"Come now, May. Magic?"

"That'll be it. The deep woods are immortal. Walk in there and see for yourself. You hitch up somehow with the wild, natural part still beatin' inside yourself. For the three of us, leastwhiles, going to the deep woods is like going to church for some folks." She cackled loudly, bursting the tension like a bubble. "Lord, Reverend Wilc.o.x will have my soul if he hears this.

"Anyways, of all of us, Seth was closest to nature. So it was right that nature healed him. He found a small grove not far from the house. Calls it sacred. None of us is buried there or nothin'. I 'spect you couldn't dig it, it being so steep and rocky. The hills drop way far down to some rivulet of water and scattering of white rocks. Big boulders, some of them. But up high, where the sun dapples through the leaves, the gra.s.s is long and soft, like I guess angels' hair would be. A peaceful spot. A sacred spot, surely.

"Seth won't let n.o.body build on or around it. No human hand can change a thing. Wrote it down for generations to come. He goes to it often. Took me and the kids too. Says it's to remind us of what it was all like in the beginning. Of where we come from and where we'll all be again someday."

May sat for a moment, still looking out the window. Nora guessed May could no longer make the arduous walk to the sacred grove, but it was clear that she carried the image close to her heart, like an icon. When May swung her head back, she was her usual fiery self.

"Seth don't worry so since then. It's a relief, I can tell you. The place might be a bit let down now, but he ain't working 'round the clock and fallin' asleep at the table neither. He takes time to talk to the kids.

"And the dogs and cats. The mutts and s.l.u.ts, we call 'em. Every year there's another one come crying at the door and another one leaving without so much as a thank-you. Word's got out. I think people are dropping 'em off now. He can't say no."

Nora laughed as a knock sounded on the door.

"Who in the world?" May started to rise.

"I'll get it, May," said Nora, rising to her feet. It only took a few steps to get to the door. When she opened it, she found Seth bent over three mutts, waving his glove and sending the dogs leaping one over the other for it. She couldn't tell who was having the better time: Seth or the dogs.

Seth nodded and smiled when he spied her in the trailer. Her presence seemed to keep him at bay, because he just stood there, a metal milk pail in his arms, while the dogs sniffed and scratched at his boots.

"I was just leaving," Nora said to rea.s.sure him.

Seth only nodded.

"Speak of the devil! What you got there?" boomed May from behind her.

Nora pressed herself against the door so that May could peer over her shoulder.

"That my milk?" May called. "Be a good girl, Nora, and fetch it for me. I have a hard time with these legs."

Nora did as she was asked. Seth relinquished the milk with a grunt of satisfaction and a few more nods. Underneath his visor, Nora noted that his blue eyes seemed to sparkle with some private humor that only he was privilege to. Nora carried the milk jug inside and set it on the table while May descended the three wooden steps on stiff legs, her hand tight on the rail.

"How're things over at the Thompson place?" May asked, winded.

"All right."

"John Henry?"

Seth lifted his shoulders.

"That poorly, huh? Esther ain't farin' much better. Snappin' and swipin' like a dog on a chain."

Seth grunted and looked out over the hayfield.

"It's better this way," May continued. "You can only fix a broken lamp so many times."

"Naomi Thompson's real upset over her boy," Seth said. "Worried 'bout how he's actin' so queer."

"He got an ailment?"

"Nope. Leastwhiles, not one that a potion can cure." Seth shook his head and rubbed a palm across his spreading smile. "It's a sight, that's f'sure."

"What's a sight? What's goin' on at the Thompson place?"

"Well now. John Henry just up and took his twenty-gauge and started off shootin' all his ma's whirligigs and ornaments in her front yard."

"No! All of 'em?"

"Yeh-up. Them ducks with the twirly arms, them stick-up cows, and them fuzzy sheep, too. Blowed 'em all to bits." A laugh exploded from Seth. "A real blessin', I call it."

May let loose a belly laugh that set the two of them to snickering and laughing.

"Did he shoot off the rear end of that bendin'-over lady?" May asked between guffaws.

Seth howled. "That'd be the best one."

"Praise the Lord!"

Nora stepped out from the trailer, drawn to the laughter. Not even knowing what it was about, she couldn't help chuckling herself, the laughter being so infectious. Soon enough she caught on and laughed till tears ran down her cheeks.

It took a while, but they settled down, May rubbing her belly and Seth rubbing his chest. Nora's ribs hurt.

"It ain't funny, really," May said, wiping the moisture from her eyes. The laughter fled from her voice. "That boy is hurtin' real bad. Near breaks my heart. Esther must've really broke it off this time."

That sobered Seth up real fast. "Clumsy, she is. Just like her sister."

Nora saw May's hands slam on her big hips and it was plain she was about to light into her brother with a fiery retort. Nora started back-stepping away, hoping to escape without notice.

May noticed. Her mouth was open and her finger was pointed to heaven when she spotted Nora inching away. Instantly she snapped her mouth shut and used her uplifted hand to wave Nora over.

Nora returned reluctantly. "I really have to go. Thanks for a lovely visit, May."

"You come back anytime."

"If'n you're goin' up, I got them plans for the house ready," said Seth.

"Wonderful! Then we can get started on the work. It's getting chilly up there at night."

Seth seemed quite pleased with the prospect of paying work.

"Well, I'm ready to go if you are," she said to Seth. "I expect you'll want to drive up?"

Seth snorted. "I sure don't expect to live long enough to walk up."

15.

