In the Image of Grace Read online

  “Can you do us a favor?” I asked him as we were packing up to leave.

  “Whaddya need,” he answered pushing his glasses up on his nose.

  “Come home with us and wait outside while we sneak you a key and then go and run to the hardware store, copy it and bring it back.” I bit my lip and looked up at him realizing what I said sounded totally crazy.

  He barely knew us yet we were asking for so much. I knew we were also going to have to reveal more of our lives to him. So this is what I told him. I told him that we had a crazy overprotective father that never let us out of the house, well maybe not overprotective, just crazy and it seemed to finally dawn on him that we needed socialization, or at least that’s what we thought because before we had a private tutor who was turning out to be someone totally different and since we were supposed to always be in the house we had no keys and our father never spoke of our mother and now that we had some freedom we wanted to find answers. I skipped out the part about Elizabeth.

  I stopped talking and watched his face for some sort of expression. He ran his hands through his hair and said, “That’s some crazy stuff.”

  “Why yes it is,” Clarissa agreed with him.

  Isabelle nodded her head with agreement to his statement.

  ……………………………………………..

  The four of us walked with a quick pace down to our house. We really didn’t have much time. We got to our house and all stood on the sidewalk in front of it.

  “You guys live here,” Jeremy asked in what seemed like amazement. “My family’s apartment could fit in like a corner of that. Your house is awesome.”

  “Just awesome by appearance only,” I murmured.

  We had him wait on the side of the house while we were buzzed in.

  What happened next was Clarissa distracted Ms. Dunderfeltz while Isabelle and I searched for the key ring that had all the household keys on it. I honestly didn’t know which one was the house key, so when I found the key ring in a kitchen drawer I took the whole thing. I couldn’t go out any of the doors or the windows on the first floor because the chime for the house alarm would go off, but I knew the window in Elizabeth’s room never had a motion detector on it. I guess our father thought we would never go out one of the second floor windows and he was right we never did, until then. I grabbed the key ring and held all the keys together in my hand so they wouldn’t make any kind of jangling sound.

  I ran across the house up the stairs and into Elizabeth’s room where I opened up the window and called for Jeremy. He quickly appeared and I threw the key ring at him. I watched the key ring fly over the roof below and over the green grass and over the tall black wrought iron fence, where Jeremy threw his hand up in the air and caught it. He smiled up at me, I flashed him a thumbs up and he was on the way.

  We sent him to copy all the keys because as I said earlier we didn’t know which one was the house key. Luckily there was only about five on the key ring. I stood looking out the window eagerly anticipating his arrival because it was going to be dinner time soon and at dinner we were expected to be properly on time and clean.

  I knew it shouldn’t have take too long because the hardware store was pretty much right down the block. I paced back and forth in Elizabeth’s room, noting that nothing had changed since she had died. Everything was as she left it, being in there almost made me feel a little better because I was in there trying to do as she wanted. I felt connected to her spirit, even thought Elizabeth always said we had no souls or spirits, other people perhaps, but not us. I used to believe that, but I wasn’t sure if she was correct or not. I really did feel like she was there talking to me in my room while I was sleeping. I didn’t want to believe it was just my subconscious.

  After about thirty-five minutes Jeremy was back.

  I opened the window and popped my head out. The brisk fall wind slapping me in the face.

  “There was a long line,” he said trying not to be too loud.

  “Thank you so much,” I piped wanting to give him a hug again.

  “The copies are all on the key ring and have little pieces of cardboard wrapped around them.”

  “Okay, just toss them up to me.”

  “Ready.”

  “Yes.”

  The keys flew through the air making their way back up to me. They were approaching the window and I reached out and missed. They fell, hit the roof and slid into the gutter. I could see Jeremy swear under his breath. I instantly stuck one leg out the window, held onto the frame and pulled out my upper body and other leg.

  “Jesus, be careful,” I heard Jeremy say.

  I didn’t want to look down. I envisioned Elizabeth laying down there as a five year old still breathing and then a seventeen year old not breathing. I squatted down, then got on my hands and knees and very gingerly crawled backwards to the edge, feeling the sand paper like texture of the roof shingles. I slowly rotated myself so I was parallel with the gutter and snatched up the keys. My heart was beating like it was the lead in the band.

  “Careful,” Jeremy repeated.

  I crawled back up the roof, through the window and was safely back on the floor in Elizabeth’s room once again. “I can’t thank you enough,” I said to Jeremy standing down on the side walk. He gave me a wave and was off.

  I had to get back downstairs and put the keys back. Clarissa and Isabelle were in the front living room helping Ms. Dunderfeltz dust. I quietly ran past, down though the hall that was off the foyer that led into the back of the house, through the family room and into the kitchen. I pulled open the kitchen drawer and dropped the keys inside.

  Then I realized I didn’t take off the copy keys, so I had to pull the keys out and start with the struggle of getting the copy keys off the key ring. The key ring was one of those ones where it was almost like a silver spiral and you have to stick the end through the key and pull the key on, but I was having some issues pulling it apart. After a few tries I pulled it apart and was able to slowly pull the keys off. I put the key ring in the drawer and had the copies clasped in my palm when I heard Ms. Dunderfeltz walk through the kitchen doorway. Clarissa was behind her mouthing, “We tried.”

  “I can’t find any scissors,” I proclaimed trying to cover my tracks.

  “They’re in the other drawer,” Ms. Dunderfeltz said pointing to the drawer on the other side of the sink. Ms. Dunderfeltz was a short round woman with strikingly blond hair that fell to her chin. Her face was always pink. She looked like she was in a constant state of fluster.

  “Thanks,” I beamed pulling the drawer open and then digging for the scissors.

  “Dinner will be ready shortly,” Ms. Dunderfeltz stated walking over to the stove where there was a pot with boiling water and another one simmering with some kind of sauce in it.

  “All right,” I replied casually walking out of the kitchen so I wouldn’t look suspicious. I then went upstairs with Isabelle and Clarissa behind me. We gathered in my room on the bed. I unfolded my hand and showed them the keys. “The only problem now is the security alarm because if we get back after Ms. Dundefeltz leaves we’ll set the alarm off.”

  “Actually, that isn’t a problem,” Clarissa chirped sitting up straight. She looked proud that she held the solution. “I watched Ms. Dunderfeltz enter the code when she was leaving a couple months ago and I remember what it is.”

  “Wonderful,” I squeaked knowing that my sisters and I could come and go as we pleased as long as Ms. Dundefeltz didn’t say anything.

  I smiled at Clarissa. She was the most outspoken out of us all. She told you exactly what she thought. Our father always said she was ill mannered because we were brought up to be prim and proper young ladies. Clarissa always tried to fight it. She knew that’s not what she was like.

  “So,” Clarissa giggled with a grin spreading across her face. “Does Jeremy want to be your boyfriend or what?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I barely know him.”

  “Well, why else would h
e be so eager to help.”

  “He’s nice would be my guess.”

  “No, I bet it’s cuz he thinks you’re pretty. This girl Maria in my biology class sez that even though I’ve only been going to school there a couple days, lots of guys already think I’m hot.”

  Clarissa had been only going to public school for a few days and she was already picking up what our father would call the lazy way of speaking. She was going to have no problem fitting in. Then there was me. I think everybody I talked to thought I was weird, well except for Lawrence. I had proper English and manners drilled into my brain and it was probably going to be a while before I could slowly drill them out.

  “And you look just like me and well, so does Isabelle, so therefore you’re hot too,” Clarissa continued on.

  “Well, I’ll ask him about it tomorrow,” I said laying back on my bed and looking at the ceiling.

  “You can’t just do that,” Clarissa almost shouted.

  “Why?”

  “Cuz, you have to wait till he asks you out.”

  “Why? How do you know this stuff? You’ve only been in school for three days.”

  Isabelle sat crossed legged shaking her head. She was looking back and forth between Clarissa and I, while we sat there doing a totally normal teenage thing, talking about boys.

  “I talk to people,” Clarissa announced raising her nose in the air. “It’s called socializing. You two should try it,” she sassed pointing to Isabelle and me.

  “Well, I have. I’ve somewhat socialized with Jeremy. That should count.”

  “You have to talk to more than one person.”

  “No, that’s enough for me for now, I think.”

  Isabelle just shrugged. Ms. Dundefeltz called up and told us to get washed for dinner.

  Chapter Five

  The four of us left directly after to school to go down to the university to visit Mr. Carl. We all sat on the EL watching the city go by. We watched the tops of apartment buildings, back porches, store fronts, side streets and brick bungalows whiz by. I sat next to the window, Jeremy was to my left and Isabelle and Clarissa were sitting side by side behind us. I asked Jeremy earlier in the day if he wanted to come with and he said okay. Clarissa said the only reason I invited him was because I liked him. I was going to ask him if the only reason he helped us was because he thought I was pretty, but I decided to let it pass as Clarissa suggested. The train rattled along and kind of smelled like what I imaged a garbage dump would smell like on a hot summer day. There were quite a few other people on the train with us, mainly other kids coming home from school. I was wondering what we would say to Mr. Carl. How exactly should we approach him? Were we to start right out with, “You’re a liar.” I’m sure he’d be wondering why we were there or how we even found him. I was just hoping he would even talk to us.

  “This is the stop,” Clarissa declared getting up and walking to the train doors. We all got up and followed her, swaying with the movement of the train.

  The doors opened with a swooshing sound and we stepped out onto the train platform. We followed the crowd and walked to the left down the platform. Side by side we got on an escalator that took us to the ground. We walked through the turnstile and out to the street corner. At the light we crossed and walked towards the university. I kind of knew where to go because I looked at the university map online. Mr. Carl was teaching at the south campus, so we had to walk across the main campus and cross the street where the south campus was located. As we walked across campus I took in all the buildings and students milling around. There were students sitting on cement benches that lined the main walkway across campus. Others were darting off to class with their books in hand or with their backpacks on their backs. One student was riding his bike across campus. The buildings all looked old and historical. I’m sure they had all been there over a hundred years. They were all done in a yellow stone, I had the slightest idea which one and the corners of the building had bigger stones on them like added embellishments. They all had ornate carved doorways with scrolls and the year the buildings were built. One of the buildings said 1891. I was right about being over a hundred years old. An older gentleman passed with a graying beard and a sport jacket. I wondered if he was a professor and if he was what did he teach. Was it the sciences or perhaps something in the arts?

  I then began to think if the four of us looked out of place walking across a college campus. Did people think we were there for a tour, or did they not even question it? I wore my brown coat and this time I had on a hat. It was one I picked out when we went to the store with our father. It was peach and very soft and fuzzy, it felt like a rabbit, luckily it was not made of one. I checked. It was almost the shape of an upside down flower. It fit snuggly around the top of my head and kind of belled out at the bottom. It was the cheeriest thing I picked out that day. Clarissa had her hair up in what seemed now to be her signature ponytail and wore a pink ski vest over her shirt. She kept talking to Jeremy as we walked. It seemed she discovered she liked talking to other people because our whole lives we’ve only had each other to talk to. The drill went something like this.

  “What year are you?” Clarissa asked.

  “Senior,” he replied.

  “What is your full name?”

  “What?”

  “First, middle, last.”

  “Why? Are you going to steal my identity? Get a mortgage in my name, a bunch of charge cards and ruin my credit.”

  “No,” Clarissa giggled.

  “All right then. Jeremy James Moretti.”

  “What are your hobbies?”

  “Uh, music and I like poetry, mainly from the beat generation and music again I guess.”

