Chief wheeled me into the dining room. I was happy to see it was still our dining room table that the food sat on, steaming into the air with the smell of tomatoes and goat cheese Miss Elly used in the spaghetti sauce. Chief wheeled me to the end of the table first, but it was too high for me to reach my plate. So he set me up on a regular chair next to Joe while he sat on the other side of me at the end of the table. Miss Elly took her chair by Chief. Then the rest of them sat down. I looked around the table. Uncle Mort sat by Aunty at the other end of the table. His eyes danced from the candlelight in front of him. I looked back at Chief.

Behind him I noticed the front room for the first time. It was filled with new stuff. It was easy to notice since usually we didn’t have anything but a rocker sitting in the corner of the room, next to the front window. It was the empty part of the dining room where Maggy set up for parties– she called it the entertainment room. Chief said there used to be a piano that took up most of middle of it, but after my mother died he gave the piano to my Aunty. Now the room was packed full. Chairs and a couch and some tables all sat around facing each other. In the middle of the room, between the dining room and the front room, against the wall, was a cabinet filled with plates and cups and other fancy table settings.

“What’s the matter, pumpkin?” Chief asked when he saw that I was staring into the other room.

I looked over at him. “Nothin’.”

“You sure? You look flushed.”

“Chief, where’s all our stuff?”

“What stuff, honey?”

“There used to be just a rocker in there. Now it’s gone. And our table is gone in the kitchen. And the swing is in a different place on the porch.”

Chief looked over at Miss Elly. I did too. Her cheeks tinged pink.

“There’s been a few changes around here, pumpkin,” Chief said to me.

“But where did everything go?”

“We had to move things around. To make room for Elly’s things.”

“Oh,” I said and looked at her.

“Does that upset you, honey?” Miss Elly asked me.

“I don’t know. I just miss things the way they were, is all.”

“I can understand that.”

“Don’t you like our things?”

“I do–” she started when Chief cut her short.

“Kelly,” he said, his voice low. “We’re sharing our home with Elly. She’s a member of this family now. She needs her own things around her to feel more at home. You can understand that, can’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.”

Miss Elly looked up from her plate and at me. “If there’s anything you strongly object to, honey, we can work it out. Is there?”

“Just the dead man on the stairs. He was pointing a gun at Chief and me when we came in.”

Chief swung a look at me. His eyes were hard to stand. Miss Elly was turning red and so was Maggy.

“What man was that, pumpkin?” Chief whispered, but the words got stuck in his throat.

“The one in the shadows on the stairs. He had a hole in his head right between his eyes and there was blood all over the wall, exceptin’ it was only in the shadows, not really there at all.”

“Jesus,” I heard Uncle Mort say to his plate. I looked up to see his eyes come over to mine. “Did you see any more?”

“More what?”

“Dead men?”

“Meriwether!” shot Aunty. “I don’t think this is the time to discuss this. Dead men for crying out loud!”

He turned to her and kept his voice low. “I can’t think of a better time or place, Martha. It’s plain to me she’s frightened.”

“Just him,” I let him know. “There weren’t any other shadows cuz my eyes got used to no light in the house.”

He nodded and turned to Chief. “I guess that’s the connection,” he told him. “I mean, between here and the Dead Place. I'll look into that when I get to Arizona.”

“You can do that?” I asked him.

He slid his attention to me. “Do what?”

“Find out why I see them? You can help me out of the Dead Place?”

“Kiddo, there’s a reason behind all of this. When I find out what it is, then we’ll be able to get you out of this.”

I smiled for him.

“So what about this bird?” Mike broke in.

Uncle Mort looked at me before telling him, “The eyes of the Dead Place, son.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Kel shot down a raven,” Joe told him. “She said it was the one that called the tiger.”

“It started decomposing immediately,” Chief added. “The thing smelled like it had been killed weeks ago. Its feathers were covered in maggots. Rather than bury it, we covered it in petrol and struck a match to the mess. It didn’t burn, Mike.” Chief leaned on the table so he could look at Mike square. “It exploded into a fireball. Then when the flames settled down the smoke turned first blue, then red. It was thick, and Kelly and I saw them in there.”

