Harper found a place to park and made her way across the street where little traffic flowed. She sucked in a deep lungful of the clean crisp air, tinged with a light topping of wood smoke. Her mind envisioned houses with real fireplaces and happy families including the requisite Mom, Dad, two point five kids, and a dog stretched in front of the fire. A scene of contentment she hoped was true.
The small bell attached to the door jangled a pleasant announcement when she entered the office. Behind the desk sat a plump woman with a girlish grin, chipmunk cheeks, and a mass of red curls. Her smile widened as she studied Harper. “You must be Harper, I’m so excited to meet you.” Her high trilling voice rang out in the small office as it bounced around the walls.
She stood her bulk from her chair and rushed to Harper with open arms, enveloping her in a smothering hug. “I’m Brianna Smoth, and I’m jumping joyously happy meet you. I’ve been watching the street all day, hoping you would show up today.”
Harper, startled at first, took a moment to hug her back finding comfort in the boisterous welcome. Her senses overwhelmed with the soft arms and heavy dousing of perfume that surrounded Brianna.
Brianna pulled back and looked at Harper’s face. “I remember you from the funeral, but I don’t think you noticed anyone else. You were in and out so fast no one had time to say much to you. Though,” she grasped Harper’s chin and moved her head back and forth “you look better than you did last time. It looks like you’ve gotten some sleep.”
Brianna released Harper and toddled back to her desk with more energy than someone her size should have. As she settled back in front of her desk she spoke again. “I’m the Associate part of our name by the way. My husband is the lawyer and I’m the secretary. I know, predictable right? Well, it works for us. How was your trip? I see you have a hauler, I’m guess you’re moving here?”
“My trip wasn’t too bad I started late yesterday, so I stopped at about the halfway point then finished up this morning. I don’t know where I’m moving I decided it’s time for a change… and this is the time to make that change.”
“That’s great! I’m sure you’ve had a rough time recently with losing your friend. I talked to Cara a few times. She worked right across the street.” Brianna pointed at the small hospital across the street where Cara had worked as a physical therapist. “She was always so happy and sweet. Though… warning gossiping here… Susan was using her. Susan moved here years ago and has gone through pretty much every new guy and girl (if that was her thing) since. Sorry, I probably should’ve kept that to myself.”
Harper shook her head, enjoying the openness of Brianna and not offended by the gossip. “I thought the same thing of Susan even though I never met her. Cara told me a few things that made me suspicious that Susan wasn’t all that great. But I don’t want to speak ill of the dead so I’ll leave it alone.”
“I agree. Ready to get down to business? My husband would normally be here to read this to you, but he was called away on an emergency. His brother got into some trouble so he had to leave to rescue him… again. Who says there’s no drama in small towns?”
A nervous twinge pinged Harper’s mind at the thought of hearing Cara’s will, though curious at what it might contain, the finality was devastating. Any doubt that she was gone would be wiped away with the first words. “I’m ready.” She clenched her hands together and settled further into the hard wooden seat.
“Okay. I can give this to you in legal words, or tell you the gist since I’ve already reviewed everything. Which do you prefer?”
“Gist is fine with me.”
Brianna cleared her throat and began.
“Cara must have loved you very much. On this date February 2nd in the year 2015 you are now the owner of a one hundred acre farm which includes one farmhouse, one barn, one truck, two horses, one dog, and any belongings therein. When Cara applied for a mortgage she also signed up for instant mortgage payoff in the event of her death, so the property is paid in full. She also had life insurance, which after death taxes, will leave you with $110 thousand – you will be responsible for ensuring federal taxes are paid. Since you are down as her sole heir you will also get a payout after insurance settlement of the crash. Susan’s family has chosen payout, but you still have the option of suing for wrongful death if you decide you’d rather pursue more than they offer. My husband can advise you on that if you so choose.”
When Brianna finished, Harper sat in stunned silence processing the glut of information. “I… I… figured it was something about scattering her ashes. I had no idea it would be something like this.”
“Take a walk, let it sink in. And remember since the will contained no stipulation otherwise, you have the right to sell the property, if that’s the route you’d like to go.”
Harper shook her head. “I’m not sure what I want to do, this is all so shocking.”
“Tell you what. Why don’t you take a walk while I get a few things together? After I talked to you a couple of days ago, I took the liberty of driving out to the property and looking around. When you return we can go over what I found.”
Harper nodded her head and walked from the office without a word. Her mind filled with warring visions of living Cara’s dream in her memory or living her own muddled dreams of a fresh start. Harper’s feet beat a steady rhythm on the sidewalk as her lungs sucked in cold air. She considered going in Cara’s workplace, but changed her mind before she could talk herself into crossing the street and confronting more memories.
She paused when she reached a park with a large pond in the middle. A walking track lay in an oval around the pond and benches faced the water at regular intervals. Harper’s heart sped up and her breathing stopped as she took in the sight. The resemblance to where she and Cara first met was unmistakable. A sudden expulsion of air rocketed from her lungs and tears streaked down her face in a release of pent up emotions. Harper walked with a stilted gait as she made her slow way to a bench.
