“I do, I do. Good luck, Matilda.”
“Thank you.” I ended the link then tromped up the stairs, turning off the light before I shut the door behind me.
Time to say good-bye to Grandma.
“Grandma?” I said, pushing open her door and turning on the table lamp. “I’m going to be gone for a little while.”
“It’s today?” Grandma asked.
“Yes, it is,” I said. “I’m taking a trip.”
She sat up, and the sheep tumbled down the quilt. I saved one from going off the edge, tucked it in the crook of my arm, and rubbed its soft little ears.
“You aren’t going looking like that, are you, dear?” she asked.
I realized I was still in a tank top and shorts. Great. I’d been mostly naked in front of Abraham. Well, I guess that made us even.
“I’ll change and pack a bag,” I said. “But I’ll be back in to say good-bye, okay?”
“Yes, yes,” she said. “Get your things.”
I dropped the sheep on her bed. All three of them panicked in a circle, then wedged themselves headfirst into her pillow.
I hurried to my room and pulled on a soft tan tank top and shrugged into my favorite shirt—a green military with cutoff sleeves that had been Quinten’s. I slipped into khaki pants, then wrapped my gun belt around my hips and holstered my old Colt revolver. Yes, I was going into a city, but I was not going unarmed.
My coat hung over the back of the old willow chair next to my bookshelf. I put my coat on, then dug around my dresser top, looking for where I’d left my fake ID chit.
Found it, stuck it in my pocket.What else?I spun a slow circle, taking in, maybe for the last time, all the things I could call my own. Books, the little circus animals Neds had carved for me, a string of glass beads looped across my mother’s lace curtains, my bed with the down coverlet.
A change of clothes seemed practical, so I pulled an old canvas duffel out of my closet and shoved in a pair of jeans, underwear, a shirt, a sweater, socks, and, just in case, I threw in a spare of each. Then some extra bullets, my hunting knives, and the ancient modified walkie-talkie I’d brought up from the basement. Just for good luck, I added in a silver charm bracelet that had been my mother’s, and a couple of packets of seeds I’d been saving.
Good enough.
I slung the duffel over my shoulder and turned to leave.
“You aren’t going into town looking like that, are you, dear?” Grandma stood in the doorway of my room.
She must have thought she was going with me, and had dressed in a dark walking skirt, sensible shoes, and a warm sweater over her lacy pink blouse.
I took her by the arm and guided her down the hallway a bit, back to her room.
“This will be fine, I promise. It doesn’t matter what I look like.”
“Oh, my dear child,” she said. “It all matters. Very much. This is our chance to make things right.” She caught at my hand and pulled me the rest of the way into her room, tugging me over to her bed.
“We don’t have time, Grandma,” I said.
“We always have time,” she insisted. “We are Cases, after all.” For a little thing, she had a strong grip. “Now, let’s see to getting you properly outfitted. You are going to the city, aren’t you?”
“Yes. But you aren’t. You’ll be staying here.”
“I see,” she said.
“Do you know what’s happening?”
“Not at all.”
“I’m going to find Quinten and make sure our property is registered so we can keep it. I might have to . . . take a job with a House in the city for a while. Bo’s going to stay here with you. She should be here in a couple minutes. I promise I’ll call.”