“Them?”

“Members of the cult. Hell, I even recognized two of them.”

Uncle Mort took special notice. “You didn’t say that. Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Chief let him know. “Martin Kaffe. Dwight Briggs.”

“Hold on,” Mike said. “Dwight Briggs? Where have I heard that name before?”

“The file on Hank’s mother, Mike,” Chief answered. “Remember when you wanted to get in touch with her. To send Huey home with her.”

“Jesus,” Mike said at the table more than anything else. “Her new hubby.”

Chief shot a look at me. “Maybe we should hold up on all of this until later. Food is getting cold.” 

Uncle Mort nodded his head. “I would like to take a peek at that file later. After supper?”

“It’s in my office. I’ll get it for you then.”

“And we should take another look at the file on the suicide of Fred's parents.”

“Sure, Mort.”

They stopped talking about the bird and what all happened to it. I knew after supper was over, they’d all go back into Chief’s office and start talking about Huey’s ma, and the cult of the bird. I felt a lot safer with the bird out of the picture. It would be a while before they’d come after me again. I hoped that by then Uncle Mort and Chief would be able to figure it all out. Especially my end of it, so’s I wouldn’t have to worry over it anymore. I didn’t like having one foot in the Dead Place and the other here at home. It was scary thinking that they might be able to pull me through the shadows and into the fog. Scary to think that if that happened I’d never be able to reach home again.

We slurped down the spaghetti without much else to say. I looked over at the front room again. It was going to take some time getting used to things. I liked Miss Elly. She was real nice, and she made Chief happy. But I still felt strange surrounded by all of her stuff and with half of ours gone. It didn’t really feel like home. I already missed the checked tablecloth. And the kitchen table with the chair backs that were near as tall as I was. But mostly I missed the rocker.

Chief carried me up to bed that night. My window was opened up to let the night air into my room. With it came the chirp of the grasshoppers and crickets that lived in our yard. I heard people shuffle along outside, too. They were all headed to Elly’s across the street.

Chief laid me down on my bed and I leaned against the pillow. He looked at my bandaged feet.

“How are these feeling?”

“The bottoms feel stiff. And they still hurt a little.”

He nodded. I watched him go to my dresser and pull my nightshirt from it before coming back to me.

“Chief?”

“Yes, pumpkin?” he said as he undid my overall straps.

“Where’d the rocker go?”

“The one that was in the front room?”

“Yes, sir.”

Chief pulled the britches off of me and hung them over the back of my own rocker.

“It’s in the guest room, honey. Why?”

“It’s special. Can I trade that one for it tomorrow?”

Chief sat down next to me on the bed. “Why do you say it’s special?”

“Momma used to sit in it. When the sun came up through the front window, she’d sing to me there. That’s why you never moved it before now.”

At first Chief just stared at me. Then he looked down at my nightshirt in his hands. “Who told you that?”

“I remembered. When I heard the music in the Dead Place. It was the same song.”

“I’ll switch them out for you tomorrow, pumpkin,” he said real quiet-like. Then he turned to me and smiled. “Arms up.”

I lifted them and Chief pulled my T-shirt off over my head. He set it on top of my britches before putting the nightshirt over my head and pulling it down in place.

“Is there anything else you miss very much?”

“The checkered table cloth.”

He smiled. Then he kissed my forehead. “I’ll see what I can do.” He headed for the door, but I called him back.

“What is it, honey?”

“Would Miss Elly mind so much if I called her Ma?”

At that he smiled showing all his teeth. He shook his head. “No, honey, I don’t think she’d mind that at all.” Again he leaned in and kissed me on the top of my head. “Now you get some sleep, all right? I’ll be in first thing tomorrow to help you.”

“Okay.”

I watched Chief leave the room. He turned at the door and said goodnight before closing the door real softly. I heard his footsteps move down the steps, catching the fifth one from the bottom, causing a loud squeak of protest; then the boards of the house settled as Chief made his way to join the others downstairs. I heard only quiet talking coming from the kitchen and the soft clanking of coffee cups soon after. I rolled over in bed and closed my eyes.

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