CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words

The morning of the pumpkin festival dawned cold and blue, without a cloud to be seen. The wind, however, seemed to delight in reminding everyone how it had chased them away, snapping at everyone's heels with bitter cold, so folk dressed in bulky jackets over their costumes for the festival, if they hadn't chosen warm, full-suited costumes in the first place.

Sylvie and Taryn had been at the booth for hours already, smiling with family after family as they passed by, strangers for the most part, though Sylvie had already seen her entire swim team show up that morning. It hadn't been too bad, she admitted silently to herself. Certainly no one seemed too fussed that the camera was a modern digital camera, or the costumes that they'd brought for the other people that wanted them to wear were second-hand and cheap compared to theirs, or that the pictures were ten dollars each.  They lined up outside their booth so far that it ran nearly the length of the street. Several times Sylvie and Taryn would finish a session (three pictures were the maximum, to keep the line moving) and they'd see people march all the way to the back of the line to stand in it again.

They'd worked all morning without pause, and they hadn't seemed to make the line shorter at all. When Sylvie brought out a little boy to his parents from inside the tent, she saw only one other booth as popular as hers, and she figured that one had to house Josh and his mother.

That wasn't to say there weren't people at the other booths, she mused, glancing around. Everywhere she looked there were people checking out the goods being offered, going into the haunted house, or looking at the pumpkins that had been brought in for the occasion.

"At least the entire festival is a success, not just us." Taryn told her in an aside as another family passed money to Sylvie's mom and were given costumes. The two girls in there looked like Christmas had come when they put on the barmaid costumes and leaned casually against Sylvie and Taryn. The parents had slipped on their own cowboy outfits and were standing on the outside of the pair. Sylvie pasted a smile on her face as Taryn's mom took three pictures and they issued the girls from the tent.

"Thanks!" they squealed as one and hurried back outside.

"What do you want to bet they've gone to join the line again?" Taryn asked wearily.

Sylvie could do nothing but nod. She felt tired herself, but had some well of stubborn determination to see it through to the end.

"We'll have to hang it up when the festival closes tonight at six, and that's only in a couple of hours." She told her in an attempt to buck up her spirits.

Taryn gave her a weak smile, but stopped quickly as if her mouth hurt her. Sylvie understood; hers hurt constantly now, and she hoped she could keep it up for the remaining time. She desperately didn't want to disappoint the young kids that kept trooping into the tent, eyes shining bright with eagerness to see them, even after having stood in line for most of the day already.

"Josh never made it, did he?" Taryn asked suddenly from her right as they waited for the next family to get into the costume.

Sylvie started, not expecting the question and glanced over at her.

"Yeah, I saw that his tent had a similar line like ours, and I expect he had to help his mom keep the crowd from breaking things." She said fairly.

Taryn nodded, but looked faintly disappointed.

Sylvie kept quiet, not quite knowing what to say as the people kept filing through. Her stomachs growled angrily; she hadn't eaten anything since the forty minutes during lunch, and her legs were screaming in protest as they stood uncomfortably on the fake wooden floor.

To keep her mind off things, she glanced again at the interior of the tent--Taryn insisted it be called a "pavilion" and not a tent--which didn't even look like a tent except for the ceiling.

One side of the tent had an old bar, complete with a fake keg and tap, as well as several bottles that looked like whiskey bottles and things, but were actually stuff donated from the coffee shop. There were a couple of tables along the back with chairs, a mirror and a hollowed out, empty player piano. Gold spittoons were placed around the floor, and in the back on a wooden stand, hung a large mirror.

It looked exactly like an old-fashioned saloon, and once again Sylvie wondered where her dad had acquired it. Somehow, it didn't seem all that important, and she turned her attention back to the camera as the next family hurried forward.

It seemed to take forever for six to roll around, and her father went out to explain to the disappointed people that they were closing up for the night, but they would be welcome to come back tomorrow for the last day of the festival.

