Tragic Renewal

by Marlina Williams

When Cara contacted the realtor who was weary of a property that would never sell, he was ecstatic to have a possible buyer for the red mark on his books. With much persuading the kids agreed to part with their childhood home that would soon be no more than a pile of dry lumber and faded memories without the maintenance it so sorely needed. Cara purchased it for a fraction of the asking price and had been methodically bringing it back to life.

  ***

  Harper recalled the day Cara had called her about finding her dream home.

  “Harper, Harper, Harper guess what!” Cara squealed in the same delighted voice of a kid learning of an upcoming trip to the Magical Kingdom.

  “Cara, slow down. You’re gonna hyperventilate if you don’t breathe. In out, in out, in out.” Harper teased as Cara tried to contain her joy.

  “I found my dream house, I really found it. I got a call from the bank and they approved my loan.” Cara continued trying to calm her ecstasy while she waited for Harper to respond.

  “Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you.” A moment of jealousy flashed up then burned out that Cara’s life was starting fresh while hers had finished crumbling along with her doomed marriage.

  With a flash of brilliance Cara declared. “Harper, how about you come live with me? We can be roomies and start over together.” A note of desperation Harper had never heard from Cara crept into her request.

  “Cara, I’m barely hanging on here. I can’t afford to move cross country right now. Maybe in a few years after the farm is up and running I can come be your hired hand and do all the grunt work.”

  With disappointment dripping from each syllable Cara voiced her assent to Harper’s position. “I know, but maybe someday it will happen. Until then I will be working my little rear off to make a palace for my future roomie.”

  Harper smiled at Cara’s childish enthusiasm and willingness to always look for a bright spot even when things weren’t going her way. “Maybe when I move there you can have a man lined up that will treat me right and you’ll finally meet your fairytale princess. We can all live in bliss while we run your farm.”

  Sudden silence echoed through the phone. Harper pulled the phone from her ear to stare at the screen, thinking they had lost connection.

  “Cara, you still there?” The silence continued for several more seconds before Cara responded.

  “Yeah, I’m still here. I was thinking about the dream you’re creating for our future. I like the sound of it.” Harper detected a note of softness, almost a muffled quality, to Cara’s words, a note she had picked up on before but could never quite figure out.

  Harper didn’t know that Cara’s vision was much like her own but with a few key differences, and a couple less people.

  “Alright my very best friend in the whole wide universe, it’s time for me to go I got lots of work to do. You know what I mean, man?” Cara’s normal bright eagerness was back in her voice. The muffled voice quality gone like smoke in a windstorm, gone before you had a chance to realize it was there.

  Harper chuckled, happy to hear the jingly breathy voice she was used to. “Yes, Miss Cara, go get to work. Send me some pics so I can see your new dream castle.”

  “Oh, that’ll take a while. You won’t be seeing any pictures until it’s all fixed up and ready for an open house showing, complete with chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of ice cold milk.”

  “Bye, Cara, talk to you soon. I love you.”

  Harper heard the distant beep as they disconnected. She puzzled over Cara’s change, but decided to shelve it for later reflection. It would sit along with all the other items shelved on that same perch that was beginning to gather dust.

  Harper pulled herself back from her ruminations to continue the task at hand. She flipped to the next page where a full color photo of a dilapidated house reflected the years of neglect. The house, a typical rambling structure built to last and raise a passel of kids without them falling over each other. Her fingers rubbed over the smooth clear plastic covering the chipped and dented, but somehow charming structure. She now saw what Cara must have seen that first day when fate lined up to show her a lump of coal hiding a precious gem under its ugly surface.

  Below the picture the house details were listed in typical fashion: five bedrooms, three bathrooms, three thousand spacious feet, perfect for the growing family, this is the house for you if you’re a handyman who needs room for the kids to roam, and room for the horses to rest their horsey heads. A fixer upper with real potential, all offers will be considered. Call me today to inquire about your future home in the peaceful countryside, with great neighbors – because they’re too far away to be nosy.

