A Piper's Song: The Pied Piper Tales

by C. K. Johnson

  Outside of school, I let out a deep breath. The cold breeze whipped around me with a new sense of freedom. Leaves swirled on the sidewalk and skittered away, making scratching sounds as they scraped across the cement. I hoped my new home would have trees.

  A backfire, followed by a familiar clank, made me look up. I couldn't contain my smile to see Kelly instead of McKennan driving toward me. He should have been sleeping. Maybe with it just being us, he wouldn’t have to work as hard. We could do whatever siblings did when they hung out. I needed to figure out what that was.

  The truck, more rust than metal, jerked a couple of times as he tapped on the brakes before coming to a complete stop. One more thing that needed replacing. But brakes cost money and most of our money went into fixing the house or covering up our mistakes.

  Kelly lifted his hand and waved. His grin matched mine but didn't quite conceal the tension in his eyes. I wrapped my fingers around the door handle and put my weight into swinging the rusty door open when Ben came out of nowhere and slapped his hand on the door.

  “So hey, really, are you running away?” he asked. His amber eyes fixed intently on me, searching my face for the truth.

  “I’ll be okay. Really. No need to worry. My brothers are going with me,” I said as I shrugged and shifted my bag onto my other shoulder.

  “You are all running away?” He paused and looked uncertainly at Kelly, who pulled a big brother act and stared at Ben with a slight frown. Whatever else Ben might have said seemed quashed because he rapidly finished with, “So, um, will I see you around at least?” I couldn’t help finding it a little amusing to see the self-assured Ben at a loss. I still had to give him credit. Despite all the weirdness, he still worried about me.

  “Sure,” I said, “I am not running away. We are getting a place of our own. So I sort of need to open my door to get in the truck.” I glanced at it and back at him.

  He pulled his hand off so fast it might as well have been a poisonous snake. He chuckled nervously and turned to go back towards the school.

  “And Ben… Thanks for asking,” I said as I opened the door and hopped in.

  He stopped, nodded, and waved.

  “Hussy. Already moved on to another guy, I see,” Kelly said as I shut the door.

  “Jerk.” I whacked him.

  “So, Mom couldn’t find your stuff,” he said after he pulled out and started driving away from the school.

  “Yeah, well, I thought I was being shipped off to relatives. I am not making it easy on them.” I clenched my fists tightly on my lap; my anger and frustration began to permeate the cab, especially with all the things I didn’t say.

  “Figured. It’s going to be a few more days before we’ve got a place. So you might as well go home and unpack your things. You know it will work out. McKennan said you seemed open to moving in with a bunch of smelly guys.” His eyes crinkled with laughter as the corner of his mouth turned up in a slight grin.

  “Who said you’d be sleeping inside if you were that smelly?” I replied. Kelly rolled his eyes and I laughed too. I couldn't keep a straight face with him.

  The grin melted and he switched to a more serious discussion. “It’s not so bad, being a piper. You’ve already seen the worst, so it’s all uphill from here.”

  “I hope so. Zombifying a guy and then getting kicked out of the house is as much fun as I can handle in one day,” I replied.

  “I don’t think zombifying is even a word. Besides, we’re sort of excited to have a place with a live-in maid,” he joked as we pulled onto the dirt road. He kept it light and helped me ease out of my bad mood before we got to the house. I loved him for that.

  “Maid, hmm. I might possibly be the worst housekeeper in the world. I’d be sorry if all your shirts mysteriously fell on a pair of sharp scissors,” I replied.

  “I’ll just need to remove all the scissors and knives then. My friends might be a little nervous when I start carrying around a lot of weaponry. Possibly think I’m turning into a psychopath, but that’s the price I’m willing to pay to house my little sis,” he said. He reached over and squeezed my arm.

  It was laughable talking about weapons when all we needed was our voice. “Hey, Kelly, can we drive a little longer?” I whispered. I held back the threatening tears, but my voice broke as I added, “Please.”

