t she?”

  “But she didn’t have horns or anything, so that was nice.”

  He laughed. “See? I told you it wouldn’t be so bad. And even though you didn’t want to, you’re actually meeting people. Ellen, Gordon….”

  “Is Gordon the dad?” Lucy interrupted. “I think he must have been at work or something.”

  “Okay, but you met Kathleen, right?”

  “Yup.” Lucy rolled her eyes. “She’s a bit of a trip.”

  “Well, between her and Colin, at least you have some kids to play with.”

  “No, Dad. You don’t understand. Kathleen, Kit, whoever, is living on another planet. She’s a total space cadet.” She thought of Kit’s room, all the crazy stuff she’d said. It gave her an idea. “Are you sure you don’t know what Mom and Ellen fought about? It wasn’t about a desk, was it?” If he said it wasn’t about a desk, wouldn’t that mean he knew what it was about?

  There was a pause.

  “Dad?”

  “Sorry. I thought I heard something.” Another pause. “Look. Roberto is at the door. He’s looking for his paper money. I missed him last week when I was out of town. Coming!” he yelled away from the phone.

  “But Dad—”

  “Gotta go, pumpkin. We’ll talk soon, okay? Love you.”

  And the line went dead.

  Lucy held the receiver in her hand and glared at it, willing it to be her dad’s face. Roberto was the paperboy she’d been in love with forever. He was also in her class and she pretty well knew all there was to know about him. Like that his dad had a job with a fancy name—the Italian Consulate—and that the whole family had gone to Italy for the summer, returning September 3. She still remembered Sarah rubbing her back sympathetically when Roberto showed up the last day of school for all of five minutes to collect his report card and say arrivederci to the class.

  Kind of impossible for him to be at the door, Dad!

  About to slam down the phone, she paused in mid-air. Wait. How did you know I met Colin? I haven’t mentioned him. I know I haven’t. Slowly, she placed the receiver back in the cradle. It’s not like Josie called for a chat.

  She leaned her head back against the fridge and closed her eyes. Okay. Her dad was definitely lying. Josie knew stuff but refused to tell her. No one would answer any of her questions. Not to mention the bunny full of necklaces that for some reason had been removed from her room. What was going on here?

  Lucy poured herself a glass of water and took an aspirin from the bottle Josie kept on the kitchen windowsill, right next to a green can of Export A tobacco, a chipped teacup containing assorted buttons, and a jar of powdery peppermints. Josie was always pushing peppermints at her. “You have to keep your swallow wet,” she’d say. Why? Why did she have to keep her swallow wet? Just add it to the list of things she didn’t know.

  “Princess Leia is your cousin?!” Colin’s mouth hung open. “Wow! Never saw that one comin’.”

  Lucy had just finished telling him about her visit to Ellen’s. He was still shaking his head as he picked up his shovel and drove it into the dirt. She watched him for a while and tried to organize her thoughts. She wanted to tell him everything that was in her head, if only to spread the confusion to someone else and take some of the load off her.

  “Hey,” she said. “You’ve only been digging for five minutes and you already look like you need a break.” The sun wasn’t out, but the air was thick and heavy, not a breath of wind. Colin’s hair was stuck flat to his head and his T-shirt was damp with sweat. “Let’s go down to the beach and splash some water on us.”

  Colin wiped the side of face on his sleeve, then turned his head to spit. “Okay. Just for a few minutes, though.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. Ew.

  They cut across the field to the lane. The swish, swish of the tall grass sounded extra loud in the stillness. After what felt like forever they made it to the top of the stairs. Lucy had been hoping that a rush of sea breeze would billow up over the cliff, but no such luck. The tide was as far out as it could go, with not a single ripple breaking the water’s surface.

  Wading through what water there was, they headed out to the giant sandbars. Colin wrote, Colin was here with a stick then handed it to Lucy. She flashed back to the soap-smeared mirrors in the school bathroom. Oh, you’re one of those. As she finished drawing a daisy, she said, “Do you ever sometimes wonder if—?” She was going to tell him, but then stopped. Could be she didn’t feel like sharing the fact that her dad was a liar, or that she had been snooping in Josie’s drawers, and that maybe Josie didn’t trust her enough to leave gold jewellery in her room. That idea had popped into her head overnight and she was still kind of iffy about it. It just didn’t seem like Josie.

  Colin seemed not to notice she hadn’t finished her sentence. He was staring up at the sky. It had turned a steely grey. “Uh-oh.”

