Gilda Joyce: The Bones of the Holy Read Free Page A

did not want to look at her because she already knew this woman was dead.
    Dropping her book, Darla abruptly jumped up from her chair and ran inside the house.
    Once inside, she raced upstairs, slammed her bedroom door behind her, and immediately picked up her cell phone to call a friend. I’ll never sit out on the front porch by myself again, Darla vowed.
    It was best to keep busy and distracted—best to avoid the lonely hours during long, lazy afternoons around the house. After all, the ghosts always came looking for Darla when things got too quiet.

4
    The Mysterious Gift
    G ilda burst into her bedroom and immediately sat down at her typewriter.
    Dear Dad:
    Mom has been acting weird since she came back from her vacation.
    What do I mean by “weird”?
    Â 
    WAYS MOM IS ACTING STRANGE:
    Okay, it isn’t exactly a shocking change after we fixed it with the grape Kool-Aid, but MOM DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE IN MY HAIR.
    ITEM: Stain on the white bathroom mat from grape Kool-Aid used to adjust red hair dye. Mom didn’t even comment about it.
    No questions from Mom about what, exactly, we did while she was gone. VERY UNUSUAL.
    NO SUNBURN. Whenever Mom goes to the beach, she burns and then peels like a snake shedding its skin. Actually, she and I both have this exotic trait in common. This time she only has a few extra freckles, and her skin is as white as ever. Was she hanging out with vampires? Did she even go outside??
    NO SILLY SOUVENIR GIFTS!! Let’s be honest: Mom has bad taste in gifts. I fully expected her to return with one of those T-shirts that says My Mom went to St. Augustine, and all I got was this shirt! So I was shocked (and yes, highly suspicious) when Mom gave me something genuinely beautiful--an antique crystal bracelet that’s fragile, sparkly, and not like anything you’d see in a regular tourist shop. It looks like something you might find preserved in the jewelry box of a wealthy old lady who had some high-rolling times back in the olden days.
    Then I noticed something else: Mom was wearing crystal earrings that perfectly matched the bracelet.
    â€œI like your earrings,” I said, thinking it was a little odd to see Mom wearing such nice jewelry.
    â€œMy earrings?” She touched her earlobe as if she had no idea they were there.
    â€œThey match this bracelet, don’t they?”
    â€œDo they?”
    What was Mom’s deal? Was she just pretending to be spacey to avoid answering my questions? Or had her weekend trip to Florida resulted in some kind of brain damage?
    I was about to confront Mom about her odd behavior when the doorbell rang: It was a girl delivering the box of Girl Scout cookies we ordered. This was a pretty big distraction because, as you know, Thin Mints are my favorite cookie of all time.
    Dad, remember that time when we drove all the way down to Disney World for a vacation, and Mom and Stephen fell asleep in the backseat, and I sat up in the front seat to keep you company as we drove through the Great Smoky Mountains, and (here’s the really fun part) we ate a WHOLE BOX of Thin Mints between the two of us while Stephen and Mom were asleep? I remember how you would pretend to doze off at the wheel, and then I’d stick a cookie in your mouth to wake you up. We agreed we wouldn’t tell Mom about that game. Good times!
    Okay, Dad--it looks like I have some sleuthing to do on the home front. I’ll keep you posted!
    I still miss you, just in case you wondered.
    Love,
    Gilda
    As she read over her letter, Gilda reached for the soda she had perched on the windowsill and accidentally knocked over a stack of books. Reaching down to retrieve the books, she spied something she hadn’t seen in years—an oversize plastic ring she had purchased from a gum-ball machine when she was about ten years old. It looked like a giant, fake amethyst, and it flipped open to reveal a game—a tiny maze containing little metal