Chapter 14
It was Labor Day, and the new school year was to begin tomorrow. To Kara, a whirlwind of activity over the three weeks since the Mariners game and the visit with Dr. Blackfeather had nearly consumed her. At first, she and Craig had taken every opportunity to sit down at the computer and scour the Internet for any morsel of information about Rhonda Lerwick. But the necessities of school preparation, not to mention life in general, had compelled Kara to shift away from the searching, leaving Craig to work at it alone.
She had spent one full day with Zach on the new adventure of getting ready for the school year, picking up supplies for him and a few more clothes for him to wear. He had grown a little, even since they had purchased those clothes for him early in the summer; thankfully, those still fit. They had also visited the school to meet Mr. Herd, who would be Zach's fifth-grade teacher. He was a surprisingly young man, in only his third year of teaching, and that had concerned Kara a bit until she noticed how quickly he established a rapport with Zach. If Mr. Herd was as good with the class as a whole as he was with Zach alone, Zach was going to have—in his own words, as he expressed it to Kara—an awesome school year.
On other days, she had taken Zach to the barber, to the dentist, and, at his request, on an outing with other kids from church to spend an afternoon playing with the kids at the children's home that Ben volunteered with. He had enjoyed that time so much that he asked to go again the next week, and Kara had agreed to let him on the condition that Ben be his chaperone this time so Kara could have a couple of precious hours to herself—the eye of the hurricane those three busy weeks.
That Labor Day afternoon, Kara pulled Craig away from the computer, where he was still sifting through obscure web sites for data on Rhonda Lerwick, and sent him out of the house, as they had planned. When he had driven away, Kara called Zach from his room and the puzzle that was taking shape on his desk.
"Do you have your shoes on?" she asked as he appeared in the hall. His feet were bare. "Go put them on, kiddo."
"Where are we going?" he inquired, returning to his room.
"We are not going anywhere," she responded after him. "You are."
He came back out a minute later with shoes on his feet and curiosity on his face.
"I'm giving you a test," Kara told him.
"What kind of test?" he asked suspiciously.
"A test to see if you're ready to walk to school and back by yourself."
Zach raised his eyebrows at her doubtfully. "Mom, a lot of kids younger than me walk to school by themselves."
"Then this should be easy for you," she returned. "So… First, do you have your house key?"
"My house key?"
"Yeah," Kara said, "in case you get home before we do. Your dad and I will try to make sure one of us gets home before school is out everyday, unless we tell you otherwise. But with Seattle traffic, you never know, right? So…" She pulled a shiny, new key on a green lanyard from her pocket and held it out to the boy.
His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Really, Mom?" He lit up, receiving it as if it were a nugget of gold.
Kara held onto it for a moment before releasing it to him. "This key comes with some very important rules. Never give it to anyone, and always check to make sure you have it before you leave the house. And…"
"And what?"
"And that's all I can think of at the moment. But we'll have more later, I'm sure."
"You have a lot of rules, Mom," Zach remarked, "even more than Grandfather had."
Kara snorted. "That's because you get to do a lot more stuff here than you did with him. More opportunities, more rules."
Zach furrowed his brows at her as he considered that point. Then he grinned. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Okay then," Kara instructed him, "step outside…" She followed him out the door, locked it, and closed it behind them. "Now show me that you can unlock the door…" Had the boy ever unlocked a door with a key before? Yes—with the car, at least. Perhaps not a house door, though. Had they never thought to have him unlock the door? Funny, the things you assumed a person could do until you found out they had never tried.
Zach unlocked the door with ease.
"Good," Kara said, pulling the door shut again. "Now, off you go. Go all the way to the school and come back."
"By myself?"
"Mm-hmm, all alone. If you don't get lost, you can walk to school by yourself in the morning."
"Awesome!" he exclaimed. Without asking for directions, he darted away, running across the yard and slowing to a brisk stride as he reached the road.
Kara gave him a few seconds and then made her way to the road at a leisurely pace. How strange, that it was hard for her to keep her steps slow and even; she wanted to run and look, to make sure he knew where to go and that he was safe. But he was fine, of course. As she looked after him, he reached the corner and turned right. Good for him.
She stood there at the edge of the grass for a minute, then pulled out her phone and began to pace, waiting. It was three more minutes before it rang. "Did he get there?" she asked as soon as she had the phone to her ear.
"He went straight to it," Craig's voice informed her, "like he's been doing it his whole life."
She sighed with relief. Not that she had been worried—it was just something new, that was all. Like Zach said, a lot of younger kids walked to school by themselves. But he was not other kids. He was hers.
"Okay," she told Craig. "I guess you can come home, then. I'll wait out here until he gets back. If he knows the way there, he knows the way home."
"All right," Craig answered. A minute later he pulled his pickup into the garage and went inside, probably back to the computer. He had never been one to attach himself to electronics, but that had changed since they had discovered Rhonda Lerwick's name. Not that they had found anything new, but Craig was determined to keep trying.
Ten minutes after Craig came home, Kara still waited where the grass met the road, growing worried. The boy hadn't returned. Pulling herself away from her vantage point there, she hurried to the front door and thrust it open. "Craig!" she called.
"What is it?" his voice returned from the den. Sure enough, he was back at the computer.
"Craig, he's not back yet. I want you to go look for him."
Craig came around the corner and joined her at the door. "He's not back?" He got that calculating look for a moment. "How could he get lost? It's only two blocks. Where—"
His voice cut off as his eyes focused on something behind her in the yard. Kara turned to look. Zach stepped cheerfully through the grass, coming up to them. "I did it, Mom!"
Kara gaped at him. "You are ten minutes late! Where have you been? Did you get lost?"
"No," he said excitedly, "Eddie was cleaning stuff at the school, so I talked to him for a minute."
Kara sighed and shook her head.
Zach kept his eyes on her. "So, I can go to school by myself tomorrow, right?"
Kara chuckled. "Yeah, okay. You can walk by yourself."
"Even if it's raining?"
Kara glanced up at the sky. Clouds were moving in; it might rain indeed. Another gorgeous Seattle summer was coming to an end. Naturally, if there was rain, her son would want to be out in it. "Yes, even if it's raining."
*****
The Boy Who Appeared from the Rain Page 79