From the moment I came to live with the Driggers my life hasn’t been the same. Oh, that’s a good thing; I’m not complaining. I think the Driggers would agree. I had bounced around for as long as I could remember which is a very hard way to live even when times are good. I can’t remember every place I’ve lived, especially in the early years, but I can remember enough – more than I’d like in some cases.
Some times were good, like my years with the Bandermans. The Bandermans called me Giggi and treated me very well. They played with me, kept me clean and never left me outside alone. I felt safe there. There were the other times, though - ugly times - like my years with the Buckelowns. I hated those years. The Buckelowns called me Soggy Toe because I was always landing in the dog’s water dish. I landed there because they threw me there. They thought it was hilarious to watch me get all wet. Then they would just walk off and leave me dripping wet sitting on the kitchen floor or the patio. It was awful. The day I left there was the happiest of my life – until I came to live with the Driggers that is.
Thank goodness for that school festival! If Mrs. Buckelowns hadn’t been having a tantrum and made me go to that festival, I wouldn’t have met Newton. And if I hadn’t met Newton, I wouldn’t be living with the Driggers. Newton is the Driggers’ older son, you see. He is in the fourth grade at Homo Probosci Elementary School, and it was at the school’s Harvest Festival that we found each other.
I met all the Driggers eventually that night. Waurika Driggers, Newton’s mom, was working at the popcorn stand with several other fourth graders’ parents. Newton’s dad Orville was walking around the festival with Newton’s little brother Jasper, helping him reach into the grab bag sponsored by the second grade and going through the haunted house presented by the fifth graders. Jasper came out of the haunted house crying, and Mrs. Driggers had to leave the popcorn stand to calm him down. She told Mr. Driggers that it wasn’t very smart to take a five-year-old into a haunted house even if it was staged by a bunch of fifth graders. I had to agree with her. When Newton introduced me to Jasper he said that a nine-year-old was too old for me, and that I’d be a much better friend for Jasper. I had to agree with him, too. I’ve never had very good luck with older kids. The younger ones treat me a whole lot nicer.
Jasper really liked me. I moved into his room, and we became best friends. He named me Jeebo. I went everywhere with him, even into the bathtub once, which turned out not to be a very good idea. It took me days and days to dry all the way through. When he tried to take me into the tub again, I said to myself, “I can’t go back in the bathtub. I’ll drown.”
Jasper looked at me when I said that, and said, “You can talk!”
I looked back at him and said, “You can hear me!”
He started to laugh and said, “This is fun. Say something else.”
“Okay,” I said, “Please don’t take me in the bathtub again. I’m not a bathtub toy. It took me four days to get dry last time.”
In case I haven’t been clear, I am a doll. I don’t know how long I’ve been around, but I know I’m pretty old. My name – my current name – is Jeebo, but I’ve had lots of names. I wasn’t Soggy Toe for very long, thank goodness, but I was Giggi for a long time, and before that I had been Gwillem, Bofo, and Cap’n Bob, among others. My first memories are from around 1957 as Cap’n Bob. I don’t know where I came from, but I’ve been sold or given away in more church bazaars, toy drives and garage sales than you can imagine. I’m pretty big for a doll, about twenty inches tall. I have black velveteen hair and a black mustache. I’m currently wearing a pink pinstriped suit with a red tie, but that wasn’t my original outfit. The first suit I remember was blue, and somewhere along the way I had a plaid one. But the tie has always been red.
For a while I had candle wax in my hair. That came from the Buckelowns when they left me sitting on the hearth once with a candle on the mantel that dripped wax on my head. That’s how I looked when Newton won me as a prize for throwing a baseball through the right hole in the third graders’ arcade at the Harvest Festival. One of the ladies who was collecting things for the festival tried to pick the wax off of me before they gave me away. She got a lot of it off, but it really hurt when she pulled my hair, so I was glad when she gave up. It was better to have wax in my hair that to have somebody pull my hair out. But it was Mrs. Driggers who had the idea one day to wrap me in an old towel and let me go for a spin in the dryer. That melted all the wax and fluffed up my clothes at the same time. It’s little things like that that have made living with the Driggers nice from the beginning. I wanted to thank her, but Jasper was the only one who’d heard me talk, so I told him to thank her. I hope he did.
Until I met Jasper I had always thought I was just like any other toy. I could talk to all the other toys, but not to humans. Thanks to the movie Toy Story, humans knew our secret, but we still couldn’t talk to them. But all of a sudden, now Jasper could hear me talk. And it wasn’t only talk; Jasper could see me move, too. I would climb up on the bed when he went to bed at night and down in the morning when he got up. The strangest part was that it was only me. None of his other toys could talk to him. So we were pretty sure it was me, and not Jasper, that was unusual. But I’d never been unusual until I came to live with the Driggers.
There wasn’t anything obviously unusual about the rest of the Driggers either. Jasper was in kindergarten and Newton in fourth grade, and they both went to Homo Probosci Elementary School every day. Waurika worked part-time as a receptionist in a dentist’s office to bring in extra money. She got off work at 2:00, though, so she could always be at home with the boys after school. Orville owned a small jewelry store where he sold some earrings, necklaces and cuff links, but mostly watches. His specialty was repairing watches, and he was known as the best in the town of Hiram. He had drawers full of special tools and little tiny watch parts all neatly sorted and labeled. He had racks of watchbands in leather, silver, and gold. There were magnifying glasses in several sizes and a funny shaped glass thing that he called a loupe. He used that most of all. He would put it up to his eye and then squint to hold it in place so he could use both hands to work on the watches.
Orville bought the jewelry store in 1992 from an old, well-known jeweler who wanted to retire. The shop wasn’t downtown with most of the department stores and other retail shops. It was out on the west side of Hiram where it shared the ground floor of a building with a drug store. The building across the street had at one time been full of doctors’ offices, and beyond it had been a hospital. It had been a good location to sell jewelry to doctors and hospital visitors. But now the doctors’ office building was the police station, and the hospital had been torn down several years ago when a new one was built on the other side of town. And the only thing across the street the other direction was an old motor hotel. Orville didn’t sell much jewelry, but his reputation as the best watch repairman in town kept him in business. He had worked for one of the downtown jewelry stores before buying his own shop, and satisfied customers had followed him.
The store had been a jewelry store for seventy-six years. When the hospital was built in 1914, it was on the edge of town near the railroad station. It was not close to the restaurants and shops in the downtown area. Some local merchants saw this as an opportunity, and over the next few years expanded or relocated their businesses to the hospital area. One of these was a watchmaker named Moody Marlin. Moody opened his jewelry shop in 1916 and quickly became a favorite of doctors and doctors’ wives. People brought him broken necklaces, rings with one stone missing, and even brooches that had been stepped on by horses. He had a gift for understanding exactly what his customers wanted, and if he didn’t have it, he could usually make it.
In 1943, Moody contracted polio. Though he was one of the lucky ones who was not confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, the disease made it hard for him to stand for long periods. So he hired a local young man to take care of the jewelry sales while he spent his time making and repairing jewelry in the back of the store. Abrevious Calhoun inherited the store when Moody Marlin died in 1970. He left everything exactly as Moody had kept it, including the store’s name, Moody Jewelry. But in 1992, 69-year-old Abrevious Calhoun sold his beloved jewelry store and all its memories to Orville Driggers.
After he moved in, Orville stumbled across a crude safe hidden away in a corner of the back room. Inside he found a cameo brooch, a silver charm bracelet, a gold pocket watch, and one onyx cuff link.
They had obviously been in the safe for many years, probably brought in for repairs and forgotten. They had been there so long that Orville imagined even Abrevious Calhoun had forgotten about them. Orville cleaned the pieces carefully and took them home. They were beautiful old pieces, well crafted and well cared for. He mounted them in a glass case and hung them in the front hall as a reminder to himself: You are a craftsman. Always do work you will be proud of.
It can get pretty boring waiting for Jasper to get home from school every day. Now that the other toys know that I can talk to Jasper, they treat me a little differently. They’re still friendly, but I know they talk behind my back. So I spend a lot of time by myself. To break up the boredom, I’ve started making Jasper’s bed for him, and I also pick up the bathroom after he leaves for school. He’s only five, and he’s pretty bad about forgetting to hang up his towel, and he leaves the cap off the toothpaste sometimes. So I make sure they get done, then I remind him about it when he gets home. But even that doesn’t take up enough time, so I’ve been looking for other things to do. I’m afraid to leave Jasper’s room, though, because if Mrs. Driggers saw me out in the hall or somewhere else, Jasper might get in trouble for leaving me there, and I’d have to stay there the rest of the day. It would be pretty hard for Jasper to explain how I was in the hall one minute and back in his room the next while he was at school.
But, unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. Boredom got the best of me the other day, and I went into Newton’s room to see if there was something I could do in there. I had just climbed up on Newton’s bed to see if it needed making when I heard Mrs. Driggers come home from work. Before I could get down, she was coming down the hall. When she passed by the door she looked in like mothers always do, and she saw me.
“Jeebo, what are you doing in here?” she asked. “Jasper will be looking for you.”
She picked me up and was heading for Jasper’s room when the phone rang. So I wound up in a kitchen chair while she talked. At least it was a change of scenery, and it wouldn’t be long until Jasper got home. She let me stay in the chair while she got eggs, butter and milk out of the refrigerator. Then she got flour and salt out of the pantry. Just as she began mixing everything up, Jasper and Newton came through the front door and into the kitchen.
“Hi, Mom,” Newton said, “Cookies?”
“Hi, Mom,” echoed Jasper, and then he saw me. “Why is Jeebo in here?”
“Oh, I found him on Newton’s bed when I came home,” she answered, “Why was he in there?”
“I don’t know,” Jasper replied, “maybe he likes it in there.”
“Hey, you’re not supposed to go in my room if I’m not there,” Newton yelled.
“I didn’t go in your room,” Jasper answered.
“Right. I guess Jeebo walked in there by himself, huh, you little liar?” Newton said.
“That’s enough, both of you,” Waurika interrupted, “Keep that up, and no cookies for you.”
“But, Mom, he’s lying,” Newton whined, “Shouldn’t he get in trouble?”
“Just tell them it was an accident,” I said to Jasper, “and I’ll be more careful.”
Both Waurika and Newton stopped and looked first at Jasper, then at me.
“Who just said that?” Waurika asked.
“It was the doll, Mom,” Newton said as his eyes got wider, “I saw it!”
“You mean you could hear him, too?” Jasper asked, “He talks to me all the time, but I didn’t know anybody else could hear him.”
“You’re teasing me, right?” Waurika asked looking from one son to the other, “This is a trick on Mom, isn’t it?”
“I swear, Mom, I saw the freaky little doll talk. How do you do that?” he asked Jasper.
“I didn’t do anything!” Jasper said, “Jeebo did! Say something else Jeebo, so they’ll believe me.”
I thought for a moment, and then said, “I didn’t mean to scare you, Mrs. Driggers. I’m very sorry.”
Waurika looked like she might faint, and she sat down in the chair next to me and looked at me for several minutes.
“How? Why?” she stammered, “This can’t be. How can you talk?”
“I’m not sure, ma’am,” I started, “No one has ever been able to hear me talk before, not in any of the homes where I’ve lived. But I’ve never been as happy in any home as I have here either.”
Waurika just looked at me, unsure what to say or do.
“Isn’t it neat, Mom?” Jasper squealed.
Abrevious Calhoun has had a good life, though not always an easy one. He grew up in Hiram, the only child of a widow. His mother worked as a telephone operator, and they had a simple, but comfortable, life. Abrevious was an easy-going, fun-loving boy who made friends easily and was well-liked. After high school he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, so he enlisted in the Army on his nineteenth birthday, and served until the end of World War II. When he returned to Hiram following the war, though, he found that it was difficult to find a job. Having spent years in the Army, he was not trained for any trade besides that of a soldier. Many of the other young men returning from the war had prepared for a profession like accounting or building or auto repair before entering the service, and the available jobs were offered to them. Abrevious was forced to move back in with his mother while he continued to look for work.
One day in September, Abrevious went to the doctor for his annual checkup. He noticed Moody Marlin sitting in the waiting room. “Hello, Mr. Marlin,” he said, sitting down next to Moody. “How’ve you been doing?”
“Abrevious Calhoun!” Moody said, extending his hand, “I heard you were home. Good to see you. What are you doing to keep busy these days?”
“Looking for a job, sir,” Abrevious told him. “Nobody seems to have a spot for me. I don’t have the right training to do anything outside the Army.”
Moody was quiet for a moment, then he said, “Can you show up for work on time?”
“Yes, sir. Has somebody said I can’t?” Abrevious asked.
“Can you smile and be polite and say ‘How may I help you?’” Moody went on.
“Well, sure, sir, but I don’t understand,” Abrevious said, growing more concerned, “Is somebody bad-mouthing me around town?”
Moody chuckled and patted Abrevious on the shoulder. “I don’t believe anyone has ever said an unkind thing about you, Abrevious Calhoun,” he said, “That’s why I’d like you to come work for me. You would be a perfect addition to my business.”
“Work for you, sir?” Abrevious said. “I’d love to, but I don’t know anything about making jewelry.”
Moody laughed again. “Son,” he said, “Leave the jewelry making to me. You’d be out front selling jewelry. It’s gotten so painful for me to have to stand behind the counters. I need someone to take over, and people like you, Abrevious. Customers would be comfortable with you. You could do that, couldn’t you?”