  Harper laughed at the last bit of the listing. The realtor was working hard to sell a property that would have been condemned in a city. She liked the zest applied to make a crummy house seem like the whole cake with ice cream on the side. He even made the fixing up part sound like it would be great fun to participate in such an arduous task. Tom Sawyer would have been proud of his work ethic.

  She thumbed through the next pages showing the barn, a beat up truck covered in rust and shiny splotches of white paint, the final two pages showed the animals. The first was of Ziggie lying on a stoop next to a doggie door. Harper’s heart ripped when she saw the sadness born of grief in his eyes. The picture must have been taken after the accident. She flipped again and two red colored horses grazed in a small paddock beside the crumbling barn. They seemed indifferent to the photographer as they concentrated on chewing winter brown grass and flicking their long tails. Their white striped faces and stocking clad legs contrasted against the winter landscape and their fluffy winter coats.

  As Harper flipped the last page and closed the binder Brianna returned from her cigarette break.

  “Well, I see you’ve finished. What’d you think?”

  “You’re very thorough. I’m amazed you put this together so quickly.”

  A sly guilty look crossed Brianna’s face. “Okay, I may have fudged that a little. I had most of this together before you got here. I knew you would make the right decision.”

  Harper smiled. “Well, looks like your little voice told you right. One question from me for now, who’s taking care of the animals?”

  “Silly me, I totally forgot to tell you. The neighbor, Noah Givens, has been watching them. He was friends with Cara and helped her with some work before… well before you know. He’s a carpenter, so I bet he’d be willing to help with anything you might need.”

  “You know, Cara mentioned something about him helping her with a rotten spot on her porch right after she moved in.”

  “Oh, and, I’m sad to say when I spoke to him yesterday, he said Ziggie, the giant Akita with the sad eyes? He said he thinks Ziggie is depressed and the only thing that cheers the dog up is when he brings his four year old son, Grayson, over to visit.”

  “Interesting, one more puzzle I’ll have to figure out. Thank you so much for all you’ve done. Would you mind coming with me to see the property? I’m a little… uh leery of how I will handle being in Cara’s space right now.”

  “Absolutely, let me get my coat and I’ll lead the way.”

  Nine

  Noah shook his head as he listened to his mom, Connie, gab on the other end of the phone.

  “Son, it’s time you put yourself out there. It’s been over two years and you’ve been moping around like that flighty creature of a human you called wife is ever going to return. You know I never did like that woman, good riddance. Anyway, I’ve set up a date for you with Jamie Watson on Friday. Pick her up at 7:00 at her house, she’ll be waiting.” Connie, pushy by nature, never considered her son might not want to date Jamie Watson.

  “Seriously Mom?” Noah replied as frustration tinged his words. “I’m a grown ass man.” He clamped his palm over his mouth as he searched for his son, hoping Grayson didn’t hear the curse. Relieved when he didn’t spot his son, he continued. “I’m capable of finding my own dates. Quit trying to run my life.” Noah wa
s immediately contrite for talking forcefully to his mom, but sometimes her plans overran the bounds of normal and she needed to be prodded back to her place as mom, not matchmaker.

  The gap of silence told Noah he had hurt her feelings. “C’mon Mom don’t be upset, I will find someone when it’s time. Right now I’m focused on raising your grandson, remember him?”

  “How could I forget that little boy who needs a mother?” Connie’s petulant reply annoyed Noah, but he chose the easier route of making his mom happy rather than stirring the fire ant’s nest that was her nature.

  “Here’s what I will agree to, but I need your solemn promise this is the last date you will set me up on,” Noah paused as he waited for her agreement before continuing.

  He fought his urge to fill in the empty air with more words while he waited for her stubbornness to wane.

  “Okay, tell me what you’re agreeing to,” she said with defeat. “I promise I won’t set you up on any more dates.”

  “I will take Jamie out this Friday, but you need to understand that it’s a single date and I’m not interested in her. I never have been. She’s a nice woman, but she’s not for me.”

  “How can you not like her? She’s gorgeous, has giant boobs, and from what I understand she doesn’t mind putting out.”

