Read Online The Calling by Suzanne Woods Fisher - Free Book Online

without their knowledge. Both, she presumed.
    She didn’t mind working outside for a while, especially on such a hot summer morning, and hoped the carriage house would be cooler than the house. At least she’d get some freshair. She needed to air out her brain too—her thoughts felt all jumbled up.
    She wished she could talk to her brother Tobe. Where was he, anyway? Was he still with their mother? How had he found her? Where had she been living all these years?
    Bethany mulled over all the questions she’d harbored about her mother. What was she like? Did she ever ask Tobe about Bethany? Then there was the biggest question of all . . . why did she leave in the first place?
    All those thoughts were scrambling through Bethany’s head instead of the one thought that should have been there: Get to work!
    She opened the door to the carriage house and took a deep breath. There was barely room to walk. The sisters didn’t keep horses any longer, but there was a dusty old buggy, leaning against the wall. “I don’t know where to begin.”
    “It is a bit of a pickle.” Sylvia, the youngest sister, had come up behind her and stood by the doorjamb. Ella joined her, then Fannie and Ada. The women peered into the cluttered space, hands on their hips, taking it all in. “It’s all Lena’s doing,” Fannie said. “She’s crazy about tag sales. Brings home all kinds of worthless junk.”
    That wasn’t the whole truth, Bethany knew. So far, Fannie blamed the clutter problem on Ella, who blamed Ada, who blamed Lena, who blamed Sylvia, who blamed Fannie. Bethany thought all the ladies had clutter problems, but who was she to say? She was paid handsomely for sifting through all kinds of interesting things. Even the trunk full of bones was interesting. Frightening, creepy . . . but interesting.
    “Mim, maybe you can keep a look out for my thimble,” Ella said.
    Fannie drew in a chest-heaving sigh. “This is Bethany, Ella. Mim’s sister.”
    Ella gave her head that little shake. “Where’s Mim?”
    “She had something she had to do.” Something to do with Mrs. Miracle. Bethany had brought a cardboard box from the house and set it in the shade of the carriage house. “What would you like me to do with all the things in the discard boxes?” She was trying to be as diplomatic as possible. “I thought we might plan on having a yard sale of your own.”
    “What a good idea!” Sylvia said. “But we’ll have to discuss it first.”
    Of course, of course. Everything was decided by committee in this household. A long, endless committee of indecision.
    Ella and Fannie and Ada walked over to join Lena by the front door. They were heading off somewhere—they always had places to go and Bethany didn’t know where.
    Only Sylvia remained. “It will be nice to have this place cleaned out. Papa would have been so pleased. He always intended to clean out this carriage house.”
    Oh, great. That’s just great. That meant this carriage house hadn’t been cleaned out in at least thirty years. What might be crawling around in here? Several generations of mice and snakes and spiders. Bethany looked around the dusty carriage house, at the thick cobwebs clinging to the corners, at the smudged windows. She shuddered.
    “We’re off, then,” Sylvia said. “Won’t be back until after three. Ella needs her afternoon nap.”
    Ella, the eldest sister, was ninety-two and never without a sweet smile on her face. Sylvia said she put her love in things beyond herself, and that kept her spirits high.
    Bethany nodded. “Have a good day.”
    Then Sylvia leaned close to Bethany and placed her wrinkled hands on her arms, peering at her with mortal seriousness. The top of her head only reached the tip of Bethany’s chin, but there was no shortage of stature in Sylvia’s tone when she spoke up like this. “You mustn’t blame yourself or look back—not any longer than it takes to learn what you must learn. After that, let it go. The past is