s t r a n g e cousin susan

Willie raised his hand to knock on the heavy wooden door of Collinwood, a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach and took a deep breath as his knuckles connected with the door. “There ain’t no turnin’ back now, sugar,” he whispered and squeezed Maggie’s hand.

She nodded solemnly. “I know,” she whispered back.

The visitors took a step back as the front door creaked open. The boy standing in the doorway stared up at them, speechless. After a few seconds, he found his voice. “Willie? What are you doing here?” He glanced at Maggie and the color drained from his face. “I don’t believe this,” he breathed. “This can’t be happening!”

“David!” a woman’s voice called from inside the mansion. “If it’s a salesman, tell him you’re not interested. Vicki wants you to finish this math chapter before she gets home from Bangor this evening.”

The boy looked over his shoulder, than back to Willie and Maggie. “Uh, Carolyn, I think you better come here.”

“I’m not in the mood for this, David. I know you don’t like math, but you’ve got to learn this. And if you don’t, Vicki’s going to be very disappointed.”

“Carolyn, please come here,” he pleaded with her. Willie and Maggie looked at each other as they heard shoes clicking on the parquet floor, coming closer.

“David Collins, I’m not sure what you’re up to now, but,” Carolyn said and stopped in her tracks when she saw the two people standing in the doorway. “Oh, Jesus,” she murmured, looking them up and down. “David, get your math book and go to your room to work on those last few exercises.”

“But, Carolyn,” he whined.

“No buts, David. Now!” He scampered into the drawing room and returned to the foyer in record time, hoping his cousin had changed her mind. “Don’t make me tell you again. Upstairs, young man!” Carolyn pointed to the stairway and put her other hand on her hip and David ran up the stairs, two at a time, grumbling loudly to himself.

She turned her attention back to the newcomers and watched as Maggie fidgeted next to Willie. “We’re sorry for just droppin’ in like this, Carolyn,” he began to say. “Maggie, she said we shoulda called first, but you ain’t listed in the phone book.”

Carolyn Stoddard tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder and took a step closer to the couple. “It would have been nice to have some warning the floor was going to collapse under my feet,” she quipped and took another step towards them. “I don’t understand this. We all thought you were dead,” she said and looked right at Maggie. “And we thought you’d done it,” she added unabashedly, turning her attention to Willie for a brief second.