“I suppose I could, sir. Anyway, I’d be happy to give it a try,” Abrevious said. “Thank you, sir.”
That day a lifelong partnership was formed between two of Hiram’s favorite citizens. Abrevious began learning the jewelry business and soon found out that he would learn a lot more than he expected. He quickly discovered which customers were regulars, which ones expected special treatment, and which few would talk only to Moody. When a customer brought in jewelry that needed repair, they were naturally referred to Moody, but there were two women – a banker’s wife, and an insurance broker’s wife – who, regardless of how charming he tried to be, would not let Abrevious wait on them. This didn’t bother Abrevious too much. He stayed busy enough with the rest of Moody’s customers.
And he soon discovered that there was often very interesting information in those conversations between Moody and some of his customers. A broken piece of jewelry often had a story to go with it. Abrevious figured out early that a broken necklace was usually an accident, and a broken watch often indicated a fist fight, but a broken clock almost always meant a family argument - an ugly one – whereas a missing earring was a big secret and was usually accompanied by a frantic request for a replacement. Abrevious realized that Moody probably knew more secrets about people in Hiram than anybody, so he listened while he worked. He had very friendly conversations with the customers that he was waiting on, but he also paid attention to conversations between Moody and his customers.
One of Abrevious’s favorite customers was Moonyene Willie. The Willie family was one of Hiram’s favorite topics of gossip. For one thing they were very wealthy, but the original source of the wealth was somewhat of a mystery. Moonyene’s great-grandfather, Gorman Breckenridge, had just shown up in Hiram after the Civil War with his family and a small fortune. They were a pleasant enough family, but not at all forthcoming about their past. Speculation among the townspeople about Gorman Breckenridge’s fortune ranged from railroads and European royalty to carpetbagging and bank robbing. One rumor suggested that he was a member of Jesse James’s gang, and that he’d stolen the money from the gang and was now hiding, not only from the law, but from the James gang as well. Most people, though, agreed that Gorman Breckenridge did not behave like a criminal in hiding, even if he wasn’t telling where his money had come from.
For instance, in 1871 he founded Hiram’s newspaper, The Dill Sitter, borrowing the name from his young son’s attempt to say Bulletin Crier, the paper’s original name. The newspaper thrived, and by the time Luckie Breckenridge inherited his father’s fortune, the newspaper had doubled it. By this time the mystery surrounding the Breckenridge fortune had become legend, and like his father, Luckie had no desire to discuss his family’s past. Besides, the mystery helped sell newspapers. Luckie and his family tried to keep a low profile, running the newspaper, and attending church and school, but when anonymous funding suddenly appeared for a community center and a city park, the opinion was unanimous; the money had come from Luckie Breckenridge.
Luckie’s daughter Zita increased the family fortune by marrying Ogden Willie, of Pennsylvania’s Odiomzwak Railroad family. The Odiomzwak, or Odie, as it was known, had expanded its territory into Hiram in 1912, and Ogden Willie moved to Hiram to oversee the local operation.
Ogden Willie was a more flamboyant sort than his Breckenridge in-laws and insisted that he and Zita build the grandest house in town. He was a good man, though, and displayed the same charitable attitude toward his community that was characteristic of the Breckenridges; it was just in a more demonstrative fashion. In fact, when the hospital opened in 1914, one wing was dedicated as the Willie Ward in recognition of the generosity of Ogden and Zita Willie.
Moonyene Willie was born in the Willie Ward in 1918; two years after Moody Marlin opened his jewelry store down the street. Moody engraved the silver cup and spoon that her grandparents gave her; along with the watch they gave her father and the gold locket they gave her mother. The Breckenridges had been among Moody’s first customers, and the Willies had remained loyal customers of Abrevious as well, but Moonyene was the end of the line. By the time Orville bought the store from Abrevious, Moonyene Willie was an old woman who seldom left her home for any reason, but certainly not to buy jewelry anymore.
By all accounts Moonyene was an eccentric old woman, but local lore suggested that she had also been an eccentric young woman and child. She was an only child; the only heir to Ogden & Zita Willie’s combined fortunes.
Despite their wealth the Willies did not employee a nanny or governess for Moonyene. Zita was adamant that she would raise her daughter herself, her way, and Moonyene was encouraged to think and to speak up for herself. She had her own library in their home that housed a large collection of classics in both children’s and adult’s literature. She read them all. She loved to read, and what she didn’t have in her library, she borrowed from the public library. She also had an extensive collection of dolls. One of her ambitions was to have a doll from every country in the world.
Zita and Moonyene traveled a great deal, visiting museums, attending plays, seeing famous places and collecting dolls all over the world. Ogden’s schedule did not allow him time to travel much, but that didn’t stop “the girls”. They visited the pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, Stonehenge in England, the Mayan steps in Mexico and rode the Orient Express from Istanbul to Paris. They toured the United States walking the Freedom Trail in Boston, eating beignets in New Orleans, riding mules into the Grand Canyon and sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
All of this provided a wonderful education for Moonyene, but it also isolated her from other children in town. Not many children were fortunate enough to have done any of these things, and most of them were intimidated by Moonyene’s life. To them she was different, even mysterious somehow. Many of them came from rural families whose lifestyle was farming. Still others’ fathers worked for either the Odie or The Dill Sitter. It was difficult for them to see Moonyene as simply a classmate and not as the boss’s daughter. Consequently Moonyene wasn’t invited to many birthday parties or holiday parties, and didn’t have many friends. Zita became aware of this, and she began hosting tea parties and, as Moonyene got older, dances for her to invite schoolmates or acquaintances from church. A few people did come, usually the children of associates of Ogden and Zita, but Moonyene had always been wary of these people. In her opinion they were social climbers, only attending her parties so they could be seen at the Willie’s home or in their company.
Her closest friends when she was young had been her books, her dolls and Momo, the granddaughter of the Willie’s housemaid. Momo often came to the Willie’s with her grandmother in the summer. She didn’t seem aware of any differences between Moonyene and herself. The house didn’t appear to make an impression on her, nor did Moonyene’s clothes or the fact that they attended different schools. She was, however, impressed with Moonyene’s dolls. So they played dolls. The dolls had tea parties, picnics and costume parties, and after her first visit, Momo always wanted to play with the same doll. Moonyene would play with a different doll almost every time, but Momo never wavered.
Moonyene only saw Momo during the summer when school was out and occasionally at Christmas, and was not permitted to invite her to the parties her mother hosted for her, or over to play unless her grandmother was coming that day anyway. The year Moonyene was nine; Momo’s grandmother got sick and had to stop working for the Willies. Moonyene, angry with her mother, knew this meant she would probably never see Momo again.
For Christmas that year, Moonyene told her mother that she wanted to take a present to Momo. She picked out the doll that she knew was Momo’s favorite out of her whole collection. It was a doll her own grandfather had given her a few years ago, and she had named it Lucky W. after him, too young to know how to spell his name, but old enough to know that he would be proud of her for making a sacrifice for her friend. And it was Momo’s favorite, so even though Moonyene would miss it, that’s the one she wanted to give to Momo. Moonyene took the doll in her arms and hugged it tightly, feeling love for the doll, her grandfather and her good friend, all at the same time. Zita drove Moonyene over on Christmas Eve to take her present to Momo.
Momo didn’t know what to say. She knew this was the doll Moonyene’s grandfather had given her, and the fact that Moonyene wanted to give it to her was overwhelming. Momo accepted the doll and told Moonyene that his name would always be Lucky W.
This kind of giving came naturally to Moonyene Willie even if she wasn’t aware of it at first. She was, after all, a Breckenridge and a Willie, and she continued her family’s philanthropy in Hiram. She donated some of the Breckenridge land for an animal hospital and “rest home”. She was also responsible for new playground equipment at all the elementary schools, a new parking lot for the library, and every Christmas she arranged for hundreds of dolls to be collected and distributed to local children who might have no Christmas otherwise.
Moonyene never married, though she had a number of opportunities. Her independence, both financially and intellectually, made the idea of a traditional marriage seem too confining to her. She had observed as her parents’ marriage had developed into a happy routine with her mother pursuing her interests and her father taking care of his business. At the dinner table, the three of them shared the day’s events with each other. But most marriages, she knew, didn’t work that way. And she had never learned to trust people’s motive, always afraid that potential husbands were only interested in her fortune.
This meant, of course, that Moonyene had no heirs of her own other than her dogs and cats, and this caused a lot of speculation around Hiram about her fortune and what would happen to it. There were many theories, but no one could find anybody who actually knew. The Breckenridge-Willie fortune had always been one of Hiram’s greatest mysteries, and it appeared that it might remain that way forever.
“Jeebo, do you want some cereal?” Waurika asked.
Eating is new to me. Jasper has been teaching me to use a fork and spoon, and it’s trickier than it looks, especially when you don’t have any fingers. But eating is fun. I get to sit at the table with the Driggers now, and participate in family discussions.
“Yes, please,” I tell her.
After we finish breakfast and everybody leaves for work and school, I will clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Then I’ll make the beds and probably start some laundry. Waurika has taught me how separating light colors from dark will keep clothes from bleeding on each other. Once in a while, if I’m feeling dusty, I’ll climb in the dryer and take a spin. It’s really good for getting the dust out of my hair just like it did the candle wax.
Don’t let Orville find out, but yesterday when I was dusting, I knocked his framed pieces of jewelry off the wall. The glass didn’t break, thank goodness, and everything is still mounted like it was, so I just hung it back up. But the watch caught my eye. Something about it was familiar, but I’m not sure what. I didn’t recognize any of the other pieces, but I feel like I’ve seen that watch before. It’s very pretty. The case is etched gold, and the face has black Roman numerals and hour and minute hands, with a gold second hand. It’s obviously not running because it says 4:13 all the time. The gold chain and fob stretched out beside it look expensive. I can’t believe somebody forgot about it. I know how it feels. Lucky for us both we wound up with the Driggers.
“Come on, Jasper, we need to get going,” Waurika said.
“He says he can’t find Jeebo, Mom,” Newton told her, “I think he’s back in his room. Want me to go see?”
“Thank you, honey, but I’ll go. I suspect he just doesn’t want to go to the dentist,” she answered.
Newton sat down at the kitchen table and stared at the cookie jar. He knew he couldn’t eat a cookie right now. He’d have to go brush his teeth again. The back door opened and Jeebo backed in pulling a plastic jug behind him with a great deal of effort.
“What’s that, Jeebo?” Newton asked.
“I made sun tea today,” Jeebo said excitedly, “But I didn’t know it would be so heavy when it was full.”
“Here, let me get it,” Newton said and picked up the jug. “It is heavy. How did you get it out there?”
Jeebo said, “I took it out there empty and filled it up with the hose. Then I realized I wouldn’t be able to bring it back in the same way. It’s almost as big as I am.”
“Here’s Jeebo, honey,” said Waurika coming back into the kitchen, “Now can we get going?”
“He was in the back yard making sun tea,” Newton told them.
“Can Jeebo go with us, Mom?” Jasper asked.
“Anything that will get you in the car is fine with me,” she said, “Now go!”
After a full day of making sun tea and doing the laundry, I was ready for an adventure. I’d never been to the dentist before. In fact, I didn’t usually get to go anywhere. I’m too big for Jasper to carry around, so I stay at home.
As we drove, Jasper pointed things out around town just like I was a visitor. I wanted to ask him about a particular building I saw, but when I tried, I discovered that he couldn’t hear me any more. I panicked and tried to get his attention, but he couldn’t see me moving any more either. When we got to the dentist’s office, he sat me in a chair beside him in the waiting room and said, “You’ll have to stay here with Newton when it’s my turn, Jeebo.”
I tried to answer him, but I guess he thought I was “playing doll” because we were around other people. He didn’t seem worried that I didn’t answer. That is one of the rules, whenever company comes over, I am not supposed to say or do anything in front of them. We call it “playing doll”. We’re not sure if they would be able to hear or see me, but the Driggers don’t want to take a chance.
When Jasper went in to see the dentist, and Newton was sitting in the waiting room, I tried to say something to him, but he couldn’t hear me either. I didn’t know what was happening, and I couldn’t tell anybody. I yelled, I got up and ran around the waiting room, but nobody noticed any of it. I knocked some magazines on the floor. People saw that, but they thought the magazines just slid off the table. A woman sitting on the other side of the table picked them up and restacked them. It was no use. I was just a doll. I sat in the chair beside Newton and wondered if I’d ever get to taste my sun tea. Once we were back in the car I listened to Jasper and Newton compare dentist visits. Finally Jasper said something to me.
“Aren’t you glad you don’t have to do that, Jeebo?”
I answered him, “Yes it sounds horrible, but I’ll bet you can’t hear me.”
I was right, he couldn’t hear me, but Jasper is five, and he didn’t understand what was going on. He just kept repeating, “Aren’t you, Jeebo? Huh? Jeebo, aren’t you glad?”
Finally Waurika said, “That’s enough, Jasper.”
“But he won’t answer me, Mom,” Jasper whined. “Are you still playing doll, Jeebo? You can stop now, it’s just us.”
I was right in the middle of saying, “You don’t get it, Jasper, I’m not playing doll. You can’t hear me anymore,” when we turned into the driveway at home. Jasper looked a little confused when he said, “Stop teasing me.”
