Dirty Secrets

Part 11

Rain threatened to cancel afternoon activities in the courtyard. But when the slate gray low-hanging clouds dispersed, Lyla and Shaniece followed the crew outside, relieved to be free of the confines of the beige hospital walls.

"Watch yourself on that court," Petie hollered, sweeping debris from the pavement that separated the garden from the chain-link enclosure. "Gets slippery when it's wet."

"So do I," Packer shouted from the basketball court. 

Kids cracked up and hooted.

"Don't gas him up," Bo chuckled darting out of the court before Packer could retaliate.

Petie shook his head while sweeping.

"Well, no need to water," Shaniece said to Lyla while eyeing the saturated plants. "Guess I'll do some pruning. If they trust me with the snips."

"Supervised pruning," Lyla replied with a smirk.

She was beckoned by the rubbery thump of a basketball skipping through puddles on its way to the hoop. As Lyla crossed from the garden to the basketball court, she watched Packer extend his long arm and lay the ball softly off the backboard. It dropped through the net and into his hands. He dribbled to the other end of the court where Eric sat on the wet pavement, head against his knees.

"Play me some horse?"

Eric shook his head, no.

"Just shoot around then. Come on, dude."

"Gonna pass," he sighed.

As Lyla drew closer, she noticed Eric wiping his runny nose with the back of his hand. He looked up at her with red eyes.

"Sorry," was the first thing that slipped from her lips. She pivoted and joined Packer at the other end of the court.

"You wanna play me?" He challenged her. 

"Nope. No, I don't."

"I'll spot you H-O-R."

Lyla's smile dropped until she realized she'd misinterpreted. He meant H-O-R as in HORSE. She glanced over her shoulder at Eric.

"Think he just wants some space," said Packer and he swished another long-range basket.

Chip, a gangly, uncoordinated kid, rumbled across the court barely avoiding Lyla as he struggled to control the ball. When his heel skid through a puddle, he emitted an earsplitting cry as he went down in a split, losing a shoe. He rolled onto his side, cupping his man parts, and whimpering.

Petie trotted over to investigate. "You need some help? Chip. You okay, man?"

Chip responded with a pained groan.

"Told you this court gets slippery. Let's be careful, people."

He swept away a puddle.

That was enough basketball for Lyla. She exited the court and wandered into the garden in search of Shaniece. Lyla smelled the moist earth and mulch when she paced down a pathway between vegetable and flowering plants standing tall, leaves outstretched, dotted with droplets of rain. AJ was on her knees, weeding.

"You see Shaniece?" Lyla asked.

AJ pointed to the other side of the garden. "Think she's over there somewhere."

Lyla made the corner and found Shaniece transporting a small snapdragon plant from a plastic flat into a hole she had excavated in the soil.

"You up for doing some digging?" Shaniece asked, driving her hand trowel into the soil.

The sound of the metal blade slicing into the dirt took Lyla to the crest of the hill at the Ames burial site. A howling wind stung her ears.

Jack speared his shovel into the soil then winced at his painful split palms, which oozed blood.

Out of breath, Lyla tossed her hoe and clapped the dirt from her hands. "Let's put him in the ground," she said, panting and eager to finish the morbid job.

They climbed out of the pit and approached Keenan's decaying corpse lying on its back a few yards away. Jack waved away a small cloud of flies that had been exploring the cadaver. The wind carried the stink of rotten flesh. Lyla hid her face in the crook of her elbow for temporary shelter.

"Hey. Lyla." Shaniece raised her voice. "You okay, girl?"

Lyla winced.

"You drift off somewhere?"

"What? No, I'm fine."

"Gotta take care of some lady business. Can you do a few holes for me? I mean if you're feeling alright."

"Okay. Where?"

"In a row." Shaniece gestured toward the area. "'Bout eight inches apart. Bout the length of the digger. Okay?"

Lyla shrugged.

"If you don't want to, fine. Gotta deal with a code red." Shaniece jogged toward the building.

Lyla squatted, then stabbed the dirt with the trowel. She dug a few inches down then moved laterally and began excavating another crater. She glanced over her shoulder at the flat.

"That's a lot of flowers," she sighed. 

She duck-walked to her right, another foot or so and drove her digger into the soil. She scraped loose dirt out of the hole then plunged the trowel deeper. 

CLUNK. 

Her tool struck a hard object. It was round and shiny. With the tip of her blade, she exhumed it from its grave.

Dotted with soil was Keenan's silver snake ring.

Lyla dropped the trowel and sprung to her feet. She turned into the blur of a large blackbird dive-bombing her. The bird swooped away mere inches from her head. Something sharp grazed her forehead.

Lyla screamed and covered her face with her arms. The bird made another pass.

She lost her balance, falling backward in the dirt, a tangle of hair obscuring her view. The animal landed, stood in the garden, barely a foot away and let out an aggressive, earsplitting CAW! CAW! CAW!

She raised up on her elbows, now almost face-to-face with the bird. She could see her reflection in its stone-cold black eyes. She swung her hand. The animal barely flinched, cocking its head and menacingly opening its beak.

The sound of rapid footsteps announced Petie and Bo running to her rescue. The blackbird speared the ring with its beak and took to the air.

Petie waved his broom at the bird as it rose, becoming a dot in the sky when it cleared the roofline of the hospital.

Lyla sat up trembling, eyes wide.

"You okay?" AJ asked meekly, one eye on Lyla and the other on the sky. "Looks like you got cut on your forehead."

Lyla brought her fingers to the wound.

"Never seen nothing like that in my life," Petie huffed, handing his broom to Bo. 

"That was totally messed up," said Bo, pushing the hair from his freckled face.

"Doesn't look too bad." Petie dabbed Lyla's forehead with a wad of tissues. "Just a nick. Should probably see the nurse."

Lyla's eyes went to the hole in the ground where she'd excavated the ring. Her panic had subsided but the residual metallic taste of fear lingered in her mouth.