For an hour she sat on the bench watching the water and listening to the cries of seagulls far from their ocean homes. Though the water in this pond never froze like the one where she met Cara, it tugged at the long ago memories still fresh from her earlier reminiscing. The water lapped at the shoreline and an occasional fish rippled the surface. Ducks swam in a huddle on the far shore and somewhere far off a dog barked.
Unchecked tears dripped from Harper’s chin. She didn’t notice the steady flow as her mind wandered trying to grasp an elusive thought. Her entire life had been turned upside down in a short span of time and with the help of fate and Cara’s planning Harper was here in the small town in the middle of nowhere. Slowly the drip of liquid emotions tapered off still unnoticed by Harper. Her mind chewed and gnawed at the thought she couldn’t quite grip between the teeth of grief running her thoughts and emotions.
Harper didn’t notice the truck that puttered along the road that ran behind the park. Her back was to the road as she faced the pond with her undammed grief. The man driving the truck noticed her sitting hunched over with a pain no medicine could cure. He slowed to watch her, then realized how it would look if anyone saw him, and stalker he was not. With a push of his foot he moved the truck toward his destination. His heart ached for the woman on the bench. Everyone in town knew who she was, small town gossips spread news faster than a wildfire in a tinder dry forest. Cara was his neighbor, and he sensed a kinship with Harper even though they’d never met. The light that shined in Cara’s eyes anytime she had spoken Harper’s name made him want to meet this amazing woman. A woman beat down by life now dragged further into a personal inferno by fate’s cruel designs.
His quiet getaway was interrupted by a backfire from his old work truck. He pounded his hand on the steering wheel in frustration as his face turned red with embarrassment. The rear-view mirror revealed Harper hadn’t moved from her balled up stance. He wiped an invisible bead of sweat from his forehead and continued on to finish his morning errands.
Harper h
eard the loud noise, she assumed a backfire, behind her but didn’t turn to acknowledge it. She was too busy searching for a cathartic solution to her sudden new life. As she sat lost in thought a seagull crept closer to the squawking person on the bench. Gulls are opportunistic wily birds and will snatch food wherever it may fall and humans are frequently the source of falling food. They are drawn to bodies of water and didn’t seem to care that this particular body has no salt like the water in their native range. The bold gull hopped onto the arm of the bench where Harper sat and watched the person with keen interest, trying to determine if food was forthcoming.
When Harper continued to ignore the unnoticed bird, it let out a loud screech that resonated in her ears. She jumped but clamped her hand over her mouth before the building scream escaped. Instead, she looked at the gray and white intruder with beady little eyes and a yellow beak, and allowed a smile to stretch her cheeks.
She plopped her heavy purse onto her lap and began digging through its contents. From the very bottom she pulled a half smashed cereal bar and a not quite intact packet of Saltines. The gull watched as she ripped the crackers open and dumped their contents on the ground in front of her feet. Wasting no time, the gull pounced on the crackers like it had been stalking the salty snack and now grasped slippery prey in its greedy jaws. As it snagged the biggest piece a loud cry issued from its throat, calling its comrades to the paltry feast. Harper laughed as several more gulls showed up to fight over the few remaining crumbs.
She ripped open the cereal bar and dumped its contents alongside the white cracker bits. The gulls fought and postured to snag the biggest pieces each taking flight as soon as they were satisfied with their haul. Before long the only remaining evidence of the bird snacks were the crumpled packets in her hand. With a laugh she stood to find a trash can.
As she walked she reached inside her purse and searched for her wallet. She pulled the laminated card with Get a Life stenciled in a lead frame of pencil rubs. Her hand tightened around the card as her feet carried her around the pond’s perimeter. If Cara were around they would be throwing out scenarios of what she could do and how it would end up. Harper reached to rub her aching heart, missing Cara with every step.
By the end of the second circuit she knew what she had to do. She returned the card to her wallet and scrounged for tissue to dry her face. The waterfall of tears dried and her emotions in check, Harper knew the answer to what she had to do in Cara’s memory.
With a determined stride and answers settled in her mind she walked back to Smoth and Associates. The bell jangled as she pushed through the door announcing her presence to Brianna and signifying another new start in her life.
Eight
“Well, honey. Looks like you’ve been doing some heavy thinking. How’s it working out for you?”
Harper gave Brianna a watery smile fraught with all the thoughts flying through her head. “I’ve decided what I’m going to do. Let me rephrase that, what I’m going to try to do.”
Brianna looked at her with expectation shining in her eyes framed with heavy mascara. “Well, spit it out already.”
Harper wrestled jangled nerves and won by finding an image of Cara in her memory locker to calm her jitters. “I’m going to go out to the farm and try to finish what Cara started. It was her dream, and I feel obligated to give it a shot. I can’t imagine selling the last thing Cara owned to some stranger.”
“Would you like my opinion?” Without waiting for an answer Brianna continued. “You’re doing the right thing, and it’s what Cara would’ve wanted that’s why she left it all to you.”
