'TDC-NATCHEZ'
The Willows Weep For Thee
'TDC-NATCHEZ'
The Willows Weep For Thee
CHAPTER ELEVEN
WHAT WE GONNA DO NOW?
Everybody got situated in their seats while Beau and Poke served them drinks and snacks.
Any other time it might seem to the casual observer that this was simply a gathering of old and dear close friends having a brunch of sorts. Nothing serious you know.
But of course this was anything but, and the tension in the room was palpable. To the point you could have cut it with a meat cleaver.
After a few sips and chews,
JJ set about getting right to the point, and obviously this was typical for him.
"Well, Miss Naomi, you got my undivided attention...so why don't you fill me in on what is going on. At least, the parts I may not already know."
Rose stiffened, as did Ofelia. They both had surmised that Mister JJ might indeed be a bit clued in although neither had any idea how much and that was certainly nothing but instinct or woman's intuition...but this confirmed it and both women were absolutely a'twitter to find out what all he knew as were the others.
+++++++++++++
You could have heard a spider fart...
Naomi sat stock still, even stiffening a bit...and the room became almost deadly silent. You could hear the ants breathing, if there had been any...and JJ just sat waiting, as did the others, seemingly not knowing what was coming. Maybe.
Finally...
"JJ," Naomi started and then halted, her head down which was most unusual for her, and then looked up and started again.
"JJ, it's Lilibeth. I'm afraid she has come up missing."
To know it was one thing, but to hear it spoken out loud was something else, and the sense of a lot of escaping air from the people in the room was unmistakable. Nobody moved and barely breathed.
"Missing? You sure, Naomi?"
"Yes," she replied,
"We are positive."
"For how long?"
"Since yesterday. Or maybe the night before. We just discovered it yesterday morning," and she recounted the events leading up to the discovery.
"Hmmm," JJ said...and one could see he was taking it in and didn't like the sound of things.
"Please, Mr. Robertshaw," Rose interjected. "We need your help. Desperately. I can't be sure of why she is gone, but one thing I can tell you I AM sure of is that from the minute we got here we, my friends and I, just knew...felt, that something was wrong here. VERY wrong."
She paused.
Everyone sat stock still, except for the nodding of heads. Even Beau and Poke.
JJ looked around the room at all of them and saw the certainty in each face. Now he too knew. Something he had already felt. Something wasn't right here. Not hardly.
TABLEAU:
or so it seemed in this early morning adventure into what we weren't quite sure.
Like the figures in a Christmas nativity scene...no movement, but the message was loud and clear.
"Miss Naomi, let me tell you what I know. It isn't all that much but y'all never know now do we."
Naomi nodded as did the others.
JJ turned to Rose.
"And you lovely lady (and Rose blushed), just please...call me JJ. Mr. Robertshaw makes me feel old," and he laughed...an easy-going infectious laugh to be sure, aimed at calming a very tense situation, and almost succeeding..."which of course I am not," and again the lilting laugh.
Then he stopped, and his face turned unusually somber.
"Ok. What I know is this..."
and everyone by now was on the edge of their seats.
WHAT WE GONNA DO NOW?
Everybody got situated in their seats while Beau and Poke served them drinks and snacks.
Any other time it might seem to the casual observer that this was simply a gathering of old and dear close friends having a brunch of sorts. Nothing serious you know.
But of course this was anything but, and the tension in the room was palpable. To the point you could have cut it with a meat cleaver.
After a few sips and chews,
JJ set about getting right to the point, and obviously this was typical for him.
"Well, Miss Naomi, you got my undivided attention...so why don't you fill me in on what is going on. At least, the parts I may not already know."
Rose stiffened, as did Ofelia. They both had surmised that Mister JJ might indeed be a bit clued in although neither had any idea how much and that was certainly nothing but instinct or woman's intuition...but this confirmed it and both women were absolutely a'twitter to find out what all he knew as were the others.
+++++++++++++
You could have heard a spider fart...
Naomi sat stock still, even stiffening a bit...and the room became almost deadly silent. You could hear the ants breathing, if there had been any...and JJ just sat waiting, as did the others, seemingly not knowing what was coming. Maybe.
Finally...
"JJ," Naomi started and then halted, her head down which was most unusual for her, and then looked up and started again.
"JJ, it's Lilibeth. I'm afraid she has come up missing."
To know it was one thing, but to hear it spoken out loud was something else, and the sense of a lot of escaping air from the people in the room was unmistakable. Nobody moved and barely breathed.
"Missing? You sure, Naomi?"
"Yes," she replied,
"We are positive."
"For how long?"
"Since yesterday. Or maybe the night before. We just discovered it yesterday morning," and she recounted the events leading up to the discovery.
"Hmmm," JJ said...and one could see he was taking it in and didn't like the sound of things.
"Please, Mr. Robertshaw," Rose interjected. "We need your help. Desperately. I can't be sure of why she is gone, but one thing I can tell you I AM sure of is that from the minute we got here we, my friends and I, just knew...felt, that something was wrong here. VERY wrong."
