The Loveliest Dead Read Free Page A

angry. Miles didn’t want me to do anything about it, and I promised him I wouldn’t, but that was a little white lie, because I called his teacher and told her about it. Apparently, she intervened somehow. I asked him about it a week later and he said things were okay, that the boy was leaving him alone.” She sighed. “Children can be so cruel to each other.”  
    “Speaking of children,” Martha said, “there are about half a dozen of them in the backyard right now playing on the slide and swing set.”  
    Jenna stopped painting and looked over at the breakfast nook. Martha was leaning to her left, craning her neck to peer out the breakfast-nook window. “What?”  
    “A bunch of boys. There’s, let’s see—one, two, three ... five of them.”
    “It’s not even noon yet, they should be in school.”
    “Well, they’re not.” Still looking out the window, Martha sipped her tea. “You know, you really should chase them off, Jenna. If one of them hurts himself in your yard, his parents are likely to sue you. Everybody’s suing everybody these days.”  
    The house was in such a remote location and so far off the main road, it seemed unlikely that a bunch of little boys would be playing in the yard. But Martha was obviously watching something .  
    Frowning, Jenna placed the brush across the top of the paint can and carefully climbed down off the stepladder. She walked over to the breakfast nook and slid onto the bench opposite Martha.  
    “Oh!” Martha said softly, her back suddenly stiff.
    Jenna looked out the window. The backyard was empty. The two swings twisted and swayed in the wind. She looked across the table at her mother.  
    “There are no kids out there now, Mom.”
    Martha’s eyes were wide behind her large, silver-framed glasses as her head turned slowly from the window to face Jenna. “They disappeared.”  
    Jenna looked out the window again. They hadn’t had time to climb over the Cyclone fence, which would have been difficult, so there was only one direction the boys could have gone. “Did they head for the front yard?”  
    “They disappeared into the ground.”
    Jenna looked at her again, this time with a wrinkled brow, and a chill passed over her shoulders.
    Martha’s eyes lowered to her cup of tea. She looked as if she were about to cry.
    “Are ... are you all right, Mom?”
    She said nothing for a moment, did not even move.
    Martha had become much more forgetful since the stroke. She lost her train of thought during conversations and forgot what she was saying. She did silly little things, like searching for her glasses while they were on her face, or remembering conversations or events that had never taken place. But this was the most drastic thing that had happened so far—that Jenna was aware of, anyway.  
    “Mom, have you taken all your pills today?”
    Martha slowly raised her head to look at Jenna. “You think I made it up?”
    “No, I didn’t say that.”
    “Then you think I imagined it.”
    “I didn’t say—”
    “They were out there. One had a green knit cap on his head, and another wore a red plaid jacket and ... and they just... disappeared into the ground.”  
    Jenna nodded and started to say that, yes, she believed her—but she knew her voice would give her away, that she would not sound convincing, because, of course, she did not believe her. So she said nothing. Instead, she scooted out from behind the table and went around to the other side, put an arm around Martha’s shoulders, and hugged her.  
    “You didn’t answer me,” Jenna said. “Have you taken all your pills?”
    After a moment, Martha said, “What time is it?”
    Jenna looked at the clock on the microwave oven. “Almost eleven-thirty.”
    “Okay, I... I do need to take a couple pills. I’m glad you reminded me. I think I’ll do that now, and then ... maybe I’ll lie down for a little while.”  
    “All right. I’ll fix lunch around one. How do soup and sandwiches