He got out of the car, and I sat there waiting for him to get me out. When I didn’t get out he said, “It’s not funny anymore, Jeebo, get out of the car.”
I didn’t want to be left in the car all night, so I climbed out. I still didn’t expect Jasper to be able to see me, but I didn’t know what else to do.
“That’s better,” Jasper said, closing the car door.
“You can see me again? Can you hear me, too?” I asked him, feeling as if I was in the Twilight Zone.
“I told you it’s not funny anymore, Jeebo. Everybody’s always teasing me,” he said.
“I’m not teasing you, Jasper,” I told him. “The whole time we were gone, I was talking to you and running around the dentist’s office, but nobody could see or hear me. Not you, not Newton, nobody. But as soon as we were back home, you could see and hear me again.”
He wasn’t sure whether or not to believe me, I could tell from his expression.
“So you mean, you can only be alive when we’re at home?” he sort of asked, sort of said. “What does that mean?”
“I wish I knew,” I told him.
Preparations were underway for a big celebration in Hiram. The town’s 150th Anniversary Jubilee was approaching, and the mayor’s office, the city council and the Chamber of Commerce were busy putting together a retrospective of the town’s history. They had called on many of the businesses in town to contribute to the exhibits that would be on display. There was to be one on the town’s founder, Hickey Hiram, others on the ways of life from various decades. There would also be exhibits from specific institutions like the schools, the hospital, the railroad, the newspaper, the library and even the cemetery.
Orville was very proud that he had been asked to be part of the Jubilee as the one of the oldest continuous businesses in town. Jasper’s class had been working for several weeks on a mural to be displayed in the library’s exhibit. All the kids in Newton’s class were characters in a play about life during the industrial boom of the 1910’s. Newton was playing a mill worker. He liked the fact that he got to be dirty in his role and told his mother that he couldn’t take baths because it would wash off his costume.
Conversations at the dinner table were all about the Jubilee. Newton, in costume, told stories about life in Hiram during the 1910’s.
“The biggest thing that happened back then was the Odie coming to town,” he told them. “That was a real big deal. And Hiram got its first hospital then, too.”
He stopped and ate some of his lasagna. “Hiram wasn’t much of a town before then, was it?” he said to no one in particular.
“What’s the Odie?” Jasper asked.
Newton rolled his eyes at his brother. “The railroad,” he said. “The Odiomzwak Railroad began service to Hiram in 1912. People call it the Odie.”
“Did you know that it was during the 1910’s that my jewelry store first opened?” Orville asked Newton. “A man named Moody Marlin opened it in 1916. It got its name from Moody.“
“I thought you bought it from Abrevious Calhoun, Dad,” Newton said.
“I did,” Orville told him. “Abrevious used to work for Moody Marlin, and when Mr. Marlin died, he left the store to Abrevious.”
“You’ve seen the picture hanging behind the cash register of a man standing in front of the store, haven’t you?” he continued, “That was Moody Marlin the day he opened his store. There are several more pictures in the back room of both Moody and Abrevious and some of their customers over the years. I’m going to enlarge the pictures and use them in the exhibit for the celebration. That reminds me, I need to get in touch with Abrevious. He’s the only one who can identify some of the people in the pictures.”
“Honey, you should use those old pieces you found when you opened the store,” Waurika said, “You know, the ones hanging in the front hall.”
“That’s a great idea,” Orville said. “I don’t know exactly how old those pieces are, but from their design, I’d say Moody might have sold them originally. Abrevious might remember whom they belonged to. Moody did business with some of the most important people in Hiram’s history; so did Abrevious.”
I almost choked on my lasagna when I heard that. Now Orville was sure to notice that the framed pieces had been dropped, and I’d be in big trouble. I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out what I could do to keep him from finding out I’d knocked them off the wall, but I couldn’t come up with anything.
That night I had a terrible dream. In the dream, I dropped the jewelry again, but this time the pieces all came to life and started yelling at me. Each one was screaming how old it was and where it had come from, and telling me how irreplaceable it was. Then they tried to kill me, I think. The charm bracelet poked its charms at my eyes, and the cuff link pinched my hands and arms. At the same time the watch wrapped itself around my neck and tried to strangle me while the brooch stabbed the bottom of my feet with its pin. When they were through torturing me, they all got back inside the frame except in the wrong places, and hung themselves back on the wall, laughing and waiting for Orville to find them that way.
The next morning I ran into the front hall to make sure my dream had not come true and that the pieces were all in the right places. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw them hanging just the way they’d always been. But I decided, just the same, to be extra helpful around the house in the hope that the Driggers wouldn’t give me away. I shined Orville’s shoes, scrubbed the bathtubs, and cleaned out the cat’s litter box.
Scrubbing the tubs is a tricky endeavor for somebody my size. I have to climb over the side and get in the tub. Once I’m there, there’s no choice but to get wet as I scrub, so I come out soggy and smelling like Scrubbing Bubbles. When I finished both tubs I was soaking wet and exhausted. I got in the dryer to dry off, and I tumbled around in there until I’d forgotten all about the jewelry.
Orville didn’t realize how difficult it would be to get in touch with Abrevious Calhoun. He tried calling Abrevious’s house, but there was no answer. At lunch he went downtown to see if he could find Abrevious playing checkers with some of the other retired men at the barbershop. The men told him they hadn’t seen Abrevious today, but that sometimes he played bingo at the American Legion Hall, and he volunteered at the Boys’ Club sometimes, too. Or he might be over at the café drinking coffee. The truth was that since Abrevious had retired, he’d been busier than ever. So Orville went over to the café and ate lunch, but Abrevious wasn’t there either. Orville told the waitress at the café and the boys at the barbershop to tell Abrevious he would like to talk to him if they saw him, and then headed back to the store.
Business was slow that afternoon, so Orville spent the time studying the photographs he was going to show to Abrevious. They were all old, nothing more recent looking than the early 1950’s, so Orville didn’t recognize any of the people. Still, the photos fascinated him. He arranged them in chronological order as best he could. Some of them had dates on the back, others he had to guess from the clothing and automobile styles. He noticed how robust Moody had been before his bout of polio, and how he aged over the years. There were a few pictures of Abrevious. He was barely out of his teens when he began working for Moody, and Orville saw him grow up in the progression of photos. The store itself had also undergone some changes through the years, although really it looked very much the same. Orville was still using most of Abrevious’s old display cases, but he no longer sold grandfather clocks, and he had furnished their old corner with a small sitting area for his customers.
For the next few days, Orville kept the photos out in the front part of the store. Whenever a customer came in, especially someone who had lived in Hiram for a long time, he would show him or her the pictures and ask if they could identify anyone. A couple of people thought they recognized people in the photos, but couldn’t say for sure. One woman thought she recognized her childhood pediatrician’s wife, Mrs. Milo Shimley. Another customer tentatively identified a distinguished looking gentleman as Walker Yoakam who had been Director of the Water Department for many years.
After more than a week had passed, while Orville was with a customer who needed a watchband, Abrevious Calhoun shuffled through the front door and waved at Orville.
“Hello, Abrevious,” Orville said cheerfully, “I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“That’s what I’m hearing all over town, Orville, so I decided to pay you a visit,” Abrevious said.
The customer paid for his watchband, smiled at Abrevious, and left the store.
“How can I help you, Orville?” Abrevious asked.
Orville pointed at the photographs and said, “I’ve been asked to participate in the Anniversary Jubilee, Abrevious, as one of the oldest continuous businesses in Hiram,” he began. “I thought I’d use these old photographs as part of the exhibit, and I’d like to identify the people in the photos.”
“Where did you get these?” Abrevious wanted to know.
“They were in a drawer in the back room,” he said, gesturing over his shoulder. “If anybody would know who these people are, it’s you, Abrevious.”
Abrevious picked up one of the photos and studied it for a long time.
“One of my customers thinks that woman is a Mrs. Shimley, the wife of a prominent pediatrician back in the 1950’s,” Orville volunteered. “I penciled the name on the back.”
Abrevious turned the photo over and looked at the back.
“Yes, that’s Altoise Shimley alright,” he said with a slight chuckle. “She was one of our most frequent customers, lost a lot of earrings.”
He continued to gaze at the photo for a few moments.
“I’d forgotten about all these pictures,” he said. “Moody used to love pictures of himself with his customers and friends. For a long time he had these hanging on the wall beside that one.”
He nodded toward the picture behind the cash register, then continued, “I finally took them down when I had some work done in here and never put them back up. That was back in the 1970’s, and nobody remembered most of these people anyway.”
Another customer came in the store. Orville excused himself and began talking to the customer.
Abrevious continued looking at the photographs, jotting names on the backs in pencil. He looked at his watch and said suddenly, “I’ve got to go, Orville. If you’ve got time, I’ll stop back by tomorrow and finish looking at these.”
“That would be great, Abrevious. I’ll have some lunch here for us, and we’ll make a day of it. Thanks,” Orville said.
Abrevious walked out the door, and Orville watched as he walked back toward downtown.
The next day Abrevious was at the jewelry store early. He and Orville sat behind one of the counters and Orville spread the photographs out in what he thought was chronological order in front of them. Abrevious started with the most recent photos, the ones that had been taken when he worked at the store, and studied each one carefully. Besides being able to identify the people in the photos, he remembered things about the town from each era and told Orville wonderful stories about the people and the town. Orville began taking notes, thinking these stories would make the perfect complement to the photos in the Jubilee exhibit.
Abrevious noticed Orville writing as fast as he could. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m writing down your stories, Abrevious,” Orville said, “You’ve lived so much of Hiram’s history, I think I should include them in the exhibit.”
“I don’t know, Orville, this is pretty boring stuff to most people,” Abrevious told him, “It’s only interesting to me because it was my life.”
Orville didn’t think so. He continued to write as fast as he could.
“You just keep talking, Abrevious, only, would you slow down a little?” Orville said with a grin.
They spent the rest of the day looking at photographs and telling stories, at least when Orville wasn’t helping customers. By closing time Abrevious had identified not only Altoise Shimley and Walker Yoakam, but Earl Snave, who had owned the hardware store; Lois Niffel, an orthodontist’s wife; Ellie and Fred Delp who ran the drug store next door; and former Police Chief Hiram “Snik” Yodell as well. Snik was a direct descendant of Hickey Hiram, Abrevious pointed out.
One of the earliest photos was of Moody with former Mayor Cox Gano, Luckie Breckenridge, and Ogden Willie sometime after Moody had opened for business. And there were several photos of Ogden Willie’s wife Zita and her daughter Moonyene.
Abrevious had lots of stories about Zita and Moonyene Willie, their travels and their parties. They were Hiram royalty. Abrevious and Moonyene were almost the same age and had attended school together. Abrevious had always been a little in awe of Moonyene, but they had become friendly after Abrevious began working for Moody.
Orville wrote a few more notes and began putting the photographs away when a thought occurred to him.
“Are you busy tonight, Abrevious?” he asked, “Why don’t you come have dinner with us? I’ve got a few pieces of jewelry at home that I found in your safe when I moved in. I am planning to display them at the Jubilee, too. Maybe you’ve got some stories about those. How about it?”
“Really?” Abrevious was stunned, “I left jewelry in the safe?”
Orville said, “They had claim tickets attached to them, but no names. They looked like they’d been there for a very long time, and I couldn’t find any receipt books to match the ticket numbers up to. Come home with me and see for yourself.”
“Newton, Jasper, I need you to pick up the living room and take your things to your rooms,” Waurika called as she hung up the phone, “Your dad is bringing company home for dinner.”
“Who, Mom?” Newton asked.
“Abrevious Calhoun,” she said, “He’s coming to look at the old jewelry your dad found in the safe at the store.”
Hearing this, I panicked. I could feel the jewelry trying to kill me again. I didn’t know whether I should confess to knocking them off the wall or not. Then another thought occurred to me. Maybe they’d been knocked off the wall before! It was possible they could have been broken before I even lived here. Or they might not be broken at all, I didn’t really know. I decided to keep my mouth shut at least for now.
Dinner that night was great fun except that I had to play doll the entire time. Abrevious Calhoun told wonderful stories about Hiram and about Orville’s store. He seemed to know everybody. Newton started talking about the play his class was doing at the Jubilee, and Abrevious even told him some stories about the 1910’s. Of course he had gotten those stories mostly from Moody Marlin, but they still sounded as though he had been there.
“You’ve got a good role, then,” he told Newton, “The mill was the primary industry around here until it closed during the Depression. The mill was the main reason the Odie started service here. Those were prosperous years for Hiram. Good crops, lots of jobs and the new railroad. The town grew because it had a lot to offer. Of course I don’t remember it that well; I was just a boy. We lost a lot of businesses and a lot of people during the Depression. I do remember that.”
“What’s the Depression?” Jasper asked.
“That’s one of those things you’ll learn about when you’re older,” Waurika told him reassuringly.
“There are a lot of those things,” Jasper mumbled.
After dinner Newton, Jasper and I were sent to our rooms. I was glad to go because I was tired of playing doll. At the same time, though, I wanted to know what was going on with the evil jewelry.
Orville had taken the jewelry into the kitchen where Abrevious was sitting at the table.
“These were in the safe, you say?” Abrevious asked, “Do you still have the claim checks?”
“They’re behind the mount board in the back of the frame,” Orville told him, “I was afraid I’d lose them otherwise, although I’m really not sure why I kept them.”
He took the back off the frame, and handed Abrevious the claim checks.
