by Ann Hite

Mama had these little crystal bowls that sat by each dinner plate. Each bowl held a few drops of water so we could dip our fingers in the bowl before we ate our meal. Somewhere Mama got the idea that it was a sign of class like we had money or something. One night we had Nellie Pritchard over to dinner. Nobody invited Nellie anywhere on account of Hobbs, her husband, was the meanest man on the mountain. This was right before Nellie up and disappeared, died, but no one ever found the body.

Anyway, Daddy got it in his head to say something about them bowls. It figured he’d pick a night when we had company. He looked at me and winked. ‘Bea, don’t forget to wash your fingers, or your mama will get you good. You too Miss Pritchard.’ I just grinned at Nellie, but deep inside I was two inches tall. Those little bowls was Mama’s way of being different from all the other women on Black Mountain. And as I grew up and got married, I knew just how she felt. That was just one of memories I was thinking on in that stupid nursing home—my son called it assisted living, but I wasn’t a fool—when a ruckus kicked up outside my apartment door.

When I opened the door, there stood Marlene BoBo, waving her cane at one of those little attendants. Now part of me just envied Marlene. I’d always wanted to jerk a knot on one of their heads. They could try the patience of Job with their old smiles as fake as the fur collar on my winter coat. But I was too much of a lady.

The attendant, who looked like he wasn’t old enough to be out of high school with pimples all over his forehead, waved at me, “Mrs. Weehunt, step back. I have to get this one under control.”

Marlene just waved that cane real wild-eyed. “You stay away from me you little shit.” Marlene always did cuss like a sailor. That’s one reason we never did get along. But all that really didn’t matter a bit because I was looking at a living, breathing soul from Black Mountain, even if she was mean. I wasn’t in a place where I could be picky. “Marlene, why do you want to cause this little boy any trouble?” I used my strong voice—the one I used on my son, Paul, but it didn’t work anymore. He mostly just laughed. And what kind of son was he anyway? The kind that goes around putting poor innocent women away for the rest of their lives?

Marlene stopped and put the cane down. “Lord Bea Weehunt, I knew you was in a nursing home, but I didn’t know it was the same one as me.”

“Assisted living, Marlene. Get it right. We ain’t got that bad yet. I would have thought someone on the mountain would have told you where I was.” My back bristled like a tomcat meeting a dog.

Marlene just looked at me. “Prison is where we are, Bea. Ain’t no fancy name that’ll make it better.”

And it was those words that made me think I might tolerate Marlene, put all those mean things she did behind me. “Come on in here before they drug you or tie you to your bed.”

“Now, Mrs. Weehunt, you know we don’t do those things here.” The attendant watched me lead Marlene inside my apartment.

“You go on now and bother someone else.” I said this hateful. I wanted to show Marlene I could mean business too. “Young man, I wasn’t born yesterday. I may be old, but I’m far from stupid.” I shooed at him. “Go on now.” I motioned Marlene to hurry as I leaned on my darned old walker. “Shut that door before he decides to join us. They don’t understand we may be old and need our butts wiped, but by gosh, we do need some privacy. We’re not animals on display at the zoo, yet.” I yelled loud in hopes that my little friend heard.

Marlene leaned on her cane. “How in the hell did two women like us get into this mess?”

“We go old, Marlene. Period.”

She slammed her can against the thick carpet. “I don’t like it one little bit.”

“Well neither do I, you old poot.”

“Looks like to me you’re the old poot. At least I’m not up to a walker yet.”

“You darn well better believe I get around with this thing. I could out run you any day.” We was getting off to the wrong step just like always.

“I want to go home.” Marlene’s eyes clouded, and I thought I might as well die than see a mean old cuss like her defeated.

“Oh hush up. You’re just feeling sorry for yourself. We got our whole lives in front of us.” But I knew how dumb that sounded.

Marlene eased herself down onto the sofa. Once upon a time she had been a pretty woman. I never understood why she didn’t marry.

“Why were you throwing a big fit out there in the hall?” I sat in my rocking chair.

“I ain’t been here but a week. I’m not used to having somebody checking on me all the time. And then I saw them bring that woman in today.”