  He was about to turn right, down the last stretch of road that served as our driveway. He, flipped around and started back down the way we came. Gas costs money and we couldn’t afford to waste it, but he didn’t say a thing. He just kept driving until I had no idea where we were anymore.

  The sun dipped below the fields, bathing us in a last flourish of light. In the growing dusk, he pulled over to the side of the road and turned the engine off. He looked at me with a question in his eyes. We sat for a while longer. “Okay,” I sighed, exhausted. “I think I’m ready.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Hope

  KELLY TURNED THE KEY AND THE engine sputtered to life. I looked out the windshield and bit my lip. As we drove, I caught him occasionally glancing at me out of the corner of my eye.

  I sighed and took a few deep breaths as he parked in a patch of dirt by the side of the house. He turned the engine off and waited for me to make the first move. I didn’t want to open the door. Doing that meant I would have to go inside.

  “It will be okay. Besides, we’ve lived with him all our lives. What are a few more days?” Kelly said. He leaned across my lap, pulled my door handle and pushed the door open. The sound of metal scraping on metal filled the cab. Someone would need to tighten the hinge soon, if the screws weren’t stripped too much. Add it to the list.

  I groaned but got out and headed for the back door. Kelly followed closely behind me. Mom sat quietly at the table, her shoulder slumped forward, handkerchief in hand, with red-rimmed eyes. This just kept getting worse.

  I did this. I broke up the family. If I could fix it, I would, but I was already treading water. Until McKennan offered me a lifeline this morning, I was destined to drown.

  Father stormed into the room. His set jaw and the surly expression telegraphed a fight was coming.

  For the first time in a long time, he raised his hand as if he might strike me. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for impact. Just a few more days, a few days, and I would no longer have to deal with this.

  “What were you thinking?” Father started. No contact. This was about mom, wasn’t it? I caused her pain and he would make me pay for it. I opened my eyes to glare at him.

  Before he could take another step, Kelly moved in front of me, blocking Father from my sight. He was a wall. I tentatively looked out from behind him and, for the first time in my life, next to Kelly, Father looked small. Was it all of the years of hard labor that added to Kelly’s large frame or was it that Kelly was acting more like a man than my Father? It was a little disconcerting to see both of them in this light.

  Kelly glanced back, shooting me what I think he meant to be a reassuring smile, even as he risked his life to reign in Father. Then he turned and rose to his full height. “This is going to stop, right now.” The power in Kelly’s words electrified the air in the room. “She is afraid her own family doesn’t love her any more. This is not the time for a lecture! And I swear, if you lay a hand—”

  Father took a step back. The commanding tone emanating from Kelly seemed to have shocked him into inactivity. I kind of understood what father was feeling. Kelly had always been the laid-back one. It meant more than I could ever tell him that he was the one to stand up for me now.

  “She broke up the family,” Father blustered. The steam in his rage was a little less forceful, but the pulsing vein in his neck suggested this fight was far from over.

  “No. You are wrong. You are the one who told her to go away, Father. You broke up the family. You made her feel ashamed of what she has, of who she is. That she is somehow bad. Well, she’s not!” Kelly seemed to grow larger, if that was even possible, as he spoke. “I plan to
teach her, even if that means tracking down another piper to do so.” He reached back with one arm, opened the kitchen door and pushed me out.

  I obeyed.

  The chair scraped against the kitchen floor as my mother pushed it back to stand. “That is enough, Kelly. Enough!” Her face was devoid of all color. Then she spun on her heel towards Father. “Kelly is in the right, Terrin. We will lose our children, all of them, if you keep this up. We will lose them just as assuredly as if you had played the pipe yourself.” She roared at Father like a lion in her little mouse body.

  We froze, waiting to see how Father would respond. Mom’s small frame shook as if the earth rested on her shoulders. She looked as though she might collapse at any moment.

  This was not the mother I knew, the woman who rolled with the punches and glued us all together. This woman was fragile, vulnerable. She did not have all of the answers. The knowledge shook me to my core.

  Her words and actions worked. Father looked close to backing down. He sighed deeply and ran a hand slowly through his dark brown hair.

