The Secret of Blueberry Hill

By Rosa Lee Lloyd

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Chapter 3

Synopsis: Johnny, Steve, Elizabeth, and Lila McIntyre are making plans for the funeral of their beloved Aunt Lucinda. A childhood friend Norman Strong is staying with them. Lila has dined occasionally with her employer, Scott Harrington, the bank president, but does not feel she really knows him. Scott comes to pay his respects to the family, and seems captivated by the beautiful Elizabeth.

Scott Harrington said goodnight shortly after dinner was over.

“It has been nice to be together,” he told them as they walked to the front porch.

He hesitated, then he went on. “Your Aunt Lucinda was part of my life, too. She left her mark on everyone who knew her, old and young. She expected us to do certain things and we did them!”

“How true!” Steven agreed with a heavy sigh. “I wonder – will Skylark ever have another Lucinda McIntyre?”

Lila couldn’t speak for the sob in her throat. She walked to the end of the long porch and stood there looking up at the great white moon shining down on Skylark.

Oh, Aunt Lucinda, she whispered to herself, I wish I could talk to you again. You knew what each of us needed and now we need you more than ever. She closed her eyes and a gentle peace came to her. Aunt Lucinda would want them to remember everything she had taught them and she had often told them that jealousy was self-depreciation. “Be proud of yourself and what you are,” she would advise them.

Lila lifted her head, gratefully. Those words were a message to her. She would be proud of herself and look forward to what life had for her. She must let go of the dream she had built up around Scott ever since she was a little girl. After all, he wasn’t a knight in shining armor. He was an ordinary man, still charming and attractive, but older, too, as old as Steven and Elizabeth while Lila was only twenty-two.

Someone touched her shoulder. Norman was standing beside her. “Let’s go for a walk,” he coaxed her.

“I should help with the dishes,” she protested, mildly.

“Silly girl! There are three of them to do dishes. Come on.”

They strolled along Clover Street, hands swinging together. “Someday we’ll have sidewalks out here,” she said.

“I like it this way,” he said dreamily. “Country streets and ditch banks and sunflowers in the fields look good to me after those crowded cities.”

They walked on silently. He smiled down at her. “You didn’t eat all your steak,” he said. “I cooked that one especially for you.”

“Well done,” she answered, “but juicy, too. That’s a clever trick. You do so many things for me, Norman. You always have. And I haven’t done any special things for you.”

He turned her around and made her look up at him.

“You are special to me, Lila. Very special. Someday soon – I will tell you – but not tonight. Tonight belongs to our memory of Aunt Lucinda. If it hadn’t been for her I might have given up hoping that you would ever – care for me – the way I care for you.”

A kind of wonder touched Lila’s heart. Had Norman cared for her all these years? Their eyes caught and held. Why hadn’t she noticed before that his eyes were velvet brown and very serious? She had thought the wistful look in them had been brother tenderness because she was Johnny’s sister and Johnny always teased her.

“Norman –” she touched his hand. “I can’t say how I feel – I’m so confused without Aunt Lucinda. She was so wise, Norman. How can I go on?”

“It won’t be easy for you, Lila,” he answered. “You’ve been protected here in Skylark from the way some girls think nowadays. I am glad you have been – so is Johnny. Even though he teases you, he’s really proud of you, Lila Bob.”

“I’m going to Kansas City with him after the funeral – just for a short trip.”

“I know” – he murmured. “I have to fly to San Francisco right after the funeral, too. I have commitments I have postponed. But anytime you need me I’ll come to you. Remember that.”

“Thank you, Norman. I’ll remember.”

They strolled on in silence. Norman seemed to realize she was heavy with grief for Aunt Lucinda. She wasn’t ready to talk much or make decisions.

The moonlight bathed them in silver glory. Norman said, “I can’t get used to thinking of the moon as a great round rock-covered sphere of metal. Landing up there was marvelous. We are all grateful for scientific accomplishment, but do you know something?”

“What?” she questioned.

