Slow Dance in Purgatory(27)

“I’m not.” Johnny’s quiet response hinted at suppressed mirth. “I was just surprised. You have no idea how it feels to be….. touched….again.” He reached out hesitantly and ran one long finger along the smooth curve of her cheek bone.

Maggie’s breath hitched and stuttered, and her skin felt deliciously hot beneath his brief caress. She fought the urge to close her eyes and lean into his hand. His fingers left her face reluctantly.

“The times you’ve seen me. Have you ever been wearing your glasses?”

Maggie thought back and shook her head slowly. “The first time I saw you I’d left my glasses in the dance room. They fell off the night I fell down the dumbwaiter shaft, and I didn’t wear them until you fixed them for me. Then today in the hallway they fell off and got stepped on. So…no. I’ve never had them on when I’ve seen you. It’s bizarre! I should be able to see you better! I can definitely see everything else a lot better.”

“That explains it then,” Johnny reasoned. “Maybe you don’t actually see me with your eyes.”

“How do I see you, then?”

“With a sixth sense, maybe? I don’t know. Maybe when your eyesight is limited your other senses are heightened.”

Maggie nodded her head, agreeing with him. “I remember my mom used to say she had eyes in the back of her head. Maybe it’s the same thing. I believed her forever. She always seemed to know where I was and what I was doing without even turning her head.”

Johnny reached out and took the glasses from her hand. He traced his middle finger back and forth over the crack – back and forth, back and forth, as if he was rubbing the crack away.

“My momma was like that, too. Billy and I didn’t get away with much. She could smell a lie from a mile away. She had her faults, but her mom instincts were tuned right in.”

Maggie remembered what she had wanted to tell him. She hoped she wasn’t going to embarrass herself all over again. She still felt flushed from the liberties she had taken moments before.

“Johnny...I don’t know if you know this, but your mom got married a few years after” - how did she put this – “after Billy died. She married the police chief. His name was Bailey, I think. They looked happy in their picture…”

Johnny shook his head slowly, digesting her words. He seemed shocked at the news, and Maggie cringed inwardly, wondering if she’d made a terrible blunder.

“Married? Married…that’s good, right?” He questioned feebly, and Maggie nodded her head eagerly, her eyes never leaving his face.

“Clark Bailey? Well I’ll be…. That’s good…Chief Bailey was a good guy...“

Johnny’s voice broke, and he walked several paces and then stopped. Leaning back against the wall at the end of the aisle, he sank down to the floor, as if his legs could no longer hold him. He dropped his head into his hands, running his fingers through his hair in vexation and finally fisting them there. Maggie was unsure of what to do. His posture screamed “leave me alone,” but he had been left alone for far too long. She moved to where he sat and sank down on the floor next to him. She waited quietly with him for some time, resting her hand on his knee, letting him know she was there. He didn’t lift his head, but when he finally spoke his voice was thick with emotion.

“I’ve always wondered what happened to her. How did you know she married Chief Bailey?”

“When you saved me from falling I thought it was you, but I just couldn’t believe it. I thought if I could find a picture of you I would know for sure, so I went to the city library. They have newspapers from the last 100 years, all catalogued on a computer. There were articles, dozens of them, from when the tragedy occurred. They told the story – at least as much of the story as anyone knew. That’s where I found your picture, and when I saw it…I recognized you. There were other pictures and more articles, some of them pretty wild. The wedding announcement came much later, but I was happy for your mom. I thought you should know that your mother had someone to love her and take care of her, after all.”

Johnny nodded his drooping head and then lifted it, regarding her soberly, his eyes bright with unexpressed grief.

“Thank you, Maggie.”

“You’re welcome,” Maggie whispered. The silence in the library was broken by a rattling at the library door. Maggie rose to her feet nervously, and Johnny perked up – listening intently. After a second, he sighed and met her gaze. He stood and tucked her glasses back into her front pocket.

“Gus is looking for you. He’s worried because he can’t find Shad, either.”

“You can tell what he’s thinking?” Maggie said, startled.

“No,” Johnny shook his head. “Strong emotion puts off a lot of energy, though, and some emotion is easy to interpret.”

“I better go.” Maggie turned to leave but hesitated briefly.

“Go on now; I’ll see you soon.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”





9


“TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM”

Teddy Bears - 1958





Friday morning, Maggie woke to an actual natural disaster, not one of the ghostly variety – though disaster might be too strong a word. Heavy winds had rocked Honeyville over night, knocking down a few trees and power lines and spreading branches, loose shingles and debris far and wide. To make matters worse, the rain hadn’t let up, and the streets were wet and treacherous.