The Root Cellar Read Online Free PDF

certain she saw Mrs. Morrissay standing bythe stove, but when she stepped forward there was no one there.
    “I’m sure I saw …,” Rose began, and stopped. On the table was a basket of eggs. “She
was
here! But where did she go?”
    She ran to the back door and looked out. No one. “Very odd,” she said nervously, “very odd.”
    She found some cheese in the refrigerator and shared it with the cat. Then she went outside again. She followed the creek down to the shore and stood for a while watching it empty into the bay in bubbles of white froth, the tall weeds below the water’s surface bending under the pressure. She wandered through the woods and into the field that lay to the west and amused herself for a time identifying the trees before making her way back to the glade. It drew her. It wasn’t only that it was beautiful. She had the feeling, standing with her back to the thorn tree, that something was expected of her here.
    She was still standing there when she heard brakes screech in the driveway. The school bus had arrived. Rose ran back inside and fled up the stairs. She heard the door burst open downstairs, letting in loud voices. Doors opened, doors closed, a shrill voice cried, “George, give me my toast.” There was the sound of feet pounding on the stairs, whispers, then, “Jimmy!Someone’s fixed up our train!” More whispers, the buzz of the electric train. Silence. The creak of Rose’s door. The twins’ round faces appeared from behind it.
    “Can we come in?”
    “I suppose so.”
    “Did you fix our train?”
    “Yes.”
    “Do you want to come and play with us?” asked one, and the other added quickly, “You can have some of our toast.”
    “No, thank you. I have to put my things away.”
    “Can we watch?”
    Rose looked at their eager faces and some of her stiffness softened. “All right.” So while the twins watched and gave her a running commentary on their school and their family, Rose put her clothes away in the closet and drawers. The twins told her that Sam wasn’t going to Italy, that George was a pig because he wouldn’t share his chocolate bars, that their father liked to go fishing, and that they liked hamburgers better than macaroni and cheese.
    “Are we having macaroni and cheese for dinner?” asked Brian (or maybe it was Jimmy).
    “Here’s Daddy,” said the other. Rose heard Uncle Bob’s rumbling voice downstairs. Reluctantly she followed the twins. Uncle Bob was saying, “Oh, good. I didn’t remember we hadeggs. That’s what we’ll cook, eh?” Talk between Sam and George ceased abruptly as she entered the kitchen. She felt acutely uncomfortable.
    That night, after Aunt Nan had come home and the twins had gone to bed, Rose settled down in bed to read with the cat beside her. After a while she became aware of Aunt Nan’s voice from downstairs. “Sam,” she was saying, “I know how disappointment can hurt, but your attitude isn’t helping to make that orphan child feel any better. I don’t want to hear another word!”
    “I don’t care,” Sam rumbled (not as deeply but in almost the same voice as Uncle Bob). “She doesn’t do anything to make us feel good either. She’s snooty. She’s a snob. ‘I’m used to Paris, they know me in that hotel.’ ” Sam imitated perfectly Rose’s icy tones. “She goes around in her stupid fur coat glaring at people. She looks like a stuffed owl with pink hair!”
    “Sam, you’re most unkind. Rose has had a hard time. She’s probably shy. She’s lived a very funny life. It’s true she’s very prim, but I suppose her grandmother had something to do with that. And Rose’s hair isn’t pink, it’s the same color as yours. Your Uncle David had hair that color.”
    “No, it isn’t—mine’s red. Hers is pink like the color things get in the fridge when you leave them too long. I wish she’d take her moldy,pink hair and her fur coat—doesn’t she know you shouldn’t skin animals?—and go back to New