  A huge plop of rain landed with a splat on Lucy’s bare arm. A loud rumble of thunder sounded out over the water. The heavens opened and the rain came pelting down in sheets, immediately soaking them to the s
kin.

  “Come on!” Colin shouted over the pounding. “My house is closer!”

  Lucy nodded and took off after him. It was hard to run in flip-flops; the ground kept trying to suck them off her feet. She slipped more than once and punched Colin hard in the arm when she caught him laughing.

  When they arrived on Colin’s front porch, he opened the door and shoved her through into the front hall. “I’ll get you a towel,” he said, trying to catch his breath.

  Lucy stood on tiptoes, as if that was somehow going to keep her from dripping on the wood floor. Her hair hung in long strings, water trickling from the tips down her arms and back. She craned her neck, trying to get a look into the closest room. It was mostly filled with boxes, ones that still needed to be unpacked and others that had been flattened and stacked into piles. The moving truck had obviously made it, so why did Colin insist on still wearing those disgusting barn clothes?

  He returned wearing a dry, finally different, T-shirt and handed her a fluffy blue towel. She quickly patted herself off before mopping up the puddle on the floor that had formed around her feet.

  “This works out, actually,” Colin said. “Mom’s been bugging me to bring you over.”

  “Oh?” She ran her fingers through her drenched hair, trying to fix it up a bit.

  “Yeah. She freaked when she found out I’d already met you,” Colin said, rolling his eyes. “Prepare yourself. She can be kind of dramatic.”

  Lucy followed him down the hallway to the kitchen. The radio was blasting KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Boogie Shoes.” She felt a twinge of homesickness. Her dad loved that song and sang it all the time. Badly.

  Colin’s mom was standing on the counter, paintbrush in hand, painting the cupboard doors.

  “Mom!” Colin shouted as he turned down the radio.

  She carefully turned around, taking tiny steps so as not to lose her balance. When she saw Lucy, a huge smile spread across her face.

  “Mom, Lucy. Lucy, Mom,” Colin said flatly as he yanked open the fridge door.

  Colin’s mom shot him a look. “Thanks for that heartfelt introduction, Colin.” She climbed down from the counter and wiped her hands on the back of her jean shorts. Her eyes got all watery. “Gosh, Lucy! Is that really you?”

  “Um…yup.”

  She smiled again. “Call me Esther.”

  Lucy nodded.

  “I’m sorry I haven’t been over to see you at Josie’s. First Teddy had a double ear infection, then the moving truck broke down….” She rubbed her forehead. “My plan was for us to all go over together to meet you, but nothing’s been going right.”

  “That’s okay,” Lucy said. “Josie was planning for us to come over anyway. So yeah, we can come to you instead.”

  “And I can’t believe this kid met you ages ago and never bothered to mention it till the other day.”

  “It hasn’t really been ages, Mom,” Colin said.

  “It’s fine. All is forgiven,” Esther said. “You’re here now, that’s all that matters.” She took a step back and gave Lucy a good once-over. “Your colouring’s a bit darker, but I see a lot of your mom in you. I hope you don’t mind me saying that.”

  Lucy shook her head. She knew right away that she liked Esther. She didn’t seem dramatic at all. There was definitely something about her. It could have been her bare feet and ankle bracelet, the paint smeared across her cheek and streaked through her mass of red curls, or the silver hoop earrings the size of a bread-and-butter plates. All together, it made Lucy smile.

  “Oh, you have your mom’s mouth, her exact smile,” Esther said. “Perfect lips for bright red lipstick—which your mom loved, of course.”

  Lucy raised her fingers to her mouth. She couldn’t remember ever seeing red lipstick on her mom. Cherry Chapstick was about it.

  Colin was still hanging off the fridge door.

  Esther sighed. “For God’s sake, Colin. Are you having a conversation with something in there?”

  “I’m looking for something to drink!” he said.

  “I just made some Tang for the twins. It’s in the door.”

  He lifted out the pitcher and poured two glasses. As he handed Lucy a glass, he said, “We don’t have to stay in here.”

  But she didn’t want to leave Esther. “That’s okay,” she said, pulling out a stool.

  Colin made a face and sat down.

  Esther leaned against the sink. “I’m guessing Josie told you that your mom and I were best friends growing up.”

  Lucy sipped her juice. “Yup.”

  “She was like a sister to me. It was one of the worst days of my life when she passed away. I don’t mean to upset you, but I just really wanted you to know that.”

  Lucy’s chest tightened. “Thanks.”

