Read Online LeOmi's Solitude by Gene Curtis - Free Book Online Page A

Grand-Mère would be with her and then they would
return in time for Grand-Mère’s nap, in the heat of the day and
before dinner. So that left the third option, the one that LeOmi
felt would be the least productive because she couldn’t invade
Grand-Mère’s privacy. So, she would wander around, but stay away
from locked rooms.
    The house and grounds were huge. Combined,
they took up a whole block.
    LeOmi knew every flagstone in the garden,
every nook in the garage and old stables. Everything was neat and
tidy, with nothing out of place. It was the same with the house,
except that it was dusty and dark. All the windows were battened
down for the hurricanes that would devastate New Orleans from time
to time.
    It was obvious that Hannah would make the
rounds and make sure that everything was all right. The hall tables
were dusted but the floors were not vacuumed. Hallway runners were
probably replaced periodically. Every door was locked.
    The huge ballroom on the first floor was the
room that Hannah had caught Ruby and LeOmi in when they were nosy
youngsters. Beyond that room was unseen territory for LeOmi, except
for the view of the closed shutters. She had longed to go up those
stairs and now was the time.
    The stairway went up between the ballroom and
the unused formal greeting room. All the shutters were secured and
the light filtered through the closed blinds. The ceiling in the
ballroom was the entire three stories with huge covered chandeliers
suspended from chains and cables. The ballroom was located in the
south east corner of the house and there was an overhanging terrace
that jutted out over the ball room dance floor on the second floor,
level with the huge chandeliers. There were doors to rooms all
along these terraces, six on one side and six on the other. There
were also double doors that went to the house’s outside balconies
at each end of the terraces.
    Every one of the terrace doors were locked so
she walked down the hallway at the top of the stairs. It looked
like a boarding house on the second floor, although neat and
tidy.
    LeOmi saw the olive branch lying at a door on
the other end of the hall. She ran and picked it up. She turned the
doorknob and the door opened.
    It was dark. No light came in whatsoever from
anywhere. There was a lamp just inside the door. A large leather
chair stood by the table with the lamp.
    With the click of the lamp, the room was
revealed as a huge library. There were light switches on the
wall.
    LeOmi couldn’t believe how many books were
there. There were rows upon rows of books all around the room and
this room seemed even bigger than the ballroom. The soft ceiling
light gave the room a closeted feel.
    “All this treasure, behind closed doors where
no one can enjoy it.”
    The shelves went along the walls leaving
about two feet of wall to ceiling space. On the table beside the
door were two books and another olive sprig. The books were old.
The first was titled Interactions between Earth, Wood, Fire,
Metal and Water . The second was A Study in Sumerian
Cuneiform .
     
    It was late; Grand-Mère and Hannah would be
home soon. LeOmi turned off the lamp and stepped out the door and
down the stairs to her little room on the first floor, the books
tucked under her arm.
    * * *
    Bekka came back to the room at eight o’clock,
just when dinner would begin. Disappointed, she saw that the book
was not there, LeOmi had taken it with her. Bekka pulled out her
note book and made notations and calculations. That shouldn’t be.
This isn’t right. She took the book, not just looked at it to
retrieve information. That isn’t right. What has happened to change
her? Is she now a thief? Is there any hope for her now? Distressed,
Bekka knew that she needed to hear what went on at dinner tonight.
She noted in her notebook: Success isn’t sure, in fact failure
seems likely.* * * Confront Grand-Mère? This seemed crazy,
maybe she should ask Hannah first and not Grand-Mère tonight. No it
has