“This building or next door?” This was important. The building next door had rooms just like the hospital, no locks on the doors, no way of cooking, just TVs. That building stood there waiting for souls like me and Marlene BoBo.

“She went to the next building. She was just a screaming.” Marlene shivered. “She was telling them that they had made a mistake. She wasn’t supposed to go into that building. It put me in a bad state of mind. I thought about how I didn’t really have a bit of say-so. I gave it all away when I signed myself in here. Then I went and told that little asshole that I wanted to change my mind and go home. And it went on from there.”

“Marlene, they ain’t going to let you out now, not without a family member signing you out. You got to watch everything you do. We’re worse off than kids. Lord, if we forget to shut off the water, they’ll say we’re crazy and can’t live alone. We got to keep our brains working.” I wanted Marlene to understand the next thing I was going to say was real big of me. “We got to be friends here. We don’t have much of a choice.”

Marlene didn’t even look grateful that I was willing to be her friend after years of feuding. “Well, Bea Weehunt, what makes you think I want to be your friend? I guess you’re thinking that is real big of you.”

I just stared down that ungrateful heifer. “The way I see it, Marlene all these other folks don’t know nothing about the mountain. If you’re so stupid that you can’t see a good Christian invitation when it’s offered, you can just go back to your stupid old apartment and rot.”

Marlene drew in a big breath of air that shook her whole body. “I didn’t say I didn’t want to stick together. I just don’t want none of your high and mighty mess, Bea. We’re not in church anymore and we’re not on Black Mountain. Here in this place me and you are just the same.” So we left things like that all nice and neat. But I knew Marlene. She was one to get all the attention.

****

We decided to live on the wild side and join this writing class the home was offering. I’d always fancied myself a person who could tell a good story. Some little short-tail skirt of a girl, who called herself a writer, taught it and smiled big when she saw two more people walk in her class. I knew what she was after. She wanted my stories for her own, and that just wasn’t going to happen. I kept my stories to myself. Anyway in the second class, a new student showed up. She looked like someone I ought to know. Marlene poked me in the ribs with one of her bony fingers and made me yelp.

“That’s her.”

“Dern, that hurt, Marlene. I bet you cracked a rib. My bones are brittle now.” I massaged the place, but it didn’t hurt.

“Did you hear me?” Marlene kept looking at the woman, who was so soft and light; a little wind would blow her away.

“I couldn’t hear. I was too busy hurting from where you poked me.”

Marlene leaned over toward me. “I said that’s her.”

I gave that woman another look. “Who?”

“The crazy woman from the other building. The one throwing a fit that day I found you.”

“You didn’t find me. I found you, Marlene.”

Something about the word crazy just didn’t set well. The night before, I had fell asleep and left the tub water running. It was my intention to take a good hot bath, but I forgot the water until it woke me up the next morning. Luckily I left the stopper open. “Don’t stare at her.”

The teacher took her place in front of the class. It was just sinful how wonderful that young woman looked. “Good afternoon.” She did a quick look around the room and her smile rested on Marlene’s crazy woman. “You must be Mrs. Harbor. We’re so glad you came to join us.”

The crazy woman drew herself up in her seat. Her back was a straight as a ruler. “You have my name all wrong. It’s Pritchard. I’ve been trying to tell you all that, but no one will listen.”

Now, bless Marlene’s heart. She wasn’t always the smartest, but a spark lit in her eyes and she poked me in the rib again.

“What!” I wasn’t very kind.

“Don’t Pritchard ring a bell?”

“Yes, Marlene, but there ain’t one Pritchard left alive. It’s a common name here in Asheville.” I was getting a little aggravated with Marlene because I wanted to hear what that teacher said to the crazy lady.

“Yes, they’ve made a note here that you’re having trouble keeping your facts straight.” The teacher looked up from her index card. “But the whole class is going to help you, Mrs. Harbor. Aren’t you class?”

The woman looked around at the class of old farts. “I don’t think you can if you won’t believe my name isn’t Mrs. Harbor. It’s Nellie, Nellie Pritchard. I made that silly name up years ago and it’s time to put all those lies behind me. I’ve only come back here to the mountains in the past few years. I’ve been on the coast of Georgia. That’s where I changed my name and had a family. It’s all a mess and no one wants to believe me since I’m old. Just call me Nellie.” She looked down at her hands.

