Books of the Dead (15 page)

“Do you mean anything in particular? Because in our school not much occurred. We tried to keep things as an even keel.”

“What do you know about the Keaton siblings, Mr. Joseph?” Nora asked before Jennifer came with the water. She could hear her own heart beating fast against her chest. For some reason, Nora didn’t want to ask about the Keaton in front of Jennifer. Maybe her cold stare or gruff face made her uncomfortable, and she wanted to hear what Mr. Joseph had to say about them before Jennifer came in.

“You want to know about the Keaton? Why? They are not even in town anymore; they left years back and….” He paused a little, then added, “…they have no extended family living here as well, so there is nothing to know about them.”

Nora thought of asking the question differently. “Do you know where they are now?”

“No not particularly, and they left a long time back, and it is not possible to keep track…” Mr. Joseph had hardly finished what he was saying when Jennifer came in with a glass of water. “Sorry it took me so long and you were talking with father and I didn’t want to interrupt, here you go.” She handed Nora the water, but Nora couldn’t drink it though. The word “father” rang in her ears. Jennifer was his daughter, and Nora couldn’t believe her ears. She looked from father to daughter and found traces of similarity. Nora was foolish to miss it in the first place and felt stupid about that. She was clearly surprised.

“Are you done with the questions?” Jennifer asked when Nora sat there silent.

Nora was brought back to reality with the question. “I am sorry. I am just … it’s nothing.” Nora sipped the water. She was genuinely at a loss of words. There were things she thought before and now she was rethinking everything differently about the situation.

“What were you asking my father? You can continue, he is good today, so you might as well ask him what you want to know.”

“Ah, yes, I was just asking him about a few old residents of this town.” Nora still had no intentions of revealing who she was asking about, but Jennifer was persistent.

“Who do you want to know about?” she questioned.

Mr. Joseph didn’t say anything and Nora didn’t want to either, but she had to. “It was the Keatons. I read about them and was just curious,” Nora said very very casually so that Jennifer couldn’t see her urgency.

“What about them?” she asked .

“You know them? I mean they were part of the school where Mr. Joseph worked as the librarian. There were some news articles circulating about them in this town, so I was looking into it.” At this stage, Nora’s interest was at its peak and she emphasized what she said.

“So you are interested about the Keatons? It is about them?” Jennifer said and Nora sensed a hint of irritation and anger in her tone, but couldn’t make out the reason behind it. Why would asking about the Keatons possibly irritate Jennifer was beyond Nora’s comprehension, and Mr. Joseph was starting to look ill at ease.

“No, it is not about them. Listen, is it wrong if I question about them?” Nora asked when she couldn’t contain it anymore.

“Wrong? What would possibly be wrong, but if you are a bit attentive, then you could see that my father is not at ease,” Jennifer said, but her tone was still laced with anger.

Nora was a foreigner in the town and didn’t wanted to get into a disagreement with one of the locals. Mr. Kippler had already warned her about the troubles she could get into if she was not careful.

“Listen, I don’t mean to offend anyone, not Mr. Joseph or you or any town folk. I just wanted to know about them, because I read somewhere news about them and only wanted to confirm it, that is all.” Nora was getting tired repeating the same thing over and over again. Nora controlled herself, but Mr. Joseph kept his silence and had his eyes cast down all the time. Never looked up once or said anything to stop a seemingly brewing disagreement.

But when Jennifer was about to say something, then Mr. Joseph interrupted and said, “Actually, there are people who come here to ask us about the Keatons, so we are always being disturbed. It is nothing about you.”

“Father!” Jennifer shouted out, “What are you saying? Are you out of your mind?” She turned to Nora, “You need to go now.”

Nora was dumbfounded for the second time. What would have caused such an outrage from Jennifer? It astonished her.

“Ma’am…” she could only manage to say.

“Excuse me, father is not well. He is just not in the right state to speak. He has to go lie down.” She turned back to leave and took her father by his hand. Her grip was tight, maybe a little too tight, because Nora definitely saw him cringe.

