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adventurous meant that Ian’s girlfriend
wanted to climb a mountain or run with the bulls.
    “ I know!” Ian exclaimed in
a self-righteous tone.
    “ That’s for a man to
decide,” Mom continued. “If he wants to take on adventures, and
wishes for her to do the same, then it’s one thing.”
    “ I tried explaining that to
her,” Ian said. “In all things, a woman is supposed to support a
man and submit to him. I don’t know what’s wrong with being normal.
I don’t need adventure.”
    “ Certainly not,” my mother
said. “A good man like you. Who knows what she even has in mind?
You don’t need things like animals being involved. That could be
dangerous.”
    “ Animals?” Ian said in
horror.
    I jammed my hands over my mouth so
they wouldn’t hear me laughing. I was still standing behind the
door between the kitchen and the dining room. I didn’t want them to
find out I was listening in.
    “ Sure. Animals. Why not?”
my mother said.
    “ I don’t think she would go
that far,” Ian protested.
    “ Something with a bear,”
Mom said. “That would be adventurous.”
    “ A bear?” Ian’s voice was
barely a squeak.
    “ Who knows? Adventurous. I
don’t even like the word. In the water, in the air, who
knows?”
    “ I didn’t even think of all
of this,” Ian said weakly.
    “ You had better consider
it,” Mom said. I heard her chair scrape on the hardwood floor as
she pushed it back and stood. “I better check and see what’s going
on with my lazy daughter. Coffee isn’t that hard to
make.”
    I hurried to the machine and pulled
the full pot out from under it. I was pouring the first cup when
Mom came in.
    “ Laurel, what’s taking you
so long?” she asked.
    “ Sorry,” I said, still
giggling.
    We filled three cups together and went
back out.
    “ Now here’s an adventurous
one,” my mother said to Ian.
    I snorted a quick bark of
laughter.
    Ian’s face went white. “She
is?”
    “ Oh yes,” Mom said. “Very.
She knows I don’t approve at all, but that’s never stopped
her.”
    “ What? You know that she
is?” Ian asked.
    “ Of course. When she was
younger, and had her friends over, she was up late at night, being
adventurous. I don’t think she knows this, but I could hear it from
my bedroom. This and that, all over the room. On the bed, and then
off the bed, trying to climb the wall. It never ended.”
    Ian stared at me in shock. “I didn’t
know.”
    “ Oh yes, I’m quite
adventurous, Ian,” I said. “No boring stuff for me.” Of course, I
knew that Mom was referring to the time I had friends over and we
rehearsed for a school play, but Ian had an entirely different
idea.
    “ One time she went out into
the bush to be adventurous,” Mom said.
    Ian’s mouth fell open. “In the bush?
You don’t mean outside?”
    “ Well, of course,” my
mother said.
    “ I got leaves everywhere,”
I told Ian.
    Ian jumped to his feet. “Thank you for
dinner,” he said suddenly. “I have to go.”
    My mother and I watched as Ian hurried
toward the front door.
    “ What has gotten into him?”
my mother asked.
    “ I think he heard the call
for adventure,” I said.
     
     

Chapter 5

    I sat staring at the Sydney paper, at
the article by Bob Hendry to be precise. He had mentioned the
celebrity funerals only in passing. The whole piece was a
sensationalist thriller exposé about the fact that there had been
two murders at the funeral home.
    As Sydney was a good six hours away
and had several major newspapers, I thought that the story would
not filter down to Witch Woods. I was wrong.
    The phone rang.
    “ Witch Wood Funeral Home?”
a voice snapped.
    “ Yes,” I said.
    “ This is Henrietta McCourt.
We had a wake booked for Thursday.”
    “ Yes, Mrs. McCourt,” I
said.
    “ I’m sorry, but I have to
cancel. I’ve decided to go elsewhere.”
    I took a deep breath. “Could you tell
me why?”
    There was a lengthy silence on the
other end of the phone, and I thought for a minute