The teacher looked at her index card. “You’re name is Annie Harbor.”

“Well I guess I know my own name, young lady! You think you know so much. All of you young folks do. I bet you haven’t even seen a real live ghost. Have you?”

Marlene went to poke at me, but I shooed her away. “Do you know who that is?”

“Well, Miss Smarty Pants, you’re looking at a ghost now.” The crazy woman calling herself Nellie got more convincing.

I knew who it had to be, but she was dead. She died back when I was young. Everyone on the mountain knew that.

“The woman who is crazy.” I tried to look all innocent. I didn’t want Marlene to get ahead.

“No. Just think you old fool. It’s the most famous ghost story on Black Mountain, except now it’s got to be retold don’t it.” Marlene turned hopeful a smile on me. There was that mean old mule, who had been hiding.

A million years before, Nellie Pritchard’s husband, Hobbs disappeared. No one much cared. But not long after Nellie up and walked off into the foggy woods and was never seen again. Everyone believed she had died of a broken heart. All that was found of Hobbs was his skull and no one knew for sure if it was actually him.

Marlene blinked a couple of times. “By golly I have a real good story to write.”

“Who said you could write it?” Now I wasn’t so keen on finding out the whole truth. That old story was part of Black Mountain. It was just like Marlene to up and want to change everything, to take over.

“Miss Weehunt, is there a problem?”

“It’s Mrs., sweetie. I was married longer than you’ve been alive. No problem back here.”

“It’s my story, Mrs. Busybody. I can write it. I understood who she was first.” The problem with old farts like me and Marlene was trying to whisper when we couldn’t hardly hear.

“What story is that, Mrs. BoBo?”

Marlene just smiled at the teacher. “I wasn’t never married, honey. I had better sense, and that is the reason I’m in a place like this. If I had married and had children, they would look after me.”

“Oh that’s not always true.” I spouted off. The nerve of that old woman just pissed me off.

The young teacher took a deep breath cause she knew she was losing control if she ever had any. “What did I do today to deserve this?”

“If you don’t believe in ghosts then you’ll hate my story.” Nellie’s smile was sweet. “It’s a story about love, pain, and murder.” She looked over at Marlene and me. “It’ll be better than any story you write, dear because it’ll come from the horse’s mouth.”

Marlene looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Can you believe her? She’s a stupid ghost.

The young teacher rapped the table hard. “What happened to my nice happy students?”

“We didn’t take our medicine today.” I smarted off.

****

That night after supper, Marlene followed me back to my apartment. When we were safe inside, Marlene began to talk.

“So, Bea, you see how they’re treating Nellie and she’s telling the truth.” Marlene sat on the sofa and leaned her cane next to her.

“People don’t believe what old people have got to say. They just as soon call us crazy than listen. That’s why we have to be quiet with this mess. They done put poor Nellie over in the other building. They’re not putting me there if I can help it.”

“That poor Nellie, as you call her, must have murdered her husband. I don’t blame her cause he was so mean the devil wouldn’t want him, but murder is murder? And she’s still alive when everyone thought she was dead. That has to be some kind of broken law there. Hobbs’ old aunt was sure it was Nellie who done away with Hobbs. I know I’m remembering right. The crazy old woman was right all along.”

“Yes. I think you may be right.” So, there it was. Nellie was a murderer, and she was alive not dead. How could that be? Scott, my husband, always said Hobbs got something that was coming to him. But even he would be surprised at Nellie being alive and well, chopping off her husband’s head. “I think we have to just leave all this alone, Marlene.”

“Why? We got to look at it like them detectives on TV.” Marlene’s cheeks were pink.

“How would they look at it?” I got kind of interested in this, but it all seemed like trouble to me.

Marlene dug in her big old purse and pulled out a little notebook and pen.

“Lord, Marlene, now what?”

A knock sounded at the door and we got quiet like we was doing something wrong. I pushed the walker to the door. After all, they had a key and would come in if I didn’t answer.

