Jubilee's Journey (Wyattsville #2)(26)

“Okay.” Olivia printed in large bold letters.

Jubilee went on to say that she’d waited just as she’d been told, but when it got cold and dark she went home with Ethan Allen. She paused a moment then asked, “You think we ought to tell Paul that Ethan’s a kid like me and he’s off a farm?”

“I suppose so,” Olivia answered. Her words had the sound of sincerity, but inside her heart she suspected the missing brother was not going to show up. Why, she wasn’t sure. But something was telling her Anita and only Anita had the answer.

Three times Jubilee changed her mind about what was best to say, and three times Olivia tore off the page and started a new note. Once it was finished, Jubilee suggested they add stars to the four corners of the paper. “Paul puts stars on my papers when I do good, and this way he’ll know I’m doing good.”

Once the stars were added, Olivia wrapped tape twice around the bench to make sure the note would hold. Jubilee nodded her approval, and they started for home.

Olivia wondered if somewhere deep inside Jubilee suspected the same thing she did. Before they reached the corner, Olivia bounced back to talking about the delights that would come with Aunt Anita. “I just know she’ll have a dollhouse for you…”

As Olivia made a right onto Park Street, she saw Jubilee turn back for one last look.





Jubilee Jones



I ain’t never had six dresses at one time. And I sure ain’t never had underpants with the day of the week spelled out so you don’t get mixed up and wear Tuesday’s pants on Wednesday. Much as I like having all this stuff, I gotta say it seems a bit wasteful. Ain’t one of them dresses gonna fit me, come next year.





Watching Miss Olivia spend money like she had a bucket of it got me thinking about what Paul said. He’s right, city people is a whole lot different. Not bad different, but sure enough different.

Miss Olivia is doing her best to make me feel better, and I was having a nice enough time ‘til I saw my note gone from the bench. That’s when I got scared; real scared. What if Paul came back when I wasn’t there? What if he got mad on account of I didn’t wait like he said? All this while, I been thinking he’s coming back. But what if he’s done been here and gone?





I don’t care if I have to give back all the dresses and everything. Stuff like going to the circus or having a dollhouse is real nice, but I’d a lot rather have Paul carrying me home on his back. I’m bigger now and maybe I’m too big for carrying; maybe that’s why Paul ain’t coming back. It could be he’s tired of having a kid sister bothering him all the time. I pray that ain’t it.

While Miss Olivia and me was sitting on the bench, I got to studying the store Paul’s supposed to be working in, and I got a real bad memory in my head. A long time ago, when Daddy was alive, he showed me a place with that same yellow tape. “Keep out” it said. When I asked Daddy why we had to keep out, he said it was because the roof caved in and killed a whole bunch of people. “Don’t you ever go in a place closed off like that,” he said. And I didn’t.





Miss Olivia said I shouldn’t worry about Paul. She said we’ll get to finding him, soon as we find Aunt Anita.





I’m thinking we ought to be looking for Paul and just forget about Aunt Anita.





The Bad Place



When Olivia and Jubilee arrived home, Ethan Allen was lying on the living room floor with his head resting on Dog and his nose buried in a Captain Marvel comic book. “Is your homework done?” Olivia asked.

“Sort of.”

Knowing this was Ethan’s way of circumventing a no, Olivia told him he could play with Jubilee for a little while but to plan on doing homework after dinner. She crossed to her bedroom, hung Jubilee’s dresses in the closet, then closed the door and dialed Clara’s number.

“Did you find out anything?” she asked.

“No. I called all the Walkers, even the ones you’d already called. Not one of them knows an Anita. That Hiram, he’s a nasty old buzzard. Claims if we keep bothering him about Anita, he’s gonna call the police.”

“I think Hiram’s the one who hung up on me last night,” Olivia said. Then she asked about Seth Porter. “Did he tell you anything more than what he told me?”

“Nope. But he did say if somebody reports the girl kidnapped, you’re gonna be in for a lot of trouble and he wants no part of it.”

“Oh, dear,” Olivia said. “Why would he think—”

“You know how Seth is,” Clara snorted. “But he’s right, you do have to find this kid’s aunt and give her back. Once you do that, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Are you sure the aunt’s name is Walker?”

Olivia started to say yes, but then she stopped and thought. Jubilee was only seven. What if she mistook her mama’s sister-in-law for sister? If such was the case, Anita would then be related to Jubilee’s dad.

“The name might be Jones,” Olivia said.

After nearly twenty minutes of discussion she and Clara agreed they had to check out all the Joneses in Wyattsville. It was a list four times as long as that of the Walkers, so they were going to need some help.