It was Monday and Stella’s was crowded. Cars lined the street and the parking lot was full. Brianna frowned, disappointed at herself for not picking a more suitable day. Before going inside, she walked around back, and took a look at the orchard. She saw the trees had retained a smattering of avocados even during the winter. She stood there for a few moments, thinking about Alexa Bartlett and what she had said. Then her frown turned into a hard determination and she walked around the store and in through the automatic door.
She picked up a wooden basket, and surveyed the polished redwood stained interior. It seemed everywhere she turned she saw people with serious expressions on their faces -- a product of the cold day. She walked around for several minutes, looking at the long row of various types of avocados along the back wall. She wondered if her actions would draw any attention. Her attire -- blue jeans and green winter coat -- was as unassuming as could be. She walked over to the Hass Avocados and picked one up. She lifted up the plywood that held the large tray of avocados, and she looked underneath. If anyone asked what she was doing, she would claim she had dropped an earring.
____
Isabel sat at the spruce wood dining table, having gotten Aba Brule’s number from 411 information. The number was written on a post-it and Rey was holding the phone in his hand breathing in nervously.
“Find out if Alexa killed Spring,” Isabel said to Rey.
Rey nodded. “Okay.”
Rey dialed the number and listened to the ringing. Isabel could hear it from where she sat. Finally, someone picked up.
“Hello?” It sounded like Aba.
“Aba Brule?”
“Speaking.”
“This is Rey Naresh.”
“I thought I might hear from you, Rey. I think it’s safe to say you’re not an Avocadite. Frank was right. You have a kind and caring heart. You don’t run from a challenge.”
“Aba. We’re pretty confused.”
“Well, why don’t you tell me where you are with things.”
“We know Frank Brule was the janitor who let Spring into school to deliver the avocado to Alexa.”
“Did you speak to Jocelyn?”
“Yeah. Me and Christy drove there.”
“I am impressed, Rey. And I don’t say that often. But the easy part is over. Now, you’ll have to complete the journey.”
“What about Spring’s journey? What didn’t Jocelyn tell us? How did Spring die?”
“If you recall from the article I sent you, Jocelyn hired Spring a tutor after Spring left Pemota High.”
“I remember.”
“By then Spring had met Frank and the two of them became close friends. Frank had her over for dinner at our place several times. It was then I learned some of the details of what Alexa was doing to Spring. Spring made us promise that we would never confront Alexa and that we’d support her in whatever she decided to do. We both promised.”
Isabel said quietly, “How did she die?”
Rey said to Aba, “How did Spring die?”
“The tutor brought Spring into school over Christmas break. Frank let them into school and told them to lock up on their way out. Well, Spring wasn’t coming out. The tutor locked Spring in the cafeteria. Alexa came over the loudspeaker and told Spring there were thirty five bottles of avocado juice in crates left over from the first one hundred she put in the cafeteria.”
“Jocelyn said it was called A Bottle of Avocado Juice, from Spring.”
“Alexa told Spring she had two days to drink all thirty five bottles or else Alexa would kill her. She left a pad of paper on a table and a pen so Spring could write a suicide note.
“Did she?”
“Spring had different idea. She drew three pictures. One was a picture of a field of decaying avocados. Another was a picture of a gerbil on a Ouija Board. And the third was a picture of the house with the turret. On each picture she wrote a date. That’s how I knew to send you the letter on December 3rd – the day you put the gerbil on the Ouija Board. She folded the drawings up and put them under a lid in the heater in the corner of the room. Then she started to drink the drink.”
“What’s the deal with the drink?”
“It’s lemon juice because that’s the taste of decaying avocados. And purple, because purple is the supposed color of enlightenment.”
“She’s making fun of Spring,” Rey confirmed.
Isabel shook her head. “Unbelievable.”
“Yes. Spring died when halfway through the bottles of Avocadonine. Frank thinks one of the bottles was laced with an untraceable poison. I think Spring’s entire being just left, all the electromagnetic energy going into the Avocadonine.”
“So what happened then?”
“Alexa brought Spring outside and left her on the track. The medics thought that was where she died. Frank knew differently. But we’d made Spring a promise. And we both intended on keeping it. Frank decided to show Alexa the drawings, thinking he and I didn’t have enough power to make the images come to fruition. Alexa told Frank briefly what she’d done and they’ve been watching the results ever since.”
“The Avocadites. You made it all up. Just to get me this far?”
“Frank and I are both full of Avocadonine. Spring is guiding us, speaking through us. But she doesn’t speak often because it takes too much energy. Or she thinks it does anyway.”
“Why me, Aba?”
