The Prophet of Yonwood (4 page)

Martin scowled at him. This will be my first late mark of the whole year, he said.

Its notmy fault, said Grover. You didnt have to stand around talking to me.

But Martin just turned away. Hed changed, thought Grover as he hurried toward his classroom. He used to be nicer than he was now.

CHAPTER 5 ______________

The Fiery Vision

That morning, Crystal poked around in the kitchen cupboards and found just about nothing fit to eat. Would you feel like walking downtown and getting us a few groceries? she asked Nickie. Ill start cleaning up this foul kitchen.

So Nickie put on her jacket and went downhill two blocks to Main Street, thinking how nice it was to be out by herself, as she couldnt safely be in the city. The stores were just opening. It was cold, but the sun came out sometimes from between the clouds, and the town looked washed clean. Quite a few people were already out. She noticed that nearly all of them held cell phones to their ears as they walked. Of course she was used to seeing cell phones in the city; there, half the people you passed were jabbering away. But here people werenttalking into their phones; they were just listening. It was odd.

She passed a small restaurant called the Cozy Corner Cafwhere several people were standing outside, talking in excited voices, and a police car was just pulling away. Something must have happened theremaybe a customer had taken sick.

She passed a drugstore, a bakery, and a shoe store. She passed a closed-up movie theater, where a sign stuck over the ticket window said, Pray instead! In the window of a clothing store, she saw a display of white T-shirts that said, Dont Do It! in big red letters on the front, and after that she kept noticing people on the street wearing these T-shirts. Dont do what? she wondered.

As she passed an alley between a hardware store and a computer repair shop, she heard a strange sound. It was a kind of hum with a rhythm to itMMMM-mmmm-MMMM-mmmma sound that a machine might make. She stopped and looked around, but she couldnt see where it was coming from. She could tell that other people on the sidewalk noticed the sound, too. They frowned, but they didnt seem puzzled by it, just annoyed, or maybe a little frighteneda few of them started walking faster, as if to get away. The sound faded after a moment. Nickie decided it must be some gadget in the computer shop.

Farther on, she found the Yonwood Market, and there she bought some bread, milk, eggs, and powdered cocoa. She bought a small box of dog biscuits, too, and tucked this under her jacket.

Nickie was just turning off Main Street on the way back to Greenhaven when, from high overhead, there came a distant roar that quickly rose to a piercing scream, and five fighter jets streaked across the sky. Jets came often these days; they scared her. She stopped walking, set down the bag of groceries, and put her hands over her ears until the jets were gone.

Then she felt someone touch her shoulder. She looked up to see an elderly woman standing over her. It might be starting, the woman said in a shaky voice. It might be starting right nowyou never knowbut its best not to be scared if you can help it. You need to have faith; thats what I say. Well be all right here because of what were doing, as long as we have faith, thats the main thing. The spidery hand patted Nickies shoulder. So dont worry, little girl, and remember to pray, and The woman glanced upward. Well be all right, because She trailed off and tottered away, leaving Nickie feeling the opposite of reassured. Maybe people here were just as scared as they were in the city. That made her heart sink a little. But on the other hand, the woman had said, Well be all right. It was confusing.

Once she got back to Greenhaven, though, she forgot about it. She hid the dog biscuits in her bedroom and then went into the kitchen, where Crystal made hot chocolate for them. They sat at the huge, elegant dining room table. Crystal got out her to-do list.

This room is somajestic, Nickie said. She had decided to point out good things about Greenhaven as often as she could, to change Crystals mind about selling it.

I suppose so, said Crystal, glancing up. Certainly this table is very fine. It should fetch a good price. She went back to her list. Ill start by talking to the real estate agent, she said. Then Ill go make arrangements at the auction house and find a cleaning service. I should be back by noon.

Ill stay here, said Nickie. I can start going through stuff.

Youll be all right? You wont fall down the stairs or lean out high windows?

Of course I wont, said Nickie. Ill just take stuff out of cupboards and boxes and look at it. Ill separate it into Stuff to Keep and Stuff to Throw Away.

Throw Away will be the big pile, Crystal said.

