by L. M. Boelz
***
Taking one last look around her now almost empty room, Carol wondered what was going to happen to them now. My mother is going to need me to be brave now; although, I don’t know how I’m going to accomplish that. Carol’s heart ached so much, but for her mother, she would do anything.
Picking up her father’s coat, off of the last box left in her room, Carol buried her face in it. While leaning against the wall, she slowly slid down to the floor and softly cried. Her thoughts faded back to when she had first gotten his coat as a hand-me-down; she was so happy and proud to wear it. Finally, wiping her eyes on one of the coat sleeves, Carol rose back up and gathered up the last box.
Taking one last look around the now empty room, while taking in a shaky breath, Carol tried hard to put on a happy face for her mother, but she could barely muster a broken smile.
With trembling hands, Carol draped her father’s coat over her shoulders. Whenever she put it on, Carol could still feel his arms around her. “Well, I guess I had better take this last box downstairs. Mom will most likely be ready to go by now,” Carol sighed, as she made her way outside.
Arriving outside, Carol watched as her mother stood with her mouth set in a half-twisted grimace, staring at the contents of the trailer. Carol could tell that she was concentrating on something important.
Setting the box down and stepping over the bed frame from her room, Carol walked over to get a closer look at what the problem might be.
Everything was packed either in the trailer or in the car, except for the box that she had just carried out. Carol had wanted to save it for last, so she could unpack it first.
The dressers that they had used belonged to the owner of the house, so they would be left behind. This had freed up room for the rest of their things. Carol could see that the doors of the trailer had plenty of room to close. At this point, she gave up trying to guess what the problem was, and was about to ask.
Not noticing Carol standing next to her, her mother continued to grumble aloud to herself, “How could I have just packed two bedrooms, plus a living room and a kitchen, into the back of this trailer, and not be able to get this bed frame in there?”
Finally, noticing Carol standing next to her, “Well, Little Lady, I don’t see any way of getting this in there,” she said with a puzzled expression.
Carols’ eyes went directly to the bed frame lying next to her on the ground. Her attention was snapped back into focus, by the sound of her mother’s voice, as she muttered under her breath, “Unless I take out this box and move that over there…”
Carol quickly grabbed her mother’s arm before she could start moving things around. “You know, Mom, I don’t need the bed frame. All I really need is my mattress and box spring and they are already in the trailer! You did say that you wanted to get on the road by eight, so we would not need to stop for the night, before arriving at our new house.”
Carol stood, holding her breath, as she silently waited, hoping that her mother wouldn’t try to get the bed frame into the trailer. If we left it behind, then the bed would have to sit on the floor, and there would be no way for anything to hide under it. Carol thought to herself.
Sensing that this was the case, her mother decided that it would be all right. While her mother pulled the trailer doors closed and placed a lock on them, Carol went over to say goodbye to her friends.
Pretending to be brave, they all hugged each other and promised to write, and to continue weaving their stories. Carol had gone through this same ordeal many times, with her family’s constant moving, but she did not really believe that anyone would actually write. She hoped; however, that they would all continue weaving their tales, because that is the only thing that remained from her many lost friendships.
Closing the car door, Carol reflected scornfully to herself, And now, I am alone again. Not much has changed in my life. It will be just my imagination and me, to make up adventures for now, since nothing exciting ever actually happens to me in the real world.
Carol watched, as the desert and tumbleweeds faded out of sight. She pulled her father’s coat around her and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Waking a few hours later, Carol rubbed her eyes and looked out the side window to see if she could tell where they were now. Carol stared wide-eyed as the valley floor spilled out in every direction, covered with an array of flowers and other vibrant colors.
“Oh my,” Carol gasped.
“Do you like it?” her mother asked, smiling back at her.
“Oh yes!”
Wouldn’t it be great if we could live in a place like this someday? Carol wondered, while hanging her head out the window.
“Surprise! This is the place that I have come to start my new job. I know it has been a long time since I’ve worked outside the home, more than just part time, but I’m sure we’ll be able to make it here.”
Arriving in town, Carol watched as the shopkeepers kept busy sweeping the wooden steps and walkways in front of their stores. Most stopped what they were doing, to look up and see who was passing by. They then each gave a small wave, as Carol and her mother drove past, before returning to their duties.
“Is it much farther?” Carol asked, hardly able to stand the suspense.
“Only another mile or two, dear, now turn back around, so you can help me look for our new house.”
After carefully following the directions they were given, they at last, pulled into the long curved driveway of their new home.
Grimacing, Carol couldn’t help thinking that the house looked a little more run down than she had feared. Carol climbed out of the front seat, and wasted no time in heading off to go look it over.
The house had been rented sight unseen and as a fixer upper, so there was no way of knowing what kind of condition it would be in when they arrived. The arrangements had been made through a friend of the lady that she had baked for. They had said that no one had lived in it for quite some time, and the owners of the house were more than happy to have someone fix it up for them in exchange for rent. After seeing the outside, Carol could see why. “This needs a lot of work,” Carol moaned.
Walking over to the front door, Carol reached up to try the doorknob and found it locked tight.
“Do you have a key, Mom?” Carol asked, almost pleading.
“No, they said that since no one had lived here for so long that it wouldn’t be locked. Let’s try some of the windows, to see if we can find one unlocked,” Carol heard her mother call to her, as she headed up to the front windows, to have a look inside.
