The Madman of Thorne Hill House ch 2

I will start with a little family history . Its a little boring but hang in there with me. I suppose my great great (I'm not sure how many greats back without counting on my fingers - which is rather hard to do while typing)  grandmother was the first of our family to come to the island.  Her name was Louisa Catherine McAlleese, and I have heard tell that she was uncommonly beautiful young Irish maiden who came to work for the Thornhill family as an indentured servant. The Thornhill Estate way back in England was a large Estate and Sir Richard had three sons but the English Estate went to the oldest son who inherited both titles and lands. The middle son received the land in the colonies- right around the Savannah area. The youngest son- well I had always heard he was a drunk and a ne'er do well. Nobody was quite sure what happened to him. Until I started snooping around that is. But that will come later.

The Thornhill holdings in the colonies included some land near the Savannah River and a small island just to the south off the coast.  The original house was inland but it burned during the revolutionary war and the family relocated to their island which they shared with a French family with aristocratic roots. Louisa arrived just after the war and worked with the family in the tabby house. The main house was a tabby structure that is little more than ruins but still can be seen to this day if you know where to look. The pirates attacked the year after she arrived and killed the French family who lived on the neighboring plantation but The Thornhill men were away and the children along with the household servants were spirited away by Big John Hawkins-  a half breed who lived there on the island with his family. It wasn't long after that that Louisa married her hero and family became more or less permanent residents of the island.

Fast forward to the 1900's- that is where my part of the story takes place.  Well not exactly - my part is a century later but my story starts a hundred hears before when Edward Thornhill deeded a sum of land and a two story farmhouse to my great grandmother Annalise. No one knows precisely why Mr. Thornhill deeded the land to our family nor why he placed such peculiar stipulations on the ownership but the place has belonged to the female descendants of Annalise ever since that time.  It had passed from her to her daughter to my great aunt who never married and lived there until she passed away and then to my grandparents.  Pawpaw Bill had been in the military as a young man and so he and Meemaw were thrilled to have a place to retire after so many years of moving from place to place. Peepaw died on the island and was buried in the cemetery right alongside Louisa Catherine, Big John and the rest of Meemaw's ancestors.

Meemaw has lived on "her island" for as long as I remember and we all spent our summers and holidays there.  Momma wanted her to move in with us after Peepaw died but Meemaw swore she would stay until she went to glory like my Peepaw did. My mother, uncle and aunts hated it but despite their protests Meemaw would not be dissuaded.  They would take turns calling her every few days and there were a few close neighbors that kept an eye out for her. Despite momma's fears Meemaw lived there without incident until after I graduated from college.

College graduation is supposed to be an exciting time but It was a particularly bad for me. I had graduated and unable to find work in journalism I had taken a job as an English teacher.  9th grade literature was not my preferred profession but it paid the bills and allowed me to stay in North Georgia- close to my boyfriend. I had taken the position as a long term substitute with the understanding that I would be considered for a permanent position opening at the end of the term.  Then about the time they gave me bad the news ("We thank you for your interest in our school system; but unfortunately the position you are seeking has been filled." Letter) I received a message from my boyfriend that went something like: "Our lives are going in two different directions...blah, blah,  blah... met someone... something something something... its not you its me...wish you the best...goodbye."

My head was still spinning from the pink slip and the informal breakup over the message machine when the phone rang.  They say things happen in threes, and I was afraid to answer. It was ten o'clock at night. Who calls that late unless it’s a wrong number or an emergency?  I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach that whatever was on the other end of that line was bad news.

Sure enough.

"Hello?"

Sniffle, sniffle. My mom's voice.  "You need to come on down here. Meemaw is in the hospital."

Crap. I was right. "Is she okay?" I readied myself for the worst news.

"She fell...sniffle, sniffle. Gonna need surgery.  We need your help."

"I'm on my way momma."

"No." Momma clarified.  "We NEED your help. Long term.  I know you like being close to Julian but we are gonna need you to help us ...sniffle sniffle...take care of Meemaw."

"No. Don't worry." I whispered. Was this an answer to a prayer ?  I hadn't even had time to pray about what I was going to do for rent...now this.  "I'll come. It will be fine." More than fine. The quicker I could get away from here the better.

"Oh won't Julian be upset?" Momma bellowed in the receiver and I winced,  but then felt my blood boil.

"Screw Julian." I shot back. "I can get another boyfriend. I only got one Meemaw." And I heard momma suck in her breath. I'm not sure if it was the phrase "screw Julian" or the " I can get another boyfriend " part. Could have been either. "I'll start moving back tomorrow." I said resolutely.  "It will probably take a couple days. Y'all gonna be ok till then?"

"Yes. She'll be in the hospital for a while."

When I hung up the phone I felt like cold water had just been poured all over me. I was so angry about the job and then Julian but now it felt like all the fight had been taken out of me.  Some people would have called this luck or karma or whatever to explain it away. But I was Baptist. And I had a Baptist Meemaw.  This was God.  It didn't matter that I hadn't been speaking with Him in two years. Meemaw had. I'm sure they talked a lot about me.

I spent a lot of time that night trying to talk to God, but it was as if I had forgotten how to pray.  My prayers seemed to go no further than my bedroom celling.  I wanted my Meemaw to be okay and I wanted forgiveness for all I'd done. How I'd lived apart from him for the last two years.  Once I was the kid who wouldn’t even say "Gosh.” because I was afraid it was taking the Lord's name in vain. I couldn't go to my friend's house and watch a movie with bad words without feeling scandalized. And I'd have to go down to the altar and confess come Sunday morning if I had said something ugly earlier that week.

So where did that girl go? I wondered as I lay in bed that night. I knew the answer. She went off to college. 400 miles from the watchful eyes of my family and my church who had put me on a pedestal and I found out I could act like the devil if I wanted and no one cared.

Back home-  I was the good one. I made good grades. I made good decisions. I never got in trouble.  Not like the twins whom by three years of age my mother and I secretly thought to be serial killers in the making, or like Phoebe who at nine had already run up a 300 dollar phone bill, or Dennis who liked to adopt small woodland creatures until his house smelled like a zoo.  When we would visit any of our cousins my momma would turn to me, give me a grave look and say "I'm so glad your my kid. I like you so much more than those other kids." Then she would pat me on the head and add “You're never any trouble.”

That always made me feel good.  But I wondered what momma would think of me if she knew the truth about these last two years.

I got up before dawn and started packing. It wasn't like I could sleep anyway.  I threw all the stuff that Julian had given me into the garbage bin behind my apartment.  There was nothing left for me in North Georgia. I was unemployed, dumped and angry and I did what any girl would do given the situation.

 I went home.