Sylvie and Taryn helped pack the camera into its bag and helped gather up the smaller, more easily lost items from the tent and put them safely away in the closet of the town hall nearby.

"Taryn, you and Mary coming over to dinner?" her father asked as they started to walk back to the car.

"No thanks, Mr. Mathison." Taryn responded before her mother. "I think we're going to go--"

"Taryn!" a shout from behind them made them turn around. Josh was puffing up behind them, and Sylvie had to turn away before she broke up laughing.

Josh had dressed himself in a cowboy outfit, but poorly. The black cowboy hat on his head clashed wildly with the red bandanna he wore around his neck, he had a pair of small gold spectacles around his neck, he wore a bright green plaid long-sleeve shirt and a black vest over that, which could just be seen underneath the heavy Australian drover he wore. In front of him was a fake horse head with buttons for eyes and dust mop for a mane.  

"Um, did you make your costume yourself this year?" Sylvie heard Taryn ask faintly.

"Yeah! I had a lot help from my cousin who went as a cowboy last Halloween. He could pull off the look a lot better though, but I think I have the edge on him with the horse! I mean, it's always with me!"

Sylvie heard him laugh and then came a smack. She guessed he must have slapped his leg or his horse back.

At this point she felt overcome by such a strong fit of giggles that she held onto her mom to keep her up, which proved ill-advised as her mom was struggling to keep from laughing herself. Only Taryn's mom managed to look serene and unaffected, even Sylvie's father grinned when he caught her eye.

"I guess we'll see you later Tar." Sylvie gasped, then quickly ushered her parents away.

Taryn glared at her as she beat a quick retreat. Sylvie shot her an apologetic look as she hurried down the sidewalk with her mom while her father went to the parking lot to get the truck.

As she left earshot, she heard Josh say, "Hey, sorry I couldn't make it to the picture shot. I really wanted to, but Mom needed help, and there were so many more people than I was expecting, and then a couple of people knocked over the display case by accident and I had to clean it up before someone got hurt…"

He spoke rapidly, not giving Taryn a chance to speak despite several valiant attempts. Her yell carried down the street as Sylvie turned the corner.

"JOSH! I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOU MISSING THE SHOOT, BUT LET ME GET A WORD IN EDGEWISE!!!"

"Oof. That one's not going to go well tonight." Sylvie chuckled.

"Nope." Her mom agreed, the tap, tap of her feet on the sidewalk sounding hurried. "I think Josh is going to have to think fast to get himself out of this one."

Sylvie couldn't help but nod.

A growl from her stomach sounded irritably in the still night air. She could feel the hollowness of her bellies as she walked.

"Mom, if you climb on, we could get home quicker." Sylvie offered.

Her mom looked wide-eyed a moment. "Ah, no, no" she said quickly. "The…um…night air is very nice out tonight!"

Sylvie laughed. "Ah mom, it wasn't that bad was it?"

"Not if you don't count the sores." Her mom said darkly, but caught herself and gave a horrified look at Sylvie. "I'm sorry, honey! I hadn't meant it like that, I just meant--"

"It's okay mom." Sylvie soothed, shaking her head. "I should have realized…you've never ridden a horse after all. No wonder you had sores and things."

Her mom smiled nervously. "You aren't angry?" she asked.

Sylvie shook her head. "Angry, no. Hungry, yes." She said.

"Ah." Her mom said. "I'll make us a nice salad when we get home, all right?" she said easily.

"Thanks mom!" Sylvie said eagerly. Her mom made great salads, she knew, and always plenty.

They made it home well after her father, and found that he'd already anticipated their needs. A large bowl of salad with croutons, cucumber, and dill had been made just for Sylvie, and a smaller bowl with pepperoni and cheese on it for them. Sylvie didn't complain; cheese gave her horrible gas.

"Well, what should we do tonight?" Her father asked as they cleared the plates off the table and put them into the dishwasher.