It looked, as far as Carol could see through the right front window, no worse than some of the other places that they had lived in before. In addition, since they were getting a few months free rent for fixing it up for the owner, she didn’t feel that they had any room to complain about the condition. At least the house had working plumbing and no holes in the roof, so it wouldn’t leak when it rained. After peering inside through some very dirty windows, they continued on their way to different sides of the house to look for a way inside.
“This one isn’t locked,” Carol could hear her mother call over to her, from the side of the house. “Come over here, and I’ll lift you in, so you can unlock the front door.”
“Okay, Mom, I am coming,” Carol replied, as she tried to unhook her shirt from a branch that she had gotten caught on. Not wanting to make her way back through the same thick weeds that she had just come through, Carol decided to try to go around the other way.
Walking around to the back of the house, Carol noticed another door. What the heck. I might as well try this one as long as I’m already back here, she thought to herself. Brushing away a spider web that reached from the side window all the way to the backdoor, Carol grasped the knob and gave it a jiggle.
“Yes!” Carol cheered, as the door creaked open. Carefully stepping inside, she couldn’t help thinking what a mess this place was, as she made her way past the window where her mother was waiting. “Meet me at the
front door.” Not waiting for a response, she met her at the front door and let her in.
“Don’t touch anything until I check it out first,” her mother warned, while surveying the damage. “First things first, we need somewhere to put everything, until we can get this place more livable,” she added.
The house had two bedrooms off the back of the house, separated by one bathroom, and a small kitchen, off to the left of the living room.
“Alright, back to work with you. I can save five dollars, if I can get the trailer turned in by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, so let’s go,” her mother urged, as she turned to leave the house.
“Alright, Mom, I’m coming,” Carol moaned.
After finding no suitable place for their things inside the house, it was decided to unpack everything into the garage. After clearing the spider webs and a quick sweep, the unpacking did not take long, since virtually everything had to be sold to pay for the move here.
“Okay,” her mother nodded, after having Carol help her put the last of the large boxes in the garage, “that about does it, out here. We’ll be able to return the trailer in the morning, and get five dollars back. Let’s get inside and see what we have going on in there. We need to get just a couple of things done today, like a spot in the kitchen, where we can fix something to eat and a place to sleep.”
“If I remember right, there is a lot of trash and a couple of old worn-out pieces of furniture scattered throughout the rooms. Even the bathroom was full of trash,” she added.
“First, let’s take another look at the rooms and decide which one is going to be yours and which one will be mine. Since there is only one bathroom, and it’s in the hallway, there isn’t a clear master bedroom.”
“Okay!” Carol yelled over her shoulder, as she sprinted for the house. She wanted to get her first real look at the bedrooms before her mother could get there. Dodging the couch that had been left in the middle of the living room, Carol reached the bedroom on the left of the house, closest to the garage. Looking at it quickly, she turned to check the one on the right.
Carol was surprised to hear her mother announce, from inside the other room, “This one’s mine. It has the biggest closet, and I called it first.”
“I know you couldn’t have gotten past me, without me seeing you. How did you get in here so fast?”
Carol watched as her mother just stood in the middle of the room, doing a silly little victory dance, while pointing to the open window behind her.
“You climbed in the window? That’s not fair!” Carol protested.
“Okay, let’s see about that kitchen, shall we?”
Following her mother out of the room, Carol continued to complain for a couple of minutes, but finally admitted that she had been beaten.
It would take more daylight than they had left, to get the kitchen completely ready. Instead, it was decided that they would only work to clear a large enough section to be able to bring a few groceries in. After that, it was time to make a trip to the local market, to stock up on a few things for the kitchen.
“Okay, I’m going to wash up, and then while you wash, I’ll change into some clean clothes.”
“Okay, Mom,” Carol replied, as she put the bucket and rag that she had been using, in the corner.
While cleaning up in the bathroom, Carol’s attention was drawn down to under the sink where she thought she could hear strange scratching sounds coming from behind the wall. Stooping down to take a look, Carol was able to see only the smallest of holes, near the baseboards.
“Mom, I think you should come in here and listen to this. I think there’s something in the wall, under the sink.” Leaning in a little closer, Carol listened more intently for anymore sounds, but didn’t hear anything else.
She stood up when her mother came in to listen, Carol was disappointed when no other sounds were heard coming from under the sink.
“I’m sure it’s just the plumbing,” her mother offered, as she turned to walk away, while jingling her keys, which meant that she was getting in the car. If Carol wanted to go with her, she had better hurry.
Only moments after she turned to walk away, the noises returned. This time it was a little further up the wall. Picking up a piece of wood off the floor, Carol reached over, and slowly began poking at the wall.
Just as she was about to poke at the hole again, to see if she could make it a little bigger and get a better look at whatever was in there, Carol heard the car horn blasting, which meant, Get in the car now!
Dropping the piece of wood, Carol was up and out the front door. Running up to the car, Carol said “I think we might have a mouse or something living in the wall of the bathroom. Maybe, we need to pick up some traps while we’re at the store.”
“What makes you think we have mice?” her mother asked.
“I could have sworn I saw the little hand of a mouse or a rat. I’m sure that I heard something scratching behind the wall, and it didn’t sound like any plumbing I’ve ever heard!” Carol remarked, after climbing into the front seat.
Finished with the shopping, Carol helped her mother load the groceries into the back of the car. Settling back into the front seat, Carol’s thoughts returned to the sounds that she had heard, behind the wall in the bathroom. This combined with the apprehension that she felt about starting over somewhere new, without her father, had Carol feeling unsure about what the future would bring.