Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Kate and Gavin escorted her grandparents to their hotel with a promise from her grandmother that she would see them on Saturday for the hike up Arthur’s Seat. Her grandpa just mumbled and said he would see them when they came back from Arthur’s Seat. Kate loved the warm fuzzy feeling she got from her grandparents and was extremely glad they were here. She wished they could just stay. It felt more like home with them around.

Gavin took her hand, placed it around his arm and walked her back up the street. It was that time of day again and all the shops were closed, only the restaurants and pubs remained open. Gavin steered her toward the top of her close. She stopped. She didn't want to go home. She didn’t know if her mother would be there and she was sure she didn't want to be a part of that uncertainty. She was afraid. Gavin, sensing her hesitation, spun her around and walked back toward the Royal Mile. They crossed the street and took a turn toward their after school haunt. Kate thought she knew what he had in mind but much to her surprise, he bypassed the restaurant and turned toward a church, which he also bypassed. Kate had no idea where he was taking her, but he seemed very sure of himself and she was enjoying the mystery. He led her behind the church and into a graveyard. Kate stopped. Gavin stopped. He turned to her and she smiled at him. She loved old graveyards. She and her grandmother had explored many of the old graveyards around Kansas City. It was one of their quirky, favorite things to do. They even took weekend trips to the Ozarks looking for small family cemeteries. How did he know? Her grandmother! Of course, she hadn’t spent the whole afternoon with Gavin just telling him embarrassing stories. She had obviously given out some good information.

Arm in arm they entered the ancient cemetery. Kate thought she had seen old tombstones when she and her grandmother had walked through a Civil War cemetery, but they could not compare with these. Traditional headstones covered the area, intermingled with those withered down to nubs of almost nothing. They passed mausoleums and crypts that were pitted and etched by the passing years. One crypt had no door. Gavin looked at Kate and they popped inside.

It took a moment for Kate’s eyes to adjust, the floor was just dirt, some name plates had fallen off the wall and were imbedded into the mud. Her eyes swept over the general disrepair of the crypt, with sorrow for the souls who resided here. She peered deeper into the crypt and saw a man sitting amongst what appeared to be all of his belongings. He sat very still and Kate began to wonder if he was dead. Then he moved forward, as if he were about to say something.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she stammered, “We didn’t see you there. Sorry to have disturbed you.” She grabbed Gavin and backed out of the crypt.

“Who are you talking to?” Gavin asked.

“Didn’t you see that man in there? I think he might have been a hobo,” Kate said.

“Kate, I din’t see anyone in there. What’s a hobo?”

“You know, a homeless person. He was toward the back there,” she said, pointing into the crypt.

Gavin walked back in while Kate waited for him at the entrance. He came out and shrugged his shoulders.

“No one’s in there,” he said.

“That can’t be possible. I saw him with all his things lying about him. He was standing there and he walked toward us and started to say something.”

She marched back into the crypt with Gavin in tow. Walking to the very spot where the man had been sitting. Turning around several times she found no trace of him or his belongings. “This doesn’t make sense. He was sitting right here. He had on old jeans and an orange sweatshirt and a jacket over that. He had a small radio and a sleeping bag, some pots and pans. Gavin, I am not making this up. I know what I saw.”

He led her back outside. He turned and looked directly into her eyes and said, “I believe you.”

He was putting her on, Kate thought. “Taking the mickey out on her,” as they said. Just playing along with the crazy girl till he could get her home.

“What? Why would you believe me? I'm having a hard time believing me and I saw him.”

“Well, I did spend the whole afternoon with your grandmother.”  He leaned in close. “She’s a witch you know, I have also heard about strange ghosts and poltergeists that are known to linger here.” He shrugged, “It could happen.”

“Who are you?” she asked. He looked taken aback.

“I mean, back home, well, what happened here...” she stammered, “They would have laughed at me or sent for the loony doctor.” She returned his steady stare. “So this doesn’t make you think that I am crazy?” she asked.

“Katie, where are you?” he said using her grandfather's pet name for her, she immediately liked hearing him use it. He gestured around the cemetery. “Scotland!  Not the states, not Kansas.”

“Missouri,” she corrected.

