aunt shyly. “Or running water?”
“We use the pump to get water,” Aunt Nadine said, “and we heat it in our fireplace, and bathe in those tin tubs. We light lanterns when it’s dark. Living simply isn’t a problem.”
Mrs. Albright set down her glass and looked at her sister kindly. “Well, then, what is the problem? We’re thrilled to be here, but we’re desperate to know why you need my help!”
Aunt Nadine sat in one rocking chair and motioned to the other. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you our tale of woe.” She rocked back and forth for a moment. “Nothing’s gone right here for a long time. It’s been this way since the war.”
“The war?” Julie frowned. The Vietnam War had ended three years ago. How could it still be causing problems in a commune in the mountains?
“I’m afraid so.” Aunt Nadine rubbed her forehead wearily. “David—my husband who wouldn’t kill a fly!—enlisted in the army.” There was a catch in her voice. “He had his reasons, but he had some awfully good reasons not to go, too. He had Raymond. And me. And this community we built. There’s been trouble here ever since.”
Raymond set his lemonade glass onto the step so hard, Julie was surprised the jar didn’t break. “I hate when you blame everything on Pa!”
“It’s been difficult,” Aunt Nadine murmured.
“I miss Pa!” Raymond said abruptly. He leaped off the porch and darted down the path, vanishing among the trees.
Julie looked at her aunt in alarm, but Aunt Nadine shook her head. “He’ll be back,” she said. “He just misses David. But he doesn’t understand.”
“I’m not sure I do, either,” Mrs. Albright said.
“We were all against the war in Vietnam, so it shocked me when David joined up.” Aunt Nadine’s voice broke. “Then he was wounded and spent months in rehabilitation trying to walk again. He couldn’t do his work here on the ranch, so he took a part-time job at the library in town. He lives in Sonora because things have been strained between us. I can’t help feeling angry.”
Julie listened, feeling troubled. Poor Raymond!
After a pause, Aunt Nadine spoke again. “Raymond visits David a couple of times a week, but it’s never enough for Raymond. He just wants his pa living here at the ranch. But David needs a desk job now. And it’s hard to work out the problems between us when there are so many other problems to solve here.”
“What kind of problems?” Mrs. Albright asked.
“Well, the biggest problem at the ranch is money. With David away in Vietnam, a lot of our members started leaving, too. Now our numbers are really down. It’s been harder to get crops planted, harder to tend the animals. We don’t have extra fruit and vegetables to sell. We don’t have enough money to pay our property taxes. And if we can’t pay, we’ll be forced to sell the land.” She sighed. “Gloomy times!”
“I’m sorry,” said Mrs. Albright.
No wonder Raymond is miserable, thought Julie. Maybe it was because they were cousins, but it was almost as if she could feel his sadness herself.
Aunt Nadine sipped her lemonade, then smiled. “Well, it’s not all gloom and doom! About three months ago, Vicky joined us. She used to be an accountant, and she’s full of plans. It was her idea to sell our honey and bread and fresh eggs to the restaurants in town. She said we could ask the shops to sell the sweaters we knit from our own sheep’s wool. Then it hit me: We’ll open our own shop!”
Aunt Nadine stopped rocking and grabbed her sister’s hand. “Joyce, you wrote about how well your shop is doing. Will you help me open a shop like Gladrags?”
Mrs. Albright smiled. “I’d be happy to.”
“It will be so great to have something good happening here. All of us are desperate to find a way to stay. But we’ve had an awful run of luck. Everything we try comes to nothing. It’s almost as if…” her voice trailed off.
“As if what?” asked Mrs. Albright.
Aunt Nadine closed her eyes. “As if…we’re under a curse.”
chapter 3
Almost Heaven
JULIE FROWNED. “WHAT kind of curse?”
Aunt Nadine rubbed her temples for a long moment, then opened her eyes. She laughed lightly. “I’m just being silly. Things will look up now that your mom’s here to help.” She turned to her sister. “Let’s think up names for our new shop!”
Julie stood up uncertainly. “Should I find Raymond?”
“When he sinks into a mood, he usually wants me to leave him alone. But maybe you’ll cheer him up!” Aunt Nadine pointed down the path. “Check the barns. That’s where he’ll be.”
Julie left the sisters and headed for the meadow. The grass was dappled with late-afternoon light that slanted through trees. The dirt path was as wide as a city sidewalk, smoothed by many feet over the years. Silence rang in Julie’s ears. She was so used to the noise of city life that the quiet was unsettling.
“Raymond?” she called, stopping at a pen outside the first barn. Inside was a large brown and white cow.
“Say hi to Mamie.” Raymond appeared suddenly at her side. His eyes were red-rimmed, but he was smiling now. “And to Buttercup, her calf. Everybody’s favorite baby!”
Julie reached over the fence and rubbed the cow’s broad, soft head. Mamie nuzzled Julie’s hand, and the calf tottered over, tail swishing. Julie rubbed Buttercup, too.
“The other cows are coming in for the night now.” Raymond pointed to the meadow, where a dozen cows were being urged toward the barn by two men who clapped their hands. “Let’s hurry, before they get here!” Grabbing Julie’s arm, Raymond tugged her through the wide barn door.
In the shadowy light, Julie could see a rope swing hanging from the rafters. A leather belt was looped around its seat to serve as a handle. Raymond grabbed the belt, pulling the swing behind him as he climbed up a ladder to a loft at one end of the barn, and then—“Bombs away!” he yelled. He leaped off the platform and soared through the air. “This is what we do for fun in the country,” he called down to her.
“Wow!” Julie laughed.
When the swing came to rest and Raymond had jumped off, Julie grabbed the belt and scrambled up the ladder. She straddled the seat and pushed off. “Bombs away!” Her stomach swooped as the long rope sent her plunging down, down, into the barn and then up, up into the air again. Down and up, and down and up, until the swing gradually slowed and Raymond took the rope for another turn.
Raymond seemed to have tossed away his cares while he rode the swing, but as the men reached the barn, he jumped off and ushered Julie out the side door. “We’ll have to help with milking if they see us!”
Julie thought it would be fun to learn to milk a cow, but after stopping briefly to pat the sheep thronging against their pen, Raymond
