the trick of hearts Connie Low It was an old town, stunted mostly by set minds: one of those tiny places where everyone knows everyone else and everything about them. Maple trees planted in an exact line along Providence Boulevard, were in full leaf and the sun drizzled its boiling rays over the town. Over on 1st South a young boy in blue denim shorts and a white T-shirt sat laughing in a sand box behind his home. Two other children, a boy and a girl, laughed and giggled, rolling in the sand. The sand gritted between their toes and clung to their hands. Terry addressed the other two with a final handful of sand to signify the truce. "Boy, that was a NEAT fight." The girl was in a pink sunsuit. She had dimples in her knees. "C'mon you guys, let's build a castle!" The boys looked at each other, wrinkling their noses skeptically, but okaying the suggestion. The castle slowly began to take shape. Suddenly the boys' eyes lit and Terry and Jeff dashed to Terry's house to get a hose. "We're gonna make a moat." Tugging and fighting with the knots, they finally got the snake-like tube over the sandpile. "Tina, you go turn it on." The little blonde barefooted back to the tap. After a moment's struggle, she turned the handle and the water lurched out. Before anyone could take hold of the hose, the water splashed over the castle, caving the top in. "Uh-oh." "Well whadya wanna do now?" "Let's play orphanage and I'll be the mother of it." Jeff crinkled his face up once more. "You always wanna play those dumb girly games." "Well, what do ya wanna do, then?" "I know, let's go see Grandma Chambers." The threesome had been there a few times since the day she came out and gave them a cookie. The sunsuit girl glanced at Terry to see if he wanted to go too. The boy's eyes grew round, jumping with excitement. "Sugar cookies," was all they said as the three turned and galloped down the street. Tall green pines completely encircled Gramma Chamber's house till just splotches of the white were visible from the street. The house was small and set back far from the curb. A gray crumbling sidewalk led to the house. The gnarled root from a single sycamore tree pushed the cement up in one place so that they had to step over it. Terry, Tina, and Jeff approached the walk. Even though they liked Gramma Chambers, they always got a little bit nervous as they walked up the dark sidewalk. The trees were so dense that little sunlight could penetrate. The ground was barren, covered only by drying pine needles and cones. They stood on the paint-grey porch which ran the length of the house. Each child looked at the other two and finally Tina knocked, the torn screen rattling noisily as she pounded. A chic-a-dee chicked from the top of a pine as they waited in silence. Finally, the door knob turned and then the door opened. The tiny woman stood in the doorway, leaning over slightly from the waist. She smiled with wet-wrinkle lips. "Come inside and get out of that heat. This is certainly a surprise." She reached out to guide them in with her hands, the children following her into the kitchen where they knew the cookies were. Taking the cookies eagerly, they shuffled back to the front room, dropping crumbs along the way. They sat down in the dark front room. It had a kind of rosy dimness like a funeral parlor. It was cool like a basement and musty like an attic. The couch was a deep maroon that exhaled dust when they sat on it and the stuffing was sneaking out the corners. Stiff ivory-colored curtains hung over the windows and heavy brown threads showed through the pile of the floral print carpet. A tiny picture of some flowers sat on a dark wood table. Gramma Chambers wasn't really anyone's Gramma, she just looked like one as she bustled slowly into the room after the children. Her dress was a dark print dress and her stockings were held by elastic garters which showed below her hem. The little woman's yellow hair curled tightly about her head and pink powder settled in the chasms of her face. She held a tray with glasses and a sweating pitcher of lemonade. The ice clinked as she poured the drinks and the blue veins in her hands bulged. Her lips frowned as she lifted the heavy pitcher. Withered skin drooped over each bone. Even her cheekbones supported only saging skin. When she smiled the wrinkles divided and multiplied into millions. "Could we play with the toys again?" Tina ventured. "Don't you want to just sit with me and we'll oh, of course you can. Go find them, Terry." Terry disappeared into a closet and came out with the box of toys. The clatter and clank as he dumped them out was disturbing in the quiet dimness. There was a little red fire engine with a man in it. The bell clanged noisily as Terry drove it around the living