Heart of Hope

by Shanna Hatfield

  Although there were still mice and snakes running amuck in the house, they had endured about all they could for one day. After setting off three times the recommended amount of bug bombs for the square footage, they closed the door and sat on the pickup tailgate trying to muster the energy to go home and clean up.

  Callan dropped Clay at the ranch that morning and he was certain she wouldn’t let him in her car as filthy and smelly as he was. He couldn’t get the stench of mice out of his nose and from the way Josh kept breathing through his mouth, he most likely experienced the same problem.

  “We’ve got to pull ourselves together and go home, you know.” Clay stated the obvious as they tried to forget every single thing they had seen and experienced since arriving at the house after Jenna called for their assistance.

  “I know.” Josh nodded his head in agreement. “I need a few minutes before I face the girls. Do you suppose this is what they feel like when they see one mouse or snake?”

  “I don’t know,” Clay mused. Callan wasn’t afraid of too many things, but she absolutely couldn’t handle seeing a mouse. She jumped for the highest object and screamed bloody murder. “If so, I won’t ever make fun of them again.”

  “Me either,” Josh said, looking up as Jenna’s car pulled into the drive.

  The girls returned to Jenna’s house where they decided to treat themselves to a spa day. They soaked their feet in dishpans filled with fizzy peppermint foot soak, painted their fingernails and toenails, and ate quiche for lunch.

  Jenna and Callan gave each other neck massages then applied a thick coat of oozing facial cream that would eventually dry and peel off. With a slice of cool cucumber on their eyes, they relaxed in the living room, sipped lemonade through straws and listened to the sounds of the Audrey and Emma as they watched Mary Poppins.

  “We should feel a little guilty, shouldn’t we, for enjoying such a relaxing day while the guys are down there mucking out that mess?” Jenna didn’t feel guilty enough to see how their husbands fared with the project.

  “I suppose we should, yet I’m having a hard time mustering any guilt.” Callan’s voice held a teasing lilt. “Probably because of all the times they’ve made fun of us for having a fit over a mouse or a snake. If we haven’t heard a peep from them in, say, another hour, we can go check on them.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Jenna said, taking another sip of her lemonade.

  By the time she and Callan peeled off their masks, made more lemonade, and whipped up a batch of cookies, two hours passed so they loaded the girls in the car and drove back to the Harold place. As they pulled into the driveway, Clay and Josh sat on the tailgate of Josh’s pickup. Covered in dust, sweat, and cobwebs, they looked exhausted and overheated.

  Jenna handed cups to Audrey and hefted the jar of lemonade while Callan picked up the plate of cookies then they walked over to the exhausted men.

  “You two look terrible,” Jenna said, setting the lemonade on the tailgate between them as she trailed her gaze over them both. Josh and Clay looked like they’d been dragged through a knothole and barely survived the trip. “What happened?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Josh managed to grumble. “You really don’t want to know.”

  Jenna poured lemonade for them while Callan held out the plate of cookies. Both men looked down at their filthy hands and passed on the cookies. They gulped down the lemonade and held their cups out for more.

  “You could go inside and wash,” Callan innocently suggested.

  “No!” Josh and Clay yelled simultaneously.

  “We, um… we set off bug bombs and need to wait for the air to clear before we go back in,” Clay explained. A haunted look flashed across his face.

  Jenna could have sworn she saw both of them shudder. She wondered what had really gone on at the house today, but decided she was better off not knowing.

  “You could at least rinse off at the faucet over there.” Jenna pointed to a freeze-proof faucet located at the side of the house.

  “Right.” Josh slid off the tailgate and walked over to the faucet. He grabbed the handle then suddenly let go, slapping at his leg and jumping back. As he stomped the ground, Jenna guessed he’d found a spider.