Sylvie shrugged, she didn't care one way or the other what they did now; her belly was full, she felt comfortable in the room, and best of all, no one was trying to ask for an extra picture or to pet her!

"How about a movie?" her mom suggested.

"That sounds good." Her father nodded. "That will be fun."

As he went to find something in the closet, Sylvie noticed the day's paper sitting on the table. She glanced at it idly, not really paying attention at the story on the front page, her mind wandering through hills and mountains.

Her mother leaned over and glanced at it for a moment, perhaps wondering what she was staring at.

"You looking at the Blood Stone?" she asked.

Pulled from her thoughts, Sylvie shook her head. "Huh? Bloodstone? What's that?" she asked.

Her mom pointed to the paper, which showed an abnormally large jewel on the front page.

"The Blood Stone." She said. "It's…well, I think it's a ruby or something like that."

"Actually, it's a beryl." Her father said, coming back from the hallway. They looked at him in surprise.

"We're going to have it on display in the museum for a while near Christmas." He explained. "And I was included in the planning for its protection."

"Why does it need protection?" her mom asked, to the relief of Sylvie who'd been wondering the same thing.

"Well, it's a fairly rare find." He explained. "From what Ed was telling me, (Sylvie thought he meant Ed Markson, the sole jeweler in town) most beryls are fairly light in color, with the exception of the emeralds and the clear beryls. To find one that is redder then a ruby is astonishing, as he puts it. I'm not too sure I buy that last one." He laughed. "Ed's getting on, and experts have been known to make mistakes before. It might just be a ruby that someone called a beryl."

"Huh." Sylvie said, losing interest. "What did you grab?" she asked.

"High Noon." He replied, holding up the box.

"Sounds great." Sylvie said, walking out to the living room. To be more comfortable, she laid down on the ground.

The movie stared and Sylvie watched the opening scenes pass by, wondering how on earth she would make it through tomorrow, especially when it promised to be every bit as bad as that day.

#

Her darkest predictions proved true when she saw people already lining up outside their tent when they got there. Not just hers, but Josh's as well.

She groaned to herself. "This is getting ridiculous." She told her mother in an undertone. "We'll never have done at this rate, even if we work through lunch!"

"Which we aren't going to do anyway." Her mom told her firmly. "But you can't complain about getting business, not when this is going into your truck fund."

Sylvie heaved a sigh. The sound of her hooves had pulled everyone's attention to her, and she could see people standing on tip-toe to get a better look.

You'd think after, what, four months home, five? They'd be tired of looking, she thought in annoyance.  

She walked into the set and began placing all the decorations they'd taken down the night before.

It didn't take long before she'd finished and she realized that she had eaten up most of her time, but there was still no sign of Taryn.

"Where is she?" she asked her mother, stamping her hoof impatiently.

"I don't know." Her mom was frowning and checking her watch anxiously. "It's not like Taryn to be late."

For an awful moment the air in her longs froze. "Do you think she…" she began fearfully when she heard the comforting sound of hooves outside.

"Finally," she snapped angrily to cover up her worry. She bit her tongue, confused when she saw Josh hurrying in, looking embarrassedly at everyone, while Taryn strode serenely in behind him.

"Sorry about that." He said. "But Taryn said I needed to change before coming. Honestly," he said, shooting a swift glance over his shoulder, "what was wrong with my outfit from yesterday beats me."

Actually, he did look a lot better coordinated now, she thought. He had on a rough plaid shirt under a fleece vest of dark brown. He had a red bandanna around his neck and a brown ten-gallon hat on his head. A belt of dark leather cinched around his waist had two plastic pistols nestled securely in their holsters.

"I'm sure." Sylvie said quietly. "But we have a lot of customers outside, and we need to start working on getting them through."

"Well, let's not wait around then." Taryn said serenely.

The line started to file through, and Sylvie had to admit that it went much better this time then she expected. The constant flow of people were in good spirits, chatting gaily with their parents and them as happy children or eager adults dressed, had their pictures taken, and filed out with the printed copies.

They only broke once for lunch, where Sylvie pulled out three huge bowls of salad for them and the humans had chili dogs from the nearby stands.

Ben stopped by two hours after lunch to talk to Sylvie's father. They seemed to be having a discussion about something, and Sylvie wondered if it had something to do with her protection.

Stepping out of the picture area after the next family passed through, she ostentatiously went to get a drink of water while listening very hard to their conversation. With her extra-sharp hearing she heard every word like it was spoken next to her ear. She grinned, perfect.

"I'm not so sure that taking some of my patrolmen off the beat to the store is a good idea, Greg." Ben was saying quietly. "We've got enough problems keeping the media vultures at bay, let alone the curious public. Add the stone, and I'm stretched too thin!"

"I understand, Ben. Really, I do. But I still don't have enough to justify hiring ten additional full-time officers now. Maybe one or two, but not ten!"

"Maybe we could make them part time, or something." Ben suggested. "Contract out, as it were. I've got some friends, from my time in the army, that could do it."

"That might be something." Sylvie saw her father nod thoughtfully. "Perhaps they can work at the store and leave your guys free to watch the streets?"

"Yeah, that could work. We'll need to be careful though, with that rock coming here, and the girls and Josh, we've got a huge media magnet forming again."

Her father looked surprised. "Again? But they've taken their interviews with us and we've answered their questions…they seemed to give up after a few weeks."

"That was then, and this is now." Ben said quietly. "Look, they never really gave up, but I got them to go away on disturbing the peace and impeding traffic charges several times and they left. But the interest is still there (he gestured around at the huge line) for them, Greg. People are going to want to do follow ups with them. They are going to wish in-depth coverage. I can't legally keep them away, especially now that they are out here giving pictures and autographs away."

"To pay for the truck to move their trailer." Her father pointed out.

"I know that!" Ben hissed. "But there is such a thing as public eye! They've gone and put themselves squarely in it, and I can't do anything more to protect them!"

"I think they are aware of that." Her father said dryly. "But perhaps not the full extent. We'll speak with them tonight, Josh too, and let them know what to expect in the coming days. The stone doesn't arrive until next month, right?"

"Yeah. November sixteenth." Ben nodded.

"Right. So we have a breathing space to get ready in."

"It's still going to be a huge problem, Greg." Ben insisted. "That stone's rare, and worth millions. We're going to have every cheat, thief, and ba--uh," he glanced around and noticed Sylvie taking her time at the water jug, (she hastily chugged her drink like she hadn't been listening). "uh, scumbag after it." He finished even quieter now. He didn't say anything more and Sylvie went back to the shoot with more questions whirling in her mind.

The Bloodstone seemed more important than she'd originally realized. Worth millions? No wonder Ben seemed nervous; between the town with the only known centaurs and mermaids, keeping the peace, and now facing the prospect of someone trying to steal a small stone, he was facing more problems than any other small-town chief in history, she fancied.

Well, I guess we've done nothing really to help with that, she thought a little guiltily. She sighed, deciding she'd try and take care of matters her own way.

Besides, it's not as if I don't have resources. She thought immediately of Wolfe and Bengal. Both had been pleased with her regular visits, though Merrick hadn't found anything new, and had worked with her needs whenever she'd had them. They might have an idea on how she could relieve some of the burden on Ben without being obvious about it.

If that didn't work, she could protect herself as well, she knew, thinking smugly of her polished and sacred Winchester. The rifle never left her holster and she carried it with her always. She'd never had to draw it against anyone, but it comforted her to know it was there. Plus, people seemed to be far more respectful when she carried it; especially if they'd seen her shooting at the range.

Speaking of which…

"Say, Taryn."

Taryn looked up as she sidled back into her spot for the picture.

"What is it?"

"Have you thought about taking more self-defense classes with your spear?" she asked.

Taryn frowned at her. "Not really, we've had other things to think about, remember?' she added meaningfully.

Sylvie waved it aside. "I know that, but you ought to start thinking about them, especially since we now have a way to travel again."

"Hmm." Taryn looked thoughtful. "I could start to look again, I guess."

"What's going on?" Josh asked, looking concernedly between them.

Sylvie looked at him like he was dense. "Umm, in case you haven't noticed, Josh, we do happen to have some people after us." She pointed out dryly.

"Well, yeah, but they're in jail." He said.

"That ain't going to stop him." She said. "Besides, it wasn't life, he'll be back out, and when he is he'll come back."

"Then the chief will stop him." Josh said confidently.

"I have no doubt he will." Sylvie said, not feeling like arguing just then.

They continued the shoot for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, closing up only when six rolled around. People started to drift away from the booths and congregating at the haunted house and maze, as those attractions would remain open until nine, along with the food.

"Hey," Taryn said suddenly as they finished breaking down the camera rig and putting the spittoons and smaller stuff away, it was only seven now. "Let's go do the haunted house! We haven't done that yet, and this will be our best chance to do so!"

Sylvie looked doubtfully at the entrance, done up to look like the Munster's house. "Are you sure we could get around in there?" she asked. "It could be pretty tight."

Taryn paused. "You know, I don't know." She said. "I guess they wouldn't think of trying to get a horse through there." She said, a little crestfallen it seemed.

"Actually," Josh said. "I helped them set up part of it. It's a little roomier than you might think, as it's a broad path through there for wheelchairs and stuff. We might have to twist a little to get through, but we should get through with no problems."

"Oh, cool!" Sylvie said more enthusiastically. She looked at her parents. "You want to come?"

They glanced at each other and laughed. "I guess I can go through." Her mom said. Taryn's mom nodded, though she looked less-then-pleased.

Sylvie's father said, "I'll go back and get dinner going at the house. Taryn, are you and Mary coming over?"

"Not tonight, Greg." Taryn's mother said before Taryn could.

"All right then! See you tomorrow." He walked off in the direction of the truck with a friendly wave.

The group went up to the ticket counter. They purchased tickets from the pretty blonde girl dressed as a vampire, who looked awestruck as she handed them their stubs. Her eyes lingered on Sylvie's famous Winchester and Taryn's shining spear as they continued on.

"Hang on," said the door guard, a werewolf, as they approached. "No weapons in the haunted house, please."

Sylvie glanced at the sign he pointed at, which said;

No Weapons,

No Food,

No Drink

Sylvie hesitated, glancing at her rifle. At last she shook her head.

"I can't leave my rifle outside." She said firmly. "I'll have to get my money back."

Taryn nodded regretfully and Josh looked disappointed.

Suddenly Ben came up from behind them. "It's all right son, they're with me." He told the door guard. "I'll vouch for their weapons."

The man hesitated, looking at the Chief and then the centaurs, then at the sign. At last he relented.

"All right Chief. I guess you can go through. I'll just…say they were costume jewelry or something."

Ben nodded at him. "That's the thinking boy."

They passed the entrance and went in. Escorted by the Chief, they walked into the main entrance. Sylvie looked around interestedly at the decorations as they walked through.

The haunted house was split into six rooms in total; main hall, three bedrooms, a living room and a basement. To pass between the rooms they had rigged black curtains that attached to doors mounted on the main path. Each room had a different theme of horror movie or genre to it; one of the bedrooms featured a Dracula swooping onto the neck of one of the swim team dressed in a Victorian shift and small clothes. Sylvie looked a little closer and saw that it was her friend Ashley. She waved before continuing on. Another bedroom had been done up to look like the horror of SAW, with body parts all over the place and an actor that leaped out of the closet with a chain saw. The main hall had spiderwebs strung almost comically over everything with glowing ghosts and huge rubber spiders hanging above their heads. The Basement had a satanic ritual occurring that Sylvie thought might have come from a movie, but wasn't sure.

