Read Online The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles De Lint - Free Book Online

Lillian.”
    Lillian nodded to him. “So the two of you are running around in the middle of the night playing tag?”
    John shrugged. “It’s more fun at night, when everybody else is asleep.”
    “When it’s just us,” Davy added, then switched to a spooky voice, “and…
the spirits
.”
    John immediately took up Davy’s teasing.
    “And a lot of them,” he whispered, “are not happy to have us out here in the woods with them, disturbing their—you know, whatever it is that spirits do.”
    Davy punched him in the shoulder. “Way to mess it up.”
    The two boys laughed and Lillian had to smile.
    “Do you want to play?” Davy asked.
    Lillian shook her head.
    “Why are you hiding here?” John asked. “Are you spying on us?”
    “No, I’m here to see Aunt Nancy.”
    The boys exchanged nervous looks.
    “Are you sure you want to do that?” John said.
    Davy nodded. “Yeah, nobody just decides to see Aunt Nancy. We only go to her when she sends for us.”
    “Especially these days,” John added. “She’s been in a mood.”
    “She said something to me at the funeral,” Lillian said, “and I need to ask her what she meant by it.”
    “What did she say?”
    “ ‘It doesn’t have to be this way.’ What do you suppose she meant by that?”
    The boys shook their heads.
    “Well,” Lillian said, “don’t you feel like everything just seems a little…
wrong
these days?”
    They shook their heads again.
    “Maybe,” Davy said, “you’re just feeling that way because of your Aunt Fran having passed and all.”
    John nodded. “I remember when Uncle Sammy passed last year. We all missed him something fierce.”
    “It’s not just me missing Aunt—I do miss her terrible—but I’ve had this bad feeling all summer. The wild cats are always looking at me and looking at me, watching everything I do like they expect me to sprout a third arm or something. I need to see if Aunt Nancy can help me.”
    The boys exchanged concerned looks.
    “I’d be careful,” John said. “The spirits start paying more attention to folks who come ’round to see Aunt Nancy.”
    “Yeah,” Davy added, “and it’s never a good idea to have the spirits pay attention to you. They’re not like you or me. They’ll as soon drop the world from under your feet as do you a favor. You just never know.”
    Lillian smiled. “Here we go again.”
    “No,” John told her. “We were fooling with you before. This is different. Aunt Nancy is serious.”
    “And like John said, she’s been in a mood.”
    Lillian kept up her brave face.
    “I still have to talk to her,” she said. “I have to do
something
. I can’t turn into this prim little doll thatHarlene thinks I should be. She wants me to get all prissied up and go to school. That’s just not me.”
    Davy cocked his head. “I wonder how you’d look, all cleaned up and girly?”
    John gave him a push.
    “Knock it off,” he said. “This is serious.” He turned to Lillian. “Maybe Aunt Nancy just meant you could come live here with us.”
    “Or maybe,” Davy said, “she wants you to ’prentice with her. She’s never chosen anybody to take her place for when she moves on.”
    “That’s because she’s not going anywhere,” John said. “She’s been around forever. She’ll probably be around forever.”
    Lillian gave him a puzzled look. “You don’t believe that old story, do you?”
    “I know how it sounds,” John said, “but my granddad told me she’s the same today as when he was a boy, and his granddad told him the same.”
    “That’s not possible.”
    “No,” Davy agreed. “That’s Aunt Nancy.”
    “She’s not even a full-blooded Kickaha,” John went on. “Did you know that?”
    Lillian shook her head.
    “Her daddy came from Africa, I heard—long before the slaves were brought here.”
    “Why do you say she’s in a mood?” Lillian asked.
    Davy shrugged. “Who knows?”
    “You can’t stay out here all night,” John said. “Come back