I listened, but I heard nothing, no footsteps on the stairway, nothing. I put my ear to the door and did still hear her sobbing. Again I called for her. When I knocked again. Miss Puss rose and stepped behind me. She stood still, watching, as if she knew something. Her behavior made me even more nervous. I knocked and listened and called again and again, but Great-aunt Frances didn't respond. There was only the sobbing. I waited and listened, and then I went to my room. Miss Puss followed slowly, but she didn't come in.
I thought about going out to tell Lester Marshall about Great- aunt Frances crying in the attic with the door locked, but he was so angry at Alanis and me that I was afraid to ask him for help. Maybe Greataunt Frances will come down soon, I told myself and sat on my bed with my back against the pillows staring up at the ceiling. When I still didn't hear her after almost another half hour. I returned to the attic door. Miss Puss was nowhere around this time. Again, there was only silence.
I called to her but heard nothing.
Why won't she answer? I asked myself. I thought a moment, wondering if I had fallen asleep and not heard her come down. Maybe she had gone to her bedroom. I hurried back and looked, but she wasn't there, and neither was Miss Puss.
So frustrated I could cry. I returned again to the attic door and pounded it with my small fist.
"Great-aunt Frances." I screamed, "don't you want to start thinking about dinner with me?"
I listened and heard nothing, and then this time when I put my ear to the door. I didn't even hear the soft sobbing. Maybe she had come down without my having heard her, but she'd have gone downstairs and not to her room. I imagined. so I went downstairs, but she wasn't there. I did find Miss Puss in the living room, curled up below the sofa, as if Great-aunt Frances had been lying on it and watching television. The cat glanced at me, closed her eyes, and lowered her head.
I returned to the kitchen. got myself some cold apple juice and sat on the stairs listening attentively for any sign of her. I heard nothing and began to hate the silence.
I wondered about Alanis, too, and went out to see if she had returned. Her grandfather was working behind the house now. I ran quickly over to his house so he wouldn't see me. and I knocked on the door. I called to Alanis, but she didn't respond. and I didn't hear anyone moving about inside.
Were was she? Were could she go? I wondered and slowly returned to the main house. When I entered the living room. I saw that Miss Puss had gone somewhere else. I tried to keep myself from thinking about everything and even thought if I turned on the television set. Great-aunt Frances would hear it and come down from the attic, but she didn't appear. Bored and worried now. I turned off the set and went back upstairs. where I found Miss Puss again lying by the door.
"What is she doing, Miss Puss?" I asked. The cat stared up at me as if she, too, was thinking the same thing.
I knocked again on the attic door. The silence frightened me. Why wouldn't she respond? Was she so angry' at me for going with Alanis to see Mrs. DeMarco? That had to be it. She probably thought we had been sneaky. She's just mad and sulk, I thought.
"Great-aunt Frances," I called. "Please come down. I'm sorry if I upset you. Please," I begged. "We were just curious. We didn't mean to make any trouble. I'm sorry."
I waited and listened and knocked and called, but there was still no response.
"I'm going to stay here until you come down. Great-aunt Frances." I declared and curled up on the floor at the door beside Miss Puss. I. too, could sulk. I thought.
My head felt heavy. All that we had learned had left me dizzy and even a little nauseous. I was sorry I had eaten any lunch with Alanis and Chad. The sandwich had been too greasy. I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep. I had no idea how long I slept, but when I woke, the hallway was dark and Miss Puss was gone. For a few moments. I was very confused. I forgot where I was. Since I had fallen asleep right at the attic door. I realized that Great-aunt Frances hadn't come down or she would have discovered me. I rose, rubbed my eyes and listened. The house was deadly quiet. I put my ear to the attic door but heard nothing.
Not sure what I should do. I went downstairs. There wasn't a light on, of course. so I had to put some on. I went to the front and looked out. It was very dark because the sky was completely overcast. In fact. when I opened the door. I saw there was a light drizzle. It was cold, too, so cold it made me shiver quickly. I closed the door and went into the living room. where I sat and waited and wondered what I was supposed to do. Surely it's time for dinner, I thought and returned to the attic door to knock and call to Great-aunt Frances. She hadn't eaten lunch. She must be hungry, I thought.
