Legacy of lies
Chapter 3
"Megan? You made it!" the woman said, crumpling up the
sign with my name on it, then giving me a big hug. "I'm
Ginny Lloyd, your mother's best old friend." She
laughed. "I guess you figured that out."
When Ginny heard I was coming, she'd insisted on meeting me
at the airport close to Baltimore. THat October day we loaded my
luggage into the back of her ancient green station wagon, pushing
aside bags of old sweaters, skirts, shoes, and purses--items she
had picked up to sell in her vintage clothes shop.
"I hope you don't mind the smell of mothballs,"
Ginny said.
"No problem," I replied.
"How about the smell of a car burning oil?"
"That's okay, too."
"We can open the windows," she told me. "Of
course, the muffler's near gone."
I laughed. Blond and freckled, she had the same southernish
accent as my mother. I felt comfortable with her right away.
When I was buckled in, Ginny handed me a map so I could follow
our progress toward Wisteria, which is on the Eastern Shore of
the Chesapeake Bay.
"It's about a two-hour drive," she said. "I
told Mrs. Barnes I'd have you at Scarborough House well
before dark."
"I'm getting curious," I told her. "When Mom
left Maryland, she didn't bring any pictures with her.
I've seen a few photos that my uncle Paul sent, showing him
and Mom playing when they were little, but you can't see the
house in them. What's it like?"
"What has your mother told you about it?" Ginny
asked.
"Not much. There's a main house with a back wing.
It's old."
"That;s about it," Ginny said.
It was a short answer from a person who had spent a lot of time
there as a child and teenager-- nearly as short as my
mother's answers about the place.
"Oh and it's haunted," I added.
"People say that," Ginny said.
I looked up at her, suprised. I had been joking.
Feedback please?(:
Legacy of lies
Chapter 2
"I'm not going," I had told my father back in June.
"She's a mean old lady. She disowned Mom and won't
speak to you. She has never had anything to do with Pete, Dave,
or me. Why should I have anything to do with her?"
"For your mother's sake,"he said.
Several months later I was on a flight from Arizona to Maryland,
still resisting my grandmother's royal command to visit. I
took out her invitation, the first message I'd received from
her in my life, and reread it--two sentences, sounding as stiff
as a textbook exercise.
Dear Megan,
This summer I will see you at Scarborough House.
I have enclosed a check to cover airfare.
Regards,
Helen Scarborough Barnes
Well, I hadn't expected "love and kisses" from a
woman who cut off her only daughter when she had decided to marry
someone of a different race. My mother, coming from a deeprooted
Eastern Shore family, has more English blood in her than Prince
Chrles. My father, also from an old Maryland family, is
African-American. After trying to have children of their own they
adopted me, then my two brothers. It would be naive to expect
warmth from a person who refused to consider adopted kids her
grandchildren.
Now that I thought about it, the meaning of my dream the night
before was pretty obvious, even the feeling that something was
wrong. The door to my mother's family had always been closed
to me; when a door kept locked for sixteen years suddenly,
without explanation, opens, you can't help but wonder what
your walking into.
Feedback please?(:
Legacy of lies
Chapter 1
Last night I visited the house again. It looked as it did ten
years ago, when I dreamed about it often. I've never seen the
house in real life, at least not that I can remember. It is tall,
three stories of paned windows, all brick with a shingle roof.
The part I remember msot clearly is the covered porch. No wider
than the front steps, it has facing benches that I like to sit
on. I guess I was never shy, not even at six; in the dream I
always opened the door, walked inside, and played with the
toys.
Last night the door was locked. That's how I awoke, trying
with all my strength to open it, desperate to get inside.
Something was wrong, but now I can't say what. Was there
something dangerous outside the house from which I was fleeing?
Was there a person in the house who needed my help? It was as if
the first part of my dream was missing. But one thing I knew for
sure: Someone on the other side of the door was trying too keep
me out.
Give me feedback please?(: