She took the lunch out to the cemetery and found Jack’s truck parked before the office. There was a hammering noise coming from the shed. She thought he must be having trouble with the mower. She turned the corner and found that he had moved the cemetery’s backhoe near the shed and was hammering away at its bucket, or at least at the bolts that held it in place.
“Hey,” she hollered.
He jumped and then stood up slowly to face her. He had a sheepish look on his face.
“What’s up?” she asked.
“Well, I’ve been having problems with the back hoe, so I thought I’d move the bucket to my hoe to make the opening and closing go easier.”
She looked him up and down. There was something wrong with this picture.
“You were going to ask me?” she asked.
“Well, it’s not like you even know how to operate it.”
“If I did learn, how was I going to use it or hire somebody else to use it if it has no bucket?”
“Well, I can’t even it off. The bolts are rusted permanent,” he said.
“So you are going to try to break it so no one can use it.”
“Why on earth would you say that?” he asked. “Haven’t I been doing a good job for you>”
“Jack, I overheard you and Edward and Winston in the parking lot behind the restaurant the other day. None of you saw me.”
Jack turned crimson.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?’ she asked.
He looked a lot like Winston did. Lightening had struck.
“Well? This was getting a little scary.
“I guess I’m out of line,” he said without looking up. “Maybe you should find someone else to work the grounds for you. I’ll stay on until you can get someone.”
“That’s not even what we’re talking about. If I described the conversation to Susan, would she know what it was about?”
“You leave her out of this!”
“Tell you what. You’re fired. Get the hell out of here. “ Daydee told him.
He picked up his hammer and screwdriver and started toward his truck. He turned back and stared at her.
“You-“
“I fucking know, asshole! I gotta get out of town! Take a flying leap!”
He turned and climbed in the truck and drove off like a robot. And this was the fucking minster! What the hell was she going to do now? She could cut the grass herself and water- how hard would that be? It was a riding mower anyway. And it’d be good exercise for the baby. It was running the backhoe that was the problem. She remembered her father’s lunch still sitting in her truck.
She walked it out and didn’t find a trace of him other than the shopping cart. She left it and walked back trying to figure this one out. Maybe there was a manual in the office for the thing. She went back and searched and finally found it. She sat down in the office to look at it. It told you what all the parts were and what levers did what, but nothing about what sequence to do it in. It was still early afternoon, so she took the book and went out to the machine. They had just left the key in the ignition. That was going to change. What would stop them from coming out here and driving it away? This was getting real scary, And the women she had gotten to know didn’t seem to have a clue about whatever it was that was going on about her and the goddamn football team. That was the connection! They had all played for Winston at the same time! Back just before she ran away. There had to be something valuable about the estate that she didn’t know about that they did. What other reason would they have?
The book said to let the machine warm up. She turned it on and gave it gas. It purred. Now would be a good time for a cigarette, but she had quit for the baby’s sake. Or at least was trying to. She lit one. It was the first of the day. It was easier not to in the morning when she was sick. She rubbed it out on the side of her tennis shoe and stuck the butt in her shirt pocket. That was another reason to quit. It was getting unconvertible to bend over like that. And she couldn’t just flick the butt out on the grounds. She was afraid that she might mess up the grounds by hitting a lever wrong, so she drove it down the little lane to the back of the property where she had first found her father. A hole back here wouldn’t hurt anything. She played a little with the two big levers and figured out how to lift the bucket and stretch it out in front. But when she started it down the entire cab leaned forward dangerously. She stopped, the sweat dripping off her forehead. Jesus Christ! Now what? She studied the book closely, hoping that the whole thing wouldn’t pitch over before she got it figured out. The stabilizers! She worked the little levers in front and the two stabilizer legs went down and straightened the cab out and up so it was level. Trying again with the bucket, she kind of made a motion that looked like it would scoop the soil up, but she had somehow missed the ground, She tried again and scrapped up the weeds. The third try actually made a shallow trench in the ground, but she dumped the earth back before she could get it off to the side. She spent another half hour playing with, trying to make it work like she imagined it was supposed to. She’d have to come out and practice every day, before she was ready for a grave opening.
By the time she was actually scooping dirt out and laying it aside she was exhausted and wet with sweat. She took a break and climbed down to stretch her legs. Her back and arms were aching. This was hard work. She started with another cigarette, but talked herself out of it and put it back in her pocket. There was something in the dirt. She walked over and looked under the shadow of the arm, It was a human skeleton. The skull and ribs and backbone were all uncovered. Another scoop and she might have broken it apart. Down a couple of yards in her shallow trench was another skull.
She lit her cigarette now. Jesus Christ! What was her mother doing? Emptying out the graves and selling the plots again? Murdering people? Was this what Winston and his boys were scared that I might find? She walked back to the office as quickly as she could and called the sheriff.
The sheriff came out by himself. He looked exactly the same as last time. She wondered if he had only one uniform. There wasn’t a trace of a woman about him. His fringe of hair had been trimmed recently. She thought of the old men that had come across her live- not one of them had a women to tell them to clip their nose hair.
“What were you doing over here anyway?”
“I’m trying to learn how to use the back hoe. This looked like a good place to practice.”
“You had a falling out with Jack?”
“Jack no longer works for me.”
“What happened?”
“Maybe you can ask him.”
“I thought you were coming to church and all.”
“Well, to be honest sheriff, Jack and Edward and Winston seem to be hell bent on getting me to leave.”
“Why would they want to do that?”
“You really should ask them. They won’t tell me a thing.”
He wrote a note in his little notepad. Then he stepped down into the little trench and bent over the skeleton. It looked like was bending over was as hard for him as it was for her. He walked up to the skull.
“You’ll need a special heavy equipment license to drive that out on the street,“ he told her. “Well, I’m afraid I’ve got to ask you not to touch a thing until we can take a good look at all of this. I’m going to call in the request in a minute and we’ll have the forensic folks out here, but there’s no guarantee they will finish up today. You don’t need the back hoe right now?”
“No.”
“You have any knowledge about your mother’s activities that you haven’t told me about?”
“None. We hadn’t talked in twenty years. She only found me because I sent her a Christmas card a couple of years ago. We exchanged a couple of letters. That was about it.”
“You involved in any activities that you want to tell me about that might be against the law?’
“What?”
“You seem all right to me. I’m a pretty good judge of character, but there will have to be a trip to the office for you to make a statement and allow us to question you further.”
“Sure.”
“Nothing you want to say about anything?”
She shook her head.
“Nothing about that accountant of yours?”
“Mark?”
“He’s left town. There’s a bunch of gossip going around. “
“What kind of gossip?” Her heart sank.
“I’ll leave that up to you women. But the more I know, the better for everyone.”
“He was married, wasn’t he? What does his wife say?”
“I’ve not talked to her yet, but if I do, it becomes an official investigation. You understand that?”
Daydee nodded. Shit!
“So I can trust you not to touch anything?”
“I usually just go for a long walk this time of day.” She suddenly thought of her father down the hill. What if they found him? “I’m going for that walk if you don’t need me.”
“Ok.”
He went back to his patrol car. She started off in a slightly different direction and planned to circle back to her father’s shopping cart as soon as she was out of the sheriff’s sight. And now Mark! She hoped it wasn’t about what she figured it was.
There was no trace of him. The lunch she had left earlier was untouched. She pushed the cart down further into the trees until she was certain it wouldn’t be seen unless you were right on top of it. She dragged a couple dead branches over and propped them up against the side of the cart. It was getting harder and harder to do anything physical now. She was sweaty and out of breath. It was really like carrying a bowling ball around with you.
She walked further into the woods, thinking she might spot him. What the hell was she going to do with if she did find him. It’s not like she could make him understand to stay away from the cemetery. Or would she be able to entice him out and away. She thought a trail of French fries might get him to follow her a little way, but even if she got him as far as the truck, there was no way he was going to get in. She wasn’t sure why it was important to protect him from the cops. They would just hassle him and shoot him if he gave them trouble, or if he didn’t, they would take him in and then let him go the next day downtown. She wasn’t sure he would be able to find his way back out here.
How long had he been out here? How had he lived before she appeared? She sat down on a log. This was pretty pointless. This whole thing was turning into the biggest mess anyone could imagine. It was too overwhelming. Now the cemetery was going to be investigated. And they’ll book her for whoring even though it was just a little make-believe tea party. And she had this goddamn baby that she hadn’t even been to the doctor about yet. What if was going to just be a lump or worst, some kind of monster? She thought she could do this. She thought she could handle anything. So why was she sitting here bawling her eyes out? She drew her knees in and rocked herself. She was trembling.
“Deedee making babies.” Her father said from behind her. “It’s hard hard work.”
She jumped and then laughed.
“You’re damn right its hard!”
He patted her head. She was afraid to turn and spook him.
“Did you see the sheriff?” she asked.
“Sheriff invibable. He see ghosts and not ghosts. Lots of nots. Nots and nots. He doesn’t like.”
“So you stay away?”
“I stay at home.”
“Sure,” she smiled, drying her tears with the backs of her hands. “It’s too bad you don’t make sense. “
“Deedee stay home.”
“Sure.”
He withdrew his hand. She missed it already.
She stood and turned. He was standing right there. She put out her arms. He came to hug her ever so gently, as if she were made of brittle twigs which might snap if squeezed. Then he backed away.
“Thank you,” she said. Was this really her father?
He was nodding his head as he moved off into the brush. He was gone quickly.
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