Chapter 40

As it neared closing time, Mary returned. She seemed refreshed from her several hours long visit with Mercy and Deliverance. No customers were in the store, allowing her to spend a few minutes telling Gail and Marjorie some of what they had talked about.

“It was most enjoyable,” she said. “I did not realize how much I needed a break from all of this. We all need time away. We will each take a day off every week, starting tomorrow.”

“Who goes first?” Gail asked.

They all looked at each other. No one wanted to be the first to speak.

“Marjorie,” Mary finally said. “Tomorrow, you have a day off. The next day, Gail, and then Frank can take the day away.”

“I can work on my accounts,” he said.

“No, you will not. You will have a day off, without work.”

“The change is like a day off,” he said.

“Do what you wish,” she said, shaking her head. “Lock up. It’s 7 PM.”

Gail flipped the sign to ‘Closed,’ and she locked the door. As Frank ran the receipts, Marjorie and Mary began restocking the shelves. The day had been another good one, and even with the tourist trade ebbing near the end the season, they were still doing business well ahead of their projected sales figures.

“Let’s go home,” Mary said.

“I’ve got to go by my folk’s house and get some things,” Gail said. “Let them know I’m still alive, stuff like that.”

“Should I keep your supper warm?”

“I’ll be back. Give me an hour. Is that okay?”

“We’ll wait for you.”

Gail nodded and was off.

At home, while Mary and Marjorie prepared supper, Frank worked at his regular job and serviced four accounts. It still surprised him, even after several years, that he could do a week’s worth of work in a day. He had even added a half-dozen new customers and still stayed up to date working two or three hours a day.

Gail was back by the time supper was ready. She was in a good mood, saying her mother had finally come to accept her being away. Jacob was fine and, in her absence, her mother was learning at last how to deal with him.

“Things have a way of working out,” Mary said. “Let’s get the table set and supper served. It’s after eight, and it isn’t good going to bed soon after eating.”

“Tomorrow is a new day,” Marjorie said.

“Yes, it is. Every day is a new beginning,” Mary replied. “We will enjoy the present and look forward to each rising of the sun.” She looked at Gail. “Should we discuss adding another room to the house. You are a woman and ought to have a room of your own.”

“If it’s okay with everyone else,” Gail answered.

Marjorie and Frank both nodded. Having Gail Collins with them just seemed normal. Mary motioned to the table.

They took their seats and, after giving thanks, Mary began serving dinner.

“We are most blessed,” she said. “And the future looks even brighter.”

During dinner, Gail became quiet, saying little. Marjorie was the first to notice.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“I was just thinking,” Gail said. “We can talk about it after.”

“The shop?” Mary asked.

Gail shook her head. “No. Something else. It’s probably nothing.”

When dinner finished, and with the table cleared and the dishes washed, they went into the living room and sat.

“Now,” Mary said. “What is it?”

“I started thinking about it yesterday, when your friends came into the shop,” Gail said.

“Mercy Avery. Yes, what about her?”

“Not her,” Gail said. “Rebecca. I was thinking. Frank sent her away, maybe to hell or someplace. Then she came back, and we sent her back to that place.”

“We did,” Marjorie said. “She was trying to kill Frank.”

“Did we do right?” Gail asked.

Mary’s brow furrowed. “Whatever do you mean?”

“She’s crazy,” Gail said, “and doesn’t know what she’s doing. I mean, I thought about it when we talked about her wanting Frank to open the coffin. Even crazy, she tried to help you.”

Marjorie gave a slow nod. “I see where you’re coming from. She isn’t responsible for what she’s doing. Something owns her. It possesses her.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Gail stopped and frowned. “What else could we do, though?”

“What would you have done?” Mary asked.

“Probably the same thing,” Gail said. “I couldn’t let her kill Frank, and I don’t know if we could talk to her.”

“Do you think, if she returns, we should try?”

“I’m not sure that’s wise,” Marjorie said.

“Nor am I,” Mary said.

Gail sighed. “Maybe you’re right. It just seems so wrong to punish her for what a thing inside her is making her do.”

No one spoke for a moment. All were thinking about Gail’s comment.

“I halfway agree,” Frank said. “It isn’t fair, but what’s the option? What else do we do?”

“Would it be wrong to talk to her?” Gail asked.

“Well,” Mary said, “I’m hoping we won’t see her again. If she does return, we’ll deal with things as they happen. Should we confront her face to face, then is the time to try to reason with her. I think it will have little effect.”

“I faced her,” Frank added. “She wasn’t going to be reasoned with when I saw her.”

“Well,” Gail said, “it just, I don’t know, seems kind of sad, I mean, what happened to her.”

“It’s very sad,” Mary said. “It was sad for me, and it still hurts me. She was a good friend, and I loved her. I still love her. To see what she became when the evil took possession pained me most grievously.”

“It was just something that came into my head,” Gail said. “We can forget it.”

“And it was something worth getting out into the open,” Marjorie said. “We need to be open if we have any doubts about things. This is an important point. We hope she won’t return, but we don’t know.”

“If she comes back,” Mary said, “we will do what the occasion warrants. Were she to choose to face us, we will act according to the need.”

“That’s fair enough,” Gail said. “Maybe the three of us together can get it out of her.”

“She and I couldn’t,” Mary said. “But it is something to think on.”

“Right now,” Marjorie said, “if we have no other business, I’d like a shower.”

“And I am next,” Mary said. “The talk of the past ends here and now.”

Gail laughed. “I’ll be third in the shower. Frank can be last.”

“That’s usually how it works,” Frank said.

By the time Frank got his shower, it was approaching ten o’clock. They sat and discussed adding to the house, if Betsy and Dan approved. It would double the size and give Gail her own room and Frank a home office. They planned an additional two rooms for guests.

“Bed time,” Mary said, bringing a halt to the discussion. “I think we should draw something up that we can show Betsy, and let them decide. I am tired and it is approaching eleven o’clock.”

“Tomorrow is another day,” Marjorie said. “I’m off to bed.”

“We are all right behind you,” Mary said.

“Can I watch TV a while?” Gail asked. “I’m still young.”

Mary turned to her. “Young enough that I can spank you for being disobedient?”

They laughed and hugged.

“Good night, Gail,” Mary said. She and Frank went to their room. Gail waited until the door closed and then turned on the television, keeping the volume low.

“Just for a little while,” she said to herself, and lay down on the sofa. A few minutes later, she sighed and turned it off. “Okay, Mary. You’re right. Tomorrow is another day.”

In minutes, she was asleep.