Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board

Chapter 15

Several times we passed by the small booth that I had arranged as part of the junior class fundraising effort, where Hailey West and Paul Freeman were drawing caricatures of people for a small fee to put toward their ski trip costs. The next night, Nicole Blumenthal and a group of other juniors would be selling apple cider donuts that they made in Home Ec. I knew I should have been very pleased to see Hailey and Paul so busy with customers, but my Student Government obligations seemed like too much to handle that weekend. I was grateful that the booth was too tiny for me to stand by and oversee operations.

Near a table where the PTA was selling tickets to a raffle, for which the prizes included hand-sewn quilts and salon services from the local beauty parlor, I saw Henry Richmond staring straight up at the ferris wheel, watching Pete and Violet flirt and giggle against the night sky. I could only imagine what was running through his head, observing his dead sister's beloved boyfriend moving onto a new romantic prospect not even a month after Olivia's grave was dug. I wasn't sure if Trey saw what I saw, or that I wanted him to if he didn't, but the expression of hurt on Henry's face affected me a like a slap across the cheek.

"Do you want me to win you a mirror with a painting of Elvis on it?" Trey jokingly offered as we passed a game stand where fancy mirrors could be won by throwing darts at balloons.  We were both in quiet, sullen funks, and I adored him for trying to lift my mood.

"Nah," I refused, "that would just be one more fragile thing in my room for ghosts to break."

Trey pulled me closer to him with the arm that hung around my shoulders and kissed my forehead. "You know, there's a chance that this will all be fine. That Olivia's death was a freak coincidence and Candace will be home next weekend, safe and sound."

I wanted to believe him, I did. But he had been in that car with Olivia. He had heard her last words.

"I know you don't really believe that," I replied, squeezing his hand.

When we stood in line for cotton candy and Violet tapped me on the shoulder from behind to say hello, I felt an irresistible urge to confront her. If not for Candace's sake, for Henry's.

"This carnival is so much fun!" she gurgled. Pete, next to her, smiled his classic handsome smile.

It took me a second to remember that Violet was a big city girl, and she'd probably never been to a small-town traveling carnival before in her whole life. "Enjoy it, it's the only thing that happens here all year," I muttered, genuinely disliking the seedy nature of the carnival. I hadn't really been inclined to go that night, but Winnebago Days was unavoidable, and I had to check in on the booth at least once each day.

"Have you guys gone on the ferris wheel yet? It's amazing! You can see the lights in Ortonville from up there!"

I tried to force a smile. I had managed to be civil, sometimes even friendly, with Violet in the week since Homecoming. At times, I had even found myself liking her. "We may go on later. I am a little afraid of the rides at this carnival. Every year at least one breaks down and there's some kind of crisis."

Violet looked to Pete to confirm, and he shrugged in agreement. She swatted him playfully and said, "Pete! You didn't say a word about that when we got on the ferris wheel!"

"It's mostly safe!" he insisted.

We stepped up to the man selling cotton candy and Trey opened his wallet to buy us each a puffy light blue ball of sugar.

Violet's delight with the carnival was unnerving me, making me want to scream at her that she had no right to be enjoying herself, having so much fun, so soon after Olivia's death, and with Candace on her way to her a setting that matched her own prophesied death. "You know, Candace is going to Hawaii tomorrow with her dad," I casually mentioned, my eyes boring into Violet's.