Page 22 of Ice Falls
Molly knew this avoidance technique of Lila’s. “Don’t sunshine-bomb me. I have real questions.”
Lila’s radiance subsided, as if she had a dimmer switch for her exuberance. “That’s fair. Go ahead.”
“Why are you using a cow name instead of your real name?”
“It’s not a cow name! My middle name is Elizabeth, it’s just a variation.”
“The point is, you’re incognito here. Why?” Molly took one more sip from the Thermos and realized she’d emptied it. Damnit, there’d better be more coffee in this town.
Lila played with the ends of her scarf. “Okay, I’ll explain everything but then let’s go outside. It’s too beautiful to be stuck in here. Don’t you remember when we used to have snow days from school now and then? We’d go sledding on that hill behind the school.”
“I remember. I used a garbage can lid and got in trouble for it. I do believe my mother was opposed to all forms of fun that didn’t involve alcohol. She took it as a personal affront if you enjoyed yourself sober. Back to your name. What’s the story?” Molly was an expert at not getting lost in a tangent.
Lila sighed. “When I got here, no one knew who I was, obviously. I thought it would be a good chance to…be someone new.”
“What’s wrong with being Lila? Lila is a pretty amazing person.”
“Lila is…always different. She’s always a little bit off. But here…” Lila flung her arms wide to encompass the entire town…or maybe the mountain range, or the state. “Everyone’s a little off here, so it doesn’t matter! I can be normal because there is no normal. So I thought I’d try out a different name for a while.”
“I guess I understand,” Molly said slowly. It made her sad to think that Lila was disowning herself, in a way. But she knew how rocky things got for her when she tried to fit in with “normal” conventions like scheduled work shifts and consistent appointments. Growing up, they’d all been misfits in their own way. Molly had run as far as she could from the poverty and humiliation of her childhood. If she could claim a life as a Manhattan lawyer, Lila could try out being “Bessie the bartender” for a while. “But I don’t know if I can remember to call you Bessie. I’ll try my best.”
“Don’t worry too much about it. I can always explain it away, if anyone even notices. Scooter from the cabbage farm decided he didn’t like that name anymore, and told everyone to call him Earnest. No one blinked.”
“How long have you been here? You talk as if you’d lived here for years.”
“It feels that way, but it’s been about six weeks. I arrived on April Fools Day. I considered using the name April, but there’s already an April here. She’s getting Fire Peak Lodge ready to open at the end of the month.”
Lila really did seem to know everyone; maybe in a town this size it didn’t take long.
“What made you come here? How did you even hear about this place?”
“I…well, the truth is, I read an article about it online. The article was about some of the wild things that have happened here in the past. Some pretty bad things, actually. Half of the town burned down in the nineteen-forties. And then there was the murder spree in the eighties.”
“The what?”
“Oh, don’t look like that. Murders happen everywhere. Come on, put some clothes on and we’ll go outside in the snow and I’ll tell you all about the gory murders.”
“You do realize that’s not a selling point, right?”
“I don’t know. I like a morbid past. Frontier Gothic, I call it. The place where I live has a dress that belonged to one of the murder victims.”
“Where do you live?”
“You’ll see, and you’re going to love it. You’re going to stay with me, of course.”
“Do you have Wi-Fi?”
“No. But I have ghost stories. Come on, let’s go! I can’t wait for you to see the snow.”
11
Outside, Molly slipped on her sunglasses against the glare of sun on snow. She tried not to think about what all that wetness was doing to her boots, and hauled in long breaths of the freshest air she’d ever inhaled. It was intoxicating, and made her think of those oxygen bars in Manhattan and other cities. People paid good money for a dose of the air that was floating around here for free.
Would it be possible to get drunk on this air? She wouldn’t be surprised, finding herself giddy after just a few breaths. She couldn’t wait to unpack her running shoes and try out some of the trails. Maybe after the snow melted.
The snow was beautiful, she had to admit that, a soft feathery veil of white under their feet, atop the trees, the road, the buildings. As they strolled down the quiet road, Lila picked up a handful snow with her mittened hands and blew it into the air for the wind to catch hold of. It swirled away in a ribbon of glistening light.
“Can you hear its music?” Molly asked abruptly. “It looks like it’s dancing to a song.”