"You know. He thinks it's God what tells him to pull those stunts he does. But if it were God, He wouldn't be wrong. So it's not Him. "
"That's sound enough reasoning. " God might not be his official copilot, but that didn't mean Malachi wasn't hearing voices. No one knew that better than I did. I went ahead and feigned ignorance. "What sort of book was he looking for? A Bible or something?"
"No, not—well, yes. Something like that. More like a journal. " She jammed another mouthful of roll between her gums and started lying as she chewed. "I don't know, really. I don't know what he thinks I've got here. " She swallowed and spoke more plainly. "But he's wrong. He could turn the place upside down for all I care, and he wouldn't find a thing like what he was hoping for. I told him so, too, but he didn't listen. "
When supper was through, we folded our napkins and left them on our plates. I followed her into the "sitting room"—a cozier version of the parlor—where she asked if I cared for a drink.
This time I declined, but she pressed the issue so I admitted that despite our previous imbibing of spirits, hard liquor was not my first choice of beverages.
"What do you take, then?"
"Not much of anything," I admitted, "except the occasional glass of wine. "
Her eyes perked. "Red or white?"
"Red, if you have it. "
She clapped her hands together and actually smiled. "Honey, I've got a whole cellar full, though I don't think there's anything drinkable up here, since I don't ever take much myself. I hear it's good for your heart, but at my age there's only so much care you can be bothered to take, and I'd rather have the gin. Let's go down to the cellar and see what we can find. Harry!" she hollered, and he materialized at her side. "Go on, get us a light. We're going downstairs. "
"But, ma'am, I—"
"You'd rather we go down there in the dark? Is that it?"
"No, ma'am. Of course not. I'll be back in a moment. "
Harry's obvious reluctance was clue enough that Eliza might have more than sharing spirits on her mind. "You really don't have to go to all this trouble just for my nightcap. It's getting late, I should turn in anyway. Don't make him do that. "
"Balderdash. It's nothing. We have a wonderful collection downstairs, and no one ever drinks a drop of it. "
Harry returned with two long black flashlights that could have been siblings to the one in my trunk. Eliza and I each accepted one and tested the buttons.
Harry behaved obediently, but he was clearly displeased. "Would you care for me to accompany you?"
"We won't be down there long," Eliza said offhandedly, or at least trying to sound like it.
"Then perhaps I'll join you. "
She paused, but decided against arguing. "Suit yourself. "
He tagged behind as we prematurely clicked the flashlights on and started down the hall. Eliza took the opportunity to give me a running commentary on the history and particulars of the ancestral family home.
"This house was built by my grandfather, Frank Wilcox, in 1804. He made his money on cotton and indigo, and he retired here with his family. My mother was his only daughter, and when she and my father married, my father joined her here. I was born in this house, and Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll die here too.
"During the War Between the States, it was all nearly burned except that my father was a Freemason, and the Yankee general spared the place. He said he couldn't burn a brother's house, which was dandy except that it wasn't outside his morals to burn a brother's barn and steal his horses. But the house survived, and us with it. We always do. Except now, I guess. Once I'm gone, and Malachi's gone . . . well, we're the end of this line. "
For a moment she stooped, and it seemed that the light was too heavy for her old hands. Harry reached out, offering to take it, but she wouldn't let him. She straightened and pointed the light down the lamplit corridor. Her voice regained its vigor. "Well, I'm not gone yet, and neither's he. We're not done yet. "
Along the hall we all three trod quietly on the long runner that graced the wooden floors with Oriental themes. Our footsteps made barely a dull patter and they did not echo behind us. I was acutely aware of the quiet immensity of the house, and I felt very small beneath the weight of all the years and bricks. This was my family home too, but I did not imagine I would ever feel welcome. I was subject to Eliza's displeasure, and she was the very incarnation of the house's spirit. So long as she lived, and possibly longer, it would not be happy to have me.
The hall turned and made a dead-end at a door, the Oriental rug stopping just short of the crack at the bottom. Eliza reached into a pocket on her sweater and pulled out a set of keys on a big brass ring. The keys clanked and clattered together as she held them up one by one, comparing them to the hole beneath the doorknob and trying to recall which one fit.
"Really," I said uncertainly, "I appreciate your effort, but this is too much trouble. Please, don't worry about it. "
"Nonsense. " She tried a long black one that looked more like the key to a gate than a door. It wiggled and scraped, but did not turn. She put it aside and reached for another. "Wine's made for drinking, and it's just collecting dust down there. I'd like to bring up a few bottles anyway, and now's as good a time as any. You got something better to do? No, I didn't think so. I already told you we don't have cable. Here we go. This is the right one, I'm nearly sure of it. "
Indeed, the mechanism within the slot creaked and clicked and the door slid back in halting inches. Harry leaned against it and forced it to open completely. He shined his light down the stairs and over the shelves down below as if he were checking for something, sweeping the light for unpleasantness.
"Oh, hell, Harry, there's nothing down there but maybe a rat or two. " Eliza stepped past him onto the first stair, then turned to me and lifted her shoulders in an explanatory half shrug. "You do what you can about the rats, but in a place this big you never get them all. As long as I don't see them upstairs, it doesn't cost me any sleep to know they're here. "