The Inheritance (13)

Beth watched her father get up from the other picnic table and make his way over to where a couple of lounge chairs had been set up.  He settled down on one, pulling his cap further down over his face and appeared to doze off.

“Beth?  Are you coming?”  Lisa called out to her.  She stood a few feet away waiting with Amanda next to her.  In a momentary lull of beach and park noise Beth could hear the buzzing of a single fly circling above the tabletop.  It swooped searching for something only it could realize before coming to rest on the top edge of her book.  She watched in silence as the fly proceeded to clean its multi-faceted eyes.  Her thumb caressed the edge of the book.  She could feel the anticipation building in the pit of her stomach.  They were really going to do it.

From her earliest memory she had spent a lot of her time over at her aunt Lisa’s house playing with her older cousin Amanda.  Her aunt would lead them in all kinds of games in the back yard and neighboring woods.  Games of hide and seek or treasure hunt where the girls would get clues that would lead them to the next clue until they found the treasure, usually a snack or a longed for toy.  But the best game was the one called loop.  Lisa would lead the way to a clearing deep in the woods where three intersecting circles of stone were laid out on the ground.  Here she would teach them to chant a lyrical poem of strange words while they stepped in and out and around the circles in an intricate pattern of mincing steps.  There was a rhythm and timing to the steps and the words, an elaborate dance, more elaborate than the ballet dances she learned in her dance class.  She and Amanda worked hard to memorize and execute the patterns correctly and with each passing year they improved until they could perform the game without misstep or misspoken word.  Each time they played the game Lisa gave them whatever they asked for regardless of the expense.

One year ago Lisa brought the book Beth currently had possession of to the circles of stone and began reading from it to the girls, explaining as she did what they were learning, explaining their family history and how this ritual would restore an unimaginable power to her control making all of their family rich beyond belief, leaving it unspoken that she would gain an upper hand in dealing with her sister and brother, making them sorry for leaving her out of their little circle of companionship, for dismissing their family heritage.

“Beth?”

“Yep.”  Beth clamored out from the picnic table bench.  She picked up the book and hugged it to her chest.  She turned toward her aunt and her cousin without giving a second glance at her father and moved toward them.  Lisa smiled her approval at her young niece, a smile not reflected in her cold, calculating eyes.

To Be Continued…