The Ghastly Ghost of Hillbilly Hollow by Blythe Baker

Author:Blythe Baker [Baker, Blythe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

I helped Grandma gather eggs and feed the chickens, goats, and hogs in the morning. Mrs. Colton, Suzy’s Mom, had called me to ask if I could give her a hand with something at the museum, and to bring my laptop, so I bathed and changed into a sundress and flats, and headed to town.

At the museum, Mrs. Colton asked me to help her create a poster that could be used for a memorial for Melody. She planned on doing a retrospective of Melody’s work the following month, and was getting several local residents to bring in pieces that they owned to showcase in the museum to honor her.

We spent a couple of hours in her office, and in the end, I was happy with the poster we had created. Melody’s daughter, Kayla, had provided a photo of her mother that she had taken on a vacation a few years before. Melody had an easel set up on the beach, and wore a long, pale blue tunic and a floppy tan hat in the photo. She painted as the colors of the setting sun washed over her. It was a great photo, and I could see that, even though she didn’t paint, Kayla had inherited Melody’s artistic eye.

I took another photo of Melody, one from her college days, and used a mosaic-style treatment on it that mimicked her own painting style. We added some images of her work that were on permanent display at the museum, the dates of her life, and the dates of the exhibition. We were both happy with the end result.

After we finished the poster, Mrs. Colton and I sat in her office for a while, chatting over a cup of tea. Mrs. Colton kept an electric tea kettle in the museum’s little kitchen, but she had real teacups and saucers in which tea was served. That was how she had always done things: properly. We talked about Suzy’s upcoming wedding, and how she was fussing over every detail.

“She is so happy you’re back home, Emma. I think she felt like she was missing something while you were gone, and didn’t realize what it was until you came back,” Mrs. Colton said, patting my shoulder. Mrs. Colton was always kind and warm to me, and her home was always open to me after my parents died.

“I’ve missed her too,” I said, looking down at my teacup. “I always wanted to get out and see the world…and don’t get me wrong, New York was great. But, I don’t think it hit me how much I missed home until I got here.” I wondered if she had any thoughts about Melody’s death, or the robbery, for that matter. “It’s a bit different, though, you know? I mean, I don’t ever remember there being a robbery while we were growing up. Not to mention what happened with poor Melody,” I said.

“Oh, yes, well…these are different times, aren’t they? The Flower Festival does attract a crowd, and where there are tourists, there are criminals.

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