The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser

dam?" She stared around him at Barker Meadows, the rosy flush gone from her cheeks.
    "There is no such thing here, Brandy."
    At times she seemed too smart by half, but she believed her silly tales and it frightened him more than a little. Corbin wondered if she would become a danger. Should Brandy be locked up somewhere?

    8

    The sun had gone down behind mountains and Nederland sat in dusky half-light and shadow. A different scrubby-looking Nederland, most of the houses mere rough cabins, the slopes around denuded of trees--for firewood and building materials, Shay supposed. Stumps were left standing to scar the hillsides. Desolate tendrils of smoke filed from ugly pipe chimneys, mingled with the raw smells of pine and rotting garbage. No power lines here, the only poles those propped against a few lopsided buildings to keep the structures upright in the wind.
    Where was the tiny resort, tucked in its bowl of forested mountains, reflected in the aqua-blue waters of Barker Dam? Like me, it hasn't been invented yet. And most of the people on the rickety steps or porches and those strolling the wooden sidewalks in front of false storefronts were dead and gone to her yesterday.
    Shay shivered as the horses crawled their snaillike way up the dirt Main Street.
    G ROCERIES & P ROVISIONS-- a sign hanging over the sidewalk fastened to a store with weather-worn paint. They turned a corner, crossed a primitive bridge over Middle Boulder Creek and angled across the valley to ascend the opposite side.
    Brandy's body felt hungry, tired and dirty. Inside it, Shay was heavy with depression.
    Only scattered shacks along the road now, and finally some trees.
    "Why is everyone sitting outside?"
    "It's a nice evening. What else should they be doing?"
    Watching television.
    Corbin turned off the road and the wagon bumped over rocks and depressions. No driveway here. A tiny cabin ahead had a covered porch running the length of its front. Corbin drove along its side and backed the horses toward the rear door. An outhouse in the trees behind.
    "Is this. . . all?"
    "All of what?"
    "But. . . where do you keep your horses?"
    "You'll have to get used to less here than at your father's grand house, Brandy. The wagon and horses belong to the livery stables."
    "How do you get around without even a horse?"
    "On my two feet, as the good Lord intended. When I need more I can rent a conveyance, if there's the money to be had." He jumped off the wagon and came around to lift her down.
    A tiny woman, bent with the weight of a metal pail in each hand, rounded a shadowy path by the outhouse. She straightened when she saw them and approached with her stare fixed on Shay.
    "Thora K.," Corbin said under his breath, and without greeting his mother or offering to help her with her burden began to unloose the ropes that tied the cargo to the wagon.
    Thora K. stopped in front of her and set down the pails. A swarm of black flies settled instantly on their rims. The old woman peered up at her with such fierce concentration her eyes crossed. "I be Methodist, wot be 'ee?"
    "What?" Shay backed away.
    "The McCabes are Presbyterian, Thora K., and this is Brandy." Corbin manhandled the coffin like box from the wagon bed to the board platform that provided a back step for the cabin.
    "Brandy? And wot kind of man names 'is child after spirits, I ask 'ee?" Thora K. said, almost in English, and moved to open the screen door for Corbin. "And wot's this yer takin' in me 'ouse, Corbin Strock?"
    "You'll see." Corbin grunted with the exertion of tipping the box onto his back, straightening his knees to lift it and careening into the cabin.
    "Do 'ee carry in the water, you," Thora K. commanded, still holding the door, dirt and pine needles sticking to the hem of her dress.
    Wait till I get my hands on that mirror! But Shay stooped to lift the pails and staggered after Brandy's husband.
    "Be it for she?" Corbin's mother stood looking at the box, upended now, sitting just inside the