When Crystal had gone, Nickie fetched the dog biscuits and dashed up the stairs. Amanda! she called. Its me! She heard barking when she came to the door at the top. When she opened it, she saw Otis rocketing toward her. He skidded to a stop in front of her and rose to his hind feet, stretching his front paws up as if he wanted to pat her face. She knelt down and scratched his ears. Hi, Otis, she said. You sure are cute.

Amanda came out into the hall. She was still in her bathrobe.

I heard Otis barking when I came up the stairs, Nickie said. I dont see how we can keep him a secret if he barks. Crystal will hear him.

Oh, Lord, said Amanda. Maybe I could get him a muzzle.

That seems kind of cruel, Nickie said. There must be a better way.

Nickie went into the nursery room and looked around. The long tube of rolled-up rug gave her an idea. We could soundproof this room, she said. Im sure we could.

They spent the next two hours doing it. They unrolled the big rug. They found small rugs in other rooms, brought them up to the nursery, and spread them out to cover the entire floor. From bathrooms and linen closets they brought towels and blankets, which they hung over the windows and the door with thumbtacks. Every now and then Nickie would go downstairs, Amanda would get Otis to bark, and Nickie would listen hard. Finally, after four tries, Nickie couldnt hear a thing.

It works! she said when she came back up. She surveyed what theyd done. It was more than a soundproof room: it was also a strange and beautiful room, almost like the inside of a tent, with its carpeted floor and walls hung with blankets. It glowed with patterns and colorsfaded blue and faded red on the floor, rose and lavender, pale green and gold on the walls. The light was dim now, because theyd covered some of the windows, so they brought up a lamp with a parchment shade from one of the rooms below, and more cushions for the window seat, and another rocking chair.

If only we could make a fire in the fireplace, Nickie said, this would be the coziest room in the world.

Its real nice, Amanda agreed. Otis might chew these rugs, though.

Ill buy him some toys, Nickie said. You can teach him to chew those instead. She bent down and rumpled Otiss ears. Now, she said, Im going to start looking through stuff.

Looking through what?

Everything in the house. I want to see it all, Nickie said. Have you noticed any scrapbooks while youve been here? Or diaries, or photograph albums?

Amanda pondered. Maybe in the front parlor cabinet, she said.

So Nickie went downstairs, filled a box with stuff she found in the parlor cabinets, and took it back up to the nursery. She and Amanda sat on the window seat beneath a lamp and looked through it. A great deal of it was boring: old packs of bent playing cards, a calendar from 1973, a photo album containing eighteen faded photos, every one of them of a black cocker spaniel. But there were also some old letters, someNational Geographic magazines, and quite a few albums with pictures of people. Jammed way in the back, she found three very old-looking cards with black borders. They were from different people, but all of them were dated 1918, and all of them, in old-fashioned handwriting, said more or less the same thing: We send heartfelt condolences for your tragic loss. What was the tragic loss? she wondered. None of the cards said.

Hey, I thought of something else youd probably want to look at, Amanda said. Ill go get it.

She went downstairs and came back up in a minute with a little brown notebook. The old man wrote in this sometimes when I was taking care of him, she said, handing it to Nickie.

Nickie opened the notebook. Her great-grandfathers name was written inside the front cover: Arthur Green. She leafed through it. It looked more like a series of jottings than a real journal. Hed made the first entry at the beginning of December, just a couple of months ago. It said:

12/7 Some odd experiences lately. Might be my failing mind, but might not. Will note them down here.

Interesting, Nickie thought. She put the notebook in the Stuff to Keep pile. Shed look at it later.

Otis, in the meantime, chewed quietly on a chair leg. By the time they realized it, he had made some rather deep tooth marks. Fortunately they were on the back leg of the chair and didnt show too much.

Amanda took one of theNational Geographic magazines and leafed through it. Oh, Lord, look at this, she said. She held out the magazine, open to a picture of a volcano erupting, with flames and billows of black smoke. This is kind of like what the Prophet saw.

Who?

The Prophet! said Amanda. Althea Tower! You havent heard of her? Shes famous! Everybody in this whole town follows her! Or just about everybody.

Why do you call her the Prophet?

