too.â
âHow thoughtful of you.â
âThatâs the beauty of small-town living. But Iâm afraid the telephone goes through Hattiesburg. They canât turn it back on until next week, so I said never mind. All you young girls have cell phones anyway.â
âActually, I donât,â Carley said, smiling at the âyoung girlâ reference. A cell phone was one of those expenses she could not justify in the past, not with debts still hanging over her. âBut Iâm sure there are pay phones?â
âIn the library. And youâre welcome to come to the office and use ours.â Loretta ran a finger through the dust on an end table. âThatâs what happens when a house sits empty. Iâll give you the number for my cleaning service if you like.â
âI kind of enjoy dusting.â
âThen youâll have a good time.â She motioned to a brown space heater sitting out a bit from the back wall. âWe have more cold weather coming. Do you know how to light them?â
Carley was vaguely familiar with their workings, for a couple of the houses her mother had rented had had them. âI think so.â
âIâll just refresh your memory before we leave. Iâm sure there are matches in the kitchen. The piano must have sat between the windows. Mrs. Walker left it to the senior citizen center. Thatâs where her television went too.â
They meandered about the house. Leading off the living room was a bedroom with a black iron bedstead, a chair upholstered in sage green, and a chest of drawers.
Beyond that door, a short hallway ended at a bathroom, with doors on each adjacent side. The room to Carleyâs right had no bed, just a long table, a wooden chair, and tall piece of furniture with drawers and a mirrored door. âThatâs a chifforobe,â Loretta said. âTheyâre very sought after by antique collectors. This was probably Mrs. Walkerâs sewing room. I do recall that the serger machine went to Mrs. Hudson.â
Through the open doorway of the opposite bedroom, Carley looked at the afghan folded over a quilt at the foot of a cream-colored iron bedstead. A hairbrush and bottle of Jergens lotion sat upon an old bowfront dresser with round mirror. Goose bumps prickling her arms, she turned and walked back down the hall with Loretta following.
Against the back wall of the living room, an open arched doorway led to a kitchen three times as roomy as the one in Carleyâs apartment. The refrigerator doors were propped open with a broom. Loretta helped Carley roll it out so that she could plug it in.
âThe china cabinet must have gone here,â Loretta said of the empty space beside it. That went to Sherry.â
âSherry?â
âI forgot, youâre still learning who everyone is. Sherry Kemp is Mrs. Hudsonâs youngest daughter. Iâm not sure how many other children there are.â She twisted the cold water faucet. After a sputtering noise, water ran from the tap. âGood. But youâll need to leave it dripping during nights when the weatherâs below freezing. I noticed a thermometer on a porch post.â
âDripping?â Carley joined her at the sink.
âJust enough to keep it moving.â She turned the cold water so that a long drip plopped from the tap every half second or so. âMost frame houses have exposed pipes. Theyâre probably wrapped, but even so, you donât want to take a chance on their freezing and bursting.â
Beyond the kitchen was a wide sunny room housing a sagging sofa and chair of faded green velveteen, and a washer and dryer. Carley was looking out the back window when she heard, âCome see, Carley.â
She followed the voice to her grandmotherâs bedroom. Loretta stood in front of a chest of drawers against the near wall, out of sight range from the hall. Three photographs in identical silver frames were arranged on
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