A nurse smiled at me. “Miss Harbor from the building next door asked me to bring you this, Mrs. Weehunt. She’s such a sweet old lady I had to do it.” She handed me a piece of folded paper. “I’m not supposed to do this.” And she was gone nearly running down the hall. If only I could be young for just one day, I’d run and play. Lord, I wouldn’t waste a bit of time fussing and fighting. I’d do all the things I wanted and cram them all in that one day. Then, if God wanted he could just kill me cause it wouldn’t matter much anymore.

I held the piece of fancy notepaper out to Marlene. “Should we read it?”

Marlene nodded. “Let me read it. I have better eyes than you.”

“You old liar.” But I didn’t fight her taking the paper cause she was right.

“Well I never.” Marlene fingered the buttons of her shirt.

“Read the dern thing out loud.”

“Mrs. Weehunt, I’d like to see you as soon as possible. I remember the time I ate dinner at your house. Your mama was such a lady. She was right nice to me even if I was married to Hobbs Pritchard. I think you might remember me. I’m the woman who rid Black Mountain of Hobbs Pritchard. Please come to my room.” Marlene folded the paper. “She remembers your mama and you and not me. I always spoke to her at church and she spoke right back. Why wouldn’t she want to talk to me?”

It just thrilled my heart that Nellie remembered me and not Marlene. The way I saw it some people were just more memorable than others. I almost pointed this out, but it wasn’t in my nature to be mean. “She’s as old as dirt, older than us by a few years. She probably barely has her mind. If she’s even Nellie.”

“Who else would know about Hobbs Pritchard?” Marlene’s face relaxed. “Well, what do you want to do? If someone’s going to think you’re crazy, they’ll have to think the same about me too.”

“I guess we’re going to see her.” I looked up at the clock. “If we hurry, we can make it before visiting time is up.”

We looked like a couple of old prison inmates shuffling our way over to the next building, building number two. The place just made my blood run cold. First off it smelled like a hospital, all clean and soaked in alcohol. We all knew it was the last stopping off place. Nobody paid me and Marlene a bit of attention as we carried ourselves down the hall. Shoot, I was afraid I was fitting in too well.

“Where’s her room?” Marlene had put on blasted lipstick like we was going to some dern old high school dance.

“I don’t know. She didn’t write it on the paper did she?”

Marlene fumbled with the paper. “Nope.”

There we stood two old ladies in the middle of a nursing home, looking like lost puppies, like our world had stopped.

“What are we going to do, Bea?’ Marlene’s whining grated on my last nerve.

“Oh shut up. It’s just a room number. I’ll find out.”

I walked myself right up the nurses’ station. “Excuse me, dear.” I pointed to one of them nurses. “Could you tell me where Nellie Pritchard’s room is?”

“What did you say?” This came from a cute blonde.

“I need Nellie Pritchard’s room number.”

“Why are you asking for her?” The girl held a chart.

“Because that’s her name. Mrs. Nellie Pritchard. She was married to Hobbs Pritchard and lived back on Black Mountain with me and my friend.” I looked over at Marlene. “They say we old folks can’t keep our facts straight.”

The nurse just stared at me with her mouth open.

“Could you teeeellll me whaaaaat roooom Nellie Pritchard is in?” I spoke real slow for her.

“One hundred and fifteen, right down the hall. But her name is Mrs. Harbor, Annie Harbor.” The nurse scribbled on the chart.

I looked at Marlene. “And they call us senile.”

We marched ourselves right down the hall as if we visited Nellie every day, as if all three of us was of sound mind.

Marlene was the first one to push the door open. She always butted in ahead of me. The room was a nice big one. The TV played. Nellie sat in a chair, her hair standing out on end all wild. She wasn’t helping her cause any looking that way.

Nellie looked up. “You got my note.” Her mind seemed just as clear a summer sky at night.

Marlene got close to Nellie’s face “It’s her.” Then she moved back. “Why didn’t you remember me? I spoke to you every Sunday at church.”

Nellie looked at Marlene and frowned. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know. My mind is not as good as it used to be.”

“Are you really Nellie Pritchard, the Nellie Pritchard from Black Mountain?” I took a chair near Nellie’s.