Because she is one, said Amanda. She propped her elbows on her knees and leaned forward. She spoke in the hushed voice people use for imparting awesome information. She saw the future in a vision.

What did she see? asked Nickie.

Well, she couldnt exactly tell, because it was so awful it made her sick. She could only give hints. Like she said fire a lot, and explosions. It musta looked sort of like thisAmanda tapped her finger on the volcano pictureexcept all over the world. Anyway, she took to her bed and shes been there ever since.

Thats amazing, said Nickie. But I dont understand. What did it mean? Was it like a bad dream?

It wasnt adream, Amanda said scornfully. It was thefuture . It was a warning. Mrs. Beeson figured that out.

Whos Mrs. Beeson? Nickie asked.

This lady who lives down the street from here. Shes a real sweet, smart lady, used to be the school principal. She has a dog named Sausage; youll probably see her walking it sometimes. She leaned forward again. So anyway, she said, what happened is, people have strayed from Gods way, so thats why everything is so awful and heading for doom. But God wants to save us, so he gave the vision to Althea. If we do right, well be saved, and what she seen in her vision wont happen. At least not tous.

So what are we supposed to do? Nickie asked.

Everything the Prophet says, because its Gods orders coming through her. She tells us what things to give up.

Give up?

Yeah. Like one thing she says a lot is No sinnies, which Mrs. Beeson says means No sinners. We have to be real careful to be good. Also she says No singing, so we dont listen to the pop radio anymore, or CDs, or movies that have singing. And on TV we only watch the news. Otis wandered over, and Amanda reached out absently to scratch him.

But why?

Its to practice not being selfish. So you have more love to give to God. Amanda sat back, looked at Nickie in a satisfied way, and closed theNational Geographic with a slap.

Nickie pondered. It was true that giving things up was something that holy people often did. She knew that some monks and priests gave up marriage. Some of them even gave up talking and lived their lives in silence. In other countries, there were holy people who gave up comfortable beds and slept on nails. People like these, she supposed, were totally devoted to God. Maybe she herself should give something up, just to see how it felt.

Didyou give anything up? she asked Amanda.

I did, Amanda said. I gave up romance books. Mrs. Beeson says theyre a waste of time anyway, so it was good to give them up.

Hmmm, said Nickie. This was just the sort of thing that fired her imagination. It was like something out of a book, the kind of book where dark forces are trying to take over the universe and only a few valiant people know how to defeat them and are brave enough to do it. She thought of her Goal #3to do something helpful for the world. Maybe giving things up was one way to do it. She wanted to ask more questions, but Amanda set down theNational Geographic at that point and stood up.

Im gonna get me a piece of toast, she said. Want to come?

Nickie nodded. They left Otis closed into his room and went downstairs. In the kitchen, Amanda sliced the bread, and Nickie, thinking about how interesting it would be to have visions and what she would do if she had one, put on the teakettle for more hot chocolate. But just as Amanda was getting the peanut butter out of the cupboard, though they hadnt heard a single footstep or a knock, a face appeared at the window of the back door. A voice cried, Hello-o! in a yoo-hoo sort of way, and before they could move, the door opened.

CHAPTER 6 ______________

Mrs. Beesons Idea

Excuse me, dears, said the woman at Greenhavens back door. I thought Id stop by and say hello. She stepped inside. Im Brenda Beeson, she said.

Nickie stared. Brenda Beeson, the friend of the Prophet! But she didnt look especially holy. She was a middle-aged woman, not exactly fat, but sort of pillowy, with round rosy cheeks. She had on a quilted red jacket, and her blue eyes gleamed out from beneath the visor of a red baseball cap. She looked like a mixture of a grandmother and a soccer coach, Nickie thought.

You must be Professor Greens granddaughter, Mrs. Beeson said.

Great-granddaughter, said Nickie. She told Mrs. Beeson her name.

Nickie? said Mrs. Beeson. Short for Nicole?

Yes. Nickie never used her real name, Nicole. It was a pretty name, she thought, but it felttoo pretty for her, since she was rather stocky and had a round chin, a short nose, and straight, unstylish brown hair. She considered herself a smart person with a good imagination but sort of ordinary-looking, and so Nickie felt like a better name.