“Frank mentioned you, a long time ago, saw you around town, said you cared and that you were a fighter. When I heard your class was making the trip to Mount Monadnock, I put up the psychic advisor sign, and told myself whoever came back, we’d go with. I was glad when it turned out to be you. Spring tells us things from time to time – words, phrases. Understanding tends to be a guessing game. Frank and I are getting re-married in May. He’s in Pemota and wants to stay there with you until everything is resolved. ”
“So what’s next?”
“Frank says there’s a basement. You get to it through the janitor’s closet. We’ve seen what happens to people who drink the drink. A light comes into their eyes. That’s how Alexa realized it was more than just lemon juice and purple dye. There is a vat of Avocadonine at the electric company. Because of the electromagnetic energy of the Avocadonine, it’s affecting the town’s electricity. Alexa has thought of every single use for the Avocadonine possible and the electromagnetic energy it contains.”
“Did Spring steal the Gold Avocado?”
“Yes. Alexa is still looking for it.”
“Where is it?”
“I won’t tell. The psychics are listening. You need to find it on your own.” There was a short silence. “Remember I told you hope is the thing with feathers? It remains to be seen if it’s because it soars … or because it flies away.”
----
Brianna examined the three two by fours underneath the Hass Avocados. She put her hand beneath each one and combed it, hoping to find something stuck underneath. Nothing. She put the plywood board down, and the avocados back into their normal positions. From across the store a woman was watching her suspiciously. Brianna gave her a little smile and then scanned the rest of the avocado labels. Rey had said Huxley and Der wrote “a Hass Avocado” on the parking lot with sticks. If her guess was right, it was Spring manipulating them. She was guessing it was a clue.
There, at the end of the row of avocado varieties was another box of Hass Avocados. Only the writing that indicated the variety was written in purple. Brianna made her way over to the avocados -- these were in the corner, the plywood triangular. She set her wooden basket down and looked around. The suspi
cious woman had turned her attention elsewhere. Brianna lifted up the plywood and saw there was only one two-by-four. She ran her hand underneath it and … then she found it. There was something taped on. Her heart thumping, she scratched the tape and got it loose. She peeled off the tape, making sure not to drop anything. It was a key. On the tape was written: “For Rey Naresh.”
She pocketed it and walked out of the store. The Chevy Equinox was parked at the end of the street. She needed to take the train back to Leander in an hour. That would give her enough time. She drove off, out of South Pemota, and downtown. The day was cold and she dreaded getting out of the car. The Pemota Post Office was located on Pleasant St. She parked, went inside, and stood there for a few moments, just looking around the post office, wondering if her hunch would pay off. Then she took a breath and walked over to the post office boxes. She found the L’s. Then she scanned them. She found L-95. She put the key in the slot and turned. It opened. And there, inside, was Spring’s Gold Avocado.
It was light gold, shiny. Brianna took it out and put it in the inside pocket of her jacket. She locked the box and stood up. She looked around to see if there was anyone watching. A man with a Fedora checked his mail, seemingly oblivious. Across the room, in the corner, a woman flipped through a set of envelopes focused on the task. Brianna turned, took another deep breath, and walked towards the door. As she exited, two Mercedes E-class sedans pulled up to the opposite curbs surrounding her. A big man in a black overcoat got out of the one to Brianna’s diagonal right. Brianna turned and began walking quickly in the opposite direction. But then the door on the other Mercedes opened and another man got out. He didn’t look friendly.
----
“Go find the basement at Pemota High. Then you’ll understand everything,” Aba said.
“How do you get into it?” Rey asked.
“Frank told me he’ll leave the door to the janitor’s closet unlocked. Once you’re in the janitor’s closet you’ll see a bottle of Lysol and a dishrag. You pull on the Lysol, then the dishrag, and then the dishrag again. It will open a door with an elevator inside.”
“Anything else we should know?”
Aba didn’t say anything for a short time. Then she said, “Good luck. You’re gonna need it.” She hung up.
Rey looked at Isabel’s fearful look in her eye. They both knew now for sure that Alexa was a psychopath.
----
Brianna was being held at gun point. The man in the black overcoat had put a gun to her stomach and ushered her into the Mercedes. “I believe you have Spring’s Gold Avocado in your possession,” he’d said. “Come with me.” Then once she was in the car he patted her down and withdrew the Gold Avocado from her jacket. Now, he had his gun on her and he hit the driver on the shoulder. “Get us outta here.”
His cell-phone rang and he pulled it out of his jacket and flipped it open.
“You got the avocado?” Alexa asked.
“Yeah. We’ve got it.”
“Bring the avocado to the electric company. Bring Brianna to the C-room. They’ll never look for her there. And don’t let her out of your sight.”