“Jennifer, Ma’am…” Nora called out, but she didn’t look back anymore. Instead she continued walking straight ahead. Nora just sat there and recalled everything that took place in front of her moments ago.

It was few minutes later when Nora heard a bedroom door shut loudly. She was worried and felt impulsive. Was Mr. Joseph in trouble? then What possible harm can his own daughter bring upon him? The thought troubled her. She wanted to go and take a look, but that would be intruding and felt miserable for bringing so much trouble on Mr. Joseph, and decided to have a talk with Mr. Kippler after returning back. Nora heard the faint sound of Jennifer screaming, and it was apparent that she was angry with her father for saying that people visit them and ask about the Keatons. Nora kept thinking that.

Fifteen minutes later, Jennifer came marching back to the sitting area. Nora stood up and wanted to say something, when she was stopped, “I want you to leave and I have nothing to say.” Jennifer turned her back.

“Ma’am, I am not going to leave until I make sure that Mr. Joseph is all right.” Nora had to make sure and she was firm when she said those lines.

“What did you say?” she asked furiously.

“Is Mr. Joseph all right? That is what I asked.” Nora repeated herself, this time more firmly.

Something must have went through Jennifer’s head when she visibly calmed down and said, “Father is fine. He just speaks almost all the time out of turn. Nobody comes here to ask anything and almost all the time, we keep to ourselves,” she explained, although Nora didn’t ask her about the last part.

“I didn’t ask you about that, ma’am. I just wanted to know about your father.”

Jennifer looked nervous and lit a cigarette and puffed it few times. There was obviously something that she was thinking and Nora was not fooled.

“I know, but my father, he acts so different sometimes…”

Nora cut her off and said, “You already said that, but I don’t think he was out of line or anything. What you did was just uncalled for.” Nora was getting angry every minute.

“I don’t have to answer you, and I have nothing to learn from you. Also, you are new in this town, so I am warning you, don’t poke your nose into things that don’t concern you.” Jennifer was shivering a little and Nora didn’t miss that.

“Are you threatening me?” Nora challenged.

“You are a stupid girl. You think that I am threatening you? I am only telling you what is true. You are not welcome here in this town, do you understand? So just leave while you can.” Jennifer stopped then muttered in her own mind. “We were fine until you came. Why did you have to come?” Nora doubted about the actual sick person in the house, leave Mr. Joseph, the daughter didn’t look too fine as well.

Nora left the house while Jennifer was still muttering things to herself. She walked towards where her scooter was parked and decided to visit the local library as Miss Lily had told her. Nora started the scooter and drove her way towards the library. She had taken down the address and had memorized the route, yet on her way, the incident at Mr. Joseph’s house troubled her. So she missed one of the streets she was supposed to turn on. One side of her wanted to give up, for she was feeling tired and exhausted, but Nora reminded herself it was a matter of few days and she would soon go back to her city with proof and evidence, and that kept her going.

Nora asked for directions and finally got there, but she wanted to throw up all the while. The town library was like no other and Nora didn’t inform Mr. Kippler about her visit there. She was new to the town and a visitor, and the security at the front door stopped her. She had her identification card with her, but the name she had used so far was different. She used her false name again and announced her purpose of the visit. The security didn’t ask for her identity card, and believed what she said.

“I heard a reporter was in town,” was the only thing he said and allowed her in. Nora walked a few steps and saw a receptionist sitting behind the desk, and he was reading a book himself.

“Hello, I am Dora,” Nora introduced herself.

The man behind the desk looked up from what he was doing and said, “Hello, you are a visitor. Would you like to be a member?”

“You got me wrong. I am a visitor here and I am here for a purpose. I am reporting about this town, the people and stuff like that, so I need to go through some of the records regarding this town.” Nora hoped that she would be allowed inside, but he stopped her.

“Wait,” he said, “Do you have any identification card or something? I need to check.”

Nora was at a fix. “I don’t think that I can show you that. I left it back in the city,” Nora meekly said.

“This is not how it works here, I need some sort of proof. You understand times are not right nowadays,” he apologized and firmly announced that she would not be allowed in.