  “The very first day of school, I dropped my sandwich on the classroom floor. Your mom gave me half of hers—strawberry jam and bologna. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

  “That’s when you met?” Lucy asked, wanting to hear more.

  “Yes. We were best friends from that minute on. Much to your grandmother’s horror,” she added with a smile.

  “I think Josie said you were a little, uh….”

  “Untamed?” Esther said. “Wild?”

  Lucy nodded. “Yeah. That.”

  Esther smirked and scraped some dried paint off her arm.

  “So were you?” Lucy pressed. “Wild?”

  “I guess it depends on your definition.”

  “Come on, Mom, just spill,” Colin demanded, looking bored with the conversation.

  “You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Esther said then looked at Lucy. “I don’t know if Josie mentioned, but I grew up with a foster family in the village.”

  Lucy shook her head. “No.”

  “They were lovely people. But I was one of six, not a lot of supervision. Needless to say, plenty of opportunities to get up to no good.”

  Lucy tried to imagine what she meant by “no good,” and whether or not her mom had gotten “up to” it with her.

  “We definitely got ourselves into some messes,” Esther continued. “It was always my fault though, my idea.” She laughed to herself. “Your mom, I could talk her into anything.”

  My mom? “Really?”

  “I think I said that wrong. I just meant she was a good head, game for adventure. Plus she was super smart. Because of her, we hardly ever got caught. She was queen of the cover-up.” Esther poured herself a glass of Tang. “Probably shouldn’t be telling you all this.”

  “All of what?” Colin said. “You haven’t told her anything. The story would be better if you said what you guys actually did.”

  “Oh, settle down,” Esther said. “Silly stuff—graffiti, pranks at school, playing hooky. We didn’t knock over a bank or anything. I think the most scandalous thing we ever did was pierce each other’s ears. We were in grade…six, maybe? What made it worse was we both got infections.” She shook her head and laughed to herself again.

  Lucy frowned and touched her unpunctured earlobe. She had begged her mom a hundred times to get her ears pierced.

  “Wow,” Colin said disappointedly. “Basically, you were just a small-time hood.”

  Esther ignored him and topped up Lucy’s glass. “I’m sure your grandmother had a panic attack every time she saw me at the front door. No, she did not like me. Not one little bit.”

  A faraway look settled on Esther’s face as she turned to the window and stared outside. She fiddled with the chain around her neck. It made Lucy remember the pouch of necklaces. And then everything else. A wave of tiredness washed over her, and she suddenly felt a need to leave.

  Lucy jumped up off her stool. “I should go.”

  The abrupt movement brought Esther back. “Yes. I guess you don’t want to worry Josie.” She leaned closer
to the window. “At least it seems to have stopped raining. Colin can walk you back.”

  “No,” Lucy answered, maybe a little too quickly, but she just wanted to be alone. “Um. I’m fine to walk back. Thanks, though.”

  Colin shrugged and walked her to the door.

  “I want you to know you can come back anytime,” Esther said, following them down the hall. “I want you to feel comfortable and know that you’re always welcome here.”

  Lucy awkwardly handed her the wet towel. “Thanks.”

  “See ya tomorrow?” Colin said.

  Lucy nodded, hurried down the steps, and didn’t look back. Once hidden in a cluster of trees, she stopped and leaned against the closest one. It was like she couldn’t catch her breath. In the last couple of days too much had happened, too many new people. She’d been dying to meet Esther, but hearing her talk about her mom, about when she was young, what she was like, it was as if she was talking about someone Lucy didn’t know. A complete stranger.

  She couldn’t help but feel a little betrayed by her mom.

  Chapter 12

  Deep in thought, Lucy didn’t notice Josie sitting on the porch as she slowly made her way up the steps.

  “You look like something the cat dragged in,” Josie commented through a puff of smoke.

  Lucy glanced down at her damp clothes, felt her bangs still stuck to her forehead. “Thanks,” she muttered, for once not worrying about enunciating.

  After she’d changed into a dry T-shirt and shorts, she grabbed the quilt off her bed and wrapped it around her like a cape. A sulky mood hung over her. She sat on her bed with her lower lip stuck out as far as it would go and stared at a small spider crawling up the wall next to the dresser. Maybe tomorrow she’d talk to Colin about some stuff. Today she’d chickened out, and then there was the whole meeting with Esther. Tomorrow she’d just do it. Even if he had nothing to say, no opinion, at least it would make her feel better, sharing it—well she hoped it would, anyway. Cocooning herself tighter in the quilt until she resembled an egg roll, she let her body fall sideways, timber, onto the bed.