  Turning on the faucet, Josh let the water run over his hands for a while before he rubbed them together. As he scrubbed away the grime, Clay joined him and soon they had mostly clean hands before they started dashing cold water on their faces. Both of them had cobwebs all over their ball caps, on their jeans, and across the backs of their shirts. As Josh bent over to rinse his face off again, Clay thumped his hand down hard across his back. He pulled his hand back and rinsed off the remainder of a squished spider under the water while Josh ripped off his shirt.

  “I can’t take anymore,” Josh said under his breath to Clay, holding his T-shirt in a tight wad. “I think we should have let Jenna burn the house down when she suggested it.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you,” Clay whispered, casting a glance at the girls as they sat on the tailgate munching cookies. “By the time we come back tomorrow, most of what’s in there will either be dead or gone. It won’t take long to seal the holes, clean out the mess, and be done.”

  “I know, but if one more thing crawls across my foot or flaps around my head, I might start screaming like a girl,” Josh mumbled, shaking his head.

  “After today, I don’t think anyone could blame you.” Clay laughed and gave him a shove toward the girls.

  Callan agreed there was no way she’d let Clay ride home in her car looking and smelling like he did. Josh let him take his pickup home to clean up and then come back for dinner. While Clay was gone, Jenna and Callan worked on dinner preparations, Audrey and Emma set out plates and cutlery, and Josh took a long shower.

  Clay returned looking refreshed as Callan and Jenna set dinner on the table. Although exhausted, Josh and Clay joined in the lively conversation, highlighted by Audrey and Emma’s retelling of the movie they watched and the fun things they’d done with their two aunts.

  Later, as he carried a sleeping Emma out to the car, Clay assured Josh he would come back after church the following day to help him finish the job of cleaning out the house.

  Audrey hugged both Josh and Jenna. “I had so much fun today, Auntie Jenna. Maybe we can do this every Saturday.”

  “I sure hope we don’t,” Josh muttered darkly while Jenna shot him a glare.

  “Audrey, honey, as fun as that would be, I don’t think we can do it every Saturday. I look forward to seeing you all next Saturday, though. We’ll try cleaning the house then. Thank you for spending the day with me.” Jenna walked Audrey to the car and made sure she was buckled in before shutting the car door.

  “Thanks so much for a lovely day, Jenna,” Callan said, giving her a hug. “We’ll get the house whipped into shape next weekend.”

  After shaking Clay’s hand, Josh thanked him again for his help. For some reason, their day spent in the trenches made him appreciate his brother-in-law even more. Not everyone would have stuck it out like Clay had, right to the bitter bat-filled end.

  When Clay arrived the next afternoon, he and Josh both steeled themselves for whatever they might find when they opened the door at the little house. They weren’t quite prepared for the mass of corpses on the floor that included everything from spiders and flies to mice, snakes, and what looked like a lizard. After retrieving two scoop shovels from the shop, they donned facemasks, and soon had the floor cleaned. They pulled out the carpeting and tossed it in a heap out back, then began the task of finding holes and sealing them.

  Clay added weather-stripping around the front door to keep anything from coming in under or around the door edges. Jenna sent along bottles of bleach spray, so Josh sprayed down all the cupboards, the counters, the kitchen sink and floor as well as nearly the entire bathroom. They reset all the mousetraps, set fire to the mess out back, and called it a good day’s work.

  Josh checked the traps each day and didn’t
find any more mice in them. He also noticed there weren’t any more mouse droppings in the house, taking that as a good sign that they’d evicted all the rodents.

  One afternoon, he took a scythe and worked down the weeds closest to the house then drove the tractor with the mower over the yard.

  When Callan and the girls arrived early Saturday, Josh confidently stated there were no surprises in the house and it just needed a good cleaning. After finishing his irrigating, he checked in on the women. Since they were busy scrubbing the bathroom and kitchen, he decided it was safe to head over to the ranch for the rest of the day to work.

  Jenna and Callan were quite pleased with their efforts as they dumped the last bucket of water they used to scrub the house from top to bottom. Although the floor really needed to be sanded and refinished, the hardwood was in good condition and would serve Jake well. The house was only about five-hundred square feet with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.

