The Secret of Zormna Clendar by Julie Steimle (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

was already extracting out from the heaps of stored stuff an old brass bed that was already partially assembled. The mattress leaned against the wall. Most the buttons on it had been pulled out with stuffing.

Walking up the steps, Jennifer peered into the room, which really wasn’t much of a room at all. It was about the size of a walk-in closet with a slanted roof and a tiny window, which was why they stored most of their old junk in it. The reason the attic had steps was that the floor was raised. Underneath in the flooring contained ventilation for the heat and air conditioner. Currently it was humming.

 Zormna stood at the small circular window, wiping dust and grease off with her fingertips. Jennifer expected a critical superior sort of look on Zormna’s face, but that wasn’t what she saw. Zormna’s eyes stared like someone trapped. This definitely wasn’t what Jennifer had in mind when she offered to help that morning. But it was too late now. The parents had taken over. They were both in for it.

“Here they are,” Jennifer said, holding out the clothes.

Looking up, Zormna set her eyes on the shirt and capris Jennifer extended to her. She sighed, resigned-like.

“You can change in the bathroom,” Jennifer’s mother said. “It’s the first door this side of the stairs.”

Zormna nodded. Then, she militaristically turned and marched out of the room. Jennifer watched her go, half-tempted to salute.

Turning back towards her mother, Jennifer finally asked, “Why her?”

“Hmm?” her mother responded, shoving the bed to the wall just under the window.

Sighing, Jennifer walked over. She helped her mother scoot the bed into place, then heave the mattress on top. Once in position, she asked again, “Why her, Mom? You never let anyone stay over. Not even my once-friend Jessica.”

Her mother raised her eyebrows. “I thought you said Jessica was a back-stabbing tatted jerkoff who’d rather screw around with the metal-heads than go to the junior high campout with you?”

Jennifer choked on a laugh from that almost exact quote. “Well, yeah. Now. But before she became a back-stabbing jerkoff she was my best friend.”

Her mother rose and rolled her eyes. She gestured to the things heaped along the right corner. “Help me cover these.”

Following her, Jennifer grabbed one end of the dusty curtains her mother had picked up and assisted her in draping it over the junk.

Finally her mother said, “This girl is different. I understand the background she comes from. She is not out for trouble.”

“How do you know?” Jennifer asked. “That’s what you are always asking Todd and me when we want to bring people over.”

Sighing, her mother heaved up her side of the drapes. She shook her head, thinking up a viable answer. “Did you see the way she coped with the news of her aunt’s death.”

Jennifer looked to the ceiling. “Isn’t coping. She’s in shock.”

“Exactly.” Her mother nodded. “She needs us.”

It was true, but the selfish logic in Jennifer’s head still argued that it wasn’t fair. Blondes got all the luck. Especially the ones that were knockout gorgeous.  

“She is alone in the world,” her mother continued. “And it would be unkind to send her back into the world without help. And it is about time we showed some human compassion.”

“It wasn’t like I was arguing against it,” Jennifer muttered.

“I know.” Her mother smiled, patting Jennifer on the shoulder. “Go get some clean sheets and a blanket from the linen cabinet. We’ll need to buy some new pillows this afternoon.”

“Or steal some from the crazy lady’s house,” Jennifer muttered, climbing back down the step. 

“You know,” her mother called after her, laughing to herself, “That might not be a bad idea. After Zormna’s changed, you should take her there.”

Nodding, Jennifer continued to trot back into the hallway. The linen cabinet was right next to the bathroom, stocked on the high shelves with all sorts of sheets. She collected one of the twin sets, which her mother combined together by tucking the sheets into the matching pillowcase. Then she turned back toward the attic. She didn’t get far before she heard the toilet flush, then flush again. Shaking her head, Jennifer walked up the steps and handed over the sheets. She’d have to go back for the blanket.

The toilet flushed once more.

Todd marched out from his room, fists clenched. Jennifer’s older brother went straight to the bathroom. He pounded on the door. His freckled face almost matched his red hair in fury. “Andrew! Cut that out. You’re wasting water!”

Todd then twisted the doorknob, shoving the door in with a bang against the sink. Apparently Zormna hadn’t locked it.

 “Skavee!” Zormna’s voice echoed from inside the room with a yip.

Jennifer rushed to the bathroom the same moment Todd stormed inside.

He immediately jumped back out. His eyes were wide, blinking at the small blonde as she stepped damply from the room. Zormna’s eye caught on Jennifer’s. Her cheeks immediately flushed.

“Who are you?” Todd asked, turning an even darker shade of red, though from surprise—among other things. “And, uh, what were you doing in there?

Pinker, Zormna averted her eyes. “I…”

“You know, you only need to flush the toilet once,” he said, shifting his feet in that awkward way boys get when near girls they automatically assume are out of their league.

And Jennifer chuckled, extracting a quilt from the top shelf of the linen cabinet.

“I am sorry.” Zormna ducked her head sheepishly, just as she had back with Mr. Harker and the lawnmower. “Things work a little differently back home.”

Todd’s expression brightened upon hearing her accent. “Hey. Are you Irish?”

