The Mystery of Maple Creek

Chapter 17. Weird Behavior

Chapter 17

Weird Behavior

(Perspective: Hellen Mayweather)

My dad closed his store early. Then we went to the Dine Club in the afternoon. The place was not crowded as usual. We could enjoy a peaceful ambient here for a while.

I ordered a guava juice from Megan the regular waitress. While my dad would like to have fish and chips, just like what Larry had.

I sat at the same table as my dad and Larry. I didn’t talk at all during their conversation about fishing. I just pretending to listen, although I got bored eventually.

And then I heard Megan yelled out, “Hey, Ronnie! Wear your apron and get your arse to work here!”

I saw Ronnie just arrived. And Noah followed behind him.

Somehow, I felt glad that I could see his face again. I missed him already. But I didn’t know if my feeling was mutual. I just shattered our relationship. So, I should walk on eggshells since then.

I stole a glance a few times. I knew he did it too. But he immediately stared away. He pretended as if I was not in the room. As if I was just an outsider. This pained me, actually. I really wanted to talk again with him. I wanted to start over. I wished I dared to start the conversation. Or maybe I should just say hi to him.

When the thought hovered in my mind, Ronnie came to our table. He served my order.

“Thanks, Ronnie,” I said in a friendly manner.

He paused to look at me for a second. He half smiled. And he hid his hands on his apron’s little pockets. My dad and Larry immediately noticed his weird attitude toward me.

“What is it, Ronnie?” My dad asked curiously.

And Larry teased him, “Do you want a big tip from the boss of the fish merchant?”

“Uh, nothing. I don’t want a tip. But if you insist, I am very welcome to receive it,” Ronnie returned his joke, and chuckled a little.

I stared up at him wonderingly. When I glanced again, Noah was peeping at us.

Ronnie let out a heavy sigh and said, “It’s just—alright, forget it.”

He was about to tell me something, but he hesitated. When he returned to the bar table, I kept on observing his perturbed movement. He kept rubbing his neck anxiously.

When I looked at Noah, he was also doing the same thing. I felt like something was in the air. But I didn’t know what it was.

I saw how Ronnie liked to steal a glance at his cousin from the bar table. He was making a tea in a boiler at the time. He was watching Noah’s movement as well. What was wrong between them?

It seemed that I was the only person in the room who noticed their weird behavior.

Noah still sat down at the table near the glass window. Then he started rubbing his neck and his hair multiple times. But when Noah bent down his head on the table, Ronnie paused from pouring a teapot to watch him over cautiously.

I froze at my own table. I wanted to look after both of them. I wanted to know what was happening. But I didn’t want to look noisy and annoying.

My dad and Larry still had a fun conversation with each other. While I held my breath insecurely.

And suddenly, I heard Noah made a whimpering sound at the table. He seemed to endure pain. His hands tried to hold his head steady.

Ronnie immediately took off his apron and approached him.

“Hey, Noah!” his alert voice had drawn the attention of everyone in the room.

My dad and Larry glanced at them this time.

“What happens?” My dad asked curiously.

But I couldn’t just sit still and watch him suffering. I had to move. And eventually, I raised from the chair to approach them. It seemed that Noah was trying to endure a severe headache.

I heard my dad shouting my name. He told me to sit back. But I didn’t listen to him.

 “Noah, what happens?” I asked cautiously as I walked closer.

Ronnie glanced at me quietly. But his stare looked cold and defensive this time.

I still didn’t understand what was his problem, but I thought I should concern more about Noah’s condition. And thus, I suggested, “We should bring him to the hospital now.”

“No hospital can help him,” Ronnie said to me.

I flinched when he said that coldly. Then I managed to reply, “But he seems very sick—”

“He just needs to go home and lay down for a while,” Ronnie murmurs.

I squinted perplexingly at him. “Don’t you see? He keeps writhing in pain like this.”

But then I saw that no one in this room bothered to help him. Something was off. People just watched us quietly.

Ronnie shook his head and told me, “He got the symptoms again. His illness has relapsed.”

“Okay, then, let me help. I can drive to the hospital,” I offered kindly.

“Just stay back, Hellen. You don’t get it,” Ronnie warned me. “He needs to be taken care of at home, not in the hospital. He needs to be chained.”

I bulged out astonishingly when he said the last words. “What did you say?”

And then we saw Megan just came out of the kitchen. She stared at Ronnie curiously.

He quickly shouted out, “Hey, Megan, sorry—but I gotta take care of my buddy here.”

Megan was just nodded to agree. It was so unusual. She was the most person in this restaurant who wanted him to work hard. But this time, she let him go. And she also looked a bit worried when her eyes shifted at Noah.

Afterward, Ronnie stared back at me to say, “I will take care of Noah by myself.”

For the first time, I heard how mature Ronnie sounded when he spoke. But I was still tremendously bewildered by what he meant earlier. And I actually annoyed that I was not allowed to help Noah.

I could only watch him bringing Noah to walk out of the restaurant. My eyes kept staring at them through the glass door. Until Ronnie brought Noah into his car.

And then I glanced at the people in this room. I thought this was a friendly small town, where everyone looked out for each other. But here was the bitter truth, they didn’t care about Noah at all. They were all acted as if nothing ever happened.

“Hey, Hellen, get back here, please—” my dad called out for me.

When I returned to their table, my dad and Larry stared awkwardly at me.

“Ronald, I thought you had told everything about this town to your daughter,” Larry looked at my dad wonderingly.

My dad let out a heavy sigh. As if he didn’t want me to find out about something. But then he murmured, “I keep forgetting about the rules. Maybe because I had lived long in Calgary.”

 I narrowed my eyebrows bewilderingly at them. “What rules?”

“Hellen, don’t involve yourself when the Jarlath kids—” Larry paused to take a deep breath before speaking again, “Noah has an episode periodically, but so does his family. Everyone in town already knows that. People know how to keep a distance.”

“Why? What is he suffering from?” I was really curious to know.

Larry glanced at my dad. He was expecting him to tell me instead.

“It’s a genetic disease. Their family has been suffering from time to time. People here just want to respect their privacy. That’s all,” he said simply.

Larry added, “Well, yeah. Their disease is similar to black death. But luckily, it’s not contagious.”

“If it is something crucial, maybe they should see a doctor in a big city,” I suggested.

“Hellen, let’s not involve with their family’s matter,” my dad reminded me. “If they want to see a doctor, they would have done it a long time ago. But they don’t bother. Let’s just—respect their choice.”

I stared numbly at my dad. I just didn’t know what to respond.

When I looked around the room, there was Melissa. I just realized that she had been watching me the whole time. She sat down with her family. I saw the mayor and his wife for the first time, although they sat down far from us.

Larry noticed where my eyes rested. Subsequently, he murmured, “Yup, that’s my family over there. But I seem to spend more time with my fishing buddy here.”

My dad giggled with him.

As I exchanged a stare with Melissa from afar, her eyes sent me an invisible message.

And what I caught in my head was; You’ve been warned, Hellen.