“These have been in there a long time,” he said, “I stopped using this color claim check after Moody died. He must have put these in there.”
Orville turned the mount board over so Abrevious could examine the pieces. Abrevious looked each one over carefully and finally said, “I can’t tell you anything about the bracelet or the cuff link, but the watch is easy. It belonged to Ogden Willie. See the inscription, ‘To O.W. From L.B. 3-21-18’? That’s ‘To Ogden Willie from Luckie Breckenridge on the day Ogden’s daughter Moonyene – Luckie’s granddaughter - was born, March 21, 1918’. The cameo belonged to Ogden’s wife Zita.”
Orville looked incredulous.
Abrevious continued, “Moonyene’s the one who brought them into the store, and I suppose they still belong to her since she’s still around.”
“You remember when she brought them in?” Orville asked in amazement.
Abrevious laughed again, “Oh, no. But they both have her mark on them. See here?” He pointed to four X’s etched onto the watch, “And here?” indicating the cameo. “Everything of Moonyene’s has her mark either engraved or written on it. Just one of her little quirks. I’m sure she had these marked after she inherited the estate.”
“I’m going to mow the yard today,” I said at the breakfast table.
I noticed when I came in for breakfast that the jewelry pieces and the frame were all lying on the kitchen counter. I figured I’d better find something useful to do in case I was in trouble. Then Newton asked what I was dying to know.
“What did Mr. Calhoun say about the jewelry, Dad?”
“He knows who owned the watch and the cameo,” Orville said. “They belonged to Ogden Willie and his wife. They were very wealthy, influential people. Having something of theirs in the exhibit will be impressive.”
After taking a bite of his eggs, Orville had a thought, and said to me, “I don’t think you should mow the lawn, Jeebo. Neighbors are bound to see you.”
I hadn’t thought about that. I was still thinking about the fact that Orville hadn’t mentioned any of the jewelry being broken.
“He could mow the back, couldn’t he?” Waurika suggested, “You’ll probably have to start the mower for him before you leave, though.”
So, after breakfast, Orville, Jasper and I went out to the back yard. Jasper made me wear sunglasses and a baseball cap because he was afraid I’d get a sunburn. We picked up some stray toys and a couple of baseballs and moved the sprinkler out of the way. After that Orville got the lawn mower out of the garage and gave me some tips on mowing, things like ‘try not to run over any rocks’ and ‘try to keep the mower out of the flowerbeds’. Then he started the mower for me and told me not to let go of the gas until I was finished. He and Jasper watched me negotiate a couple of turns, and then they left for work and school.
It took me the whole morning to mow the back yard, but when you consider how short my legs are, I don’t think that was bad. It would have been a lot slower if the mower hadn’t been self-propelling. But the yard looked pretty good, I thought, and I managed to stay out of the flowerbeds, too. I swept off the patio and watered Waurika’s potted lilacs. I was very tired, but I was even dirtier than I was tired. So I hosed myself off and then lay down on a bench in the sun to rest and to dry.
I guess I fell asleep because the phone woke me up. I went inside and answered the phone. It was someone calling for Waurika about a bake sale, and she asked me if my mother was home. Not until I had hung up the phone did I remember that I can’t write, so I couldn’t leave a note for Waurika. I had to think of another way to remember the message until she got home.
I guess I shouldn’t say that I can’t write exactly. I can hold a pencil and make marks on paper, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to make actual letters. Jasper has tried to show me, but to be honest; his letters don’t look a whole lot better than mine. I think the reason I can’t write is that I don’t have any fingers. My hands look like mittens – a thumb and the rest of my hand.
I grabbed a pencil and paper from the desk, and did my best to write the message, and stuck it to the refrigerator. I figured this way; at least, I would see it and remember to tell Waurika the message.
As the Jubilee drew closer, there was an air of excitement. Once they’d been enlarged and mounted, Orville brought the pictures for his exhibit home and worked on the layout in the living room. He had a dozen pictures all together. Waurika spent evenings typing Orville’s notes into the computer and printing out captions for the pictures and stories to accompany them. More and more frequently Abrevious was here, too, telling more stories and embellishing some of the ones he’d already told.
Abrevious had become a part of the Jubilee exhibit. In an unspoken agreement, Abrevious was going to be in the exhibit booth with Orville during the Jubilee as much as he could. To Orville this was the perfect blend of past and present that his store represented as one of the oldest continuous businesses in Hiram. He would have living history in his exhibit.
I spent a lot of time looking at the pictures and the jewelry while I did chores during the day. Orville and Abrevious had chosen some additional pieces of jewelry to include showing the different styles over the years. Each piece of jewelry had a spot in the display. I noticed that one pair of earrings they had chosen looked exactly like the ones Altoise Shimley was wearing in her picture. Then I noticed that in one of the pictures of Zita Willie, it looked like she was wearing the very cameo that Orville had found in the safe so many years later. I couldn’t be sure it was the same one, but it sure looked like it.
All of a sudden I was thunderstruck. One of the more recent pictures, labeled ‘Moody with Earl Snave @ 1952’ was a picture of someone I recognized from my past! Before today, the farthest back I could remember was around 1957 when I belonged to Grover Piedmont who called me Cap’n Bob. But now I had a vague memory of living next door to Earl Snave. It came back to me in a flood. I was called Ike then, and I belonged to a boy named Knute Claremore who used to leave me in his tree house. I used to sit there and watch Earl Snave mow his yard.
Two weeks before the Jubilee was to start, Orville received his booth assignment, so on Saturday he decided to take the whole exhibit to the civic center and see how it was going to look. I told Jasper I didn’t want to go because nobody would be able to see or hear me.
“But I want you to come, Jeebo. You can walk around with me even if nobody can see you. When we get home we can tell Dad what we saw in other booths. We’ll be spies,” he said.
That really wasn’t a lot of incentive for me, but I said I’d go because Jasper wanted me to. I did want to see what the exhibit looked like somewhere besides the living room, and ever since I had recognized Earl Snave in a photograph, I was eager to see if anything else brought out more memories of my past. The only other thing I had remembered since then was that my suit was blue when I knew Earl Snave.
We got everything packed up and started off for the civic center. Orville was telling Waurika that his booth was in between Midge Nagol, whose family-owned clothing store had been a fixture in Hiram since the 1920’s, and Billy Sith, who owned a grocery store that his great-grandfather had started in the 1890’s. They were all in a section of family businesses not far from the bigger exhibits of the public library and the fire department.
There were quite a few other cars at the civic center when we arrived. I sat dutifully still until Jasper got me out of the car and carried me inside. He set me on the floor outside the booth. I looked around for a while to see if anything or anybody looked familiar. I saw the clothing store booth and the grocery booth on either side of us, and across the aisle I saw a furniture store booth and pharmacist’s booth. The big booths must be on the other side of the big room.
“Is Abrevious coming down here?” I heard Waurika ask Orville.
“I should probably have asked him,” Orville answered, “But I haven’t heard from him in a few days. You know how Abrevious is; he’s got a lot of irons in the fire.”
“Hey, Dad,” Newton shouted, “Does it say on there where my play is going to be?”
Orville looked at his map and said, “It’s in the auditorium which is on the other side of the building.”
“Can I go over there and look?” Newton asked.
“I want to go, too,” Jasper chimed in.
Orville and Waurika gave each other a look, then Waurika said, “Okay, but just to see where it is. Be back here in fifteen minutes.”
“Yes ma’am,” they said in unison.
“Come on, Jeebo,” Jasper said, grabbing me by the arm as they ran off.
We made our way out into the lobby area where still more people were milling around and unloading all sorts of interesting looking things. Newton led us around a corner that turned out to be the bathrooms and public telephones. We went back into the lobby and down a different hallway. There we found two sets of double doors, each marked ‘AUDITORIUM’. The doors were not locked, so we went inside.
It was dark inside, but Newton found a light switch and flipped it on. We were in the back of the auditorium facing the stage.
“Look,” Newton pointed at the stage, “That’s where I’ll be!”
He ran down the aisle and up onto the stage.
“Hey, Jasper, can you hear me?” he called.
Jasper and I sat down in the middle of the auditorium.
“Yeah, I can hear you,” Jasper answered, “Say some of your lines.”
That was just the invitation Newton was waiting for. He launched into his favorite scene from the play, delivering his lines very dramatically.
“Hey,” he shouted, “Come up here so I have somebody to say the lines to.”
Jasper started to get up, and then changed his mind.
“I won’t know if people can hear you back here, then,” he said.
“I’ll come sit on the stage so Jasper can listen,” I yelled to Newton.
“Okay,” Newton said, “Jasper, you move farther back and see if you can still hear me.”
I started toward the stage, and Jasper moved back to the back of the auditorium. When I got to the stage, Newton said, “Okay, Jeebo, stand over here. That’s where I’ll be talking to the other workers.”
He took his position and yelled, “Ready, Jasper?”
“Ready,” Jasper yelled back.
Newton opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes got very big, and he just stood there with his mouth open, staring at me.
“What’s the matter, Newton?” Jasper yelled from the back of the auditorium.
At that moment, I realized what Newton had just realized. I had walked from my seat up to the stage, and both Newton and Jasper had seen me do it. They had also heard me talk, and we weren’t anywhere near home.
“Newton! What’s the matter?” Jasper asked again, squirming in his seat.
“Jeebo!” Newton said, “He walked up here, and we could see him!”
“We’re not at home, are we? Remember last time Jeebo left home? Nobody could see or hear him, not even us,” Newton said, sounding a little exasperated.
They both stared at me as though I’d just been caught at a crime scene. I felt a little like I’d just been discovered at a crime scene, come to think of it, but I didn’t have any more idea what was going on than they did.
Newton finally said, “We’d better get back over to Mom and Dad before somebody else sees him. Jeebo, you’d better play doll just to be on the safe side.”
We turned off the lights and left the auditorium with me under Jasper’s arm not knowing how we were going to explain this new development.
“There’s something else I should tell you, too,” I said when Newton and Jasper had told their parents what had just happened in the auditorium.
We were back in the car now, on our way home, and Waurika thought the boys were playing a joke on her. She had threatened them with no TV tonight if she didn’t hear me talk or see me do something, so I was talking. When I said this, she turned and gave me a look that said ‘You’d better not be in on this, too!’
I was sort of afraid to say anything else, but finally I said, “I recognized somebody in one of the pictures for the exhibit.”
They were all looking at me now, even Orville in the rearview mirror, waiting for more.
“Earl Snave,” I said, “He lived next door to a family I used to belong to named Claremore. I used to watch him mow his lawn.”
“When was this, Jeebo?” Waurika asked.
“The picture says 1952, so I guess that’s right, but until I saw that picture I couldn’t remember anything before I lived at the Piedmont’s. That was around 1957,” I said.
“How many places have you lived?” Newton asked.
“Well, since 1952,” I said, counting to myself, “Seven, apparently. But I don’t know what came before that.”
Waurika said, “I thought you said we were the only people who had ever been able to hear or see you.”
“You are,” I reassured her, “The Claremores couldn’t see me move or hear me, but I could still see and hear everything around me. Knute – their son who I belonged to – used to leave me in his tree house all the time. From that tree house I could see into the Snaves’ yard, and there wasn’t much to do but watch what they were doing.”
“Why do you suppose that all of a sudden we can see and hear Jeebo away from home now?” I heard Waurika saying to Orville after we’d gotten home.
“I don’t know,” Orville answered shaking his head, “But the whole situation is getting stranger. It’s almost as if he’s connected to those pictures somehow. And every time he remembers a little more of his past, he becomes a little more human.”
“What do you think we should do,” Waurika asked.
“If we wait long enough, Jeebo will probably tell us,” Orville said, trying to sound casual, but I got the impression he was worried.
I had a whole new reason to be worried myself now. They obviously weren’t going to get rid of me for breaking the jewelry, but rather than relax, now I was worried that they were a little afraid of me, or of what I might become. And what was worse was that I didn’t know any more than they did. I couldn’t explain why suddenly I had recognized Earl Snave or why, just as suddenly, I was “alive” away from home. For all I knew Orville was right, and I was a little bit afraid, too.
The Jubilee would be opening tomorrow, so today had turned into an unofficial school and work holiday for the whole town. Almost everybody involved in the Jubilee was at the Civic Center taking care of last minute details. Jasper made us go to the Library’s exhibit and see the mural his kindergarten class had worked so hard on. He allowed us to look at the whole mural, but most of our attention was focused on the section that Jasper had worked on himself. I couldn’t really tell what it was supposed to be, but I didn’t tell Jasper that. He was so proud of his drawing, so I told him it was great.
When we got back to our booth, one of Newton’s classmates was there with Abrevious, talking excitedly and looking around frantically. When he saw us, he came running up to Waurika and Orville.
“Mrs. Zoys sent me to get you,” he panted.
Mrs. Zoys was Newton’s teacher.
“It’s Newton! He tripped and fell off the stage. He hit his head, and they’re calling an ambulance right now!” he said, beckoning them to follow him.
“Oh my goodness!” Waurika gasped.
She grabbed Jasper by the hand, and we ran around to the auditorium where Newton’s class had been having a dress rehearsal of their play.
“Go on, Orville, I’ll take care of this,” said Abrevious, who had been there all afternoon helping set up the exhibit. He shooed Orville after the rest of us.