  The tiny bathroom was located off the bedroom. If Jenna stood sideways in it, she could touch her fingers on both walls at the same time. At least the tub had a showerhead. She doubted Jake would appreciate taking baths all summer.

  Since it wouldn’t take long to paint the inside walls of the small house, she and Callan quickly rolled on a thick coat of white paint. Even though it was boring as far as home interiors went, it looked fresh and clean. They finished their efforts by giving the floors one more scrubbing, effectively mopping up any paint splatters.

  Jenna worried about furnishing the house. There wasn’t a stick of furniture in it and if there had been she would have insisted Josh burn it.

  As Jenna and Callan looked around the empty house, Callan remembered an ad she saw in the previous evening’s newspaper.

  “Jenna, let’s get cleaned up and run into town. I have an idea…” Callan hustled out the door and called to the girls as they pulled weeds around the yard.

  They loaded all the cleaning supplies and returned to Jenna’s where they washed up and climbed into Callan’s car. She drove them back to town and out on the other side where a huge yard sale took place. Despite starting earlier in the day, there was still a large selection of merchandise.

  Jenna spotted a bedroom set in great condition at the price that made her smile. Quickly pulling off the price tag, she couldn’t believe the owners wanted so little for the bed including the mattress set, a dresser, and a chest of drawers. It was too good to be true.

  She approached an older couple operating the payment table, and set down the tag. When she told them she’d take the bedroom set and wasn’t finished shopping yet, they told her to keep looking while they taped a “sold” sign on the dresser mirror.

  Callan found a recliner and end table along with a small dining table with two chairs.

  The girls ran over, excited about finding a refrigerator. Not a new model by any means, it did appear to work. Jenna picked up a few dishes, bowls, a set of glasses, and a couple of coffee mugs, adding them to her growing pile. The last thing she purchased was a large area rug in excellent condition. Her total bill came in just over three hundred dollars.

  She asked the couple if they could come back later to pick everything up and they assured her it would be fine. After visiting with them, she and Callan found out they had no children and were no longer able to take care of their home, so they were moving to a retirement center. Their rooms at the center were furnished, so they needed to get rid of their house full of belongings. Jenna was extremely grateful for her good fortune in finding so many things they needed for the house that would soon be home to Jake. After plunking down cash, Jenna told them she’d come back when they were ready to move to take their stove and a small love seat.

  On their way home, Jenna called Josh and gave him the address of the yard sale. She asked if he and Clay could pick up everything when they finished work that evening. Callan suggested they both take their pickups.

  “Just exactly what did you buy?” Josh asked, envisioning the shopping spree Callan and Jenna were capable of taking.

  “Just a few pieces of furniture for Jake’s house,” Jenna said, referring to the Harold place as Jake’s, since he would move in the following weekend. “You won’t believe the deals we got. Oh, there’ll also be a few more pieces to pick up on Thursday.”

  “Okay,” Josh said, disconnecting the call. When he and Clay arrived at the address, they introduced themselves to the elderly couple who pointed out the pieces they needed to take. It filled both their pickups.

  After pulling up at Jake’s house, Josh and Clay walked inside to see what the girls had accomplished that day.

  “Wow, are we in the right place?” Clay asked, looking around at the freshly painted walls and sniffing the clean-smelling air. “Those two sure got a lot done today.”

  “Boy, I’d say.” Josh walked from room to room. Everything looked move-in ready, so he and Clay hauled in the furniture and set it up. After setting the refrigerator in the kitchen, he admired how the house started to look like a home.

  Josh noted a few things they would need to purchase before Jake moved in, but overall, the house looked good.

  Outside, they could see someone pulled the remaining weeds around the house and even swept the sidewalk, giving it a tidy appearance.

  “I think our girls outdid themselves,” Josh said as he and Clay walked back to their pickups. “Maybe we should take them out for dinner.”

