4A Chapter by Brad homecoming.... Their Jeep Wagoneer pulled into the Gunflint grocer in the late afternoon. The main street stretched out for 3 blocks and ended in a pine forest to the north. Coral had been sleeping since they left Minneapolis. Her face peeling off her window. “Where are we?” she mumbled wiping the sleep from her eyes. “We’re in Tower!” Leigh said excitedly, she had been wide awake for the whole trip, “Why are we stopping here?” “We need some groceries and other things, honey.” Kathryn said getting out of the car. “Can I come?” she asked. “No.” answered Warren, “Stay in the car with your sister, please.” She let out a big sigh. “Can we get out and stretch?” Warren nodded, “stay close and off the street.” Leigh looked north and south, “Dad, I don’t think there are any cars that’ll come down the street.” The street was fairly empty. As Warren and Kathryn went inside, Leigh and Coral went up on the wooden sidewalk and tossed a rubber ball back and forth to each other. “You’d be Hezbah’s granddaughter, wouldn’t ya?” said an old man on a bench in front of the grocery. Coral and Leigh both jumped. They hardly noticed anyone sitting there before. “Yes.” Leigh answered hesitantly. She had always been told never to talk to strangers but this man did know her nana. “Thought so,” he smiled. “You’ve got her facial features…your little sis there has her smile.” They both laughed nervously. “I’m awfully sorry about what happened to your grandma.” “Thanks.” Leigh said shyly. “She was a good woman. Nobody like her….least that I’ve ever met.” The red rubber ball bounced out of her hand and then hopped it’s way all the way into the old man’s hands. They both locked eyes, and for that moment, Leigh thought she saw something wrong in the man’s features. Then, his eyes shifted as if they were boiled eggs. She gasped and he blinked his eyes and they were their normal gray color. He held out his hand, gnarled like the branch of an ancient tree. The ball perched in his cracked palm. She reached her hand out to grab it, Coral whimpered a bit under her breath not wanting her sister to get the ball. “Leigh, let’s just go back into the Jeep.” She whispered. Leigh didn’t answer. She closed her fingers around the ball and just as she snatched it out of his hand he closed his fist. Sounding like old leather creaking. “Thank you.” She said politely. “You need to watch yourself out there.” His eye twitched, “there are some dangerous things in those woods out by your grandma’s cabin.” “I know.” She backed up, not leaving his stare but afraid that they would turn into white eggs again. The bell on the store door dinged and both Coral and Leigh jumped as their parents came out with arm loads of groceries and supplies. “You two look like you’re up to no good.” Warren joked. “We were just talking to…” she looked over at the bench and the old man was gone. Coral’s mouth fell open and then they looked at each other and then their parents. “We were talking to each other….uh…about what we’re going to do once we get to nana’s.” she lied. Coral just nodded. The air was cool and getting cooler as the sun fell behind the canopy of trees. They got out of the Jeep and started to walk towards the cabin. “Stop!” Warren who was ahead of them shouted. “What is it, Warren?” Kathryn asked. “Well, there are a couple of deer carcasses strewn all over the yard.” He sighed, “I didn’t want the kids to see it.” “Don’t look, kids.” Kathryn told them. They made their way past the rotted deer and up onto grandma’s porch. Warren examined the broken window in the front of the cabin. “Did somebody break in?” Kathryn asked. “Wait here, guys.” He said and then went inside the cabin. After ten minutes, Kathryn and the kids started to get worried because Warren hadn’t come back. “Honey?” Kathryn shouted into the open door. “Daddy!” the kids shouted. They heard a crashing noise deep inside and then a moan. Kathryn rushed inside, “Stay behind me, kids!” The inside of the cabin was dimly lit by the twilight sun. But you could tell that someone had been in here and threw some of Hezbah’s things around. There was broken chairs, turned over tables, shattered dishes, and the refrigerator was tipped over on its side. “Warren??” Kathryn shouted into the gloom. She heard him moaning towards where the staircase started. She rushed over there with the kids trailing behind. “Warren??” she called again. “Kathryn?” he answered back. Warren lay on the floor at the bottom of the steps. His feet resting on the steps while his head laid on the home made rug at the landing. “Warren, what happened? Are you okay?” “Ouch!” he said gripping his neck, “Yeah, I’m just klutzy; I tripped on the upper stairs coming down.” The kids helped him up and brushed the dust off of him. “So do you think someone broke in?” Kathryn asked again. Warren struck a match and lit the oil lantern he grabbed off the shelf. “Certainly looks that way, doesn’t it?” he replied looking at the mess around him. “Couldn’t a bear have gotten in here, dad?” Leigh asked, “Maybe that’s what killed those deer?” “Maybe, honey. It looks as if we’ve got our work cut out for us.” He sighed. Warren lit the fireplace while Kathryn and the kids brought in their luggage and groceries. After having all the lamps lit up, they surveyed all the work they had ahead of them. “It’s not the same.” Coral remarked looking around, “It’s not the same without nana.”
© 2010 BradAuthor's Note
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