SETH DROVE NORA up to the house in his pickup, easily avoiding the pits and soft spots on the old road. A porcupine scuttled across in front of them, eliciting a sigh of awe from Nora and a grunt of frustration from the old hunter.

"Dang porcupines. Never remember seeing so many of them."

"Well, they won't bother me anymore," said Nora smugly. "I put a salt lick out so they'll leave the house alone." Nora leaned back in the cab, enormously pleased with her ingenuity.

Seth swung his head around to look at her, then slowed the Ford to a stop. He had an incredulous glint in his eye.

"Come on now, missus. You really done that?"

Nora guessed he was impressed. "Yeh-up," she replied proudly. It was the first time she'd used the typical Vermont response. She liked the way it rolled off her tongue. She even nodded her head a few times for good measure.

Seth's shoulders started to shake as if he was heaving. He made short, gasping sounds and hunched over the wheel.

"Seth, are you all right?" Nora asked, her voice rising in alarm.

Seth turned toward her and it was clear that he was laughing again, only his face was all red from trying to hold it in.

"Don't know," he said, pausing between laughs, "that I can take two fits of laughin' in one day."

Nora sat straighter in the cab and scowled. "What's so funny?"

"You did it now. That salt lick will attract every porcie from here to Canada. It'll be huntin' time for sure."

Nora's mouth fell open. Attract every porcie? "But I thought it would distract them from the house!"

"Nope. Nothin' a porcie loves better'n salt."

Nora slumped back in the seat and rested her chin in her palm. She imagined a long line of short-legged, spindly porcupines traveling south from Canada, just for a lick of her salt.

At first she was furious with herself. Then the whole thing seemed pretty ridiculous. Even funny. Before she knew it, Nora started laughing again. It started as short spurts, then rolled into side-holding laughter. It was fun to hear Seth let loose with another round as well.

Nothing like a good laugh to cement a friendship, Nora thought.

"Not t'worry," Seth mumbled as he fired up the engine. "My dog Zip will take care of them porcies. He just flips 'em on the back and ziiip! Rips their bellies clean out."

Nora blanched. "Be sure to point out Zip someday. I'd like to stay out of his way."

"Yeh-up. Good ol' Zip." Seth stretched his arm out over the wheel and eased out onto the road. The tires caught gravel and they started off with a lurch.

"Seth, May told me about the sacred grove. Will you take me there sometime?"

"Sure. Jus' let me know when."

"Would you mind if I took a few rocks from it?"

Seth's face skewered. "I would mind. I don't allow nothin' disturbed. What do you want those rocks for anyway? You got plenty of your own, lying in your fields."

"Oh, they're not for me. I just thought that since May can't get to the sacred grove, and since she loves the place, well, I thought that May would enjoy having a few of the rocks put in her garden. For sentiment's sake." Nora looked at her hands. "She mourns Tom so."

The pickup truck rumbled up the road, b.u.mping over rocks. Seth hadn't responded. He kept his pale blue eyes dead on the road. Nora chewed her lip, worried that she'd brought up a subject still painful for him.

Seth ran his hand over his mouth and around his stubbled cheek. Then, when he set it back on the wheel, he said, eyes still on the road, "If anyone oughta bring May them rocks, it'll be me. Truth to tell, I should of brung 'em long ago."

He looked over Nora's way, briefly. Nora never knew anyone who could convey so much in so brief a glance.

"Much obliged."

Nora smiled and her chest eased as she turned her head to look out her window. Beyond in the meadow, surrounded by birch gold, straw gra.s.s yellow and maple red, a lone figure stood before an easel. Her long strawberry-colored hair blew freely in the autumn breeze. It was Esther, looking like a model in a Wyeth painting.

"Seth, stop!" Nora called.

He hit the brakes and followed her gaze to his daughter in the fields.

"Humph," he muttered with a slap on the door. "Foolin' around again. If that girl spent half the energy on her ch.o.r.es as she did on them paints, we'd all be ahead. Yes, we would." His head bobbed in conviction.

Nora stared with her lips tight. Competent, self-a.s.sured Esther, of all people, painted. Couldn't she knit or write or something other than the one talent Nora coveted but had never mastered?

"Is she any good?" she asked.

"How would I know? Why would anyone want to paint a sky when it's right there to marvel at? G.o.d did it right the first time. Why waste time making a second-rate copy?" His voice was harsh but his eyes were soft as he viewed his daughter.

Nora's face grew somber. How long had it been since she herself picked up a brush? Two years? Three? She had buried the need, along with so many desires. Yet the yearning still burned.

"Wait a minute, Seth. I'll be right back."

"Well, don't be all day. I've got to get started on that flooring."

Nora nodded as she slammed the door shut. The walk across the meadow was a long one. The tall meadow gra.s.s that from a distance waved like silk, was brittle. It sc.r.a.ped against her jeans and poked through her socks as she sidestepped woodchuck holes and rocks. Yet ahead, like a beacon, stood Esther. Nora's strides were long with antic.i.p.ation by the time she reached the painter's side.

Esther turned and raised her palette before her chest like a colorful shield.

"I don't mean to break your concentration," Nora said. "May I see your work? I didn't know you painted."

Esther shrugged then turned back to her work.

Encouraged, Nora stepped forward and looked past the bony shoulders to the canvas ahead. Once there, she was trapped, captured by the boldly colorful landscape. Nora exhaled a long, ragged breath.

"Esther, it's magnificent."

Esther swung around, her eyes at first wide, then narrow.

"This thing? Oh, I dunno. I like it, but something's not there yet."