"It's dinnertime. Great-aunt Frances. Are you coming down? What should I make? Do you want to put on any special clothes?"
As before, there was no answer. She's fallen asleep, I thought. She will come down when she wakes up, In sure. I went down to the kitchen and looked for something to make myself for dinner. Miss Puss appeared again, this time looking more alert and curious. I imagined she was hungry, too. so I poured some of the cat food into her dish and she went right to it. Then I found another box of macaroni and cheese and followed the directions. There was some bread and butter and some grape juice to drink.
Even though it tasted good. I felt strange eating alone in the silent house. Halfway through. I lost my appetite and dumped the rest of it in Miss Pus
s's plate. She smelled it, ate some, then left the kitchen. I washed everything and cleaned up. After that, I went to the living room and looked out the window. The world looked even darker to me. I felt as if I was shrinking under the enclosing blackness.
Without the television going or Great-aunt Frances moving about, and no one else here, silence fell like a stone curtain around me. I wondered if Miss Puss had gone back upstairs to wait at the door. I kept expecting Alanis, anticipating her bursting in and complaining about her granddad. I actually missed her company and hoped she would return, but the hours went by and I heard or saw no one outside. Every time I peered through the window curtain in the living room. I saw no one. Without lights and this far from the road, there was barely a glimmer.
It started to rain harder, and soon I heard thunder and saw a flash of lightning. It drove me back from the window. Ian loved to see lightning. He was in awe of the energy and loved to count the seconds until we heard a nimble or a roll of thunder.
I wondered how Great-aunt Frances felt about lightning and thunder. I half hoped that it would terrify her and drive her out of the attic and down to me. When was she going to come out? How could she stay in there so long? I wondered, and then I remembered what Mrs. DeMarco had told us about Great-aunt Frances being confined to the attic for months and months, even locked in it. Surely, if she had been able to stand that, she could stay up there now for a day. But why would she want to? And why wasn't she worrying about me? She couldn't be that angry.
The rain sounded like bugs hitting the windows. I could hear the wind sweeping sheets of it onto the porch and against the walls. The wind itself was whistling around the house, seeping in every crack. It was a real Indian summer storm. I cowered on the sofa, then decided to just go upstairs to bed. Sure enough. Miss Puss was sleeping at the attic door. I listened, put my ear to the door, knocked and called once more for Great-aunt Frances, but she didn't reply and I heard nothing. She must have gone to sleep herself I thought. Miss Puss was still asleep. My noise hadn't woken her.
I washed, brushed my teeth and headed for my bedroom. I thought I heard something and stopped to listen, but it was only a window shutter rattling. Practically diving into bed, I pulled my cover around me, said prayers for my parents and Ian, then tried to drown out the sounds of the storm by pressing my ear to the pillow and practically pulling the blanket over my head. I wondered again about Alanis. Had she come home? Had she gone to a friend's house? She couldn't be wandering about the streets in this storm, I thought, and then I imagined that was just what she was doing and felt sorry for her.
Sometime after I had fallen asleep. I woke to the sound of a telephone ringing. I listened, and it stopped. I had no idea how long it had been ringing. Or what time it was.
"Great-aunt Frances?" I called to the open bedroom doorway and the hall. I waited, but I didn't hear her call back or moving about. The storm had stopped and there was just a light wind circling about the house now. I could hear the water still running down the gutters. It sounded like marbles. After a few more moments of listening. I fell asleep again and didn't wake this time until sunlight crawled over the bed and nudged my eyelids with soft fingers of brightness,
Eager now to see Great-aunt Frances. I rose quickly and dressed. Then I looked first in her bedroom and was terribly disappointed to see she wasn't there and the bed hadn't been touched. I hurried out. Miss Puss wasn't at the door, which gave me hope. I practically leaped down the stairway, calling for Great-aunt Frances as I descended, but when I reached the kitchen. I saw she wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere, I discovered Miss Puss in the living room near the sofa, and for a moment. I just turned about, stunned and confused.
She can't still be up in the attic, I thought. She can't.