and over. “It’s all going to be all right now. It’s over, and Mother’s here.” She was trying to cradle the child’s head in her arms, but Sarah kept jerking spasmodically. It was all Rose could do to keep her on the sofa.
The Stevenses’ eyes met over the crouching Rose, and a look of pity passed between them. Then they heard a noise at the living-room door and saw Elizabeth and Jeff standing there. Carl started to wave them back upstairs, but Rose had seen them too.
“It’s all right,” she said. “She’s quieting.” She turned her attention to the two children, who were now inside the living room, standing quietly, though Jeff was fidgeting.
“What happened up there?” Rose said quietly. She glanced at both children, but her gaze settled on Elizabeth. “What set her off?”
“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said. “We were playing with the Ouija board, and then I started telling Jeff about the old family legend.”
“Was Sarah listening?”
“I don’t know, Elizabeth said again.” I wasn’t really paying much attention to her. Jeff and I were arguing.
“Arguing?” Barbara Stevens asked. “What about?”
“She was telling me a story,” Jeff said. “It was really crazy, and she got mad when I told her I didn’t believe it.”
“But it’s true,” Elizabeth insisted.
“About the cave?” Barbara asked. Her son looked at her in surprise.
“You mean you’ve heard about it too?”
“Yes, I have. But whether it’s true or not, you shouldn’t have argued with Elizabeth about it.”
“But—” Jeff began, but his father cut him off.
“No buts,” he said. “You know better than to argue about something you don’t know anything about Apologize to Elizabeth.”
For a moment it looked as if Jeff was about to argue some more, but then he turned to Elizabeth. “I’m sorry I argued with you,” he said, then couldn’t resist adding, “but I still don’t think there’s a cave.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth, but Rose spoke first.
“It doesn’t matter right now whether there’s a cave or not. What matters is what got Sarah so upset What happened?”
Elizabeth picked up the story. “I was telling Jeff about the legend, and I got to the part about the cave. And we started arguing about whether or not it was real, and then all of a sudden Sarah started screaming. There’s a broken window in the playroom.”
“A broken window?”
“She threw the Ouija board through it,” Jeff explained.
“What in the world were you doing with the Ouija board?” Carl Stevens wanted to know.
Jeff started to speak, but this time it was Elizabeth who got there first.
“We were just playing with it. It spelled out Beth.”
“That’s your name,” Barbara Stevens said with a smile.
“Yes,” Elizabeth said, shrugging. She flashed a quick glance at Jeff, and he caught her meaning immediately. Don’t let the grown-ups know too much about it. It’s our secret. He smiled at her.
“But what set Sarah off?” Rose said doggedly, casting about desperately for a rational reason for her daughter’s outburst. Please, she begged, directing a prayer heavenward. Let me understand. Just once.
Jeff and Elizabeth looked at each other and shrugged. Rose was about to begin cross-examining them, but changed her mind when she saw her husband making his way slowly down the stairs. He didn’t come into the living room, though. Instead, he started across the hall toward the back study. The back study and the bar, Rose thought.
“Well,” she said, “I guess that more or less takes care of our bridge game, doesn’t it. I don’t think I could concentrate on the cards any more.” She produced one of those bright and cheery smiles that tell the recipient it’s time to leave. The Stevenses got the message.
Carl glanced at his watch nervously. “It’s time for us to be getting home anyway,” he said. “I’m sorry this had to happen. If there’s anything we can do …” He trailed off helplessly, knowing there wasn’t.
“Well do it again,” Barbara said quickly, coming to his rescue. “Soon. Call us, okay?”
Rose smiled at them, and Elizabeth escorted them to the door, holding the door open while they got into their coats. Outside the rain still fell quietly from the gray skies.
“Not too pleasant,” Carl said.
“No,” Elizabeth agreed. “But we get used to it” As they left, neither Carl nor Barbara was sure whether Elizabeth had been referring to the weather or to her sister’s outburst.
Neither of them spoke until they had turned onto the Point Road.
“It must be hard,” Barbara said finally.
“What?”
“Having a daughter like Sarah. I feel so sorry for them both.”