  Noah’s face turned baboon butt red at her last statement. Connie was missing some major filters when it came to her son.

  “First of all Mom, you need to stop gossiping with your pinochle group, and second, gross. You shouldn’t be talking to me about those things.”

  Connie giggled like a school girl. “I know I shouldn’t, I like imagining how red your face is right now. You were always so easy to embarrass. Don’t worry, son, my solemn vow stands. No more fix up’s after this one. From now on, I’ll leave you alone and let you choose who to date.”

  Noah rubbed his hand through his thick black hair, cut short to keep its natural curls in check. “Mom, I need to go so I can hunt down my missing son. You know he likes to get into things when I’m distracted.”

  “Alright, call me after your date and tell me how it went.”

  “Yeah, right, Mom, like that’s going to happen. Bye, you stubborn old woman.”

  He hung the phone up then set out to search for Grayson.

  “Mr. Grayson where are you little man?” Noah shouted, projecting his voice through their modest home.

  From the floor above he detected a faint response. Noah crept up the stairs, carefully avoiding the creaky spots, ensconced in a game of find the missing kid. When he reached the landing he turned left then tiptoed across the slick hardwood floor in his socked feet.

  He heard a shrill giggle before he spotted Grayson. Grayson, seated at the top of the old laundry shoot, ready to launch down the slick yellow plastic tube.

  “Grayson, don’t you do it, don’t you do it.” Noah’s voice rose with false fear and playful admonishment.

  Noah watched as Grayson’s wild black curls bounced around on his head and a stream of bubbly laughter flowed behind him as he launched from his seat atop the shoot.

  Noah ran to the shoot, shouting and laughing. “No, no, no what am I gonna do without my little man? Oh, please someone save me from this heinous torture.” He yelled in mock agony at the boy’s back as he disappeared from view.

  Grayson’s laughter stopped with a thump then started back up. Tinkling little boy notes sang of boundless child joy. Noah could hear Grayson racing up the stairs then slamming the basement door, ready for another round with the slide monster.

  The slide monster came into being two years ago when Noah’s wife, Debra, left a Dear Noah letter on their kitchen table and disappeared from their lives. A few weeks after her disappearing act, as they were coming to terms with her being gone, an envelope arrived via messenger with divorce papers. Debra didn’t want anything, including visitation rights with her son, her freedom from a life she no longer wanted. Noah granted her the divorce, and they hadn’t heard from her since.

  During the initial weeks the shock and disbelief threatened to overwhelm Noah. His need for an outlet pushed his creative mind into overdrive. With Grayson’s input Noah designed the indoor slide. He ripped out the old laundry shoot and replaced it with a series of enclosed playground slides. The slide’s thick smooth plastic made the perfect ramp for a fast exhilarating ride, longer than any playground slide he’d ever seen. It looked more like it belonged in a water park with its twists and bends. The end of the slide dumped out onto a large mattress set into a foam covered frame.

  Grayson stomped up to Noah with the heavy tread of a kid hopped up on fun. He wrapped his four year old arms around Noah’s legs. “Daddy, come slide with me. It’s sooo much fun.” He stared up at his dad with pleading eyes. A tiny trickle of sweat ran down his face and dampened the neck of his neon green T-shirt.

  Noah, wholly incapable of denying this precious kid any whim he agreed to one trip. “Listen up little dude, one trip only. I have to finish up work for Mr. Danny then we need to go next door to feed the animals.”

  Grayson clapped his hands with excitement. He loved going to feed the animals and there was a mutual adoration between Ziggie and Grayson. So far the boy was the only person the giant dog responded to since Cara’s death. When Noah first met Cara and saw the size of the bear sized beast of a dog he pushed Grayson behind him for protection if the need arose. It was all for naught because Ziggie was an absolute marshmallow for the kid. Ziggie’s reception of Noah was lukewarm at best, but he never showed aggression, but instead a haughty attitude of Noah not quite making the short list of his loved people.