“I’ll bet the astronauts who landed up there are still intrigued by a moonlit night. The world without the moonlight would be a very dull place. It would be like spring without blossoms or green grass or birds in the trees or the part of us that reaches out for beauty.”

“Norman,” Lila smiled at him, “you’re a poet. I thought you were all tied up with figures and sales reports and business meetings with maybe a game of golf or a ski jump on the side for exercise.”

His hand closed around hers as hey walked on. “You have a lot to learn about me, Lila Bob,” he told her. “Shall we go back now? You should sleep better after this walk.”

“I will,” she said gratefully. “Oh, I will, Norman.”

Elizabeth and Steven were sitting in the porch swing when they returned. The fragrance of Aunt Lucinda’s flower garden made Lila drew in her breath. “Johnny went to bed,” Elizabeth told them. “He said he would like to sleep for twenty years.”

“That boy really worked. So did Norman. They cleaned the house and cooked the dinner,” Steven added.

“Who did the dishes?” Lila asked. “I shouldn’t have run away.”

“Nonsense!” Elizabeth smiled at her. “The moonlight did you good. It’s in your eyes and your hair – even your voice has a silver tone. Thanks, Norman, for taking our little sister on a moon-walk.”

“My pleasure,” he grinned. Lila thought how young he is, tall and straight, with a freshly scrubbed look like a little boy on his first day at school.

Elizabeth stood up. “Bedtime,” she said. “Norman, you and Steven can have the twin beds in the front room upstairs. Steven and I made them up while you were gone. Come on, Punkin.” She took Lila’s hand and together they went up to Lila’s room.

Elizabeth closed the door and kicked off her shoes. “First thing I do when I’m tired,” she said. She sat down on the rocker looking at Lila who was stepping out of her skirt.

“I can work twelve hours a day,” she went on, “and that’s really work, with life and death responsibility, and yet I don’t get as tired as I am right now. I guess – it’s because Aunt Lucinda isn’t here – anymore. She’s gone – Lila Bob.” Her voice broke and she covered her face with her hands.

Lila knelt beside her and held her in a tight embrace. She hadn’t seen Elizabeth cry like this before. Elizabeth was the strong one of the family. She was like Aunt Lucinda.

“I know,” Lila whispered. “What can we do without her? Who loves us the way she did? She was our mother and our father. We’re lost, Elizabeth. Really lost.”

They clung together weeping. At last Elizabeth said, fiercely: “We have each other, Lila. Nothing must ever come between us. Nothing – no one.”

“No one ever could,” Lila assured her, dabbing at her eyes as she got to her feet. She undressed quickly and put on a fresh white nightgown but she was still crying.

She realized the struggle inside her sister. Elizabeth had been aware that Scott was attracted to her. What woman wouldn’t be, Lila reasoned? There had been magic between them at the dinner table. And later when he said goodnight, all his remarks had been for Elizabeth. His eyes had lingered on her as though really seeing her for the first time. No doubt Johnny had noticed and the thought that Lila would be hurt had sent him off to bed heartsick for her. Steven, too. And now Elizabeth was torn apart with grief for Aunt Lucinda and anxiety that Lila wold be offended.

Lila smiled down at her through her tears. How did you tell an older, wiser sister that you were able to realize that she had the charm and dignity that appealed to Scott. Someday there might be a way to say these things but not tonight. Tonight belonged to thinking of Aunt Lucinda as Norman had said, of going over in their minds what she would want them to do now that she was gone.

Elizabeth dried her eyes with the handkerchief Lila offered her. Her voice was steady again. “Steven and I had a long talk while you were walking. We have decided to ask Scott for the loan for the hospital. he can at least think it over.”

“I think he will let you have it, Elizabeth. But it will have to be a civic project. everyone in town will have to contribute. We need a hospital in Skylark. Only last month Toddle Dean nearly died before they got her to Porterville for an appendectomy.”

“Toddle Dean?” Elizabeth questioned. “Isn’t she your friend who sings in the choir?”

