Ellen’s family spent that night at her father’s house. Not a word was spoken abut Jay or Elizabeth or Anna. Neither Thad nor Josh was punished in any way, but all three boys were unusually quiet for the rest of the day.
Thad slept alone on the rollaway in the back bedroom. Twice Ellen made her sleepy way down the dark hall to check on noises that had awakened her, coming from that direction. The first time, just before she opened the door, she thought she heard Thad-who never talked in his sleep, who always slept like a corpse, barely even shifting his body during the night-cry out. She thought he was speaking, rather than just groaning from too many turkey left-overs at dinner time. But by the time she opened the door, he was silent and still.
The second time came much later, just before the first glimmerings of dawn. This time, for some reason, she woke a few seconds before the sounds filtered through her closed door.
She was up and heading toward Thad’s room before the muffled cries stopped, and this time she was able to step inside just as he fell silent.
“No, leave me alone,” the boy muttered, his new-found bass crackling unpleasantly into a childish treble. “I don’t want to. No!”
When her hand grazed his, he fell silent.
She spent the rest of the night perched on the edge of the rollaway, her hand stroking his long hair. He did not move under her touch.
He did not cry out again.
Later, at breakfast, she asked, “Did you sleep all right, Thad.”
“Yeah,” he answered, almost sullenly. That, at any rate was normal. Thad was a hard waker.
“No bad dreams or anything?”
He stared long enough at her to make her slightly uncomfortable. The rest of the table fell silent, as if waiting for his answer.
“No, nothing like that,” the boy finally said. “It was just… It… Sorry Gramps, but, Mom, those stuffed birds are creepy.”
Everyone, including Grandpa Abe, laughed at the intensity in Thad’s voice. After a tense moment, during which it seemed as if he might lose his temper-not an unusual occurrence for the teenager-even Thad joined in.
“I mean, every time I opened my eyes, there they were, hanging there, looking like they were about to pounce on me or something. Totally, totally creepy!”
The Camerons left before noon. Ellen promised to call her father later that week. They would talk things over, she promised. Maybe he could come down to San Diego for a long visit. A real long visit.
“We’ll see,” Abe said quietly. “We’ll see.”