room. "Oo-OOO-ooo-OOO" he howled like a siren. Gramma Chambers slumped to the sofa to watch. Jeff was lining up the tin soldiers and shooting them down with a cork gun and Tina was building a house of blocks. Gramma must have been saving the toys for her grandchildren, but she didn't seem to have any. She sat silently, except for raspy breathing, her head tilted to one side and her lips trembling. Suddenly it was late, darker than before. Gramma Chambers was still sitting on the couch, her lower lip protruding slightly, her eyes wet and glistening. Tina approached. "Um-m-m-m Thanks for the cookies. We hafta leave now." Jeff and Terry picked up the toys and then stood next to Tina. The tiny Gramma's eyes clouded over as she hurried them out the door. Tina, Jeff, and Terry sat quietly on the couch again. They could hear Gramma clattering in the kitchen. There was something quiet and special about her house. They'd come many times that summer. Gramma entered with the cookies and lemonade just as always. "New cookies today," she said. Gramma settled into the worn couch and the children snuggled next to her. "Please tell us that story you know, the one about when you were a little girl." "Yeah!" Their eyes widened as they settled into listening positions. Gramma Chambers made a wrinkled smile, wet her lips and began. "Once upon a time when I was a little girl I heard my Daddy call 'Sarah! Sa-a-a-arah time to get up.' Well, I hopped out of bed and jumped into my jeans, then I sat down and went bumpety - bump bumpety-bump down the stairs, sliding all the way to the kitchen. I plopped down and began eating my mush, when" The story went on and on and they'd heard it a million times. The fun part was watching Gramma tell it. Gramma Chambers and her father had driven their team of horses out of a fire in the barn. "and we saved all the animals and lived happily ever after." "Boy, Gramma, that's real neat." "Yeah." "I like the part where you grab the little chicken just before the burning hay falls down." "Yeah." Jeff had red hair. He always said 'yeah!' and Gramma always added a new episode every time she told it just so she could hear one more red-headed 'yeah!' Tina decided that they'd better be getting home since it was probably almost time for supper and no one ever knew where they were when they were at Gramma's. Gramma leaned over to give each one a kiss. Her lips tasted like cool sugar water and she smelled like lilac air freshener and moth balls. "Please come again. I'll be making more new cookies tomorrow. Maybe you can help." "Okay. 'Bye," they chorused as they left, and Jeff said "Yeah." The umbrella of pines sheltered the walk till they reached the street. Tina could taste the smell of the pines and the bittersweet sap. When they emerged from the trees, however, it did not grow light. They all began moaning. "We've prob'ly missed supper now." They separated for their respective homes anticipating their parents' reactions. The next day the sun warmed their backs as Tina and the boys sat on the grassy bank of the ditch, dangling their feet in the icy water. Their feet numbed rapidly and they became unaware of the water except that they knew it was moving. "Hey Terry, what'd they do when you got home?" "My Dad just says 'You don't go there because she's too tired to bake cookies and bother with you!' What'd yours say?" Her eyes grew wide, but she was silent. She began slowly, "Mom says that well that Gramma Chambers is a-a crazy lady and that" "Yeah. That's what mine said too. They said she doesn't know what's going on." "Maybe, well, maybe she is crazy!" Terry raised his eyebrows, making them almost touch in the middle. "Mom and Dad seemed awful mad." "Dad says she's lived here forever and that that story couldn't be true 'cause she never had a barn or a dad to remember." "She's always been so ni Oh well, what're we gunna play?" "Orphanage!" Tina shouted. "No-o-o-o." "Hey" The boys glanced at each other as their eyes grew wide once more. Jeff's eyes were widest, of all. "Let's go see Gramma Chambers." Tina began squeaking. "We can't. Not today." Then Terry whispered, "Let's go tease the cra-a-azy lady." They started out slowly at first, testing each other out. Soon they were scrambling down the sidewalk making sandy brown prints on the cement with their wet feet. Walking part way down the front walk, they stopped by the old sycamore. The front door was visible. "You say it first." "No, you." Terry began and the others followed. "Sarah hey Sarah it's Daddy calling." "It's time to get up Sarah." "Sarah, hey, crazy old Sarah come on out and" They could smell the faint smell of cookies baking as a white, withered hand reached out and pulled a torn shade down to cover the door and the world.