She paused.
Everyone sat stock still, except for the nodding of heads. Even Beau and Poke.
JJ looked around the room at all of them and saw the certainty in each face. Now he too knew. Something he had already felt. Something wasn't right here. Not hardly.
TABLEAU:
or so it seemed in this early morning adventure into what we weren't quite sure.
Like the figures in a Christmas nativity scene...no movement, but the message was loud and clear.
"Miss Naomi, let me tell you what I know. It isn't all that much but y'all never know now do we."
Naomi nodded as did the others.
JJ turned to Rose.
"And you lovely lady (and Rose blushed), just please...call me JJ. Mr. Robertshaw makes me feel old," and he laughed...an easy-going infectious laugh to be sure, aimed at calming a very tense situation, and almost succeeding..."which of course I am not," and again the lilting laugh.
Then he stopped, and his face turned unusually somber.
"Ok. What I know is this..."
and everyone by now was on the edge of their seats.
"You are dead on right. There is something very very wrong, and while at the moment I cannot prove anything specific, I do have a hunch or two.
++++++++++++++++++
Pieces
NATCHEZ is being written and will continue shortly.
Several vehicles swung right and pulled up into the driveway at #696 Willow Street in Natchez.
Leading the caravan was Rico, driving our new Escalade with me, Chaz, and two of Brenda's kids Tommy and Teddy in tow. He pulled up in front of the far left door of the five car
Antonio pulled in next to us, with Derek riding shotgun and Antonio's kids in the back seats.
Next to pull in was Jake with Kenny riding shotgun and Danny Williams, Derek's assistant, in back. Also along for the ride, so to speak, was Frankie McAlester
Next was Johnny, with JR riding shotgun and Kip in the rear seat.
In planning this little
Derek had also made it clear to Marty that while she had really wanted to come that that was out of the question. Knowing only too well what she had gone through in that previous little fiasco we had all embarked on, and he didn't want a repeat performance. We couldn't blame him.
Another thing had been the size of our posse. While others had wanted to come along, it was decided to keep the group size to a bear
+++++++++++++
Rico and I were the first to get out and then the others quickly followed.
"Guess we should head around to the front door, huh?" I said to Rico and the others, and we began the trek back down the drive to the front walk.
What we found when we got there was totally unexpected, for sitting on the steps were two young guys and a rather petite sorta kinda middle-aged woman
They were sitting huddled and obviously horribly upset.
"Hello?" I said, a bit hesitantly. "I'm Dylan aka Dusty, from up Missoura way. We're looking for our friends...Rose, Tess, and Ofelia."
Suddenly, the woman got up in a rush and making her way over to me literally threw herself onto me.
I looked over her head to Rico with a questioning look, and he shrugged. She had begun sobbing and that always throws me, let me tell you. Oh, I do NOT do well when the female of the species decides to do a flame-out. Nope, and truth be told NONE of this group is any better at that than I and have proved it on numerous occasions. Hah.
Meanwhile, Jake and Kenny had walked over to the two young guys and begun a conversation.
After a minute or so, the woman leaned back and looked up at me, with one of those 'oh I am SO embarrassed' looks. Okay, that too always throws me. BUT, Rico to the rescue as usual. Silly twit.
He moved in closer and stuck out his hand to her.
"Hey, I'm Rico and this
After a moment spent collecting herself, amidst gulps and such, she took his hand.
"Hi. Sorry, I'm
"Hey, it's ok, Naomi. Why don't you tell us what's going on
"Yes of
"Dylan, God Ah
books."
"Thanks, but let's find out what is going on. Where are our friends, Naomi?"
She took one of my hands and one of Rico's in hers and said...
"Let's go in
Even though it was only about 8AM, it was already beginning to be sweltering and very humid.
We moved over to Jake and Kenny, who
with the two young guys who we learned were liliBeth's son Beau and his friend Poke and with everyone else following, we made our way into the house and to the library.
+++++++++++++++
Fortunately there was an almost full moon so the path down the bank toward the river was somewhat lit. Personally I wudda put in perimeter lighting, but...
It was obviously a path that had been well-used for a very long time, and the surface was a bit uneven but I was doing my best not to stumble and fall. That would NOT have been helpful at this point.
About 3/4 of the way down I found myself stopping
the cricket chirps and the plaintive wail of a
What was I doing down here? Hell, what was I doing all the way down here in Natchez? 300 year Indeed what
Then another sound broke into my reverie. A twig
snap
The neck hairs were having a field day at my expense and I was not amused.
"Hello, Dylan. Sorry if I startled you," and the sound of his voice was unmistakeable even before he came into view. ____________________
The neck hairs were having a field day at my expense and I was not amused.
"Hello, Dylan. Sorry if I startled you," and the sound of his voice was unmistakeable even before he came into view. ____________________
No comments:
Post a Comment