The girl practically moaned when she said, “Yes.”

He chuckled. “It’s not a bad thing to be, if you are.”

This time Zormna smirked, cocking her head to the side. She looked at him less critically.

“I’m Todd,” he said, glancing at Jennifer out of the corner of his eye. “And you are…?”

“Zormna Clendar.” This time the girl shook her head, weakly chuckling as she exuded aphrodisiacal charm. It was sickening.

Jennifer’s insides turned again. How could she possibly live in a house with a person like this?

But Zormna caught her eye, reading her revulsion well enough.

“So…” Todd peeked to Jennifer also. “Are you a friend, visiting?”

Sneaking another look to Jennifer, Zormna came up short for words.

“She’s staying with us, Todd,” Jennifer said, shutting the linen closet door.

“Staying? You mean living with us?” Todd stared as if he did not quite believe it.

Jennifer rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

“For a short while,” Zormna clarified, her green eyes drawing Todd back in.

He blushed.

Zormna immediately followed Jennifer to the attic.

But she needn’t have bothered. At the door, Jennifer’s mother quickly took the blanket from her daughter then shooed both girls to go outside.

“Go see if you can get those documents you need, and a pillow. Or at least find out if there is a phone number on the door for someone to call so you can get a look at the house. ”

They knew that was an order.

With another nod to Todd as they passed him, Zormna and Jennifer trotted back to the stairs and down.

*

Todd watched them both, leaning way over the banister for one final look at Zormna’s curvature.

He whistled low, shaking his head. Going straight to the attic, he ducked his head in to see what was happening inside. Already it had the semblance of a room, including a rug set on the floor in the middle of the narrow floor space.

“Holy cow, Mom, what is going on?”

She stopped what she was doing. She had been folding down the top edge of the blanket and spreading it neatly. Turning, she gave a vague shrug. “Doing a favor.”

He lifted his eyebrows at her. His cool blue eyes inspected his mother with skepticism. “You guys don’t even like it when my friends come over. Not even Brian. So why are you letting her? Not that I’m complaining. She’s hot, but—”

“Todd.” Mrs. McLenna dropped the peach suit Zormna had handed her onto a cedar chest she had pushed to the end of the bed. Her expression had turned grave. “I don’t want you to get emotionally attached to that girl. This is just a favor, and temporary.”

“Yeah, but why?” he asked again, peering at his mother. “You never help out anybody.”

His mother took her time to answer.

“Maybe we’ve decided to take Pastor Davis’s challenge to be a more loving neighbor,” his mother suggested.

Todd rolled his eyes and turned to go back out. It wasn’t likely that was the real reason.

“Just think of her as a sister. Ok?”

At that, he snorted. Todd hopped back down the attic steps into the hall then went back to the bathroom. When he stepped in, his foot settled into the veritable lake on the tile. Most of it was around the toilet.

He groaned, pulling his foot out and shaking it off. “Man! A sister? That’s the last thing I need! And one of them better come back to clean this up!”

Chapter Two: The Nut’s House

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Dig a well before you are thirsty”—Chinese proverb—

 

 

Jennifer led Zormna up the street from her house. As she went, she attempted to engage Zormna in conversation to make sure she was following as Zormna seemed to be a veritable ADHD kid when it came to the outside neighborhood. By then, the resonance of mowers around the neighborhood had died down to a distant hum.

“So,” Jennifer said, walking at a moseying pace alongside the distracted blonde, “Mom says we ought to try to find a way into the house to snag a few pillows. I mean, it’s your aunt’s place, so it isn’t exactly stealing.”

Zormna didn’t react. Her eyes were up, gazing at the blue sky overhead. Then they flickered to the budding green leaves on the trees and down to the houses and green lawns. A wind blew smoothly through the boughs, bringing on it the aroma of cinnamon and warm sugar. Someone had to be baking cookies, or perhaps making marshmallow Rice-crispy squares for a Saturday snack. The cinnamon wind rustled the leaves. The hush of white noise caressed past their faces, twisting up Zormna’s random curls in a way that made it look like fire. The pair of longer strands swayed unevenly under her chin. And the wind carried away Jennifer’s thoughts.

Since she got no response from Zormna, Jennifer eventually decided silence was better after all. It was a nice day. She could just drink in the sun and the sweet aromas on the air. It had been a while when she last really enjoyed a quiet walk.

But then Zormna stopped on the sidewalk, cursing under her breath.

Jennifer looked back.

Tangled around the blonde’s slender fingers, Zormna fought the drawstring to her pants—attempting to tie it again in a sensible, non-shifting knot. Her mouth twisted from its perfect bow shape into something almost comical.

“Having trouble?” Jennifer raised one eyebrow, or tried to. She had always wanted that clever look on her face. Unfortunately her eyebrows always acted in tandem.

“Yes.” Zormna petulantly lifted her eyes from her task. “I am sorry I am delaying you. I do not usually use strings to hold up my clothes.”

Jennifer struggled not to laugh. Coughing to clear it, she said, “That seems to be happening a lot lately. Tell me. Is Ireland really that different from here?”

The blonde’s eyes flickered to Jennifer’s