When we reached the auditorium we found a crowd of students in costumes standing and sitting on the edge of the stage being very quiet while a handful of adults scurried around Newton. The student who had brought us here led us up to the edge of the pit.
“Mrs. Zoys, I found them,” he said quietly.
Before Mrs. Zoys could say anything, Waurika had rushed into the orchestra pit where Newton lay unconscious with a gash on his forehead.
Orville told Jasper to go sit in the seats and wait for them, then he followed Waurika into the pit.
“The paramedics should be here any minute,” Mrs. Zoys was saying to Waurika when Orville walked up.
“What happened, exactly?” he asked her.
“Well, he was to cross from here to there,” she said, pointing her shaking hand at the stage, “But he appeared to trip and then fell head first before anyone knew what was happening. No one was close enough to catch him. I’m so sorry.”
She began to cry, but continued anyway, “We called 9-1-1 immediately, and they told us not to touch him until the paramedics get here. And, of course, I sent Timmy to get you.”
Jasper was holding me so tightly I could barely breathe, and I couldn’t see anything that was going on, but I heard the paramedics arrive. Jasper finally got up and walked over to Orville who took his hand. Now I could see the paramedics bending over Newton, but I still couldn’t breathe very well.
One of the paramedics was talking to Mrs. Zoys and a couple of other teachers while two others picked Newton up very carefully and strapped him to a gurney. They lifted the gurney out of the orchestra pit, then extended the wheels and rolled Newton toward the door. The paramedic who had been talking to Mrs. Zoys came over to Waurika and Orville and asked if one of them would like to ride to the hospital in the ambulance with Newton.
“You go, honey,” Orville said to Waurika, “Jasper and I will follow you in the car.”
She gave him a hug, then gave Jasper a hug, and turned to follow the paramedic.
We walked back over to the other side of the building where several people stopped Orville to offer help and ask if there was anything they could do. Jasper and I sat down in the booth beside Abrevious until Orville was ready to leave.
“What’s his name?” Abrevious asked Jasper, pointing to me.
“Your best friend?” Abrevious asked.
“Everybody needs a best friend he can trust. May I see him?” Abrevious said.
Jasper nodded again and handed me to Abrevious.
“I think this guy’s been around a while,” Abrevious told Jasper, “I haven’t seen a doll like this in a long time. Where did you get him?”
“My brother won him at the Harvest Festival,” Jasper told him, “He said he was too old for a doll, so he gave Jeebo to me.”
“Look here,” Abrevious said.
He was holding up the lapel of my jacket for Jasper to look underneath.
“I’ll bet he was somebody else’s best friend once,” he said, continuing to look me over making my arms and legs flop around uncomfortably.
“Somebody cared enough about him to put a new suit on him. Looks like he had a plaid one on before he got this pink one. See?” Abrevious said.
Orville came into the booth and talked to Abrevious for a few minutes before telling Jasper it was time to go.
“Don’t worry about a thing here, Orville. I’ll be here early tomorrow. You just take care of that boy,” Abrevious said as he waved goodbye.
On our way to the hospital, I started telling Jasper about my plaid suit to get his mind off Newton, but he didn’t seem to be listening. I tapped him on the hand, but he didn’t seem to notice that either. So I stood up and got in his face, and said, “Jasper, are you listening?” He didn’t see or hear that either, and neither, apparently, did Orville. Fearing the worst, I dove over the back of the seat into the front seat with Orville, but nobody noticed. My suspicions confirmed, I climbed back into the back seat and sat down. All of a sudden I had stopped being alive again.
The emergency room was crowded when we walked in, but the nurse at the desk told Orville they had already taken Newton to an examining room. She waved another nurse over and asked her to show us to the examining room. Orville hesitated for a minute, but then said, “Come on, Jasper. I have to find out what’s happening, then you and I will find a place to sit.”
Jasper and I followed silently behind him. The nurse pulled back a curtain, and I saw Waurika sitting in a chair beside the bed where Newton lay, still unconscious.
“Has the doctor been in yet?” Orville asked Waurika.
The doctor came back in at that moment.
“Mr. Driggers?” he said shaking Orville’s hand, “I’m Doctor Hughes. We’re just about to take your son down to x-ray, so I can get a better look.”
A nurse followed him into the room. She raised the side rails on Newton’s bed, and began pushing the bed out of the room as we all stepped away from the door.
“I’ll be right behind you,” the doctor said to her. He turned back to Orville and Waurika. “The paramedics said he fell about six feet onto concrete,” he said, “There’s not much blood externally, which is good, but he has, at the very least, a concussion. What I won’t know until I see the x-rays, but am afraid of, is that there is bleeding internally. If that is the case, he will require surgery to repair the damage as soon as possible.”
Waurika gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
The doctor went on, “Please feel free to stay here, or if you’d be more comfortable in the waiting area, I will find you in there just as soon as we’re through.”
“If you want to wait here,” Orville said to Waurika, “I’ll take Jasper into the waiting room and get him something to drink. You can come get me when they get back.”
“No, I’ll come with you,” she said.
She took Jasper’s hand from Orville’s, and we all went back into the waiting area. Orville found vending machines and got everyone something to drink and Jasper a candy bar. I wanted to be some help or comfort, but nobody had yet noticed that I wasn’t talking. And here in public they would expect me to play doll anyway, so I just lay there in the chair where Jasper had put me down.
It had probably only been about half an hour, but it felt like hours when the nurse who had wheeled Newton into x-ray came into the waiting room and found us. She said that Dr. Hughes was ready to talk to us. As we got up to go back to the examination room, the Emergency Room door opened, and in walked Abrevious Calhoun. He was carrying a fast food take-out bag.
“Abrevious!” Orville said when he saw him, “We’re just going to talk to the doctor.”
“I’ll wait out here,” Abrevious said to Orville, “and you can sit with me if you want to,” he said to Jasper, “I’ve got hamburgers.”
Orville gave Abrevious a grateful look and told Jasper to go have a hamburger.
I was very uncomfortable in the position Jasper had left me in the chair. My head was on the arm, and my right leg was all twisted up under me. Since nobody could see or hear me anyway, and Abrevious was asking Jasper all sorts of questions about school and friends, I decided to stretch my legs while they enjoyed their hamburgers. Besides, smelling their hamburgers was making me hungry.
So I climbed down off the chair, but when I did I heard Abrevious say to Jasper,
“Uh oh, your friend just slid out of his chair.”
I froze where I was, and then Jasper reached down and picked me up and sat me back in the chair. I was thoroughly confused now. Nobody could see or hear me just a little while ago, but Abrevious had seen me get out of the chair just now. When Abrevious went to the men’s room a little later, I tugged on Jasper’s sleeve as discreetly as possible.
Jasper looked down at me.
“What, Jeebo?” he asked in a whisper.
“You can hear me now?” I asked him.
“Pick me up so that I’m facing you. I don’t want other people to see me talking,” I said quickly.
Jasper picked me up where it appeared he was having a conversation with me. It didn’t matter that people could see him talking to me. No one would think twice about a five-year-old talking to his doll.
“When we were in the car on the way over here, you and your dad couldn’t hear me at all,” I told him, “But just now when I climbed out of the chair, Abrevious saw me, and you can hear me now. It’s getting harder to know when I’m going to be alive, and when I’m not. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Abrevious reappeared at that moment and sat down saying, with a smile, “That must be something very important you’re talking about. You look serious.”
“Jeebo was just telling me that he didn’t fall out of the chair,” Jasper told him, “He got down on purpose, but you weren’t supposed to see him.”
“Why wasn’t I supposed to see him?” Abrevious asked.
“Nobody but our family is supposed to know he can walk and talk,” Jasper whispered to him.
“Oh,” Abrevious whispered, “Well, I promise not to tell anybody. It’ll be our secret. Can I say something to him?”
Jasper handed me to Abrevious who sat me in his lap and said, for Jasper’s benefit I was certain, “I promise to keep your secret, Jeebo, if I can be your friend, too.”
He was looking me over again, turning me upside down, looking at my hair and feet, and checking for other suits under the pink and plaid ones. He finally handed me back to Jasper.
“You say your brother won him at a school festival?” he asked Jasper.
“Uh huh, at Halloween,” Jasper replied.
“I’d like to know where he came from before that,” Abrevious said, more to himself than to Jasper, “They haven’t made dolls like this for a very long time. I’ll bet he’s got some stories to tell.”
When I woke up, Orville was talking to Abrevious. Jasper was asleep in his lap, and Iwas back in a chair. I don’t know how long Orville had been sitting there, but I heard him say, “They’re operating at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Waurika is going to sleep here at the hospital, but I’ve got to take Jasper home.”
Abrevious had a note pad on his knee and was writing something down.
“I don’t see how I can be there tomorrow, Abrevious. I hate to do this to you,” Orville was saying.
“Orville, it was my store for almost thirty years. And, don’t forget, I’m the one who told you all those stories in the first place,” Abrevious said, “You don’t need to worry about the booth at all.”
“I’m not worried about the booth, Abrevious. You’ll be a much bigger attraction than I would be anyway. I’m just sorry to dump it all on you alone,” Orville told him.
He hesitated for a minute, but then said, “No, it’s not the booth I’m worried about. It’s Newton, and the surgery, and how I’m going to pay for it. My insurance will pay part of it, but I don’t know what I’ll do about the rest.”
“Like I said,” Abrevious told him, “Now’s not the time to worry about anything except that boy’s health. The rest will work itself out. You have to believe that.”
Orville nodded, and we started to leave, but Abrevious stopped us before we got out the door.
“Would you like to leave the little guy at the Jubilee with me tomorrow?” he said, “You’re going to have a long day at the hospital.”
Orville considered the offer, saying, “That’s an awful lot to take on, Abrevious, and I have to be at the hospital at 8:00. That’s awfully early.”
“I’ll be at the booth by 8:00,” Abrevious said.
“Okay, if you’re sure you don’t mind. I know Jasper would be happier there where there’s so much going on. I’ll take him to get some breakfast, and then I’ll drop him off at the Jubilee. I really appreciate this, Abrevious,” Orville answered.
By the time we got home it was after midnight. Orville got the sleeping Jasper out of the car and told me to come along. I followed out of the car and up the sidewalk, but Orville stopped and turned around and went back to the car.
“Jeebo, come on,” he said, “I can’t carry both of you.”
But even though I thought I was standing on the sidewalk, obviously Orville thought I was still sitting in the car.
‘Uh oh,’ I thought to myself, ‘Not again.’
I had no way to tell him that evidently I was, once again, not alive.
Orville reached inside the car and shook me - the other me.
“Are you asleep, too? I need you to walk to the house yourself,” he said in exasperation.
I guess it finally dawned on him because he said simply, “Oh, great.”
He grabbed my right arm and pulled me out of the car, dropping me on the porch while he unlocked the front door. He carried us to Jasper’s room, and while he took off Jasper’s shoes, he said to me, “What’s going on with you?”
I said ‘I wish I knew’, but I could tell he hadn’t heard me.
“I thought you were getting more alive, not less,” Orville said.
Jasper stirred then, waking up enough to sit up.
“Are we at home?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Orville, “Mom’s going to sleep at the hospital with Newton.”
“Where’s Jeebo?” Jasper asked.
“He’s right here, but something has happened, I think,” Orville said, “He’s not talking or walking right now.”
Jasper looked down at me.
“At the hospital he told me that while we were driving to the hospital he was trying to talk to us, and we couldn’t hear him,” Jasper told him.
Orville looked at him, and then at me.
“You couldn’t hear him on the way to the hospital, but you could hear him at the hospital?” he asked.
“Yes, and Mr. Calhoun could see him, too,” Jasper said.
“Abrevious saw him moving?” Orville asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
“Yeah, he thought Jeebo fell out of his chair, but really Jeebo got out of his chair on purpose, Jasper said, “I told Mr. Calhoun Jeebo did it on purpose, but he wasn’t supposed to see it. Mr. Calhoun promised not to tell anybody. He said it would be our secret.”
Across town, Abrevious sat down at his kitchen table with a cup of tea and the pad of notes he had been making. He had brought the jewelry from the exhibit home with him for safekeeping, but he’d had another reason for bringing it with him, too. He opened the box and looked over each piece once again. These pieces brought back such strong memories of people and places long gone. These memories made Abrevious feel old and sort of sad and happy at the same time, and he was certain they would have the same effect on someone else. He snapped out of his reverie, made a couple more notes on his pad, and packed the jewelry back in the box.
At 7:00 the next morning, Abrevious rang the doorbell of the grand old home, still the largest house in Hiram. A housekeeper opened the door and greeted him with a smile.
“Good morning, Mr. Calhoun. Aren’t you the early bird today?” she said.
“It’s a big day, Gwennie. The Anniversary Jubilee is going on over at the civic center, and I’ve got a booth to run,” Abrevious answered as he entered the house, “Is she up and about?”
“Oh, yes sir, she’s in the sun room,” Gwennie said, “Would you like some coffee?”
“No thanks, I can’t stay very long,” he answered as he walked toward the back of the house.
He found Moonyene sitting in her customary chair by the window reading a book, one of her cats stretched out in a strip of sunlight at her feet.
At eighty, Moonyene didn’t leave the house much anymore, preferring to entertain her few visitors at her home, and she loved to entertain them. She made a point of dressing every day as if there were some special event because she never knew when someone might drop in, and she wanted to be prepared for the impromptu teatime. Abrevious, as one of her most frequent visitors, was accustomed to being invited to stay for lunch or dinner.
