The Screaming Lady, A JEZ Ghost Negotiator Mystery

Chapter Seven: BETSIE

Jessica, Elizabeth, and Zakary were all sitting at the table eating breakfast in the motel. They were discussing the next steps in their pursuit of the Screaming Lady.

Zakary was telling his sisters about Rosie and Rosie's Grandfather, Gerald Blanchard and his twin sister including the little-known family secrets that Rosie Blanchard had enlightened him on.

When Gerald and his sister were four years old, his mother and sister went downtown to go shopping. It was the rainy season and that year, the rain was particularly harsh, it had rained off and on for thirty days straight. The crops had rotted in the ground and many of the farmers lost their crops.

Gerald's mother and sister were tired of being cooped up in the house and had decided to go downtown to get out of the house and do some shopping, even though his father had advised against it. Well, while they were walking down Main Street, his sister was running in the street, and a sinkhole opened up from all the rain; she fell right into it. They were never able to recover her body.

His mother was so distraught, that she went mad. She was put into an insane asylum in the south end of the county, and lived there to her death. She died when she was 49 years old. They say that every day that she lived all she did was scream; she never talked again, when she opened her mouth to speak, it was just a scream.

Since it was such a traumatic event, and one that impacted the most important family in town, no one spoke much of it. Soon, no one spoke of it at all. Then as time went by, Gerald's father remarried a young lady and Gerald was told to call her mother out of respect, and it was understood by everyone in town, that she was Gerald's mother, and his sister and actual mother were forgotten about, tucked away in locked memories, never spoken about, never acknowledged.

As Gerald got older and more mature, his father and he grew apart, he went to college and when his father passed, Gerald came back into town to claim his inheritance with his new bride and convinced the people they needed a Mayor to better the position of the town and that he was the person to do it. He ran unopposed.

In the years following his election, he did great things for the city and never looked back. Of his children, the only one that returned was his youngest son, Benjamin, Rosie's father. He returned after college to follow in his father's footsteps and took over the Mayorship of the town when his father retired.

Gerald must have regretted that he did not spend time with his own children, because when Rosie, his granddaughter, was born, he spent an enormous amount of time with her. He took her shopping to Birmingham and Huntsville. He lavished her with the finest clothing and items that a young girl would ask for. Rosie wanted for nothing while she was going up. Her grandfather was kind, and attentive and caved to her every whim.

Rosie was a very curious child and was very interested in history, she would spend long nights reading in the city library all the books she could find on U.S. History, and more specifically the history of Prairie Bluff; she was very proud of her family's ties to the town.

When she was in her teens, her Grandfather grew very ill, she would sit at night and read to him from books that she had collected from the library. It was one of these nights, that Gerald said to his granddaughter, "Rosie doll, I have a story to tell you that is not in any of those books you are so fond of reading."

Rosie's ears peaked up, and she said, "Oh, grandfather, that would be wonderful, but please do not weaken yourself on my account."

"No, No, little one, I am fine, just listen close, as my voice does not carry as it used to." He chuckled, which was followed by a rasping cough.

Gerald proceeded to tell Rosie about a young man and woman that came to Prairie Bluff in the early days of the railroad. They settled and were blessed with twins, a girl and a boy. The twins were a rambunctious set; they would run around all over the house and yard getting into all sorts of trouble.

One day the mother and the daughter went out for a walk, and there came a horrible downpour; while they were walking on Main Street, the little girl pulled away from the mother and a sinkhole opened up and swallowed her whole, never to be seen again. The mother was so distraught, she was never seen again either, because she went mad, and was sent away.

Rosie looked sadly at her grandfather, "Grandfather, was it you? Did you have a twin sister?"

"Yes, sweetheart, I did." He said.

"Why are there not pictures, why is this the first I have ever heard of her?" Rosie asked, astonished.

Her grandfather just closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "little one, there are things that people do, that just have no explanation."

"What was her name, grandfather?" Rosie asked, not wanting to prod too much, seeing the distress on his face.

"Her name was Betsie; my youngest daughter was named after her; she did not bear the name very long either." He whispered, and with that, a tear squeezed through his closed eyelids and rolled down the side of his face.

Rosie just sat there and thought; oh my, my great-aunt Betsie died tragically, just like Aunt Betsie, that died just a few weeks after being born. Rosie thought better of voicing her thoughts, she did not want to upset her grandfather further. But she did wonder if there was a familial connection; both girls died very young and both of their mothers went mad upon their deaths perishing shortly thereafter. The more she thought about it, the more she worried herself. She was the only daughter and granddaughter in the Blanchard line, and she was sure she did NOT want to go mad.