“Yes – only now she sings solos and most people call her Thelma because she is slender and doesn’t bounce anymore. She is such a darling friend. I would like her to sing at the funeral. Not long ago we had a “sing-in” here at home. Aunt Lucinda enjoyed it so much. She asked Toddle to sing a favorite song of hers. It isn’t a funeral song but it sort of expresses the way Aunt Lucinda felt about everybody.”

“What is it?” Elizabeth asked.

“‘May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You,’” Lila told her.

Elizabeth nodded. “If Steven and Johnny agree we’ll ask Toddle to sing it. We must have the high school glee club. That was one of her favorite projects. We should have some special kind of flowers for her casket. Something – extraordinary – the way she was.”

Lila’ eyes brightened. “Like calla lilies,” she exclaimed. “Johnny sent her a beautiful bouquet of calla lilies on her last birthday. They came by air from Kansas City. Let’s talk to him in the morning.”

“We will, honey.” Elizabeth’s eyes closed. “Calla lilies – will be perfect.”

Lila leaned over and laid her head on Elizabeth’s breast. “I am so glad you are my sister,” she whispered. “Go to sleep little Pie-face,” Elizabeth murmured.

It was a large funeral. People came from miles away to pay honor to Aunt Lucinda, to express gratitude for all she had done for everyone in the community.

So many teenagers and young couples were in the congregation that Johnny whispered to Lila: “No generation gap here. I wish some of my far-out friends could see this crowd.”

“Aunt Lucinda didn’t think about anybody’s age,” Lila whispered back. “She said we all belong to Heavenly Father. Some have just been here longer than others. They deserve a little more care.”

Bishop Campbell was a tall, lean man with a lined Lincolnesque face. The poems he chose were an inspiration and today as he talked about Aunt Lucinda some of the heaviness lifted from Lila’s heart.

She sat quietly between Johnny and Elizabeth. Steven and Norman were together further down the bench.

When Toddle Dean sang the song she and Elizabeth had selected everyone was misty eyed. It was a farewell to all those who had known her.

Lila loved every flower that had been sent. She appreciated the little bouquets of sunflowers from the school children as much as the laurel wreath from the board of education. She sighed gratefully as her eyes lingered on the elegant spray of calla lilies that almost covered the white casket. What an effort Johnny had made to have it arrive in time for the funeral. Telegrams, telephone calls, and, finally, he had contacted a pilot friend of his to bring it in a private plane. Of course it was extravagant, Lila admitted, but it was a symbol of their devotion to Aunt Lucinda.

At last it was time for the high school glee club to pay tribute to Aunt Lucinda. Two by two they walked up the aisle. Lila noticed their radiant young faces and the way they were dressed, the girls in gray jumpers and long sleeved white blouses, the boys in gray trousers with white shirts. She leaned forward staring at one boy as he took his place in line.

Casey Wilkins, standing proud and tall among them! Casey had had a haircut!

No word that had been spoken, no song that had been sung, no flower of gratitude was a greater tribute to Aunt Lucinda than Casey Wilkins’ haircut!

Lila wept by her heart lifted and sang with Casey. She hoped Aunt Lucinda could look down and smile on him. He had made a supreme sacrifice to please her.

After the funeral and the grave dedication, they drove to the airport to see Norman off for San Francisco. Each in his own way told Norman how he was appreciated. Lila walked to the gate with him. Her face was tear-stained and her nose was shiny. A swift breeze tumbled her hair into a curly mass.

“What a wind!” she said.

Huge black clouds gathered together in the sky. The sun was a shadowy blur and a weird whistling sound filled the air.

“A tornado!” Norman yelled. “Hurry back, Lila. Tell Johnny to step on it! It’s a real dilly!”

“Don’t go, Norman,” Lila pled, but he disappeared into the crowd getting on the plane.

“Lila – make it snappy!” Johnny shouted to her.

Suddenly the whole sky was a black funnel roaring toward them!

(To be continued)