“Missouri, then. Not in Blue Springs, Missouri. Scotland! Things happen here. We accept it. We accept that there are people who can see things that not everyone else can. Some people come here and are so bombarded with the strange and unusual that they can’t help but feel it. We have ghost tours, for heaven’s sake, that take people right to the most haunted parts of this town. Haven't you heard Edinburgh is the most haunted city in the UK?”

She nodded.

“And did you know that this Cemetery, Greyfriars’ Cemetery, is where many have had poltergeist experiences? So, no. I don't think we will need a looney doctor to take care of you. I think I would rather do that myself.”

She stared at him with her mouth open. He put his hand under her chin and shut it for her, then he pulled her to him and gave her a tight squeeze, after a moment she didn’t feel crazy or weird. She pulled away.

“What makes you say that my grandmother is a witch?” she asked.

“She told me.”

They both laughed.

“Okay, okay!  I’m in Scotland now. Where I am neither crazy nor weird, I wonder what it would take to be nationalized. Then I wouldn’t have to leave when my mom is done with her project here.”

“Katie?” Gavin said seriously. He took her hand and brushed the hair from her eyes. “I know something is going on with yer mom. Well, I suspect that yer mum and dad are having troubles. I mean, it isn’t hard to figure oot. I just want you to know that I am here for you. You don't have to tell me anything, or you can tell me everything. I am not going to pry or tell anyone else for that matter. I am here only for you.” He pulled her close again and hugged her tight.

“I guess I should go home and find out what is going on,” she said into his shoulder. “That way I would know, at least, something.”

“Or we could live here with yer crypt guy.”

“Nah. I think I would prefer my own room.”

“Home then?” he said.

“Home,” she said with a resigned sigh.

Gavin left Kate outside her door with a quick hug and a kiss on top of her head. She could hear the T.V. through the door. A sound she knew was not a good sign, since she was the only person who watched it. When she entered the flat, she found Chili in the living-room watching his favorite show. She peeked into the kitchen, empty. Just as she had begun to think she was home alone, the door to her parents' room opened.

“Dad?” she said.

“No sweetie, it’s Mom.”

Kate’s mom stood at the end of the hall. She looked as if she had been crying.

“Mom are you okay?” she asked.

Her mom shrugged.

“I’ll be fine. Just a long project at work.”

Kate was unsure of what to say. She had so many confused, pent up feelings.

“Mom, what’s going on? I know that you and Dad are fighting, and I think I know what it is about.”

“Kate, we are not fighting. Where would you get such a silly idea?”

“Oh gee, I don’t know. Maybe when I overheard Dad yelling at you on the phone telling you to make a choice between Dad and him. Who is he, Mom?” Kate tried to keep her voice steady but she didn't quite have the control and she was angry at the quiver she heard in it.

Kate’s mom stood very still. Kate had seen her do that around her grandmother, as if by being still her grandmother wouldn’t notice her and she wouldn’t be forced to interact with her.

“Mom? Who is he?” she asked again quietly.

“Kate, I don’t think I like your tone.”  Her mother tried playing the parent card.

“I don’t care anymore, Mom. If you don’t love Dad, if you are going to leave us, then I don’t care if you like my tone.”

Kate’s mom seemed taken aback for a moment. Then she smiled at her.

“Kate, come into my room and let's talk. I think you have the wrong idea about the last few days.” She backed into the bedroom and held the door open for Kate to enter.

They sat on the bed, her mother leaning up against the headboard and Kate at the foot by the wall, her mom threw her a pillow to lean against.

“Kate, the last few days have been extremely stressful on both me and your dad. With your grandparents’ arrival and this big project I have at work, well, we both kinda snapped at the same time,” she smiled wanly. “I’m not proud of it, but there it is.”

Kate was not satisfied with this answer. She felt her mom was not telling her everything. “And...?”

“And what?” her mom said.

“And why was Dad yelling at you on the phone earlier?” she asked.

Her Mom shifted on the bed and brought the covers over her legs and up to her chin. She reminded Kate of a little girl who was afraid of the dark or of something scary in the closet.

“Your dad and I were having a discussion about the amount of time I have been spending at the lab. He thinks my boss, you know Mr. George, has been asking me to do way too much. But the project I am here for is incredibly complex and very important and requires me to be at the lab and not at home, where your father would like me to be. And frankly so do I, it has been a madhouse there. I like the quiet here. That’s probably what you heard when he was telling me to make a choice. Kate it was not a man it was a job he was talking about. Well...I guess in a way it was a man, my boss, but not really a man.” She blew at a piece of hair that had fallen over her eyes.