Everywhere she looked she saw friends from high school or folks from town dressed up in costume and playing either the victim or the villain.

At the end, they went out and saw the exit had been done up in an archway painted to look like a diabolical clown.

"I think that would have been better somewhere else." Sylvie said, shaking her head. "It's scary, but doesn't really fit with the theme, especially up front."

There were nods from the others, but no one said anything.

They said their good nights and parted ways at the street corner; Taryn, Josh and her mom walking right while Sylvie and her mom went straight.

It wasn't long before they made it home. The house looked warm and inviting with yellow light spilling from the windows and lighting the lawn. Bits of it reflected off the dark form of the trailer.

Too bad you can't see the mural right now. Surprised, she considered the thought. It was a good mural, and it did show her off in her best light, so maybe that was why she liked it?

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and went in. Her mother bustled to the kitchen to help her father bring out the huge bowl of salad and two beautifully cooked steaks that sizzled and popped on the plates still. Potatoes were there, mashed and whole ones, as well as two bottles of sparkling cider.

"Wow dad! What's the occasion?" Sylvie asked, her mouth watering at the feast before her.

"Well, we haven't had a good family dinner in a while where it was just us." He said with a smile, sitting down in front of his plate and reaching for the knife his wife handed him, "And also, I thought we might celebrate the success of the festival."

"Really?" her mom frowned and looked at him. "I wasn't aware that the totals had been added up yet."

"Well, they aren't complete." He told her. "I'm sure it will still go up, but we should have the official tally by tomorrow afternoon. But already we've made over three hundred thousand dollars after expenses."

"Wow!" Sylvie gasped. Her mom looked stunned.

"Yep! It's going to help us out immensely, I'm sure. But for now I can safely say that our booth alone made forty thousand. That will be ten for each of the girls and Josh, plus a little left over."

Sylvie wasn't sure what to say, but her parents didn't seem to notice, commenting excitedly to each other at the amazing turnout at the fair.

The dinner was excellent, with such news, and Sylvie excused herself for a moment afterwards to call Taryn and give her the news.

"That's amazing Sylvie!" she squealed, sounding painfully loud over the phone.

"I know, right?" Sylvie laughed. "We should be able to afford the truck very soon, I hope."

"Uh, we could probably buy one today." Taryn said dryly. "I did some looking online, and we can get a used one for about thirty-five thousand. Only new ones cost around a hundred thousand."

"Cool." Sylvie said, impressed at her friends clever thinking--she hadn't thought of checking on truck prices yet.

"So, do we want to go shopping soon, or what?" she asked.

"Maybe in a little bit." Taryn sighed. "We're not in much of a hurry right now, and just buying the truck is only a tiny bit of the cost. We've still got to keep some money for maintenance, insurance, and other fees."

"Oof! Good point." Sylvie frowned. "But I will call Alfred in the morning and see about arranging for a few more lessons…no, can't do that." She said, remembering that it would be Tuesday tomorrow, she had an appointment with Doctor Merrick and Doctor McMillan. "I'll call later, after my aaaa…ah, movie." She managed, kicking herself.

The other end of the line was quiet for a while. Then Taryn spoke.

"Sylvie, what's going on?"

"Huh, nothing! I…just gotta new movie I want to watch tomorrow. I'll call him after I finish it." Sylvie stammered.

"Sylvie," Taryn said warningly.

"Tar, there's nothing going on, I promise." Sylvie lied. "Look, I gotta go. Mom's got a new movie…um, another one…and we're going to watch it. I'll see you later."

She hung up before Taryn could say anything.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! She screamed at herself. How could she be so stupid! She very nearly gave herself away there.

She breathed in and out carefully, she'd have to figure out something to tell Taryn tomorrow.