“It wasn’t like that!” Eva exclaimed from the back seat.
“A ball?” Nicky said. “I don’t see a ball.”
They passed a trio of pepper trees that bordered a large fenced-in lot. Two of the trees’ feathery bark looked like ebony, their stripped branches lifting themselves to the sky, empty. The third still had its tiny green leaves on one side.
“I want the ball,” Nicky repeated.
“There is no ball, Nicky,” Melanie said, and then said June’s name again.
But June went on. “I dug up his roses. I got blisters on my hands from digging the grave. It took so long. I kept thinking, ‘Surelynow it’s deep enough.’ But it wasn’t and I had to keep digging. And then when it finally was deep enough. I rolled him into it. Like he was garbage. He’s not even face up. He’s on his side. I tried to roll him over and I couldn’t. I couldn’t…”
“Don’t do this, June!” Eva said. “Do not remember it like this!”
“But this is what I did. This is what I did to him. And it was for nothing. The house is gone. Everything is gone. The script is gone. It was all for nothing.”
“June!” Melanie shouted and then immediately lowered her voice. She could see through the rearview mirror that Nicky was staring at the back of her head. “This kind of talk is not helpful. You didn’t do it for nothing. It wasn’t for nothing. So stop this. And he was going to be buried in dirt anyway. Dirt is dirt. You picked a good spot.”
“A beautiful spot,” Eva interjected.
“Listen,” Melanie said. “Elwood loved those roses. If he’s looking down on you right now he’s probably wishing you would just remember how much he did love them.”
June was silent as these words swirled about them in the car.
They were passing houses that had partially burned, some that looked perfectly fine, and a few scattered lots where there was no house at all, just an ash-strewn foundation. And then they were taking the last curve, the last turn before the street ended. Trees on either side were robbed of their top leaves and branches. The Gilberts’ house came into view first. It appeared untouched.
And then June’s.
It was hard to tell there had been a house. The brick fireplace still stood, blackened but erect, and the stove in the kitchen had made a last stand. But the walls were gone, the second story was gone. In their place was ash and soot and black rubble. In the backyard, the patio was a pile of cinders but miraculously three of thedozen rosebushes still stood, almost calling out audibly to be noticed.
And there was no firebreak. No part of the backyard had been dug up at all. What used to be the backyard was flat except for the three remaining rosebushes, singed but standing.
The firemen must not have been able to dig the firebreak before abandoning the cul-de-sac as the fire approached.
Or maybe they’d been radioed to attend to another area under greater threat and they never made it back here.
The reason didn’t matter.
What mattered was Elwood was still in his favorite place in all the world. And three of his beloved bushes had survived to mark it.
Nicky was anxious to get out of the car and he grumbled when Melanie told him he had to stay where he was.
June stared, unblinking, at the ruin outside the passenger-side window. “What will I do now? I left the script in the house. I have nothing now. Nothing. I don’t know where I’ll go.”
“Look. One thing at a time, June. As soon as power is restored, you can stay at my place, okay?” Melanie said. “I won’t be there for a couple weeks at least. You and Eva can both stay there for right now. It’s not like Carson is going to find out. Not for a while, anyway. If he even bothers to check to see if I am all right, I’ll have Irving tell him I’m fine.”
“And after that? And how can I leave Elwood here? Like this?”
“Well…” Melanie’s voice trailed off. There was Eva’s way…
“You should buy it anyway,” Eva said from the back seat.
Of course. The answer was easy. Melanie wished she’d said it first rather than imagining for a terrible moment Eva’s solution.
“Eva’s right,” Melanie said. “Buy the lot, June. Elwood had this place insured, right? Those boys will get the insurance money for the house as part of the estate. Offer to buy the lot from them.They’re not going to want it anyway. Look at it. Just buy it. Then you can…”
June finished Melanie’s thought. “Protect it.”
“Care for it,” Eva added.