Kate mulled over what she had heard. It made sense. That could have been what she heard.

“So you aren’t going to leave us?” Kate asked.

“No honey, I love your dad and you way too much to ever leave.” She raised her right hand, “And that’s the tooth.” She giggled.

Kate smiled at her mom’s attempt at a joke. She really wasn’t any good at it, serious stuff was more her forte. Her mom patted the bed next to her.

“I could really use a hug about now,” she said.

Kate crawled up next to her and snuggled down beside her. She let her mom put her arms around her and hug her. Kate hugged her back. They sat like that for a moment. Then her mom said, “You have to believe that I would never do anything that would break your heart.”

Kate stiffened and sat up, ‘It’s not the truth and it will break her heart,’ her grandmother's voice sounded in her head.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” her mom said.

“I thought I heard someone come in the door,” she lied. “I guess I must have imagined it.”

She sat with her mom a few more minutes then crawled to the edge and stood. “I have to get some homework done before dinner.” She smiled at her mom and left the room.

Kate quietly shut her bedroom door and took out her books. The words her grandmother had told her dad so many years ago, “It’s not the truth and it will break her heart.” Like her dad, she thought those words were about mom. They were both wrong, the words were about her! Kate didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know who to talk to. Her dad wasn’t home. But could she talk to him? Could she talk to him about her mom, his wife, having an affair? She lay on the bed thinking how good things had seemed yesterday. Her grandparents were here; her mother was at work. Not unusual, knowing how her mom felt about her in-laws. And today, Kenzie helping her stay awake in class, Gavin giving her a back rub at lunch, all was good. Then coming home with him, still good, finding her parents fighting, not good. The castle visit, good. Her talk with her grandpa, good; her pep talk from Gavin in the cemetery was good. Something nagged at the corner of her memory. Her grandpa...What had he said? Oh, she could almost remember. 'If he found out anything, he would let her know.' But that wasn’t it. She thought of Gavin and her Grandmother walking arm in arm, they were so cute, trading stories. Gavin and her grandpa had both said the same thing about her Grandmother, ‘She’s a witch.’ That was it. Grandpa said that her grandmother had come to him and said it was time to visit. That they would be needed. Grandmother had known all along that her mom was going to have an affair. Her grandmother had known. She had to get to her grandmother. She was the only one Kate could talk to.

They walked through the streets of Edinburgh and stopped on the steps of the Tron Kirk. There were only a few people out and about at that hour and Kate saw Andrew talking to a news reporter.

“How about a picture?” he asked Andrew.

“Sure,” Andrew said.

“Very well then. Why don’t you move over here in front of the doors? That’s it, now hold real still, this won’t hurt a bit.” There was a bright flash and a loud pop and that was all.

“That is going to be real nice. What’s your name son?”

“Andrew.”

“Andrew, you come on the march with your parents there?” the photographer pointed toward his teacher.

“No sir. I came with my da'. She is my teacher and that is her husband. I need to get back to the hall to meet my da' at 8 o’clock.”

“I better not keep you. It's almost 8 now. My, my where did the time go?”  The reporter turned away and walked off, writing something on a little pad of paper.

They waved to get their teacher's attention.

“We need to get back to the hall. That man there said that it is almost 8 now.”

“Okay, let's get going.”

The small group hurried toward the hall. As they drew closer Kate could see Andrew’s father talking with some of the men outside the hall. The man was pointing off somewhere and Andrew’s father was nodding.

“There he is. Andrew, why don’t you go on over to him. We need to get going ourselves, we have some people to meet.” Mrs. Snodgrass waved as Kate and Andrew jogged to where his father stood.

As they approached, they could see Frank turn and start to walk away. They ran through a group of people and lost sight of him for a moment. He appeared further away. They started running faster. Kate saw Andrew really concentrating on keeping an eye on his dad and not looking where he was going. He ran into someone’s pack sitting on the ground. Before she knew it he was flying through the air and came to a quick stop against the wall of a building. She looked down to see a bone sticking out of his left sleeve. She saw men bending over him asking if he was okay. He wasn’t moving. Kate shoved and pushed her way through the crowd.