Hilary and the Beasts, Part 36

October 1930

It was getting colder every day. The last of the roses in the garden gave off their fading perfume, replaced by gold and orange marigolds and mums and brilliant purple asters. Hilary spent more and more of her time in the garden or hot house with Troll. He knew so much about the garden - how it worked, which flowers should be planted and when, how to coax them from the soil, how to keep them growing. 

He knew about performance, too. His raspy voice could coax beauty from Shakespeare, made even Amos and Andy sound like great works of art. They started listening to plays on the radio together, critiquing the performances and deciding what worked, and whether Hilary would ever star in such tripe. 

Hilary was thoroughly convinced by this point that Jeff was somewhere nearby. She had no idea where. She and her siblings called everyone they could think of. She even bit her tongue and called Grace Cavendish, one of her many rivals on Broadway. They’d poisoned each other, stole each other’s parts. To even consider calling her made Hilary have a hard time breathing.

As it turned out, the call was short and to the point. Grace was in the midst of a run of a new musical. She hadn’t seen any of the men. Hilary frowned at the catch in Grace’s voice when she asked about Victor Comstock. She and Victor had been lovers when he was in New York, but Victor had broken it off, citing her busy schedule and his preference for his work to her glittering entourage.

“I haven’t heard from Victor or Jeff in ages,” she admitted, her throaty purr more concerned than she’d admit. “I was hoping Victor and I could get together again and talk old times. I heard he was in Europe, but then someone said he and his employer came back to the States. No one’s seen or heard from him since last September.” 

“A year?” Hilary’s voice rose harder than she’d planned. “How could that be? Grace, you and I know better than most people that, outside of special effects, people do not vanish into thin air.”

“I wish I knew what to tell you.” Grace’s voice caught. “I did hear Jeff got married again. I’m surprised. You always insisted you were meant for each other. I wish…well, that things could have been different with me and Victor. He has his work, and I have mine.”

She frowned at the commotion in the hall outside of the library. “Grace,” she quickly made the sound of static, “I think we’re losing the connection! Thank you! I’ll tell Victor you asked about him if I see him! Bye!” 

Puppy, Betty, and Maple popped their heads into the library just as she got off the phone. “What are you three doing?” She raised her eyebrows as Maple peered behind a shelf and Betty pulled out a book. Puppy stuck her curly gold head into the typewriter and came up with ink on her cold, rough nose. “I thought you were decorating for Halloween. It’s in a few days.”

“We are!” Maple nodded at the basket of mum garlands and paper pumpkins. “But we’re also on a mission.”

Hilary raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “Which is?”

Betty sighed and slid the book back on the shelf. “Nothing there!” She went to tape pumpkins on the windows. “Hilary, we’ve come to the conclusion that, if Jeff and the others aren’t anywhere else, they have to be here, or in Pittsburgh somewhere. We need to figure out where.”

“I’ll bet they’re right here in the house!” Maple stood on a step stool as she and Puppy hung the ropes of brilliant orange and maroon flowers across the back window. “The thing is, where? We’ve checked every place in the house.”

“There’s the basement,” Puppy suggested as she wobbled. “Whoa!” Hilary rushed over to steady her. “Thank you, Miss Hilary!”

She nodded as she took the girl’s paw and helped her down. “Any time, dear. You do need to be careful on that stool. Your little paws weren’t meant to be on such small surfaces.”

Maple grinned and dusted off her hands as Betty put up the last paper pumpkin and Puppy placed real pumpkins on the tables. “That’s the last of the decoratin’. Wanna go check the basement now? Maybe we’ll find somethin!”

“Well…” Betty frowned. “Bear and I have a writing lesson in a few minutes. He’s really coming along. We’re about half-way through our story.” 

Indeed, even as she spoke, a familiar large, black and cream snout poked through the door of the library. “Betty?” Bear shuffled in. “Bear is ready to…” That snout broke into a wide, toothy grin. “What do you do? It pretty here!” He stuck his snout in a mum centerpiece. “Flowers very nice! Pretty colors. Like trees outside.” 

“Hey, big guy!” Maple patted his furry shoulder. “Why don’t ya help out? We’re lookin’ for Hilary’s husband Jeff an’ his friends.”

“Find Jeff?” Scott closed his eyes, rubbing his head…but when he opened them, they were black. “Don’t know Jeff. I can look. I help. Bear help good.” 

Betty gently rubbed his other shoulder. “We’re going to the basement. After we check there, we’ll work on our story.”

“Ok!” His growl was almost child-like. “Bear help. Then we write.” 

Hilary shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. The basement is dirty and abominably hot. It’s just used for storage and the furnace.”

Maple was already starting for the door. “Aw, come on, Hilary! Where’s your Halloween spirit? Maybe we’ll see a ghost!”

Bear’s already large eyes widened. “G…ghost?” 

“I have no desire to get dirty.” Hilary dusted off her yellow jacket. “I promised Troll I’d have lunch with him, anyway. You go have your fun.”

Puppy giggled, bouncing up and down. “Oh, this will be so delightful! Maybe we will find a ghost!”