Nora had to get in. She needed the information desperately and somehow she knew that the information lay inside the library room and within the forgotten pages of the newspaper records. When the man behind the desk didn’t pay anymore attention, Nora had to do something herself, so she spoke up, “Hello again, I didn’t get your name.”

“It is Steve, but like I said, I don’t think that I can help you with your request, so I am sorry,” he said.

Steve didn’t look much older than Nora, maybe a couple of years older, so she addressed him by his name. “Steve, I was at the local school yesterday and had a look around, visited their library and toured the school, I met Mrs. Schindel and Miss Lily, and she was the one who suggested that I stop by this library if I needed to know anything about this town.’ Nora didn’t add anything further and waited for him to respond.

“They let you in the school?” Steve questioned and he looked strangely surprised.

“Yes, they did, well not initially though, but do you happen to know Mr. Kippler? Well, he assisted me. I went with him to the school and apparently he is known there. I said my purpose of the visit and they allowed me in.” Nora told Steve what she had to.

“Of course, I know Mr. Kippler. I meet him in the park most often and we have quite a good acquaintance. But you know him? How? Mr. Kippler never mentioned you.” It seemed that Steve was having a hard time believing that Mr. Kippler had helped her in her purpose.

“You sound like he never helps a soul,” Nora mockingly said. Inside her thoughts, she thanked her lucky stars that made her knock on Mr. Kippler’s door instead of some other; otherwise, she would have never managed to come this far.

“Mr. Kippler is one of the nicest and kindest old man in this town and is thus much respected and liked. He actively participates in all developmental works, and does a lot for the betterment of the town. He is the one who practically put us on the map, but how is he related to you? I am sorry, but I am having a hard time believing this.” Steve was quick to express his astonishment over someone like Mr. Kippler who remains mostly involved in working for the town and people still found the time to make an acquaintance with Nora. “Because he never mentioned you,” Steve said again.

“The acquaintance is fairly new, but he is indeed helpful.” Nora already had proof of that, but she also inferred something at that moment about why Mr. Kippler vehemently dismissed the idea of the Keaton sister story or why he reacted the way he did, because most kept saying that her story was what put the town on map, when in reality, he was the one working so hard towards its development, or so Nora thought.

“I need to contact him to make sure about this,” Steve said and dialed a number, which Mr. Kippler answered. Nora could hear his voice from the other end and he confirmed about knowing Nora. She saw a change in reaction on Steve’s face. He muttered something, which Nora failed to hear, but she didn’t bother, because by this time, she was confident that she would be let inside the reading and lending room of the library. At the same time, Nora made a mental note to be truthful towards Mr. Kippler. “I will tell him everything on my way back.”

“So it is true. Well, then you can go in, but you need to sign in here.” He handed her a note book. Nora was just about to write her real name, but corrected herself in time and signed her false name. Steve’s glance never left her.

“There you go, so now can I be allowed inside? I won’t take up much time. Oh, and thank you,” Nora said with a cheeky smile, but it was a way of covering up her nervousness. She couldn’t believe her luck that the plan actually worked. Steve called someone over the phone and a lean and fine looking woman appeared,

“This is Mrs. Clarence and she is the assistant librarian here and will help you around. I hope you find what you are looking for.” Steve waved her towards the entrance.

“Hello I am Dora and I’m looking for the sections where the old newspaper records about the town are kept, so can you guide me?”

“Sure, you can just follow me.” Mrs. Clarence took Nora to the treasure trove of answers.

There was a long and winding staircase to the library reading room. There were pictures of places and things hanging on either side of the wall, and Nora took them all in while going up. They pushed open the door and entered the reading hall. An elderly man was sitting at the desk straight from the door, and he didn’t look up when they entered. Nora assumed him to be the librarian and indeed he was., Mrs. Clarence didn’t introduce Nora to him and reasoned that, “He is Mr. Richards, you don’t want to talk to him, and he prefers silence, so I’ll just take you to the section where the newspaper records are stored.”