The Elementals Read Online Free PDF

over and put ’em in the church. We’re all invited to the funeral, but I told ’em no, I didn’t think we’d come after all, one funeral a week was enough for just about anybody.”
    “Can I get y’all anything?” asked Odessa.
    “Iced tea,” said Leigh, “please, Odessa.”
    “Scotch and lots of ice,” said Big Barbara.
    “Better let me get that,” said Luker to Odessa. “I think I’ll start to catch up myself. You want anything, India?”
    India, who didn’t approve of family retainers, had shaken her head to Odessa’s offer; but to her father she said, “Maybe some sherry . . .”
    “Dauphin has Punt e Mes,” said Luker.
    “Oh, great! With an ice cube.”
    Big Barbara twisted around. “Luker, does that child drink ?”
    “Only since we got her off speed,” said Luker, and winked at Odessa.
    “You are too young to drink!” cried Big Barbara to her granddaughter.
    “No I’m not,” replied India calmly.
    “Well you are certainly too young to drink in front of me!”
    “Then turn around.”
    “I will!” said Big Barbara, and did. She looked at Leigh. “Do you know that that child sees dead people all the time in New York— on the street . Dead people on the street, did you ever hear of such a thing? People dying where you can see ’em and poke ’em with a stick!”
    “India’s much more grown up than I was at her age, Mama,” said Leigh. “I don’t think you have to be particularly worried about her.”
    “Luker would be a terrible man to have for a father, if you ask me. He’s the meanest man in the world, you ask anybody.”
    “Is that why you love him more than you love me?” asked Leigh.
    Big Barbara didn’t answer, but India laughed. “Luker’s not bad,” she said.
    Luker appeared with a tray of drinks. He went to India first. “Barbara, watch,” he said, “see how well I’ve got her trained. What do you say, India?”
    India stood from the table, dropped a curtsy, and said in a simpering voice, “Thank you very much, Father, for bringing me the glass of Punt e Mes with ice.”
    India sat down again, but Big Barbara was unconvinced. “She’s got manners, but what has she got in the way of morals?”
    “Oh,” said Luker blithely, “she and I don’t have any morals. We have to get along with a scruple or two.”
    “I thought so,” said Big Barbara. “Nothing’s ever going to come of either one of you.”
    India turned to her grandmother. “We’re different from you,” she said simply.
    Big Barbara shook her head. “Were truer words ever spoken within your hearing, Leigh?”
    “No,” said Leigh as she accidentally cascaded half her iced tea down the front of her black dress. Shaking her head at her own clumsiness, she rose and went in to change. When she returned a few minutes later, Luker had grabbed his place again on the couch; he made an insincere offer to give it up to her.
    “Well, y’all,” said Leigh, sitting in a chair that faced them, “are y’all dying to hear about the knife or not?”
    “You know!” cried Big Barbara.
    “Odessa told me on the way back to the church.”
    “How come Odessa knew and you didn’t?” asked Luker.
    “Because it’s a Savage family secret, that’s why, and there’s nothing about the Savages that Odessa doesn’t know.”
    “Marian Savage told me everything ,” said Big Barbara, “but she never mentioned a word about sticking knives in dead people. I would have remembered something like that.”
    “Go on and tell us,” Luker demanded, impatient despite his languorous posture. The light in the room was now entirely green.
    “Get me a drink, Luker, and I’ll tell y’all what Odessa told me. And after y’all know all about it, y’all are not gone mention it to Dauphin, understand? He didn’t like doing it, he didn’t want to stick that knife in Marian’s chest.”
    “He should have asked me to do it!” said Luker.
    Nails screamed in his cage.
    “I despise that bird,” said Leigh