“Abrevious!” she said when she looked up from her book, “ You just missed breakfast, but I can have Gwennie bring us some tea and cookies.”
Abrevious was prepared, though.
“I can’t stay today, Moonyene,” he said, “I am running the booth for my old store at the Anniversary Jubilee this weekend. You remember the Jubilee, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, silly, I’m not senile!” she retorted, “So what brings you here at 7:00 in the morning then?”
Abrevious held up the box he was carrying and said, “I want you to see something. These are part of the exhibit, and I have to get them over there before 8:00.”
Moonyene leaned toward him eagerly. “Well, let’s see, then. I love surprises,” she said.
Abrevious set the box on the table beside her and opened it without a word.
Her eye was immediately drawn to the cameo brooch.
“This looks exactly like a piece my mother had,” she said picking it up, “Identical, in fact.”
She turned the brooch over and saw the four X’s etched on the back.
“Abrevious,” she said in a startled voice, “This is my mother’s! Or, rather, it’s mine. My mark is on it. I’ve put that mark on everything since I was a child.”
Then she noticed the watch.
“And this was my father’s watch,” she said, opening the watch and reading the inscription, “The one my grandparents gave him when I was born.”
She gave Abrevious an uncertain look, then turned her attention back to the other pieces in the box. Not recognizing any others, she turned back to Abrevious.
“I’d rather forgotten about the brooch,” she said quietly, “But I thought I had lost this watch. I haven’t seen it in decades. My father used to let me play with it when I was a girl. Where did you get it?”
Abrevious told her the story of Orville’s discovery and how, now, the pieces had come to be in the Jubilee exhibit.
“I knew these were yours as soon as Orville showed them to me,” he told her, “Of course I recognized your mark. Once the Jubilee is over, I plan to ask Orville to give them back to you.”
He gave a little laugh and said, “But I guess it’s really my fault he has them in the first place. I’m the one who didn’t clean out the safe when I sold the place.”
“No,” she said, “It’s my fault. I left these with Moody probably thirty years ago and then forgot about them. I would dearly love to have them back, but if Mr. Driggers wants to keep them, he should have them. He’s taken better care of them than I did.”
She was gazing at the watch, and Abrevious knew he’d been right. She was lost in memories, probably of her childhood.
“If you’re feeling up to it,” Abrevious said, changing the subject, “I thought you might like to come with me to the Jubilee. You’re a big part of this town’s history, and there are plenty of exhibits featuring your parents and grandparents, not to mention pictures of you in our booth.”
“Pictures of me, why? And why are you running the booth, anyway, if it’s not your store anymore?” Moonyene asked him.
Abrevious explained to her about Newton’s accident and the surgery and how worried Orville was.
“That poor child,” she said, “I’ve never met the family, but after seeing my father’s watch and mother’s brooch again, I feel like we’re almost family somehow. Please let me know how he’s doing, Abrevious.”
“I don’t think I’ll go with you just now,” she continued a moment later, “Maybe I’ll ask Gwennie to take me over this afternoon.”
Abrevious had expected this response. He took the watch from her and placed it back in the box with the rest of the jewelry. He touched her hand and told her goodbye. He had known all along she wouldn’t go with him.
Moonyene thought about the watch and cameo most of the rest of the morning, remembering her parents and grandparents and especially Momo. She and Momo had used the watch as a wall clock for their dolls when Momo used to visit her. She still missed Momo terribly, and hearing of her death last fall had been a blow, though they hadn’t seen each other in seventy years. In all these years Moonyene had never been able to rid herself of the feeling that she could have done so much more for Momo.
6:00AM came very early the next morning. Jasper had a hard time getting out of bed even with the promise of breakfast out, but after a stack of pancakes he began to perk up and get excited about the Jubilee and spending the day with Abrevious.
“I don’t think you should tell Mr. Calhoun too much about Jeebo,” Orville told him.
“It’s okay, Dad, he said he wouldn’t tell anybody,” Jasper replied, “And he said he wants to be Jeebo’s friend, too.”
“I’m sure he does,” Orville said, “But just the same, I don’t think you should say too much. It’s hard for people to understand about Jeebo, so we have to be careful.”
Jasper just looked at him as he ate his pancakes.
“Besides,” Orville went on, “Abrevious is going to be very busy today. You try to stay out of his way, okay.”
“Okay,” Jasper said, but Orville wasn’t sure he was really paying attention.
“And Jeebo,” Orville said to me, “since we’re not sure what’s going on with you, please be careful. A lot of people could accidentally see you today.”
Since I was still not alive I couldn’t answer him, but luckily he didn’t seem to expect me to.
It was a beautiful day for the Jubilee, and the civic center was already busy when we got there. Abrevious was in the booth talking to Midge Nagol, Billy Sith and two other people I didn’t recognize. He had the booth all set up, and it looked great. He had chairs for himself and Jasper to sit in, a cooler full of juice and soft drinks, several sandwiches, a bunch of grapes and some cookies.
“Wow, Abrevious, you’ve got quite the setup here,” Orville said as we walked up. He said hello to Midge, Billy and the others, and complimented them on their booths. Then he turned back to Abrevious.
“I really appreciate this,” he said, “Here’s my cell number. Call me if Jasper gets to be too much.”
“Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine,” Abrevious said, more to Jasper than to Orville, “Won’t we?”
“Uh huh,” Jasper said, rummaging through the cooler to see what was below.
“Be good, and do whatever Abrevious says, Jasper, okay?” Orville said.
“Okay, Dad. Tell Mom where I am,” Jasper answered.
Orville and Abrevious both chuckled.
Visitors began arriving very early, and it didn’t take long for the booth to fill up. Everybody seemed to know Abrevious, either personally or by reputation, and they loved listening to his stories about the jewelry store and the town. They wandered in at a steady pace all morning. Abrevious would sometimes introduce Jasper to someone, but most of the people didn’t pay any attention to Jasper and me, so I decided to take a chance and stretch my legs after we’d been sitting there for several hours. I stood up. Nobody seemed to notice anything. I tapped Jasper on the shoulder.
“You can hear me now?” I asked, somewhat surprised, but not entirely.
“Yeah,” he said, comprehension dawning on his face, “You better sit back down.”
I did, but I said to Jasper, “Put me where I can see what’s going on. If I can’t move, at least I want to be able to watch.”
This turned out to be a good idea. From my perch I could watch not only our booth, but several of the surrounding booths as well. So despite the fact that I had to play doll all day, there was plenty of activity to keep me entertained. I was actually enjoying myself, but Jasper was getting restless.
When there was a slight break in the crowd, Abrevious sat down beside us and offered Jasper a sandwich.
“Are you enjoying it so far?” Abrevious asked Jasper.
“Yeah, it’s neat, but I want to go look at some of the other stuff. Can I?” he asked.
“That might not be such a good idea,” Abrevious said, “If I let you get lost, your father wouldn’t be happy with me.”
“I won’t get lost,” Jasper protested, “I promise I won’t go outside. Can Jeebo have a cookie?”
“Sure he can. Does he like chocolate chip or sugar better?” Abrevious said.
“Do you want chocolate chip, Jeebo” Jasper asked.
I shook my head, imperceptibly I hoped.
I nodded, again hoping only Jasper would notice, but I saw Abrevious looking at me.
“He says sugar, please,” Jasper said.
“I believe he did,” said Abrevious, handing a sugar cookie to Jasper and watching me.
Jasper put the cookie in my hand, but I didn’t dare make a move. Abrevious watched me a little longer, but then turned back to his lunch.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said to Jasper, “You and Jeebo can walk down to the end of this aisle and back, but don’t go around any corners, okay? Stay where I can see you, understand?” Abrevious told him.
“Uh huh. I will,” Jasper said excitedly.
“But finish your sandwich first,” Abrevious told him.
Jasper stuffed the rest of his sandwich in his mouth in one bite and grabbed me around the middle. We started off up the aisle through the crowd.
Abrevious looked where I’d been sitting. There was no cookie.
Abrevious gave us about two minutes head start before he asked Billy Sith to keep an eye on the booth and started up the aisle after us. He’d had no intention of letting Jasper out of his sight all along, but there was something else. He didn’t want to admit to anyone that he thought he had now seen me move on two occasions. Slipping out of my chair was one thing, but seeing me nod my head was not normal. So he wanted to watch us unobserved to see what happened.
He spotted us about three booths up the aisle looking at a map of the town and paced himself along behind us as we stopped at every booth and looked at what was inside. He could occasionally hear Jasper saying something to me, but of course poor Abrevious had no way of knowing that I would be playing doll out in public, so I never answered. I was being especially careful as we moved among the other booth visitors.
The candy store had a booth at the end of the aisle. Jasper and I spent quite a while in there looking at pictures of how they used to make candy. They were giving away token-sized bags of candies that were popular at different times during their history, so Jasper and I sat down against the wall to enjoy our bag of 1940’s era candy.
Realizing he was probably out of luck, Abrevious turned back up the aisle at that point. There was no telling how long we’d sit on the floor watching people and eating candy, and he had a booth to look after.
Just as he got back to the booth his cell phone rang. It was Orville calling from the hospital.
“How did the surgery go,” Abrevious asked him.
Orville sounded exhausted when he answered, “The doctor said everything went exactly as it should have and that Newton will be just fine, but he’ll be here a little while. How has Jasper been? Has he given you any trouble?”
“He’s been great company,” Abrevious said, “I just let him and his doll walk down the hall alone. They’re sitting against the far wall eating candy right now. How are you holding up, Orville?”
“Just tired,” Orville answered, “Relieved and tired.”
Abrevious knew there was more to it than just being tired. He knew how worried Orville was about the cost of the surgery and hospital stay.
“I’m going to stay here a while longer, if that’s okay,” Orville was saying, “Then I’ll come by and pick up Jasper around closing.”
“I’ll bring him home when we’re finished here,” Abrevious said, “We might have to go get some dinner first, though. We’re having a good time together.”
“But…,” Orville tried to say, but Abrevious cut him off.
“And don’t try to argue,” Abrevious said.
Abrevious could almost hear Orville smile.
“I owe you, Abrevious,” Orville said.
“What all did you see?” Abrevious asked Jasper while he was packing up the booth after all the day’s visitors had left.
“Lots of neat stuff,” Jasper said, “There’s one place down there that’s showing movies. I watched part of one that was about the mill I think ‘cause everybody was dressed like Newton was for his play. Then they started showing a different one, I guess about the Odie. There were trains in it, anyway. And there was a neat candy store. It looked really old, and they gave away free candy. I ate mine already. Can we walk around to the other side before my dad gets here?”
“What are you going to look at tomorrow if you look at everything today?” Abrevious asked him, “Why don’t we pack up and go get something to eat instead? “Is my dad going with us?” Jasper wanted to know.
“No, just you, me and Jeebo,” Abrevious said conspiratorially, “So we can have whatever you want.”
“Chicken nuggets,” Jasper answered matter-of-factly, “With no sauce.”
“Would you mind running an errand with me before we eat?” Abrevious asked.
Jasper had never been inside such a big house, and he’d never had the door answered by a housekeeper before. He’d never even seen a housekeeper before. He stared around himself in awe at the paintings on the walls and the huge flower arrangements on tables as he followed Abrevious down the hall. He thought the house looked like a church.
Jasper probably didn’t realize it, but he was carrying me by one arm so that my other arm was dragging along the floor. I had a very different view down here. I saw baseboards and table and chair legs instead of paintings and flower arrangements. Just before we turned a corner, I had a glimpse of the kitchen ahead, and something stirred in my memory again. Something in that kitchen was familiar. I wanted to find a way to get in there to see what it was. But at that moment we turned and I was face to face with a fireplace instead. I understood, somehow, that we had arrived in Moonyene Willie’s living room.
“I didn’t see you this afternoon, Moonyene,” Abrevious said, giving her a knowing smile.
Moonyene returned the smile and said, “So you’ve done the next best thing, and brought company to see what a living piece of history looks like?”
“Not exactly,” Abrevious said, “This is Jasper, the Driggers’ younger son. He spent the day helping me out in the booth today.”
Moonyene smiled a generous smile at Jasper.
“I’m very pleased to meet you Jasper. My name is Moonyene,” she said.
“Are you the same Moonyene from the pictures at the Jubilee?” Jasper asked, a look of awe on his face.
“The very same,” Abrevious told him, “I thought you two might like to get to know each other. I think you have a lot in common.”
“And who is your friend?” Moonyene asked Jasper.
Jasper held me up to face her.
“This is Jeebo,” he said, and he stuck my hand out to shake hers.
But Moonyene’s face had gone pale, and her mouth dropped open as she stared at me.
“Moonyene?” Abrevious said, kneeling beside her, “Are you alright?”
She looked from me to Abrevious.
“How is this possible, Abrevious?” she said, “First the brooch and the watch, and now this doll?”
“Do you think Moonyene might hold Jeebo for just a minute?” Abrevious asked Jasper.
Jasper handed me to Moonyene. She stared hard at me, taking in every aspect of my appearance. Then she lifted my left leg and looked at the bottom of my foot. She let out a gasp and clasped my foot to her chest.
“You saw it, didn’t you, Abrevious?” she said, her eyes filling with tears, “That’s why you’ve brought them here, and the jewelry, too.”
“Saw what?” Jasper wanted to know, “I want to see.”