“I told you it was her.” Marlene looked at Nellie. “Why are you here? I know why I’m here. I didn’t have no family to look after me. And I know why Bea’s here. Her son and daughter in-law didn’t have the time look after her. All the old ways are dead. Family just don’t look after family anymore.”

“Marlene, you don’t know a thing about my Paul and his wife.” I gave Marlene the evil eye.

“Then why are you here, Bea?” Marlene shot me one of her looks.

“I want to know whether Nellie here really killed her husband.” The room got quiet except for the TV that was playing Wheel Of Fortune.

Nellie smiled like she was somewhere else. “I never thought I’d go to prison for what I did, but here I am. It might as well be prison. You see I decided to come clean, and now my daughter thinks I’m nuts. She believes I’m Annie Harbor, who was married to the good preacher down in Georgia. And I was Annie Harbor a whole lot longer than I was Nellie Pritchard, but now I’m taking it all back. I’m telling the truth, and nobody wants to hear it. You see I got away with murdering Hobbs. I got away with it too good. Mama warned me not to marry Hobbs Pritchard. She said there would be doom.”

I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You should of listened to your mama.”

“How often did you listen to your mama?” Nellie shot back at me.

I thought of Scott Weehunt that no good excuse of a husband. The only good thing we ever did was make Paul. “Never when it was important.”

She nodded.

“But how did you kill him?” Marlene pulled out her small notebook and a pencil.

Nellie looked hard at Marlene. “I’ll tell my story in my own time, thank you.” She looked over at me. “This is what I need from you. You knew me back then. You knew I was Nellie Pritchard. You have to help me convince all these people that I’m not crazy. You have to convince my daughter.”

Now I thought on this one. “Why? Why bother after all these years? You could live out your life and never say a word. No one is going to believe me. We’re old, and people just don’t take us serious.”

“Lately I see Hobbs everywhere I go. You see I wish I could tell you I killed him to save my life. That’s what you’re thinking.” She nodded at me. “But the fact is I could have walked down that mountain when he left that afternoon. This was after he beat me so bad, my eye swelled shut. But I didn’t. I knew he’d follow me until he found me. I’d always be looking behind me to see if he was there. So, I waited and planned what I would do until he came home drunk. I gave him everything he wanted, acted like I enjoyed it, until he passed out. Then…” She looked at both of us, measuring us. “I took that old ax and cut his head off.”

Marlene grabbed her chest. I just sucked air in.

“I worked hard to cover it all up. I wish I could say I felt sorry for what I did, but to this day, I’m happy with my choice. I was free. Now, here’s the thing, I thought I could kill a man and walk away. I thought I could put it behind me. Maria, my daughter, was planted in me. I walked off that mountain to save her, to save myself. But I couldn’t walk away from what I did to Hobbs. See, I turned into him that night I killed him. I was no better. He hung in my mind and heart. Killing is killing no matter what kind of story you put with it. I never told Maria. I married a right fine man, a preacher, who believed in me, believed my silly story of a husband who died in a tractor accident. He always thought Maria was his daughter. One lie only births another. I need to confess and just be finished with the whole mess.”

“Can you ever be finished with something like that?” Marlene broke in.

“You are annoying.” Nellie laughed, but I could tell she meant it.

“It’s because you know I’m telling the truth.” Marlene stopped talking because a nurse pushed the door open.

“Oh, Miss Harbor, you have visitors from next door. Aren’t you lucky?” She held a tiny white cup. “It’s time for your medication.”

Nellie looked at Bea and Marlene. “Time for La La Land girls. We’ll talk tomorrow.” Then she looked back at the nurse. “These women knew me in my younger days up on Black Mountain. They know I’m Nellie Pritchard.”

The nurse nodded toward the door. “Dear, Dear Miss Harbor.”

My hands were sweaty and that’s why the door closed too hard.

****

That night I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned as my mind just piled up with all kinds of details. Nellie killed Hobbs and good riddance. Nobody would disagree with that. She wasn’t some ghost wondering the mountain. She chopped off her husband’s head. What if we all died, me, Marlene, and Nellie? We were older than dirt. It could happen. The truth would never be told and people would go on believing foolishness. Did the story need to be told?