  “You don’t understand—I must do this—for us, Lilly. You have not seen what happens when a piper is out of control.” Some of his fire returned to his dark eyes. “You are already on your way out. Go ahead and leave, Kyra. You too, Kelly.” He dropped his hand and shook his head, turning away from us.

  Kelly opened his mouth and let out a roar. It didn’t sound natural coming from a human mouth. It was more akin to a feral animal in pain. Something had broken inside him. Father stopped walking away. We all froze, too shocked to move, terrified. He leaned his head back and howled at the ceiling with all the pain of his soul.

  When he was through, he looked at me and said, “Go.”

  I tentatively reached out, to touch his arm, to offer him some peace.

  “Don’t,” he said. “Please, go wait outside.” His voice dropped an octave lower than I had ever heard it. To be honest, I never wanted to hear it this way again. It embodied his bitterness, his pain. I always knew our life was hard but I had no idea he felt this way. That he felt like me.

  I stepped outside and headed for the truck, dragging my retreat out even though I wanted nothing more than to leave. I shuddered as my own inner core and the emotions brewing there propelled me. I climbed into the safety of the cab.

  Kelly stayed inside a few minutes more, but each minute felt like a clock with a dying battery. The minute hand shuddered to move a millimeter, ticking out the slowing time. I pressed my nose against the window, steaming up the glass, as I tried to catch a glimpse of what might be happening inside. Not a clue. When the door swung open, Kelly came out followed by McKennan.

  Behind them, standing at the door, Mother called Kelly back. He obeyed and when he was close enough, she pushed two brown paper bags into Kelly’s hands. Then she stood on her tiptoes to hug and kiss both of my hulk-like brothers. The sight of them hunching down to complete the circle hitched at my heart.

  I about lost it when McKennan turned, and he held my little brother, Conner, in his arms. Conner was small for a seven year old, but next to McKennan, he looked like a baby.

  My mother’s tiny frame started to shake again as she reached out to kiss him too. She spoke to him, but I could not make out what she said from inside the cab. Kelly wrapped her in another hug before slowly letting her go and heading in my direction.

  I didn’t know what to say to Kelly as he got in the driver’s side and handed me the paper bags.

  He closed his eyes and breathed out. Kelly rested his head against the steering wheel. He looked even more exhausted than the other day. Like the weight of the world had transferred from Mother’s shoulders to his and he wasn’t sure where to go from here.

  McKennan got in, handed Conner to me, and shut the door without saying a word. It had come to this. Three brothers, one sister, a beat up old truck and two paper bags. Quite the summation of our existence.

  As pipers, we could use our music to take anything we wanted, the world was ours for the taking and all we had was this.

  The black thoughts filling my head seemed to influence the mood of everyone in the cab. No one spoke.

  McKennan cleared his throat a couple of times. Kelly lifted his head and looked around. Connor held me tight.

  “Maggie’s?” Kelly asked McKennan.

  McKennan nodded and Kelly turned the key.

  “Who’s Maggie?” I asked.

  No one answered.

  I clutched Conner closer to me. Kelly switched on the radio and hummed in time to the song. It was soothing and I felt my eyes grow heavy. I fought it for a few seconds but did not see the point and gave in. Just as my eyes fluttered shut, I realized Kelly must have added a little something to the song.

  I woke up what felt like hours later to the sound of the truck skidding to a stop.

  “Why don’t you hand me Conner now?” McKennan whispered after getting out. He held out his arms. I scooted over and started to transfer him when he added, “Careful now, we don’t want to wake him. Lad’s had a bad day.”

  “Bad?” I asked quietly as I placed him as gently as I could into McKennan’s strong arms.

  “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Why don’t you grab the bags?” he said as he nodded in their direction.

  I picked them up and followed Kelly up the steps of a grand white house with thick pillars and a large front door painted brick red. It rose two stories high and reminded me of pictures I had seen of old houses in the South, complete with a wraparound balcony. I couldn’t imagine staying the night in a place like this, much less living in it. I still wasn’t following who we knew that lived in such a fancy place and why we hadn’t ended up in some cheap hotel.

