The Town Read Online Free Page A

bathroom in an outhouse. And instead of taking a bath or a shower, people used banyas. ”
    “Not all people,” Gregory amended.
    “Russians,” Julia said. “Americans filled up tubs with water or took sponge baths, but Russians used the banya. The women and girls would all go in at once, and the men and boys would all go in later.”
    “They were all naked?” Teo giggled.
    Julia smiled. “Yes. They sat around on benches and heated rocks in a fire and put them in the middle of the floor and poured water over them to make steam. The steam cleaned the skin, and they used eucalyptus branches to lightly slap their back and chest and legs.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it smelled good. And they thought it helped open the pores and get them even cleaner. Afterward, they’d go down to a stream or a river and rinse off with cold water.”
    “So it’s just like a steam bath,” Sasha said.
    “Yes,” Julia agreed. “Like a steam bath.”
    “And we have one?” Adam grinned. “That’s cool.”
    “Dork,” Sasha said, hitting him with her elbow.
    “I used to do it myself,” Gregory said.
    Sasha grimaced. “That’s gross. I don’t even want to think about it.”
    Gregory and Julia laughed, and they followed the moving truck off the interstate and onto the highway that led to McGuane.
     
    It was an hour or so later when his mother suddenly let out a Russian oath. There was a hint of panic or fear in her voice, and Gregory quickly turned around to make sure she was okay, that nothing was wrong.
    A stricken look had come over her face. “Jedushka Di Muvedushka,” she said.
    Oh, no, he thought.
    He fixed her with a glare and shook his head, indicating the kids, before turning back around to face the road.
    She paid no attention to his hints. “You don’t ask him to come, do you?”
    He sighed, not knowing whether to argue with her or humor her. “I forgot,” he said.
    “Jedooshka Dee—what?” Adam asked.
    “Muvedushka. Moo-VEH-doosh-ka.”
    “What’s that?”
    “He’s the Owner of the House.” His mother’s voice sounded pinched and strained.
    “It’s a Russian”— Superstition, he’d been about to say—“tradition,” he said instead. He’d never been able to make his mother understand that he and Julia did not hold the same beliefs she did, that they had purposely kept their children from many of them, and he shot Julia a glance of apology.
    She nodded, understanding.
    “Is my fault,” his mother said in the back. “I should have told you. Should have remind you.”
    “It’s okay,” Gregory said.
    “It’s okay,” Julia repeated.
    “I should have known. I should have ask him to come myself.”
    “Why?” Adam said.
    “He’s the Owner of the House. He protect you. He make sure everyone in the house is safe and healthy, that nothing happen to you. You ask him to come with you so he protect you in new house.”
    “You mean he’s been living with us all the time?”
    She nodded. “That is why nothing bad ever happen.”
    “What’s he look like?”
    “A little man with the beard.”
    “Where does he live? In the attic? Or under the house?”
    “He live where you cannot see him.”
    “I’m scared!” Teo announced.
    “If he came with us, would he ride in the van or would he ride on the roof? Is he invisible?”
    “I’m sacred!”
    “Mother,” Gregory said sternly.
    She put an arm around Teo. “No. Not scary. Good. He there to protect you, keep you safe.” She smiled. “My father saw him one time. We live in Mexico, on the farm, and Father went to feed the horses. At night. Little man was standing there giving hay to the horses. And Father watch and he came and told Mother, ‘Jedushka Di Muvedushka feeding the horses.’ He don’t get scared, nothing. In the morning we go look, the horses’ hair all braided. So beautiful! All their hair braided.” She shot Gregory a defiant look. “So there is such a thing.”
    “You weren’t scared?” Teo asked.
    “No. Not scary.