When I woke before daylight, I had it on my mind to call Paul and tell him the whole story.

Paul answered on the sixth ring. “Hello.

“Son, this is your mother.”

“Ma, what’s wrong?”

“Oh nothing, sweetie. I just wanted to have a good talk with you.”

Total silence. “It’s five-thirty, Ma. I have to go to work in a little while.”

“That’s why I called you this early so we could have a talk.”

The bed creaked and I heard that little twit of a daughter in-law grumble in the background. “What is it you want to talk about, Ma?”

I took a deep breath. Paul had always been good to me. He knew I had my right mind. I was the one who insisted on going to the assisted living home so I didn’t have to be around that daughter in-law who drove me crazy. “You’ll never believe who I met down here.”

Paul sighed. “Who? I hope you’re not getting married at eighty nine. I think I’d just die.”

“I’m not eighty nine yet! And Paul, don’t insult me. I don’t have a use one for men this late in life. But it’s a dirty shame I never got to be in love.”

“I’m just yanking your chain, Ma. You marry anyone you want.”

“Anyway, I met two wonderful women. Marlene BoBo. I’m sure you remember her.”

“Lord, you two fought like cats and dogs. When did she become wonderful?”

“Well, having your family desert you makes for strange bedfellows.”

“Ma! You know that’s not true. You’re the one who picked the home and left.”

“That’s all behind us now. What is done is done. Anyway, I also ran into Nellie Pritchard.” I let this soak in.

“Am I supposed to know her?”

See! That was proof that the young people on the mountain could care less about mountain stories and such. “Hobbs Pritchard’s wife.”

“Wait a minute. Didn’t Dad find his skull in that old hallow tree?”

“Yes, but don’t change the subject, Paul. And your father lied. He never found that skull. It was Tyler Morgan. You know him and his wife Mollie. Their sons are only a tad older than you.”

“I know them, Ma. What is this about Hobbs Pritchard’s wife? I thought she died after he disappeared. Isn’t that the old ghost story? Doesn’t she haunt someone or something?”

At least he remembered. “Yes she walked off in the fog and was never found. Folks say they see her walking the woods.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Late thirties.”

“So her ghost is down there in Asheville?”

“Well, she wouldn’t be a ghost if I met her, would she?” I was getting mad at him.

“Don’t get all riled up, Ma. I’m just having fun with you.”

“This is serious Paul.”

Silence.

“Do you want to hear what I know or not?”

“Ok, Ma. Tell me.”

“Nellie Pritchard is right here, well and alive as you and me. She’s actually next door in the other building. You know what building I’m talking about.”

“Yes.” I could hear the snicker in his voice.

“We got to help her. They think she’s crazy. The don’t believe her story.”

“What’s her story, Ma?”

“She killed her husband, Hobbs and then left the mountain. She changed her name and never told a soul who she really was. Now her own daughter, born after the murder of course, won’t believe her.”

“Wait. You’re serious. You’re telling me Nellie Pritchard, from the ghost story, who everyone believed dead all these years, has shown up in the nursing home, in the building right next door, and no one believes who she really is? Ma?”

I heard the doubt in that one word. “Paul, I’m not crazy. I’m your mother. That’s the problem with the world. They see us as old, worthless, and crazy. Well, you’re wrong, buster. And I live in assisted living!”

“When’s your next doctor’s appointment.”

“Don’t start that mess with me! I’m not crazy, young man! I told her that you wouldn’t listen, that you had turned out to be just like all the other young people.”

“Don’t get all worked up, Ma. I’m not saying you’re crazy. Some things just seem convincing until you see the real facts.”

“I have all the facts I need. Nellie Pritchard is right here in this nursing home with me!”

“Assisted living, remember Ma.”

“Paul Weehunt, I expected better from you. You remind me of your daddy right now.”

“Oh Ma, that’s a low blow.”

But I heard that laugh. “I’m hanging up now. Forget I called.”

“Don’t hang up, Ma. I’ll tell you what, I’ll check around, see what I can find out about Nellie.”

“There ain’t a thing you can find out that I haven’t already told you, Paul. Good bye.” I slammed the phone down. So much for that.

