Reborn Read Online Free PDF Page B

wheel and have a lesson. Maybe driving will trigger something.”
    “In your car?”
    “Yes. That Toyota is so old you can’t hurt it.” She took a sip of tea. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about. I have a small apartment in the basement, and I haven’t found a tenant in a while. It’s just sitting there, collecting dust.”
    I didn’t know what she was getting at, but I stopped shoving food into my mouth and listened more intently.
    “I wonder if you would like to stay there for a while, until we figure out who you are? It’s time you had a shower, anyway. You can’t bathe in the river forever.” She looked at me with raised brows and a spark in her eyes that I interpreted to be a glimmer of hope.
    My options were slim, and it was obvious that Melba wanted the company. “Yes, thank you. I should like that very much. And Excalibur?” I knew the horse couldn’t stay in the house and wondered if she had plans for him, too.
    “He can stay in the shed at night and graze the yard during the day. He seems to do his own thing, anyway.”
    I smiled at her generosity.
    “You know, you’re a handsome young man, with refined mannerisms. Someone must miss you. I hope you don’t have a girlfriend out there somewhere pining away for her long-lost Solomon.” She laughed, and then grew serious. She leaned both elbows on the table, her brows furrowed. “Forgive me for not offering you the apartment sooner, but a woman living alone has to be careful who she takes in. I had to be sure you weren’t some crackpot psychopath, I mean, even the media referred to you as a pervert.”
    She toyed with a ring holding a black stone, one of many jewels adorning her fingers.
    Her voice lowered. “I can feel things, Solomon. Feel when something isn’t right, and know when it is. For my ancestors, the deep art was a way of life. I just dabble, but the magic is in my blood nonetheless. I know you have a purpose here. There are no accidents, Solomon. Everything happens for a reason. And that reason will eventually present itself.”
    I had no idea what Melba spoke of, only that this was the most serious conversation we’d had yet. According to her, I had a purpose, even if I didn’t know what that purpose was, and Melba would help me figure it out.
    “Just like the long line of women in my family, I can see into the hearts of men… and I knew from the day we first met that yours is a good one.” She dropped the conversation there and continued eating.
    While we ate the sweet potato pie she’d made for dessert and sipped tea, Melba schooled me about Savannah and the surrounding counties, until she was certain she had the state of Georgia covered.
    She even showed me images on her computer, hoping to strike a memory in me. And some things did feel familiar, like the old plantations with their tree-lined drives we explored through the Internet. But my mind kept reverting back to the property Excalibur first took me through, the big white house, and the sign out front bearing my name.
    I decided to ask about it. “Melba, do you know of Solomon Brandt Estates?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do. The old mansion is a museum, and I work there, cleaning, three days a week.” Her gaze narrowed on me. “What do you know about the estate?”
    “Only that we share the same name, the estate and I.”
    “Yes, you do.”
    “Can you take me there?”
    She considered my question, then said, “I just might be able to do that.”
    After dessert and my lesson in geography, we watched Melba’s favorite TV show. Her blurted answers to the puzzles on the screen filled the tiny room with warmth and happiness.
    The sun had set a while ago, so I knew it was late when Melba took me downstairs to the apartment. She showed me how to run the taps, turn on the TV, and use the remote. Then I followed her into the washroom, which doubled as a laundry room.
    She walked to an enclosure in one corner of the room, reached inside, and turned