Now Playing: The Witch of Cooper, Arizona
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Episode Eleven concluded with:
“I always do wrong. I
make people mad at me.”
The response did not surprise Judy. Vicki Burke frequently switched topics
while talking. “That’s not true Vicki, why—”
“Yes it is! I tried hard to do everything right. The trick with the magic box
seemed to make people happy, but Uncle Lamar is mad at me because I went into
the special place.”
Dozens of questions began to pound in Judy Martin’s mind but she had to be
cautious. Vicki often turned silent when confronted with questions which caused
her discomfort. The preacher’s wife spoke casually, “Vicki, where is the
special place?”
Tears were still visible on the girl’s cheeks but a mischievous look flashed in
her eyes. Vicki’s moods often changed rapidly. “I’m not supposed to tell. Uncle
Lamar will get mad at me.”
Judy responded with a playful gleam. The two women laughed together.
“Most everyone is still asleep,” Vicki
whispered. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
Episode Twelve
The
two women left Vicki’s room and walked down a long hallway, which ended at a
door to the kitchen. As she closed the kitchen door behind her, Vicki motioned
for Judy to follow her as she walked past the large stove and went outside
through a back door. Vicki continued walking.
“Are we going far?” Judy Martin was
beginning to question her own wisdom in seeking out the special place. To her
right was a bunkhouse. She hoped all of the hands were sleeping.
Vicki pointed at another building,
straight ahead, that was new but hastily constructed. The place was far too
short and long to be a barn or stable. The small window in the front was too
dirty to reveal anything inside.
“That’s the special place!” Vicki
spoke in an excited whisper. “The smell is really strange.”
A few steps further along, Judy did
smell an odor, but it wasn’t too strange. It was a smell she encountered every
week when she wrote up the church news and carried it over to Silas Hume at the
Cooper Herald. But Lamar Burke would
not be putting out a newspaper.
Vicki began to giggle as she ran to
the building, opened the door, looked inside and turned back to the pastor’s
wife. “There’s no one here! Come on, I’ll show you the magic.”
Judy followed Vicki into the
building, which was dominated by a printing press, larger than the one at the
Herald. Vicki playfully ran toward a table holding flour sacks. “Want to see
some magic?”
Judy carefully looked the place over
as she joined her companion. What would a rancher be doing with such a fine
printing press?
Tomorrow: Episode Thirteen of The Witch of Cooper, Arizona
