The macadam road came back, and the windshield and steering wheel. I had strayed out of my lane and was headed for an approaching, and very modern, farm tractor. I pulled back with just about half a car’s length to spare.

“Mother, Mother, you take chances,” Duff murmured. I looked now and it was certainly he. Then I looked in the rearview mirror at the Weber place we had just passed. The house was as it had been before and the station wagon was in the yard.

“The Webers and Mrs. Reddy must be back from the cremation,” Duff said.

“What?”

“Stephanie’s body was to be cremated today. I saw it in yesterday’s paper. I guess they had to wait this long because the coroner wasn’t finished with his tests.”

“You don’t sound awfully sympathetic,” I was finally able to say.

“Oh, I am. But maybe she’s better out of it, don’t you think? You’re a former Catholic, Mother. Don’t Catholics believe in an afterlife that’s preferable to this one? If one makes the right preparations for it, I guess I have to add, don’t I?”

I stopped the car by the front of the house and let him go in side before me, pleading that I had a headache and wanted to rest for a few minutes.

When I did go in, the phone was ringing. It was Father Jackson. I hung up on him.

“Who was that?” Jack yelled from his room.

“Wrong number,” I said.

A minute later he called again. “Before you hang up, I just want you to know I’m praying for you,” he said.

“Would you mind telling me why, you bastard?”

“I asked Jim if he’d see you, but he’s upset now with both of us. He thinks I’m crazy too.”

He hung up. I thought about calling him back but decided against it. For one thing, Jack had come out of his room and was watching me. I went upstairs without offering any explanation. Duff was standing in his bedroom doorway, but I didn’t say anything to him either.

I went into my own room and closed the door. Then I looked under the mattress. The uniform coat was still there. I lay on the bed until dinnertime, trying not to think about any of it.

18

Chapter Eighteen

Nothing unusual happened the rest of the weekend. I kept waiting for the General, but he didn’t come. Then on Monday afternoon Dr. Tully paid us a visit. I wasn’t pleased to see him, to say the least, but I was civil to him.

He stood in the front room, beaming with delight. “This is the first time I’ve been in this house,” he said.

“Does it fulfill a longtime ambition?” Jack asked jovially.

“Oh dear, yes.”