A Small Town

Chapter Ten\ Coffee

Red-eyed and exhausted from the sleepless night that had seemed to stretch on forever, Bax lay staring at the ceiling. The early rays of sunrise had crept into the room, a welcome change from the grey overcast. He had expected to hear birds chirping but there were no birds here it seemed. Instead, the silence was cut by the sound of an engine. Without looking he knew it was a lawnmower. It had the dry brittle rasp of a one-cylinder motor in need of oil, like all lawnmowers. He could see wisps of blue exhaust through the still open window even without even leaving his bed.

He lay listening to it and waiting for the smell of cut grass, that was a smell he had always loved. To Bax, it conjured up memories of Saturday evenings. His dad would wait until the sun had begun to set before starting the mower so as to avoid the heat of the day and by the time little Jeffery Baxter was in his bed, that fresh, earthy scent would be on the air and his little desk fan would sprinkle it around his room.

On this morning, however, there was no smell of fresh grass... just the racid stench of burning oil and the sound of a dying motor. BRRT-BRRT-BRRT-BAWWWW BRRT BRRT BRRT BAWWWW.

Eventually, he eased up to a sitting position, got up and walked over to take a look. The morning was cold and he quickly closed the window as all the hairs on his body stood at attention.

He turned towards the sound, looking west up the road and saw a man dressed in black pushing a small orange Black and Decker lawnmower back and forth across the small park. As Bax watched the man came to the wishing well, made a practised loop around it then kept right on going. Each pass brought the man closer to Bax until he could make out the white rectangle seated in the man's black collar. It was a priest, but if the priest was still here then why was the church boarded up?

Bax wasn't a religious man, but suddenly he wanted to talk to the priest. Wanted to ask him why the church was closed... ask him about the town... ask him about the barn owl and Sara Massie. Most of all he wanted to tell the priest about the wishing well. He wanted someone to tell him it was alright and that no one had ever fallen or - for fuck's sake - been thrown down the well. A priest could do that. They had that way of making you feel like everything was going to be alright and that God was watching over you, protecting you.

Quickly he ran from the room, he passed Sara Massie in the hallway carrying a tray that was probably meant for him but didn't even acknowledge her presence. He had to get to the priest. He suddenly knew that he had to speak to the holy man. He knew it as sure as he knew that Norma hated his guts... as sure as he knew Sara was a cock tease... as sure as he knew the barn owl...

He burst through the double doors out onto the street and ran east, legs pumping hard. The sound of the lawnmower had stopped and he squinted to the west and saw the priest pushing the mower away. He redoubled his efforts, running as fast as he could. Bax's heart pounded in his chest and in a small corner of his brain he thought, I'm going to give myself a coronary, but kept running just the same.

He saw the priest round the corner heading behind the church on the far side of the park and yelled, "Hey! Wait! I wanna talk to you!"

The priest didn't stop, didn't even flinch as if he had heard Bax at all, but that was impossible. There was no one else on the street, the whole town was silent. No birds chirped, no breeze rustled the few leaves in the trees or scraped the dry brittle ones, that had fallen, across the ground. No cars passed, no babies cried, just silence into which Bax had screamed at the top of his lungs and yet the priest pretended not to hear.

Bax's brain tried to make sense of it as he ran on trying to catch up to the man. Maybe the priest was deaf... that would explain it... or perhaps he had taken a vow of silence and could not answer... did priests take vows like that? He had no idea. He flew past the well and down to the back of the park then skidded around the corner in time to see a door at the rear of the church close.

Bax slowed and jogged the last few feet to the door then knocked on it with a closed fist.

RAP-RAP-RAP!

He waited, but there was no answer. He knocked again more insistently, he knew the priest was in there.

RAPPITY-RAP-RAP-RAP-RAP!

Still no answer, he knocked again and again with the same result and finally gave up in disgust.

He walked around the far side of the church, through the gravel topped parking lot and across the small patch of grass to the sidewalk. He looked up the road hoping to see Teddy's rust red pick up truck even though it was nowhere near noon, but the street was empty. The fact was he was more than ready to put Primacy Ontario behind him and if that meant walking out to Bob Kout's Garage he'd be happy to do just that.

He turned and almost ran straight into Lisa Turner. They both jumped back at the last minute and in a parody of last nights adventure, it was Bax who grabbed her arm to keep her from falling. The barn owl smiled broadly at him from behind her huge glasses and giggled.

"Whoa, careful there big fella!" she said as he steadied her.

Bax looked at her apologetically. "Sorry, Lisa."

She glanced at his hand and he quickly released her. "No worries, I was just about to open the store. Wanna come in for a coffee?"

He really didn't want to, he glanced up the road longing to get going, but she had saved his life last night. If she wanted to have a cup of coffee with him, it the least he could do.

Bax pasted a smile on his face, "Yeah, sure, that'd be great."

They crossed the street and she unlocked the bookstore waving him inside. He took a seat in the small reading area as she filled the coffee maker and then came over to join him.

"That was pretty crazy last night, huh?" She asked, her face was open and she wasn't making fun of him.

Bax nodded, "Yeah, thanks again, I don't know what happened. I could have sworn I heard a scream..."

"Don't worry about it, you're not the first person to think they hear something in the well," Lisa said, she looked suddenly very serious.

"Really? Well, that makes me feel a bit better I guess." The coffee maker gurgled in the background and Lisa rose to get the cups.

"Well, don't feel too high and mighty, Bax. It's mostly kids who get scared of the well because of the legend." Lisa said, mocking him goodnaturedly as she poured and handed him a cup. "I couldn't sleep for a week the first time I heard it."

Bax stopped mid-sip and looked hard at her. "Legend? What legend?" He asked.

Lisa gave him look, "Didn't you read the book I gave you? The witch trial they held here. They put her down the well... at least that's the story. Of course, there's nothing down there, you saw that for yourself last night. Just a dry well, but the stories enough to make your skin crawl.

Bax was dumbfounded. "There is a story in the book about a witch trial, but there are no details..."

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked, her eyebrows lifting. "Most of the chapter on Primacy is about the witch.... she's our one claim to fame."

He reached around quickly and pulled out the little book. It was creased and the spine was warped from spending so much time in his back pocket. Lisa gave him a disapproving look but said nothing.

"Look," he said and riffled through the book until he came to the small footnote about the witch. "That's it..."

Lisa took the book from him and examined it closely. Finally, she looked up at him. "Someone tore the pages out!" she said angrily. She held the book open spreading the spine to show him the little-jagged edges of paper. "Did you do it?"

Bax stepped back shocked. "No! Why would I..."

Lisa said nothing, instead, she ran back into the shelves and returned with two more copies of 'Magnetawan – A History' she ran through them both and confirmed that the same pages were missing. She turned to Bax, "Why would someone do that?" She asked flatly.

But instead of answering, he simply said, "Tell me about the witch."