Chapter Eight: The Curse of Doom
Felicia leaned back in her recliner, a frustrated look etched into her face. "Now let me get this straight, Thumbsie. You ended up buying the painting that you thought Jonathon really wanted—but which he really didn’t want— for the outrageous price of ten thousand dollars, and he ended up buying that stupid ‘Hand of Doom' painting for a measly five hundred dollars. Am I right?”
Mr. Thumbs shrugged and lifted his cup of coffee to his mouth. "Technically, yes. That's what happened. And I know you don't approve of what I did, Felicia, but I'm sure it will all work out in our favor in the end."
Felicia leaned forward eagerly. "But how? How? What makes you think that ridiculous 'Acorn Rising' painting is worth that kind of money? And don't tell it's because Jonathon wanted it because he obviously didn’t.”
"Okay, okay,” Thumbs said, nodding his head slowly, “I can't explain right now why Jonathon decided at the last minute not to bid on 'Acorn Rising’ and went for that absurd ‘Hand of Doom' painting instead, but there's got to be an logical explanation.”
"Oh, really? I'm having a real hard time seeing any logic in any of this," said Felicia, collapsing back into her chair.
"I'll admit it's not obvious right now, but that strange lady who was bidding against me clearly thought that 'Acorn Rising’ had a lot of value."
"Yes, what about that strange lady? I never got a good look at her. You said her veil came off when she jumped up to make that last bid?"
"Yes...very strange behavior indeed. And then she covered her face and dashed off, just like she was hiding some terrible deformity."
"Or hiding something else," said Felicia thoughtfully.
"Well, don't concern yourself about her," said Thumbs confidently. "In the end the 'Acorn Rising’ will turn out to be a very valuable painting and ‘The Hand of Doom' will turn out to be worthless."
"Not to mention extremely scary looking," Felicia said with a shudder. "Jonathon’s got that painting hung up on the wall in the downstairs living room. The thing looks really creepy if you ask me. And another thing…do you realize that ever since that ‘Doom’ painting has been in the house, strange things have started to happen?”
Thumbs narrowed his eyes. “Strange things? What sort of strange things”?
“Just this morning I was looking for my car keys and they were gone…completely gone.”
Thumbs rolled his eyes. “Felicia, you’re always losing your car keys. It happens every day.”
“Sure,” replied Felicia, her eyes widening. “But this time they reappeared in the cat’s litter box.”
“Do you still have that cat? I thought you got rid of him months ago.”
“I did, but I haven’t gotten around to removing the litter box.”
“Oh Felicia, that’s disgusting!”
“Hey! I’m not the bad guy here! It’s that painting! And this morning, every clock in my bedroom had stopped! Every one of them!”
“Yeah, I think the current may have gone off during the night…”
“No! That’s not it!” demanded Felicia. “It’s that crazy painting! I tell you we’re under a curse.”
“Really, Felicia? A curse? That sounds a little overly dramatic, don’t you think?”
“It’s true, I tell you! Remember what the newspaper said? Think about it. Hasn’t anything weird happened to you lately?”
“Weird? Nothing weirder than usual that I can think of unless…wait a minute. Now that you mention it, some of my computer files seemed to have disappeared this morning. In fact, I’m missing quite a few. They just disappeared! Poof! Right into mid-air.”
“See! That’s what I’m talking about! Strange things are happening and it’s all because of that evil painting downstairs. We’ve got to get it out of this house before something even more terrible happens.”
“But how could the painting…”
“Because it contains the evil spirits of all of old man Diggersby’s enemies! The ones he was trying to do in by giving them the painting in the first place.”
Thumbs stroked his chin thoughtfully. “It’s true that the painting seems to have brought bad luck to all the people he gave it to.”
“It’s not just bad luck,” Felicia responded urgently. “It ruined them! The newspaper implied that some of them probably died as the result of possessing that painting.”
Thumbs furled his brow and clenched his fists. “Do you know what, Felicia? I think you’re on to something. I think you’re absolutely right about that painting. It is evil! It’s haunted by Diggersby…or the ghosts of his enemies…or somebody!”
Felicia nodded her head eagerly. “And it’s going to be the death of us if we don’t get it out of this house as soon as possible.”
“Right!” roared Thumbs. “And I’m going to see to it right away.”
“So have you heard about Thumbs latest tirade?” said Lizzie perkily as she bounced into Jonathon’s room half an hour later.
Jonathon pushed himself away from his computer desk and sighed. “No, somehow I have been lucky enough to escape it. But I’m sure you’re going to tell me all about it.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t want to miss this,” said Lizzie. “It’s a classic. Mr. Thumbs and Felicia have come to the conclusion that our new ‘Doom’ painting is haunted.”
“Haunted?” said Jonathon, narrowing his eyes. “That’s pretty wild, even for Thumbs and Felicia.”
“They’re sure of it. Thumbs is convinced that the evil spirits of all the victims of that painting are somehow residing within it. And they’ve already started to destroy our house.”
“Evil spirits? Who exactly did you say these evil spirits belong to?”
“You know…the legend of the painting says that Diggersby kept giving the painting away to people he didn’t like and it brought all of them terrible luck. Some even died as a result of owning the painting.”
“So first we hear that the painting is cursed, and now we hear that it’s also haunted.”
“Exactly!”
“Sure, it’s a neat story,” said Jonathon, a thin smile crossing his face, “but I don’t think I can take it very seriously.”
“They’re taking it very seriously. Thumbs just came into my room and demanded that we remove the painting from the house. He says it’s already done ‘untold’ damage.”
“Untold damage, huh? Now what exactly would that be?”
Lizzie shrugged. “Mr. Thumbs was a little incoherent on that issue…something about files disappearing…clocks stopping…I don’t know. I lost track after the first couple of minutes.”
“We’ve known for some time that Mr. Thumbs was delusional, but somehow I didn’t expect him to go this far off the deep end.”
“I think he’s serious about it. He mumbled something about ‘putting a stop to it’ and ‘getting that horrid painting out of the house.’”
Jonathon sighed. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s pretty sure I’m up to something, having bought one painting when he expected me to buy the other one. And he’s also convinced that the worthless painting he bought is very valuable while the ‘Hand of Doom’ is worth nothing. So he’s confused and he’s angry. I guess this is just the way it comes out.”
“But Jonathon,” Lizzie protested. “How can you be sure that the Doom painting isn’t as worthless as Thumbs thinks it is? I mean, except for being scary-looking, it doesn’t seem to me to have much going for it.”
“I see your point, Lizzie, but I’ve still got a strong hunch that the ‘Doom’ painting is more valuable than it looks…much more valuable.”
“When exactly are you going to be able to explain this hunch to me and Emma? Anytime soon?”
“Soon, but not quite yet, Lizzie. I’m still doing research on the subject. But in just a couple of days I’m going to take the painting to an art restorer and, if that trip goes well, I’ll know a lot more.”
“An art restorer? What is there to restore?”
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“That’s part of what I’m not sure about yet, but I do believe the painting is hiding a mystery. Of course that doesn’t mean that it’s haunted, or that it’s causing anybody any problems—including Thumbs and Felicia. I haven’t believed in the curse from the very beginning and I don’t believe in it now. ”
Lizzie shrugged. “Okay, suit yourself. But remember…Thumbs in on the warpath about getting that painting out of the house and you’re next on his list.”