  Noah’s heart ached for Ziggie when he saw the depression clearly evident in the dog’s eyes. He watched the dog walk around the fenced yard and through the empty house in abject dejection. With tail uncurled and hanging between his back legs he moped the days away. Twice a day they went to the house to feed the horses and Ziggie as he waited for answers to what would happen to them and the farm. Though he trusted the dog around Grayson, Ziggie refused to leave his home. When they visited Ziggie would momentarily perk up at the sight of Grayson, but before they left would always be back to moping. Noah knew he ate the food that was left, but seemed to be losing weight from stress. The dog’s too human reaction to grief was hard to watch and Noah hoped something would change soon for the big dog.

  The previous day Brianna Smoth had knocked on his door. With excitement she recounted that Cara’s friend Harper was coming to town, but Harper didn’t yet know that Cara had left everything to her in the will.

  Cara had mentioned her best friend to him once while he was helping her replace some rotted wood on her porch. Her eyes shone with love when she spoke of Harper. Her voice hardened into scary iron when she talked about Harper’s philandering ex-husband and his manipulative control over her during their ill-fated marriage. She told him of the lost babies making his heart hurt at the thought of losing one child, much less three in that way. That evening he gathered Grayson close and allowed him to sleep in the big bed. His imagination ran with the torture Harper must have gone through with the first signs of early labor, and she knew she would lose another baby.

  When he saw her hunched on the bench in Duck Pond Park he wanted to stop and comfort her. He wanted to introduce himself and tell her how much he enjoyed having Cara for a neighbor, and how sorry he was that her ex-husband didn’t treat her better. His inner shy boy stopped him from doing any of those things, but with her possibly moving in next door he would have a chance to make up for it.

  Noah’s eyes drifted down when Grayson squirmed. “Daddy, let’s go now, what are we waiting for?”

  Noah bopped Grayson on the crown of his head with a gentle bump. “Alright kiddo, I’ll race you down. Ready, set, go…”

  Grayson shot from his standing position, then turned with shining eyes and stuck out tongue. “Ha ha, I win, see you on the bottom.” His head vanished as he climbed into the tube face down.

  Noah rushed t
o the slide in time to see the bottom of Grayson’s mismatched socks. He listened for the thump before climbing into the entrance. “Here I come, get out of the way or you’ll be squashed like a bug.” His voice echoed through the tube and bled out the other end.

  “Go daddy, go. I’m out of the way.” The return response was almost immediate.

  Noah shoved out and raced down the tunnel, static crackling around him as his speed created friction on the plastic slide. Grayson stood to the side of the mattress as Noah raced through the opening and plopped into the mattress with a soft thump.

  Grayson clapped his hands and cheered his dad’s descent. Noah stood and scooped the whooping boy into his arms and hugged him tight to his chest, swinging him round and round.

  Grayson’s endless string of giggles was infectious as Noah placed him on the floor.

  “That’s it little man let’s head next door so we can feed those starving animals. If we don’t get there soon they’re liable to break down our door and eat us,” Noah teased.

  “Uh uh Daddy, you’re fibbing on me. Horses eat grass, and Ziggie loves me.” Grayson waggled his eyebrows. “Though he might take a bite out of you.” He let out a raucous snort and took off running for the stairs.

  Noah caught him before he reached the first riser. He scooped up the little boy and placed him on his shoulders. Grayson’s hands snaked down to grip Noah around the throat as they made their way up the stairs.

  “Faster daddy faster.” When Noah’s pace slowed, Grayson kicked his feet like he was spurring on a reluctant horse.

  “You’re wearing me out, let me walk for minute. Actually, I have a better idea how about we change spots and I ride your shoulders. How’s about that?”

  “Daddy, you’re so silly. You’d crush me if you sat on my shoulders.”

  “I sure would, now be nice to your old man while he’s carrying you around like a sack of stinky onions.”

  Grayson snickered and bounced up and down as Noah left the house and headed for their truck.

  As he slammed his door he looked up and saw the dust stirred from two vehicles heading down the main dirt road. He recognized the lead car as Brianna’s Buick and he assumed the second car pulling a tiny U-Haul trailer must be Harper.