“Is there ghost?” Bear shivered, leaning into Betty. “Bear not like ghosts. Ghosts scary.”

“Don’t worry.” Betty took his paw as they started for the basement. “I’ll protect you.” That familiar big grin glowed even as she tugged him down the hall after the other two.

Hilary and Troll shared a relatively quiet lunch in the front parlor. She was starting to enjoy their shared meals together. They even recited parts in plays, reading lines off on each other. It was good practice for when she returned to the boards. The mum centerpiece on the table even stood in for the flower she held as she “died.” 

“You’re not a bad Romeo.” She chuckled. “Not the most likely one, but you do put a lot of life into your dying.”

“Thanks. I’m surprised I was able to remember most of that. My mind…well, I’m not the smartest creature on the planet right now.” He took her hand again, rubbed it in that familiar way that made her heart race like a thoroughbred. “Hilary, I know you want…someone else, but…could you find it in your heart to marry me? I enjoy performing with you. You make me forget…well, that I’m a dumb monster.”

She took his hands in hers. “You can stop calling yourself that right now. You’re far from dumb. Your performances are brilliant, for a monster. I just…” she gulped as she gazed into those surprisingly soulful almond-shaped chocolate eyes… “You’re so…familiar…but you can’t…you’re not…”

That was when they heard laughter and bear guffaws. They broke apart as Puppy, Bear, and Betty’s sisters stumbled in, covered in black dust and cobwebs. “You’re so silly!” Betty was dusting Bear off, sending coal dust everywhere. “How did you manage to drop that tool box on your lower paw?” 

Bear wrinkled his fuzzy nose. “Bear look in old box. Box fall down and hurt Bear paw! Box is bad box! Now Bear have sore paw.” He limped for emphasis.

“Oh, don’t be a cub.” Betty leaned over and felt around it. “I don’t think anything’s broken. I think it’s just bruised. Maybe it’s time we got cleaned up and had that writing lesson. We can put it up while we work on the story.”

Hilary made a face. “First of all, you are all taking baths before you do anything, including Bear. You’re all filthy, and Mrs. Fox is going to have our heads for you dragging coal dust over her clean carpets.”

“Second,” Troll went on, his gruff voice somewhere between annoyance and amusement, “what in the hell are all of you doing?”

“We look for ghost.” Bear wrinkled his long snout as dust trickled to the floor. “No ghost. Just dust.” He let out a long, noisy sneeze that nearly knocked him and Betty to the floor.

“We were lookin’ for Jeff an’ his buddies.” Maple brushed black dust from her hair. “We’re all pretty sure Hilary’s ex’ n’ his friends are somewhere in Pittsburgh. They ain’t anywhere else. Believe me, we’ve called everyone. We even got Betty’s lawyer boyfriend to call people in Europe. They ain’t anywhere else, so they’ve gotta be here.”

Troll glared at her. “Stop being a lot of ninnies. There are no ghosts here. The only things here are us. I’ve told you that. Your friends are probably somewhere they don’t want to be found.” He glared at Bear. “Go take a bath. You’re shedding fur and coal dust everywhere. I want you to start chopping wood after your writing lesson. It’s getting colder now. We’ll need coal and wood to heat this place, especially with so many bodies around.”

“Yes, Master,” Bear whimpered, his big throat bobbing. He turned to Betty and rubbed her little hand, smearing it with coal dust. “Bear get clean. Wash fur. Then we write? We on part where princess and princess sister help Bear Prince wake up. Bad witch make Bear Prince sleep.” 

“I’m looking forward to that.” She gave him a dusty kiss on his furry cheek. “See you in about a half-hour? I don’t take long showers.” 

Bear nodded, gulping and blushing. “See you then.” 

“Puppy,” Troll grumbled as the little golden dog turned red under her fur and Maple whistled, “don’t you have chores to do? After you take a bath, you need to finish hanging the Halloween decorations and sweep up this mess in the parlor. You’re one of the ones who made it.”

She blushed even redder. “Yes, Master!” 

Maple grinned as the dog-girl hurried off. “I’m gonna take that shower, put on somethin’ real nice, and go visit Eagle in his office. I promised I’d help him look over all those weird patterns he keeps pointin’ out.” She smirked and nudged Betty. “Don’t wait up for me. We’re gonna be busy all night.”

Hilary coughed. “Yes, well, go take those baths, ladies.” She turned to Troll as Maple sauntered off. “You know…I wouldn’t be surprised if you were holding Jeff and the other men here, or somewhere in Pittsburgh. There’s too much you aren’t telling me.”

“Hilary…” He frowned, his fathomless chocolate eyes more sad than angry. “All I can tell you is they’re…in the obvious place…but they’re not what you think they are.”

“Oh, I’ve known that about Jeff for years.” She made a face. “If they’re not here, not in Pittsburgh…where are they?” 

His eyes narrowed. “Maybe they’re under your nose, and you are just too damn stubborn and full of your own hurt to consider that there might be someone else who is hurt, too. Maybe you’re just not looking as well as you think you are, Miss Booth!” He stormed off before she could ask him more about his cryptic words.