  “Great idea,” Clay said, thinking Jenna and Callan had more than earned it.

  Jake moved in the following Saturday.

  By then, Jenna had hung blinds in the windows, added a few throw rugs, brought in two sets of sheets, blankets, and a comforter along with bath and kitchen towels and purchased a small microwave and television set. Rummaging through some of the things she and Josh had in storage, she found art to hang on the walls, added throw pillows to the loveseat and made Josh install a small window air-conditioner in the bedroom.

  The place was as ready as they could make it.

  Jake was thrilled to have a place to himself and couldn’t thank Josh and Jenna enough for providing room and board. They invited him to eat meals with them as well as have the use of their washer and dryer.

  The first few days Jake was at the house, he loved it.

  He liked Josh and Jenna, enjoyed the good meals she had provided and settled into the new routine. Monday through Friday Jake worked full days, and until noon on Saturdays. It left him with plenty of time to take care of his horses, hang out with friends, and continue his hunt for a job. The small barn and corral by the house allowed him to bring a couple of horses with him to train during his free time in the evenings.

  As he sat in the recliner one evening, watching the news, he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. When he turned his head, he could have sworn he saw a tail slither around the corner into the bedroom, but decided he was seeing things.

  The next morning, he knew his imagination wasn’t conjuring things that weren’t there when a snake slithered under the bathroom door while he brushed his teeth. Spewing toothpaste all over the mirror, he watched the snake disappear into the bedroom before he gathered his wits enough to chase it. He searched the small bedroom from top to bottom and didn’t find the snake anywhere. Moving furniture around in the living room didn’t turn it up either. He had no idea where the snake could have disappeared to, and decided he wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

  That evening he again sat in the recliner, hoping the snake had gone, when he saw it wiggle beneath the closet door. Jake willed himself not to freak out and opened the closet, broom in hand. Ready to send the snake to its demise, he couldn’t find it. Used to people around, he questioned his sanity. Maybe the solitude of the place was getting to him, causing him to have snake hallucinations.

  The following morning when he found a bullsnake curled up the bathroom rug, he grabbed the garbage can to trap it, only to turn around and find it gone. He hustled to Josh a
nd Jenna’s house and hastily knocked on the back door before hurrying inside. Jenna was gone on a business trip, but Josh was in the kitchen making breakfast. Jake could smell the bacon frying as Josh expertly cracked an egg into a hot skillet.

  “Josh, do you know how to trap a snake?” Jake asked.

  The egg in Josh’s hand hit the floor. “A what?” Josh turned around, his face pale beneath his tan.

  “A snake. There’s a snake in my house and I don’t think I can spend all summer living with it. Do you know a way to trap it?” Jake tore off a paper towel and wiped up the splattered egg. “I can’t quite bring myself to grab it with my bare hands.”

  “I’ll get something today,” Josh said, then started muttering about rodents and reptiles. Jake didn’t know what had Josh all worked up and decided to leave well enough alone.

  True to his word, Jake arrived home that evening to find a snake trap in each room. Apparently, a smell inside the box attracted snakes and glue in the bottom held them captive once they got inside. Jake sincerely hoped it would work.

  Exhausted from a long day of hard work, he took a shower then climbed into bed. Nearly asleep, he felt something by his foot. He remained perfectly still and realized he not only felt something by his foot, but the something moved. With a startled yell, he jumped out of bed, turned on the light, and yelled again when the snake slithered across his bed and disappeared behind the headboard. Jake grabbed his jeans and keys then raced to Josh’s house and pounded on the door.

  Josh answered, his hair still wet from his evening shower and a towel wrapped around his waist.

  “What’s wrong, Jake? You look awful.” Josh opened the door wider so Jake could come inside.

  “The snake was in my bed.” Jake shuddered. Just thinking about it made his skin crawl all over again.

  Josh stared at him with his mouth open. When he finally spoke, he shook his head and put a hand on Jake’s shoulder.