Abrevious took me from Moonyene and showed Jasper the bottom of my left foot, pointing at some stitching near my heel.
“What does XXXX mean?” Jasper asked.
“It means that a long time ago Jeebo used to belong to Moonyene,” Abrevious said.
Moonyene took me back from Abrevious and, pointing to the stitching, said, “It isn’t really X-X-X-X, but I wanted it to look that way. Actually it’s an M on top of a W, my initials. See?”
She moved her finger first along the M, then along the W.
“Did you ever figure out my mark, Abrevious?” she asked.
Abrevious shook his head.
Suddenly it all made sense to me, and before I could stop myself I had blurted out, “That’s why I recognize the kitchen!”
Moonyene and Abrevious were staring at me, looks of shock on their faces, and Jasper was yelling, “Jeebo, you’re not supposed to talk in front of people!”
After taking a few minutes to collect himself, Abrevious patted Jasper’s shoulder with a shaky hand and said, “It’s okay. I’ve suspected for a couple of days that there was something special about Jeebo.”
Then, with a laugh, he added, “I don’t understand it, but it makes me feel a little better to know it’s him and not me.”
“So we’re not in trouble?” Jasper asked.
“You’re not in trouble,” Abrevious reassured him, “I told you the other day that I wanted to be Jeebo’s friend, too, remember?”
Abrevious turned back to me and said, “Have you always been able to talk?”
“He walks, too,” Jasper interjected, “He’s like a real person. At home he does chores just like Newton and me.”
That drew a laugh from Abrevious and Moonyene.
“No one has ever been able to see or hear me before the Driggers,” I told them, “But I’ve been the same for as long as I can remember.”
“And how long is that?” Abrevious asked.
“It was as far back as 1957 for a long time,” I told them, “Then just recently, while we were working on the Jubilee exhibit, I recognized a picture of Earl Snave from 1952, and I could remember a little further back. That was all before I recognized the kitchen today.”
Moonyene had been silent for a while, but this made her ask, “You belonged to Earl Snave?”
“No ma’am,” I said, “I belonged to his next door neighbors, the Claremores, but I used to watch Mr. Snave mow his lawn.”
That made both Abrevious and Moonyene laugh again, then Moonyene said, “Would you like to know the beginning of your history?”
“Yes, ma’am, I really would,” I said.
“Me, too!” Jasper chimed in.
Moonyene sat me on her lap like a child, and said, “My grandfather, Luckie Breckenridge, the same one who gave my father the watch, bought you for me when I was four-years-old. He was a very generous man, and he loved to give me presents. I was his only grandchild. I named you Lucky W. in honor of him. I didn’t understand when I was four that his name wasn’t Willie, just like mine. That’s where the W came from.”
“You had a brown suit on when you were brand new,” she added.
“That was a long time ago, wasn’t it?” Jasper asked.
Moonyene whispered, “I don’t tell many people this, but I’ll tell you. It was 1922, a very long time ago.”
Then she continued, “My best friend in the world was our maid’s granddaughter. Her name was Momo. Momo used to come play with me while her grandmother took care of our house, and we always played dolls. I had a lot of dolls to choose from, but she always chose you to play with. You were her favorite.”
“We made a house for our dolls under the dining room table pretending the tablecloth was our walls. And I pinned my father’s watch to the tablecloth to be our clock. Because your name was Lucky W., you always played the grandfather in our game. You were the wise, kind one. Momo made sure of that. Whichever doll I played with each time had to be the mischievous child.”
This gave her cause to smile, remembering their games.
“Well, when I was nine,” she went on, “Momo’s grandmother got sick, and she had to stop working for us, so Momo couldn’t come play with me anymore.”
“Did you invite her?” Jasper asked.
Moonyene smiled sadly and glanced at Abrevious.
“I wanted to,” she said, “But she lived across town, and there wasn’t anybody to bring her.”
This was not exactly the truth, but she didn’t feel right telling a five-year-old that her mother didn’t approve of inviting Momo over if her grandmother wasn’t working.
Moonyene continued her story, “I knew this meant I probably wouldn’t see Momo again, and I didn’t want to forget her – or her to forget me – so I decided to give her a special Christmas present, something that would mean a lot to both of us.”
“It was me, wasn’t it?” I said.
“It was you, she said, “And that was the last I ever saw of you. Years later, I heard that Momo’s family had moved to Alabama to be closer to her mother’s sister. I’ve always wondered what happened to you after that. Then, just a few months ago, I learned that Momo had passed away, and it made me start wondering all over again.”
We didn’t stay at Moonyene’s long. She invited us to stay for dinner, but Abrevious explained that we were sneaking off to eat chicken nuggets before going home.
Jasper was still a little afraid of being in trouble, so he decided not to tell Orville about meeting Moonyene at all. And it seemed as if Abrevious understood this because he didn’t say anything either when he dropped us off at home. He just walked us to the door, and handed us over to Orville saying he’d see us bright and early tomorrow.
Orville asked Jasper about his experiences at the Jubilee and told him that Newton was going to be alright, but everyone was exhausted, so we all went to bed early. When I said goodnight to Jasper, and he didn’t respond, I tapped him on the back, and said goodnight again. When he still didn’t respond, but his eyes were open, I realized that, once again, he couldn’t hear me.
“So, did the Claremores get Jeebo after Momo?” Jasper was asking Abrevious.
They were getting the booth ready early Sunday morning, and Jasper had been asking questions since Abrevious had picked him up.
“Hard to say,” Abrevious said, “They could have, or he could have belonged to somebody else – or several somebodies – in between. We may never know his whole story unless he remembers something else.”
“Can anybody hear me?” I asked.
“Yeah, why?” Jasper said.
“Because last night when I said goodnight, you couldn’t hear me, so I was checking,” I said.
“Can we visit Miss Willie again sometime? I like her.” Jasper asked.
“I’m sure she would love that, Jasper,” Abrevious told him, “Now what’s this about you not being able to hear Jeebo last night?”
“Sometimes we can’t hear him,” Jasper said, “It used to only be if we weren’t at home, but it happens at home sometimes now.”
Abrevious was curious now.
“And you can hear him when you’re not at home sometimes now, too?” he said.
“Uh huh,” Jasper answered.
“And last night, after I took you home, you couldn’t hear him?” Abrevious said.
Jasper shrugged, and said, “I guess not.”
“You definitely couldn’t hear me,” I added helpfully.
Abrevious thought this over. Everyone could hear me while we were at Moonyene’s house, and in the car on the way home, but Jasper couldn’t hear me once we were home. But Jasper had said it used to happen only away from home. What had changed?
“How long ago did they start having trouble hearing you at home, Jeebo?” Abrevious asked me.
I said, “The night of Newton’s accident. Nobody could hear me when we got home from the hospital.”
“That was just a couple of days ago. When was the first time they could hear you away from home,” he asked.
I thought about it for a minute, and then said, “The first time we all went to the Civic Center to see where our booth was going to be.”
Abrevious wrote both these incidents down on his note pad and studied them. Whenever there was a lull in the booth, he would study the note pad again, sometimes adding more notes.
Everyone in the vicinity turned to look when Jasper’s voice rose above the crowd.
“Hi, Miss Willie!” he exclaimed.
As Moonyene Willie approached Abrevious’s booth that afternoon, accompanied by her housemaid, whispers could be heard spreading like fire through the crowd. No one could remember seeing Moonyene out in public in almost fifteen years. Many people had never seen her, but knew her only as the mysterious source of so much goodwill in Hiram.
Abrevious came out of the booth and took Moonyene’s arm, guiding her into the booth.
“You’re here!” he said to her, “I’m delighted to see you.”
Her gaze had already found the picture of her father, grandfather and Mayor Gano, and she indicated her father as she said, “Recognize that watch?”
Abrevious smiled a conspiratorial smile.
“After seeing you yesterday,” Moonyene said, looking from the picture of her father to a picture of her mother and herself, “I decided I should come show my appreciation for all this town has been to my family. It has been our home for a long, long time.”
“There is plenty here to appreciate,” Abrevious said, “And I would love to show you around, but I need to stay with the booth. Will you and Gwennie be alright?”
She looked at Jasper and said, “Maybe Jasper would be kind enough to show us around.”
“Yeah, can I, Mr. Calhoun?” Jasper asked excitedly.
Word spread quickly throughout the Jubilee that Moonyene Willie was in attendance. Merchants scrambled to tidy their booths while patrons lined the halls like a parade route in hopes of a glimpse of the mysterious woman. A few people, all older and distinguished looking, actually greeted Moonyene by name, and shook her hand.
Jasper, of course, had no idea of the notoriety of his new friend. He took Moonyene’s hand and guided her from booth to booth talking as fast as he could about what was inside each one, unaware of the sensation they were causing.
It was almost 6:30 when they finally got the last of the exhibit pieces packed into Abrevious’s car. I couldn’t help them because there were still people around who might see me, so they’d had to do it themselves. Jasper did his best to help Abrevious, but he was beginning to wear out, and it had been a long time since he’d had his sandwich. He was tired and hungry.
“Would you like to go visit your brother?” Abrevious asked, “Your dad said it would be okay.”
“At the hospital?” Jasper asked.
“Yes, at the hospital. Don’t you want to?” Abrevious asked.
“The hospital’s boring,” Jasper told him, “And Jeebo can’t talk there, can he?”
“I thought you could hear him at the hospital,” Abrevious said.
“That’s not what I mean,” Jasper said with a little exasperation, “I mean will he have to play doll?”
“Play doll?” Abrevious asked curiously.
I decided to help Jasper out.
“That’s what I do in public, Mr. Calhoun. I don’t talk or move in front of people, and we call it ‘playing doll’,” I said.
Abrevious thought about his surveillance trip down the aisle of the Jubilee and understood now why he hadn’t seen or heard me.
“Oh, I see,” he said, “Well, Jasper, I think if it’s just your mom, dad, brother, you and me in the hospital room, there’s no reason Jeebo can’t talk to us. He can play doll if somebody else comes in. How would that be?”
“Okay, I’ll go, then,” Jasper said.
Newton was sitting up in bed propped up on several pillows watching TV when we walked into the hospital room.
“Hi, Newton,” Jasper said very timidly, and staring at the bandage on Newton’s head, “That really looks like it hurts. Does it?”
“Sometimes,” Newton said, “But most of the time I’m asleep anyway.”
Waurika came over and hugged Jasper.
“I haven’t seen you in days, sweetie!” she said, “Did you have fun at the Jubilee?”
Then to Abrevious, she said, “Abrevious, thank you so much. I don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“Now,” she said to Jasper, “Come and tell us all about the Jubilee.”
“Okay. Can I sign Newton’s head?” he answered.
Orville got up and said, “Abrevious, can I buy you a cup of coffee?”
Abrevious told them all goodnight and followed Orville from the room. Orville asked about the Jubilee, and Abrevious filled him in on the crowds, the entertainment and the events as they made their way to the cafeteria. They found a table and sat down with their coffee.
Orville told Abrevious what the doctors had said today about Newton’s recovery, and how well he was doing, but it was clear there was something else on his mind.
“Orville,” Abrevious said, “Has something happened? Is something wrong?”
Orville hesitated, then finally said, “I don’t know how to say this, Abrevious. I am so grateful, and I don’t want to sound otherwise, but I can’t let you do it.”
“Do what, Orville?” he said, “What have I done?”
Orville shook his head and said, “You’re a wonderful friend, but this is my family, and I just can’t let you do it. Thank you, though.”
Abrevious had no idea what he was supposed to have done unless Orville was going to try to pay him for taking care of the Jubilee and Jasper all weekend. He said, “If you’re talking about the Jubilee, Orville, just forget it right now. I had an absolute ball visiting with all those people, and Jasper and I have become great friends. We’ve even got a few secrets now.” He gave Orville a wink.
Now it was Orville’s turn to be confused.
“No, I’m not talking about the Jubilee, Abrevious. Don’t make this more difficult,” he said.
“Make what difficult, Orville? I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Abrevious said, growing a little agitated.
“You’re paying for all Newton’s medical care, Abrevious! I can’t let you do that!” Orville blurted out.
“I’m what?” Abrevious exclaimed, “Who told you that?”
Orville said, “The hospital, who else?”
Abrevious tried to understand what was happening, but it didn’t make any sense.
“I’m a retired jeweler,” he said, “I don’t have that kind of money.”
Orville looked completely deflated.
“But they told me it was all taken care of,” he said.
“By me?” Abrevious asked.
“No, actually they said it was anonymous,” Orville said, “That’s why I assumed it had to be you. Maybe it’s the school. It did happen during a school play.”
“Maybe,” Abrevious said, but he knew it wasn’t the school.
That night at home, Abrevious laid his notes out on the kitchen table so he could see them all together. The answers were here, he knew it, he just had to unravel the clues. A link between the Driggers, Jeebo, Moonyene and himself, but what was it? Jeebo had belonged to both Moonyene and the Driggers, but he had belonged to other people who couldn’t see him. Abrevious himself and Orville had both owned the jewelry store, but Moonyene hadn’t been in the store since Orville owned it. He had gone to school with Moonyene, but he’d never seen Jeebo until he met Jasper. In fact Moonyene said that she hadn’t owned Jeebo since she gave him to Momo over seventy years ago.
Then something in his notes caught his attention, and things started to make sense. He tried to remember something Moonyene had told him some time ago. But it was too late to call her tonight. He’d have to test his theory in the morning. And then he’d have to try to explain it.