****

Before breakfast me and Marlene made a b-line back to Nellie’s room. She was sitting in the same chair as the night before, writing in a little book. “You’re back.”

“I talked to my son this morning. I told him about your problem. He’s going to do some checking.”

Marlene looked at me like I was crazy. “Oh sure he’ll do some checking, checking you right in this building, Bea Weehunt.”

I could have pinched Marlene for voicing my fears. “He won’t do no such thing, Marlene BoBo. I won’t let him. I’m his mama.”

Nellie closed the book she was writing in and handed the book to me. “I’ve decided to quit yelling about all this. Maybe at least I can get me a place over there with you two if I shut up.” She nodded to the book. “You keep that. It tells it all. I want someone on the mountain to get it when I die. I don’t give a darn if they believe it or not.” She smiled kind of sad.

Marlene’s eyes just lit up. “Can I read it, Bea?”

“Oh hush up, Marlene. You’ll read it in good time.” I peeked inside. Ghost on Black Mountain was written in neat letters across the first page.

Marlene sat in the chair next to Nellie. And for just a second I could see the young girl, Marlene had been. “So, what did you do with the body?”

Nellie laughed. “You can have the whole story, Marlene.”

“Just tell me what you did with the body.”

Nellie leaned forward. I could see her pink scalp through white cotton hair. The sight just flooded my chest with unused tears. We all were so small and fragile.

“I told you I chopped off his head.”

“But how did you get rid of the body so his family never found nothing but that skull?”

She took a deep breath. “I chopped his body in little pieces and burned them in the fireplace. It left the worst smell in that house. I sprinkled his ashes on my garden. It grew the prettiest flowers I’d ever seen.”

The room was quiet and I could hear the breakfast cart working its way down the hall.

Marlene looked at me. “Good Lord.”

“I put his head in that old hollow tree in the front of our house. I just couldn’t burn it. I thought if I did, I’d be worse than him.”

I couldn’t believe my own history could change in a matter of days.

We sat there quiet until Nellie’s breakfast was wheeled into the room.

“You girls want to share.” Nellie laughed.

“I guess we got to go eat.” I tugged on Marlene, who would have moved in with Nellie if I let her.

****

When I got back to my room, my message light was flashing.

“Ma, I’m real worried about you. Maybe you should just come on back up here to this mountain. You don’t need to be so far from home. I can keep a better eye on you. You’re always into something. I decided to do some research on Nellie Pritchard. It looks like you might be on to something. I’ll let you know what I find.”

I laughed at this. He was a sweetie, but I wasn’t going back to Black Mountain. I would call and reassure him that I’m fine. I’ll praise him for believing me. That would make him happy and shut him up. I didn’t belong on that mountain anymore. It was full of new folks and new ways. I just didn’t fit in my own history.

****

So, life returned to normal at the nursing home. Marlene wrote her a book about a woman who murdered her husband with an ax. A publisher actually wanted it and Marlene was famous at the age of eighty-seven, which made her head too big. She went on a book tour. When she came home, she rented a tour bus and took us all to Red Lobster in Asheville. It was a right fine day. She turned out to be not so mean and hateful after all. That just goes to show a soul shouldn’t judge.

Nellie moved out of the building next door and got her a nice little apartment close by me. Paul opened a whole can of worms when he found Nellie’s birth certificate and that helped prove Nellie existed. Annie Harbor couldn’t be found in any record as having been born. And of course there was the matter of a marriage certificate that showed Nellie was married to one Hobbs Pritchard. When Nellie died in her sleep a year later, I never gave that little daughter of hers the book. I’m not sure she would have ever believed her mama. It would have broken her heart to know her mama murdered Hobbs. Some things are just best left unsaid.

I met me a man from Asheville. His name was Mr. Carl Parsons. He truly loved me. Imagine me hugging ninety and finding love. I got married and Paul nearly threw him a fit. I told him to get on with his life and leave me be.

That book of Nellie’s got shoved into a box in my closest. The box was marked for Paul. He’d know what to do with it. .

And life just went on and on back on Black Mountain. That mountain was alive as any walking breathing person that would never die out. It listened to all the voices and drank in on the stories growing stronger each year. And that was just a comforting thought.