Cutler 05 - Darkest Hour

whenever there's rabbit being served."
    But occasionally, Henry would get a skunk in one of his traps instead of a rabbit. He would come along with a sack and throw it over the cage. As long as the skunk was in the dark, it didn't squirt, he told me. I guess he told Emily, too. Or maybe, she just learned by watching. One time or another, she would watch everyone who lived at The Meadows as if she had been ordered to spot sinful acts.
    This skunk, obviously riled up by what had been done to it, eyed everything around it suspiciously. I tried not to move, but I was so frightened, I couldn't help but utter a cry and shift my feet. The skunk saw me and hit me full flush with its spray. I screamed and screamed and ran to the door. It was jammed shut. I had to pound and pound on it and the skunk hit me again before retreating under a cabinet. Finally, the door opened. A stick had been braced against it to keep it from opening easily. I fell out into the open air, the stench hovering all over me.
    Henry came running from a barn along with some of the other workers, but they didn't get within ten feet of me before stopping dead in their tracks and crying out with disgust. I was hysterical, whipping my arms around myself as if I was being attacked by bees instead of the stench of a skunk. Henry took a deep gulp of fresh air and then, holding his breath, came to my aid. He lifted me in his arms and ran back toward the rear of the house. There, he set me down on the landing and went charging in to fetch Louella. I heard him cry, "It's Lillian! She's been doused by a skunk real bad in the toolshed!"
    I couldn't stand myself. I started to tear off my stained dress and kicked off my shoes. Louella came rushing out with Henry and took one look and one whiff of me and cried, "Lord, have mercy!" She fanned the air in front of her and came to my side.
    "Okay, okay. Louella's gonna fix it. Don't worry. Don't worry. Henry," she ordered, "take her into the room off the pantry where the old tub's kept. I'm going to get all the tomato juice I can find," she said. Henry went to lift me again, but I told him I could walk.
    "You don't have to suffer, too," I said, covering my face with my hands.
    In the room off the pantry, I stripped off all my clothing. Louella poured every can and jar of tomato juice she could find into the tub and then had Henry go fetch some more. I bawled and sobbed as Louella washed me down with the juice. Afterward, she wrapped me in damp towels.
    "You go upstairs and take a nice bath now, honey," she said. "I'll be right along."
    I tried to hurry through the house, but my legs had turned to stone along with my heart. Mamma had taken her lunch party into the reading room where they were listening to some of her music on the Victrola and having tea. No one had heard any of the commotion outside. I thought about stopping to tell her what had happened, but decided to get myself into the tub first. The stench was still quite strong, hovering about me like a filthy cloud of smoke.
    Louella joined me in my bathroom and helped me scrub down with the sweetest smelling soaps we had, but even after all we had done, I could smell the skunk's scent.
    "It's in your hair, too, honey," she said sadly. "This shampoo ain't overcoming it."
    "What will I do, Louella?"
    "I seen this happen a few times," she said. "I'm afraid you'd best cut your hair off, honey," she said.
    "My hair!"
    My hair was my pride. I had the richest, softest hair of any girl at school. Those egg shampoos Louella and Henry had prescribed had helped. It was thick and full and down to the middle of my back. Cut off my hair? I might as well cut out my heart.
    "You can wash it forever and you never gonna be satisfied the scent's gone, honey. Every night you put your head down on that pillow, you gonna smell it and the pillowcases are gonna smell from it, too."
    "Oh, Louella, I can't cut my hair. I won't," I said defiantly. She looked glum. "I'll stay here all day washing it until it doesn't smell anymore," I said. "I will."
    I scrubbed and scrubbed and rinsed and rinsed, but every time I brought the long strands around and smelled them, the scent of the skunk was there. Almost two hours later, I rose reluctantly from the tub and went to the sink and mirror in my bathroom. Louella had been running up and down the stairs, offering me every remedy she or Henry could think up. Nothing worked. I gazed at myself. My tears had stopped but the anguish in my eyes stayed.
    "Did