Mary's Bones

FOURTEEN

I couldn't figure out, for the life of me, where a pile of bones would have been hiding in plain sight. The thought had been screwing up my head for the past half hour. There was no legitimate confirmation that there were bones here either. I was simply going off a whim.

"Angie, look! They're selling fried Oreos and funnel cake, your favorites!" John shouted. His eyes glistened like a little kid entering a candy store for the first time. The trucks were parked off the side of the curb, just in front of the community garden's entrance.

Not even John's excitement and the scrumptious taste of sweets causing my stomach to gurgle could break through the cloud in my mind. His pace quickened as if he was trying to keep his inner child under control. My lips curved up at his actions, and I trotted in his footsteps.

"Are you going to buy me some?" I teased.

"Really? You want some? You know what, I'm going to buy us both some. Let's see if Rosemary likes carnival food." He ran off, grinning. I couldn't help but laugh.

The laughter soon died down as I gazed around. I could smell all the flowers in the air. We hadn't been outside for long, but the earthy odor had already begun clinging to my clothes. It was a natural outside smell.

The kind someone would wake up to first thing in the morning when they stepped outside, to check the mail, to grab the newspapers, to jog, whatever it was people did with their time. If not having already been surrounded by another smell that wasn't the Earth.

Gray clouds drowned the dark sky as a twinkle of stars lost themselves in the blurs. I was hoping rain wouldn't make an appearance. It was possible they'd close down all the attractions early if that were the case. I didn't need that. Not when I'd gotten so close to whatever Mary was trying to point me to.

There were many families passing through the event. Single parents with the company of one or more children, children who were accompanied by both a mother and father, couples without children, the list went on. I hugged myself, spotting John in the back of the line, which pushed a few inches back. There had to be about seven or more people in front of him.

Shaking my head, I pranced up to him and tapped his shoulder.

"John, I'm going inside to look for the bathroom. I really need to use it."

He nodded and looked around. "Okay. Well, it doesn't look like this line is going to get shorter any time soon. Call me if anything. And if I get off the line before you get back, I'll call you. Okay?"

"Of course," I said and kissed his cheek. My feet ran me into the entrance until I was standing smack-dab in the middle of the open space.

Wow, it was much bigger than I remembered. Almost as big as the botanical garden. The way the paths parted in different directions reminded me of the botanical garden's very own trails. Our school had driven us to the Bronx on a field trip to the massive garden, where Cory, John, and I got lost.

We'd stopped for one moment, only to be separated from the other students and teachers. It was an accident. I'd been so focused on the beautiful rosebuds growing from their stems that we'd lost track of our group. Lucky for us, John had Mr. Maury's number—our vice principal at the time—and he guided us back to the group.

This place reminded me exactly of that. The last time I was here was when my mother-in-law and my mother brought us here. It was closest to home and cheap. Various signs pointed me in different directions, but none of them screamed the bathroom is this way. Perhaps I had to walk further into the property before I came across a sign or even a bathroom. I sighed.

The clusters only thickened with every step I took. Large groups shuffled past me. They barely left any room for me to walk, so I was forced to squeeze through the narrow, tight spaces. Eventually, I found myself lost in a crowd. Said crowd gathered together, tucked in by trees and a large gate surrounding the entire community garden.