“You’re going to have to own up to it this time, Moonyene,” Abrevious said.
He had called Moonyene as soon as he’d gotten up Monday morning.
“I don’t see why,” she said, “Nobody would have known if you hadn’t been involved.”
He gave her a chuckle. “None of it would have happened if I hadn’t been involved,” he said, “But I am, and now you’re going to have to ‘fess up. I’ll pick you up at 10:00.”
Next he called the Driggers’ house.
“Hello, Abrevious,” Orville said, “I thought you’d be sleeping in today.”
Abrevious said, “I wanted to ask a favor, Orville, before you left for the hospital - or the store.”
“Sure,” Orville asked, “We’re heading for the hospital for a visit, then I figure I’ll open the store after lunch. What do you need?”
“I wondered if I could borrow the exhibit jewelry for a few hours before it goes back up on your wall,” Abrevious said.
“We can bring it by your house on our way,” Orville said.
“Thanks, that would be great,” Abrevious answered, “And could I say hello to Jasper?”
“Hi, Mr. Calhoun,” Jasper said, his mouth full of cereal.
“Hello, Jasper,” Abrevious said, “I want you to tell me something, but I want you to keep it a secret, okay? Don’t tell your dad I asked.”
“Okay,” Jasper whispered.
“Can you hear Jeebo today?” Abrevious asked.
“Yeah,” Jasper whispered even lower.
“Okay, that’s all I want to know. I’ll see you later,” Abrevious said.
When Orville and Jasper dropped off the jewelry a little later, Jasper tugged at Abrevious’s hand. Abrevious bent down to him.
“I didn’t tell him,” Jasper whispered in his ear.
“Good job!” Abrevious whispered back.
“Hello, Gwennie,” Abrevious said, “Did she tell you I was coming?”
“Yes, sir, but she says she’s not going with you,” Gwennie said, smiling at Abrevious.
“I expected that,” he said, “Will you help me coax her into the car?”
“But I need to borrow your phone first,” he added.
Abrevious called Orville at the hospital.
“Hello, Orville,” he said, “I’d like to come see you while you’re all together, if I can. I’d like to try to explain some things.”
“What, Abrevious?” Orville asked, “Is this about last night?”
“I’ll explain everything when I get there, but I’d like to speak to Jasper again, if I could” Abrevious said.
“Jasper?” Orville said a little surprised, “Okay.”
“Hi, Mr. Calhoun,” Jasper whispered.
“Hi, Jasper, can you hear Jeebo now?” Abrevious asked.
“Just a minute,” Jasper said.
He bent over me, and whispered for me to say something to him. When I did, he didn’t hear me.
“Jasper, what are you doing?” Orville asked, “Is Mr. Calhoun still on the phone?”
“Uh huh,” Jasper said, “I had to ask Jeebo something.”
He returned to the phone and whispered, “No.”
“Thank you, Jasper. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Abrevious told him.
“Where, exactly, are you taking me against my will, anyway, Abrevious Calhoun?” Moonyene asked once she was strapped in the car, and they were moving.
“You know exactly where I’m taking you, and why,” he told her. “I need to ask you something else, though. Didn’t you tell me that you heard fairly recently that Momo had died?”
“Yes, last fall. I kept track of her as best I could after she moved,” she answered, “Word of mouth, you know, but I never heard much more than major events. Why do you want to know that?”
“Just a hunch I have,” he replied.
When Abrevious led Moonyene into Newton’s hospital room, everyone fell silent – everyone except Jasper, that is.
“Hi, Miss Willie!” Jasper said, jumping up to greet her.
“Jasper,” Abrevious said, “Would you move the stuff out of that chair, so Miss Willie can sit down?”
Jasper moved a pile of comic books and books to a corner of the floor, and Abrevious helped Moonyene into the chair.
“I’d like you all to meet Moonyene Willie,” Abrevious said once she was seated, “Moonyene, these are Orville, Waurika and Newton Driggers. You already know Jasper and Jeebo.”
“This is such an honor, Miss Willie,” Waurika said, shaking her hand.
Orville was right behind her. “It certainly is,” he said, “But, Abrevious, I don’t understand.”
“That is precisely why we’re here,” Abrevious said, “There are quite a few things that need explaining, and if you will all indulge me, I would like to try.”
“What does indulge mean?” asked Jasper.
“It means if you will listen, I will tell you some things,” Abrevious said.
“Well,” Abrevious began, “First of all, I want you to know that Moonyene and I both know the truth about Jeebo.”
Orville and Waurika exchanged glances, but didn’t say anything.
“Don’t blame Jasper or Jeebo,” Abrevious continued, “I already had an inkling before I actually saw him moving, and without Jeebo, I might not have figured all this out.”
“It’s a complicated story, so this is the condensed version,” he said, “It really started back in 1918 when Luckie Breckenridge gave a gold pocket watch to his son-in-law the day his granddaughter was born. That granddaughter, of course, was Moonyene Willie, and that watch, I believe, became a sort of living symbol of Luckie’s generosity and kindness which is at the core of everything that has happened.”
No one said a word; they just waited for Abrevious to continue.
“A few years later,” he said, “Luckie gave his granddaughter a doll. This wouldn’t ordinarily be anything unusual since she collected dolls, but this doll was destined to play a special role.”
“Being the daughter of the richest family in town made it hard for Moonyene to make friends, but she did have one very close friend, the granddaughter of her parents’ maid who came to their house with her grandmother. The girl’s name was Momo, and Momo loved Moonyene’s dolls – especially the doll Moonyene’s grandfather had given her. The girls played dolls every time they were together, and as Moonyene will tell you, Momo always played with the same doll. And Moonyene’s father let them use the pocket watch that Luckie had given him as part of their games, too.”
He continued, “When Momo’s grandmother got sick a few years later, and was unable to continue working, sadly, Moonyene’s mother would not allow her to invite Momo over to play any more. So Moonyene, born with her grandfather’s kind heart and generosity, but also stubborn and strong-willed, and angry with her mother, decided she wanted to give a special Christmas present to her best friend. The special gift was the doll Luckie had given her, and that Momo had loved best.
“That doll was Jeebo – or Lucky W., as he was known then,” he said finally. “Moonyene knew she would likely never see either Momo or Lucky W. again, and she wanted them both to remember their friendship.”
The entire room looked at me. I looked at Abrevious.
“Many years later, when Moonyene’s mother died, leaving Moonyene the entire Willie estate,” he said, “She brought some pieces of jewelry to the store for cleaning - her father’s pocket watch and a cameo brooch of her mother’s. That was back when Moody was still running the store, and after they were cleaned, he put the pieces in our safe until Moonyene picked them up. But with everything going on, Moonyene forgot to pick them up, and they stayed in the store safe for more than thirty years.”
“…When Orville found them. So we somehow ended up with both Moonyene’s jewelry and her doll?” Waurika asked in disbelief, “That’s incredible!”
“Exactly,” Abrevious said, “Now everything I’ve told you so far is fact. The other facts that we know are that you found the jewelry in the store safe and have kept it at your house, and that Newton, here, won Jeebo at the Harvest Festival at school last fall, and ever since then you have been able to hear and see Jeebo. From here on, most of what I’m going to say is speculation, but, thanks to the Jubilee, there have been a lot of clues and reminders around.”
“How did you find out Jeebo used to belong to Moonyene?” Waurika asked.
“Jeebo?” Abrevious said to me.
Surprisingly, when I stood up to walk over to Waurika, everyone could see me, which they had not been able to just a little while earlier. I sat down on the floor and showed Waurika the bottom of my left foot.
Abrevious said, “Do you see the mark on his foot?”
“The same mark that’s on the watch and the brooch!” she exclaimed, “I’ve never noticed it there before.”
“I knew he was very old when I first saw him,” Abrevious said, “I was just looking him over out of curiosity when I saw the mark.”
“But what’s your speculation, Abrevious?” Orville asked.
Abrevious said, “Jasper, when I called you at home this morning and asked you if you could hear Jeebo, could you?”
“Say ‘yes, sir’, Jasper,” Waurika said.
“Yes, sir,” Jasper repeated.
“When I called you here at the hospital and asked if you could hear Jeebo then, could you?” Abrevious asked.
“No, sir,” Jasper said, giving Waurika a proud look.
“When Jasper told me that sometimes you can hear Jeebo, and sometimes you can’t,” Abrevious said, “And how it had begun to change in recent weeks, I tried to find the reason, something that was linked to Jeebo in some way that would cause him to only be ‘alive’ in certain situations.”
“And you figured it out?” Waurika asked.
“I think so. I believe that as long as Jeebo and the jewelry are in the same location, Jeebo can be heard,” he said, “I borrowed the jewelry this morning to prove my theory. While the jewelry was at home with Jeebo this morning, he could be heard. After I borrowed the jewelry, and you came to the hospital, Jeebo couldn’t be heard. But now I have brought the jewelry to the hospital, and Jeebo can be heard again.”
He held up the jewelry box in his hand.
“If you look at the instances when Jeebo couldn’t be heard, the jewelry was always somewhere else, and when the jewelry started moving around from home to the Jubilee, to my house, etc., Jeebo’s ‘behavior’ became more erratic.”
“So for all those years that the jewelry was in your safe, and Jeebo was bouncing from place to place…,” Orville said.
“Just the watch, I suspect,” Abrevious said, glancing at Moonyene, “But, yes.”
Moonyene nodded her agreement.
He went on, “I know all of this takes a huge leap of faith…”
“As if a walking, talking doll didn’t anyway?” Orville said with a laugh.
“But this part,” Abrevious said, “Might take an even bigger one. I don’t think all of this happened by sheer coincidence. Moonyene mentioned to me that she had received word that Momo had passed away last fall – just about the time of the Harvest Festival at school. I believe that Momo’s death left an emptiness where Moonyene’s friendship and goodwill had been passed through Jeebo, and Jeebo was intentionally reunited with the watch in order for Moonyene to find a new friend to bestow her kindness on. And that friend is your family.”
“What are you saying, Abrevious?” Orville asked cautiously.
“Moonyene?” Abrevious said, looking at her.
Moonyene cleared her throat and shifted in her chair, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“When Abrevious first showed me the watch and brooch, and told me where they had been and what good care you had taken of them,” she said, “I felt an immediate connection to you. That watch meant a great deal to me, and the thought of someone protecting it as you have made me very happy.”
“He told me about Newton’s accident and how worried you all were, and I felt like it was my own family,” she continued, “Then he brought Jasper and Jeebo over to meet me, and when I saw Jeebo I understood that it was Momo showing me what I should do.”
“You are the anonymous person who is paying for Newton’s care,” Orville said softly.
“Dinner is served,” I announced as I carried the asparagus to the table.
Newton had been home from the hospital for two weeks and was doing so well that Orville and Waurika had accepted Moonyene’s invitation to her house for dinner. I was helping Gwennie serve dinner, reacquainting myself with the kitchen I remembered.
Moonyene had given us a tour of the entire house when we arrived, and I immediately recognized the room where the other dolls and I had lived, and Moonyene’s childhood library where she and Momo usually played. Other parts of the house seemed vaguely familiar, and I hoped that eventually those memories would return, too, but for now I couldn’t positively identify them.
I took my seat at the table between Moonyene and Jasper and Jasper passed me a bowl of potatoes.
“Abrevious, has your research turned up anything?” Moonyene asked.
Abrevious had taken it upon himself to try to fill in the blanks about my whereabouts for the last seventy years. He spent countless hours at the library reading old newspapers, and going from church to church checking old records of rummage sales and charity drives.
My memories still had holes in them, but between us we had accounted for all but fifteen years, give or take a year.
“Well,” he said, “I did find out that it was 1937 when Momo’s family moved to Alabama.”
“I wasn’t sure what year that was,” Moonyene said.
“I don’t think Momo would have let go of Jeebo – or Lucky W. – voluntarily, so it makes sense that somehow he was left behind accidentally when they moved. Maybe ended up in a box of things to be given away rather than one to be kept.”
“And I remember from 1952 to now,” I said, “At least most of it.”
“That only leaves fifteen years unaccounted for,” Waurika said, sounding impressed, “1937 to 1952.”
Since the Jubilee, we had seen a great deal of both Abrevious and Moonyene. They had become, as Moonyene said, almost family. When Abrevious wasn’t doing research at the library or a church, he could still be found playing checkers at the barbershop, or bingo at the American Legion Hall, or volunteering at the Boys’ Club, but he stopped by the jewelry store more often than he ever had before, occasionally helping Orville out, but mostly just to be part of it again, I think.
Sometimes he would come by and pick up Jasper and me and take us out to eat or to get ice cream or over to visit Moonyene. Moonyene still chose not to leave her house, but we became some of her frequent visitors, and she always had snacks for us to eat, sort of our own teatime, and she had amazing stories to tell about the past. Many times she and Abrevious would tell stories together, and it was almost as though we lived during the time they were talking about. I’m sure Jasper and Newton learned more from their stories than they ever could in school.
“It’s possible that you belonged to the Claremores before 1952,” Abrevious was saying to me, “And you just haven’t remembered it yet. So we might be missing less than fifteen years.”
“Or maybe we’ll never know,” Moonyene said.
She gave Abrevious a sideways glance, and patted my arm.
“Some things are meant to remain mysteries,” she said.
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