Brianna pushed a binder across the desk. “This is what I was working on while you were gone. I knew you’d make the right decision, so I wanted to be ready. I pulled all the old property records including the listing from when Cara purchased it. I found some interesting tidbits on its history. It’s all in there, so why don’t you peruse that while I go have a smoke? Feel free to sit on the couch and get comfortable.”
Harper waved as Brianna exited the building accompanied by the jingle of the bell and a movement of air as she passed through the opening. The scent of Brianna’s vanilla scented perfume hung in the air as a reminder of her exit.
With shaky hands Harper picked up the binder and walked to the tan leather couch. Smooth velvety leather grabbed her butt as she sank into a sit and settled into well-worn cowhide. She shook her head at the first page. Brianna must have some serious organization skills if she could put this binder together in the limited time she had when Harper was out of the office.
A printed table of contents faced Harper, laid out in neat precise rows along with page numbers, titles, subtitles, and various bullet points. With hands still shaking from nervous energy Harper turned to the page with its shiny clear protector guarding the words underneath. It held the probate announcement from the original property owners. I contained all the typical legalese and nonsensical plat descriptions.
The property entered probate after the death of Victor and Murine Slater who died within weeks of each other after fifty five years of wedded bliss. Harper rolled her eyes at the thought of wedded bliss that lasted fifty five years. She knew better, they were probably fighting behind closed doors everyday then presenting their conservative little town with a fake veneer of happiness. Her eyes roved farther into the document.
Victor and Murine had owned the property since 1955. The original property was closer to a thousand acres, but they sold off parcels over the years ending with the smaller one hundred acre plot. After they purchased it they built the house that still stood and made it into a working cattle farm for a number of years. A freak storm wiped out their entire herd of cattle during the winter of 1965. Once insurance claims were settled for the cattle they decided to change directions and moved over to wheat, corn, and soybeans. Over time, as crops ebbed and flowed with the economy and the fickle nature of weather they were underwater on their mortgage and various farming implements.
Starting in 1975 they began selling off parcels of land to pay off their massive debts and put food on the table for their five children. As each parcel of land was sold their farming operation had to be curtailed to fit the new acreage available to farm. For the next thirty years their farm was a veritable feast or famine. All five children grew up and left farm life for city adventures leaving Victor and Murine to work the remaining land on their own. In 2005 they sold the last parcel slice, outside of the one hundred acres surrounding their house and barn, to a man with farming dreams, but city ignorance.
That man would later purchase a pregnant chestnut mare. The mare and her filly paid the price for the man’s idyllic vision of what it meant to own a farm and two twelve hundred pound animals that needed food and a pen bigger than a hundred square feet. His daughter lost interest in the animals once she realized they needed food and care, and the newness of a cute foal wore off as the foal grew into a full-sized horse stunted from lack of food and proper care.
With the money from the last parcel sell Victor and Murine were able to retire. They lived the remainder of their golden years in relative comfort in the house they built in 1955. The house fell into disrepair as they ignored the upkeep an older home required. Upon their deaths the home was stuck in probate due to them not having a will and none of the kids willing to take over the farm. Once probate was settled the home had sat unused for a year before it was put up for sale. The kids listed the home too high for the slow housing market so the property sat on the market for two years as it continued a slow deterioration into abandoned property.
***
Cara had told Harper the story of discovering the sad house on a drive through the countryside based on a closed eye finger point to a random map of Missouri. Cara had broken up with her most recent girlfriend and knew she needed a change in her life. She dug through her desk and found an old road atlas, one with each state on its own page. In true Cara fashion she dropped the atlas on the floor with the intent of whatever page it lan
ded would be the next destination on her train of life that was ready to move on. When it dropped it flipped open to a map of Missouri. She shrugged with indifference, closed her eyes, and called to her inner muse to guide her wandering finger. With excited trepidation she opened her eyes to see where her new home would lie.
Her finger rested on a tiny town called Buck Run. She spent that evening combing through the limited job offerings such a small town contained. When she spotted an opening for a physical therapist she shrieked with joy knowing her fated muse had guided her finger with precision. The next morning she was packed and on the road heading to her fifth new destination in as many years. Her phone’s GPS stopped working when she got close to town causing her to take a wrong turn. The wrong turn was a dirt road crossing in front of the farm she would eventually purchase.
She drove the dirt road at a sloth’s pace attempting to keep her teeth from rattling out of her head. As she rounded a sharp bend her future home came into view, Ziggie from his shotgun seat, issued a sharp bark of disapproval when his balance was interrupted by the rude curvature of the road. The fence surrounding the property couldn’t contain a wheelchair bound horse much less anything mobile. The boards were weathered gray and detached in dejected neglect. For her it was love at first glimpse when she spotted the ragged For Sale sign swinging a lopsided dance near the mailbox at the driveway’s end.
By the time Cara found the neglected overpriced property it had been sitting stagnant for four years, between probate and kids seeing dollar signs, every potential buyer was driven off by greed. Cara knew immediately that she would own the property and her dream, tamped down by life, of owning a u-pick fruit farm sat in front of her in all its neglected glory.
Tragic Renewal Page 5