Page 64 of It's You
“Well, if you were goin’ to test the psychoactive nature of it, I’d suggest mixin’ it with somethin’ acidic, like fresh orange juice. You could bring a reaction to the olivetol with the essential oil from an orange peel in the presence of phosphoryl chloride. Or just react the olivetol with a-pinene, maybe.”
“And that is why it will always be impossible for me to call you anything but Miss Kendrick,” Darcy said without a shred of irony.
The older woman chuckled. “Somethin’ else too, as long as we’re on the subject of things you can synthesize and smoke illegally…we been so busy with your lichen sample, we been ignoring theLycopodium,the clubmoss. Now, I’ve been readin’ up, and this stuff is like a super drug. Relief for arthritis, rheumatism, and other complaints.”
She pulled a small tray closer to the front of the table, and Darcy leaned over it with a magnifying glass.
Miss Kendrick continued with a smile in her voice. “Native Americans called it Lost-in-the-Woods because, in addition to the positive implications, it gave them a fuzzy, confused head if they dried it and smoked it. Which, of course, they did.”
“Of course. What’s the common name of this one? I know it’s aLycopodium clavatum,but…”
Miss Kendrick squinted over the sample. “Uh? That there’s called wolf’s-foot clubmoss. Also called wolf’s-paw.”
“Hmm…” All roads lead to wolves today, she thought to herself, admiring the lime-green color of the tall moss. “I have to teach in twenty minutes. Will you gather together a few samples for me? TheParmeliaceaeand theLycopodium clavatum? I’m going to take them back with me.”
“Aren’t you stayin’ over tonight, Darcy, honey?”
Darcy took a deep breath. Although her anxiety had lessened since going inside at the launch and with the company of Miss Kendrick, she still felt a strong pull to return home.
Why, Darcy? Jack’s gone until Thursday. What’s the point? Staying here will make the time go faster than waiting around at home for him to return.
“Have dinner with me at my place, sugar?” asked Miss Kendrick, with a wide, warm smile.
“You convinced me. I’ll stay. I’d love to have dinner tonight.”
Darcy kissed the older woman’s cheek and hurried so she wouldn’t be late for class.
It had beenthe right choice to have dinner with her friend. Miss Kendrick entertained her with stories about the Dartmouthfaculty, and Darcy ended up staying with her friend instead of seeking a room in visiting faculty housing. Miss Kendrick’s guest bedroom had the added benefit of housing several species of violets, which greeted Darcy cheerfully in the morning. She considered staying over on Tuesday night too, but the pull to return to Carlisle was still on the spectrum of exhausting. She knew Jack wouldn’t return until Thursday morning, but she thought that he probably wouldn’t mind if she collected some samples in his woods while he was away, and even the thought of being at his house without him made her feel closer to him.
She had committed to dinner with one of the chemistry professors on Tuesday night, which meant a late start home, and Darcy hadn’t been able to leave the campus until after nine o’clock. Still, the dinner had been worthwhile. She had discussed synthesizing the lichen and clubmoss samples to see if they had useful medicinal properties, and Professor Jenkins had walked her through a rough sequence of steps for optimal integration. She wondered if the calming properties of the olivetol mixed with the healing properties of the clubmoss might make for an herbal remedy of sorts. But she could continue all of her research at home and consult with Willow, of course.
Darcy scratched at her arm again as she made her way through the dark roads toward home. She had been surprised to find mild blisters raised all over her body on Monday evening as she was getting ready for bed. She remembered what Willow had said, that if blisters raised, it was a burn, not a rash. And while it was just about impossible that it was a sunburn, Darcy’s mind had wandered, trying to figure out what other sort of burn it could be. If it wasn’t radiation, perhaps it was chemical? But, no, Darcy hadn’t come into contact with any chemicals. Thermal, then? Electrical? None of it made sense.
Her ah-ha moment came a few minutes later. Of course. Poison Ivy. The answer to the riddle: Name a rash that blisters.She must have come into contact with it in the woods. She would reconfirm with Willow, but, of course, that must be what it was. Much relieved with at least one answer to the many mysteries of her relationship with Jack, Darcy turned on the radio and let Mozart be her companion until she arrived home.
The house wasdark when Darcy got there, which wasn’t altogether unusual, as Willow was often at her office in town until quite late. That and she was one of the few remaining doctors on the face of the earth who made house calls, so it was possible she was checking on a patient or delivering a baby. That Willow’s car was in the driveway meant she was probably at her office, though, since it was walkable from home.
Darcy picked through the mail on the kitchen counter, then opened the freezer to find a carton of Ben & Jerry’s. She cradled it against her elbow, rummaging in the dishwasher for a spoon. She set the ice cream on the window seat, wandered upstairs to change into her pajamas, then curled up in the picture window to eat her treat and wait for her friend. It wasn’t a long wait until she heard a car pull into the driveway.
Now, this is interesting. Someone’s driving her home at midnight? Why didn’t she take her car?
Darcy hopped off the window seat, walking into the kitchen where she had a better view of the driveway. She gasped as she realized it was Amory’s truck, with “Turner Contracting” written in bold letters on the side and Amory’s logo, a log cabin beside a fir tree, reflecting in the porch light.
Well, well, well.Darcy hurried back to the window seat, and after a few minutes, she heard the back door open and close.
As Willow walked through the living room toward the stairs?—
“So,” said Darcy. “You and Amory?”
Willow jumped a foot, placing a hand over her heart.
“AHRGH! Darcy? What are you doing? Scaring people to death in the dark! Why are you home? You never come back until Wednesday.” Willow plopped down on the window seat beside Darcy, giving her an angry look. She held out her wrist. “Feel my pulse. Feel it!”
“Well, now, Icouldfeel it, Will, but how would I know which Turner child was the cause of its thumping?” She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows.
“And what’s that?Myice cream? Nice. On top of everything, you’re eatingmyice cream. I’m getting a spoon.”
Willow returned with a spoon and curled up on the window seat across from Darcy in the moonlight. She held out her hand.
