Embracing Darkness (50 page)

Cornelius
had
bought
a
total
of
four
tickets.
One
he’d
slipped
to
Henrietta,
two
he’d
given
to
Mr.
Willoughby
and
his
wife,
and
the
fourth
was
for
himself.
Just
as
surely
as
Cornelius
was
going
to
be
present
when
his
plan
sprang
into
action,
so
he
wanted
Willoughby
to
be
there
as
well.
Cornelius
Russo
wasn’t
going
to
let
there
be
any
chance
that
Willoughby
might
dismiss
anything
the
following
morning
as
hearsay.

Henrietta
arrived
before
Cornelius
Russo
and
the
Willoughby’s,
who
had
all
come
together.
Cornelius
had
planned
it
this
way
so
that
he
could
coordinate
where
the
three
of
them
would
sit
in
relation
to
Henrietta.
As
it
turned
out,
there
were
three
seats
behind
where
Henrietta
was
sitting.
People
were
still
filing
into
the
theater,
so
Cornelius,
holding
Mrs.
Willoughby
by
the
hand,
lunged
forward,
jerking
her
and
Mr.
Willoughby
forward
and
almost
causing
the
two
of
them
to
lose
their
balance.

Graham
Willoughby
thought
it
was
rather
odd
that
Cornelius
plopped
himself
down
between
him
and
his
wife,
but
he
didn’t
object
because
Cornelius
had
been
so
generous
in
buying
them
tickets.
The
three
of
them
sat
behind
Henrietta,
with
Cornelius
in
the
seat
directly
behind
hers.
Henrietta
was
completely
unaware
of
their
presence.
Graham
Willoughby
was
also
clueless
as
to
the
person
sitting
directly
in
front
of
Cornelius.
As
the
film
began,
everyone
cheered
and
applauded.

Cornelius
Russo’s
mind
wandered
back
to
the
last
few
days,
which
had
turned
out
to
be
the
hardest
part
of
his
plan.
He
needed
to
make
Henrietta
Townsend
remove
all
her
clothes
in
front
of
Mr.
Willoughby
and
the
entire
audience.
His
plan
was
simple
in
theory
but
rather
complicated
in
its
preparation
and
execution.

He
had
searched
around
every
maple
tree
in
town
and
gathered
up
as
many
whirligigs
as
he
could
find.

“Whirli-whats?” a voice interrupted. I stopped reading. It was Gabe, who had a confused look on his face. “What’s a whirli… ? What do you call it?”

Annoyed, I said, “They’re the seedpods that come off maple trees. You know what they are, Gabe. When they fall, they twirl around and around like propellers.” I searched for a few seconds and quickly found one not far from where I’d been sitting. I pulled the branch toward me, pulled off the whirligig, and showed it to Gabe. “This is what it looks like.”

Gabe took the whirligig between his index finger and thumb and studied it closely. I observed Billy pulling a couple off as well and showing them to Ziggy, who seemed fascinated by them. Billy peeled the back part of one, stuck it onto the end of Ziggy’s nose, and called him Pinocchio
.
Ziggy laughed.

“Now can I go on?” I asked the boys.

Everyone encouraged me to continue, and I did, anxiously now, because this was the best part of my story.

Cornelius
rubbed
each
whirligig
against
his
palms
until
the
tiny
hairs
at
the
ends
came
loose.
He
did
this
over
and
over
again,
missing
days
of
work
at
a
time
and
claiming
sickness.
Cornelius
had
phoned
Graham
Willoughby
at
the
start
of
his
“illness”
and
told
Willoughby
that
he
didn’t
expect
to
be
feeling
better
until
Friday
at
the
earliest.
Then
Cornelius
said,
“And
speaking
of
Friday,
that’s
the
night
that
The Wizard of Oz
is
opening
in
town.
I
happen
to
have
two
extra
tickets.
Would
you
and
your
wife
like
to
have
them?”

The
purpose
of
offering
the
tickets
to
Willoughby
was
twofold.
Besides
wanting
his
boss
to
see
Henrietta
when
she
was
exposed,
he
also
needed
to
butter
up
his
employer
so
that
Willoughby
wouldn’t
fire
him
for
his
excessive
absences.

With
the
thin
hairs
of
thousands
of
whirligigs
now
ready,
Cornelius
added
ground
rose
hips
to
them.
These
two
substances,
if
you’re
not
familiar
with
them,
make
the
most
unbelievable
itching
powder.
Cornelius
had
learned
how
to
make
it
as
a
kid
when
he
and
his
older
brother
Jeb
played
a
practical
joke
on
their
father
during
a
camping
trip
in
the
Ozarks.
They
had
put
it
in
the
old
man’s
sleeping
bag,
and
within
minutes
after
retiring
for
the
evening
he
jumped
up
scratching
himself
something
awful.
In
fact,
it
was
so
bad
that
he
pulled
off
every
layer
of
clothing
he
had
on
and,
stark
naked,
started
jumping
around
like
an
Injun
prancing
around
a
campfire.

After
the
movie
had
progressed
for
another
ten
or
so
minutes,
Cornelius
excused
himself.
He
ran
up
to
the
balcony,
which
was
empty
due
to
renovation.
Once
there
he
retrieved
the
supply
of
whirligig
hairs
and
pulverized
rose
hips
he’d
stashed
that
morning.
Opening
the
bag,
he
rested
it
on
top
of
the
balcony’s
ledge.
He
then
walked
over
to
the
left
of
the
balcony
where
a
giant
fan
was
circulating
air
and
directed
it
toward
the
bag.
Taking
a
deep
breath,
Cornelius
regretted
the
mass
chaos
about
to
ensue
among
the
townspeople,
but
he
knew
that
this
was
the
only
way
to
achieve
his
objective.
He
would
have
preferred
to
sneak
up
behind
Henrietta
and
blow
the
stuff
off
his
palm
and
onto
her,
but
that
would
be
too
conspicuous.
He
had
no
choice
but
to
dose
everyone
with
the
mixture.