  A woman in her early twenties, about Kelly’s age, came out on the porch, a soft purple shawl wrapped around her shoulders to ward off the chill night air. An errant breeze ruffled her long black hair. Her willowy physique looked as though a strong wind might carry her away. She gracefully tiptoed to the edge of the porch and waved at McKennan.

  Maggie? I had no idea who this woman was, but my brothers seemed to know her well enough that they were okay crashing at her house in the middle of the night with their kid brother and sister to boot. How much did I really know my older brothers?

  I followed Kelly up the three steps to the porch and into the house. Soft lamp light cast a warm, friendly glow in the front entry. We followed a string of lights up a set of stairs. McKennan came after me, followed by whom I assumed must be Maggie. She patted McKennan on the shoulder as she squeezed past him, gave me a congenial smile, and took Kelly’s hand in hers.

  They continued to hold hands up the stairs and down a long hallway that ended at a spacious bedroom that looked bigger than our living room and kitchen combined.

  “Sorry it’s only got one bed. We don’t often have more than one visitor at a time. When McKennan called yesterday, I put fresh towels and wash cloths in the bathroom,” she said, her quiet, musical voice coming out in a rush. She slowly let go of Kelly’s hand and wrung her own shyly. They moved as if they were somehow inadequate now that they weren’t intertwined with his.

  Kelly brushed a strand of black hair that had fallen down over her pale face and tucked it behind her ear. “It’s more than enough. Thanks, Maggs. We are truly grateful.”

  Both McKennan and I nodded in agreement. I was too tired to talk. All my words dried in my mouth on the drive here. Where were we? I had no idea. But the thought of real sleep sounded heavenly; I don’t think the word thanks could encompass how grateful I felt. Maggie smiled and padded out of the room, softly closing the door behind her.

  “You called her yesterday?” Kelly asked, lifting an eyebrow in question.

  “Yeah, after he said she had to get out of the house. That way, we’d have a backup, just in case,” said McKennan.

  “You should have told me,” Kelly replied, glaring at McKennan.

  McKennan ignored him and glanced at me. “Do you want to use the bathroom firs
t?” he asked as he put Conner down on the large bed. I nodded and went for a half-open door I guessed led to the bathroom.

  The door swung open to—the guest bathroom? It had to be two times the size of any bathroom I ever had the pleasure of using. I fingered the towels hanging next to the door. They were a plushy soft, like teddy bears and baby clouds.

  I staggered over to the shower and turned on the water. The warm water pounded down on my body, temporarily washing away everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, Mark, Ben, School, the Song, Mother’s pain, Kelly’s anguish and most of all Father. If it ran long enough, maybe it could wash it all away permanently.

  Less than ten minutes into the shower, I started to feel guilty about how long I took. I was sure my brothers needed to take care of things too. It had been a hard day for all of us.

  I quickly rinsed myself off and hurried into a t-shirt and sweatpants I pulled from my bag. My backpack and the two bags weren’t going to get us far. We’d have to use the money for clothes. If not for myself, for my brothers

  McKennan slept on a flower-patterned comforter on the floor and Kelly sat propped up in a chair with his legs dangling over the footrest. They both were out cold, or so I thought.

  As I crawled into bed, he opened one eye. “Kyra?”

  “Yes,” I whispered back, trying not to wake Conner up.

  “The world, it’s better than what you know. This is a good thing. Things are going to get better now,” he said softly.

  I didn’t know how to reply, so I didn’t.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Kelly's Secret

  COLD. I MUST BE THE LAST one out of bed. I stretched, and I caught a scent of roses. Since when had anything in my room smelled like roses? I cracked an eyelid and gazed around the room.

  It wasn’t mine. The events of the night before came crashing back to me. When I went to sleep, my life was a mess. Now, in this new place, I felt like I had fallen into my own fairy tale, or at least it seemed like a fairy tale compared to my life. The rose smell was coming from my sheets. I could actually stretch out on the mattress. I yawned and reluctantly crawled out of the soft bed.