Sometimes, what your characters don't say is more effective than speech.
"Children should be seen and not heard. Bryony, please
knead so I can peek at the news."
Bryony
rinsed her hands and hurried to help, not at all surprised Mrs. Parks had
yielded to temptation. Mrs. Parks was already at the table hunched over the
newspaper, reading spectacles on, face cupped in her hands.
"Leo
said it has the next installment of 'The Victor's Ghost,'" Bryony remarked
as she rolled and pushed the dough.
Mrs. Parks
didn't answer. (Before the Blood)
"So what brings you to Munsonville?" Reverend
asked, shifting his gaze to Mr. Borgstrom.
"That's
my business."
Erland took
a large fish and gave the platter to Erasmus, who took also a large fish and
passed the platter to his father.
"Owen
said you and your sons are the finest fishermen he's ever met."
The boys
glanced at each other.
Mr.
Borgstrom snorted. He took three fish and thrust the platter at Bryony. "We
do all right."
The rest of
the food went around the table in silence. (Before the Blood)
"Religion addresses life, death, and the afterlife: experiences
all men realize," Dr. Gothart said. "The underbelly of public
schooling is government indoctrination."
Dr. Gothart
looked at Mr. Betts as he relit his pipe. "And yielding to the delusion
that all children are capable of higher thought."
Mr. Betts,
already red-faced from the warm room and the alcohol, blushed harder and gulped
his port. (Before the Blood)
Her extravagance worried Mr. Parks, especially when meals
were late, and Mrs. Parks was lost in printed gossip and cheap fiction.
"Seven
cents a week, frittered away, and you neglectin' yore household dooties to fill
your head with new-fangled ideas 'stead of cookin' and cleanin' as God-fearin'
women should do."
"Orville,
it's important for modern women to know the things of the world."
Mr. Parks
thumped the wall. "Trashy serials ain't useful fax."
Puss jumped
off Mrs. Parks lap. Mrs. Parks, adrift in a sea of print, didn't react.
"Bertha,
I'm talkin' to you!" (Before the Blood)
With a harsh chuckle, Dr. Sidney Stone exclaimed, "Dr.
Gothart, do you presume yourself so skilled that you raise the dead to
life?"
"I
don't raise them," Dr. Gothart said.
There was
something menacing in the even way he spoke those words that forced Bryony
upright, scarcely breathing, straining for the next words.
"But I
do restore them."
Silence,
except the fire crackling in the hearth. (Before the Blood)
Melissa enjoyed the little girl’s company and often engaged her in
hopscotch or jump rope. John declared Melissa’s fraternization with a servant’s
child most improper, but Melissa felt sorry for Anna and insisted otherwise.
“I’m sure there’s no harm done,” Melissa insisted. “Anna has no other
playmates, and I promise to be discreet. Please reconsider?”
John did not reply, so Melissa assumed he agreed. Melissa remained true
to her word. Everyday she reserved some time for Anna, but never in the company
of the other servants, except Bryga, or occasionally, Trudi. Sometimes, they
played with dolls,
Anna’s favorite game. Anna owned two, a papier-mâché doll with a stuffed,
cloth body and a European doll fashioned from real wax. Bryga said John had
given both of them to Anna, which led Melissa to tease John over lunch.
“Fine example you are of proper behavior,” she said.
John did not reply. (Bryony)
The phone rang, and Melissa sprang to answer it, saying, “It’s probably
for me.”
It was Julie. After chatting about leeches, Melissa asked about Snowbell.
Julie hesitated, then said, “I feel a little silly now, but it sure freaked me
out at the time.”
“What happened?”
“Every time I turned around, that cat was watching me.”
Melissa twirled her fingers around the telephone cord, thinking. Julie
had no reason to lie.
“Honestly, Melissa, I’d wake up, and she’d still be staring at me. I was
a nervous wreck all weekend.” (Bryony)
Melissa inwardly groaned. She
couldn’t believe this obvious phony had duped Katie, who lit up like a firefly
at every mention of Cornell’s name.
“Oh, Melissa, you should have seen
Cornell in action during that séance. So authoritative with the spirits. So
commanding of the situation. Of course, I just had to meet him.”
“Of course,” Melissa said with a short, rueful
laugh.
“He was talking to some of the
guests while eating cake. I understood why everyone wanted to be near him, so I
patiently waited my turn. He was speaking to the last person when he looked up
and, Melissa, you won’t believe this, he saw me. Cornell Dyer noticed me.”
Melissa absently swirled the
remaining tea in her cup. She felt like throwing up. (Visage)
At school Monday, Karla was leaning against his
locker, waiting for him.
“I
threw away the mandrake root,” she said, avoiding his eyes.
“Move.”
Karla
meekly stepped aside, and John-Peter flung open the door. “Good. You ruined
it.”
“Can
you get me another? I’ll let you carve it.”
“I can’t do Curtis Chandler justice.”
Karla
blushed and bowed her head. “I didn’t mean for it come out that way. It’s just
that.…”
Her
voice trailed off. John-Peter slammed the door and spun the dial, but, as he
turned to leave, Karla caught his sleeve.
“John-Peter,
have you ever been in love?”
His
mouth went dry. He dropped a door and asked in a low voice, “Why do you ask?”
“Because
I think I’m in love with Curtis Chandler.”
The
boy flinched as if she had punched him, but he only said, “Shouldn’t you be
telling this to Curtis?”
“I wanted to know what you thought. We used to
tell each other everything.”
Karla’s
voice broke, and John-Peter glanced at the crowd of students filling the hall.
He hated Mondays. (Staked!)