  “Really, that sounds like you just made it up.”

  “Do you want me to say watching football and drinking?”

  “We’ll go with the first. Where do you live?”

  “Up on the northwest side, way up on the northwest side actually.”

  Clarissa paused to think of something else to ask and then continued. “Where are you going to college?”

  Jeremy shrugged. “I dunno, that’s still in discussion with my mom and stepdad.”

  “Ever kill anybody?”

  “No, well at least not intentionally.”

  Clarissa’s mouth fell open.

  “I’m joking.”

  “Good.”

  “Anything else?”

  “When I think of more I’ll get back to you.”

  Jeremy bobbed his head. It kind of made him look like a pigeon.

  Isabelle quietly walked along with us just taking in the atmosphere. The tips of her ears and nose were a rosy pink because she wasn’t wearing a hat, just a grass green pea coat. I couldn’t believe we were on the campus of what we always referred to as our father’s university. It was always off limits to us like the rest of the world. I wondered how he would react if he found us there. What could he have really done anyways? We reached the edge of the main campus and waited for the light to turn and walked across the street looking at the address on the buildings. We found the one we wanted and climbed the front steps. An overwhelming feeling of anxiety came over me. I stopped on the second step.

  “Wait,” I said stopping everybody else. “What are we doing exactly?”

  “Getting answers,” Isabelle quietly replied.

  “What for, will any of it really make a difference now?”

  “We have to for Elizabeth,” Clarissa said.

  I sighed and looked over at Jeremy. He was probably thinking I didn’t come all this way with you girls for nothing. He walked down the steps and grabbed my hand and we walked into the building together. Clarissa started looking at the room numbers. “I don’t think it’s on this floor, the second floor.”

  We walked to the end of the hall, found some stairs and went up.

  “201 that’s it,” Clarissa bleated with excitement. “Oh God, I’m nervous. What are we going to say?”

  “We can’t just bust in there
,” remarked Isabelle. “Is class still in session?”

  “I don’t know,” Clarissa responded. We were hoping to catch Mr. Carl right as his class ended, so then we couldn’t miss him.

  “I’ll check,” Jeremy volunteered grabbing the door handle. Right as he grabbed the handle students started pouring out. We didn’t wait for them all to leave; we kind of shoved past them, so Mr. Carl couldn’t slip out. We made our way across the lecture hall and saw Dr. Carl Williams standing up front wearing a tan blazer and talking to a couple students. Jeremy coughed, which made Mr. Carl look up. He immediately recognized us and excused himself from the students. He had a puzzled look on his face, his eyebrows were drawn together and his lips seemed to of twisted themselves up.

  “What are you girls doing here?” He immediately asked.

  “We’re here to see you,” Clarissa blurted out.

  “Does your father know you’re here?”

  “No,” she responded. “Why should that matter anyways?”

  “Why did you lie to us?” I asked wanting to cut right to the chase.

  “What do you mean?”

  I looked around the lecture hall with my eyes. Rows of desk and chairs were tiered to the top of the room. A white film screen hung down in the front of the room.

  “Oh, because I didn’t tell you girls I was leaving to teach college. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. I had to start right away.”

  “But you’ve been working here all along,” I pointed out.

  He nodded. “Yes, your father just didn’t want me intermingling any of my personal life into your school work. He didn’t think it was necessary for you to know.”

  “That means you probably knew our mother,” Clarissa surmised.

  “Girls, this isn’t the place to be talking about this. You should ask your father.”

  “What, we should ask our father if you knew our mom. Why, when you can just answer us,” I retorted.

  “I don’t mean that, just about your mother in general. It’s a very touchy subject. All he wants to do is protect you girls.”

  “By keeping us in the house our whole lives and never mentioning a word about her,” I said. I could see we weren’t getting anywhere. I looked over at Jeremy. He was standing off to the side pretending to be interested in the surface of a desk. Isabelle stood defensively with her arms crossed.