Installment #9

Installment #9

Him

He sat in the tree with his back against the broad trunk.
From this vantage point he had an unobstructed view of the
small farm below. Of course the telescope was one of the high
dollar ones that could pinpoint and bring in a gnat if he needed it
to. He had not bought it for this particular reason, but rather to
study the heavens, but he liked to use resources he had on hand.
If there was ever a question as to why he had such a high
powered instrument he would just show them the notes in his
“The moon as I see it.” notebook complete with dates and
drawings.

What a beehive of activity it was this morning around the
house. It was very clear that Meg was having the house secured
for some reason or another. He thought back to his last visit and
tried to recall if he had left anything behind. Nothing. He had
seen the screen hanging loose last week and wondered about that.
It seemed that the screen had been loose for several days. It
seemed to go unnoticed until the idiot handyman had called her
attention to it last week. He would have been content to set here
in his little nest up in the tree and watch her farm down below
24/7, but he did have to put in an appearance at the office
occasionally. Jennifer was an excellent secretary and office
manager, but way too nosey for her own good.

He watched as the welders began installing the decorative
iron over the windows. He sure hoped it was to improve the
look of the place and not to keep him out. That was a waste of
time. Nothing would keep him out of her world. He had watched
her and Tom for years and he had loved her then as much as he
loved her now. How convenient for him that Tom had loved
hiking in the back country. How convenient that the avalanche
had swept down the mountain on that particular day burying Tom
under many feet of snow. Convenient? He laughed to himself.

Memories are precious things and the best part of the memories
is that they are all in the mind of the one remembering. He alone
knew how the avalanche started. How patient he had been that
morning shadowing Tom along on his back country trek that day.
He was way up the mountain and Tom down low. And then he
saw what he had been looking for. The snow was piled and
seemed to be trembling and just waiting for the signal. He gave
a shiver of delight as he pulled the starting pistol from his jacket
and at just the right moment, pulled the trigger releasing the loud
bang. Tom’s head jerked upward at the sound, but all he saw was
the wall of snow thundering down the slope directly headed for
him. He did not have time to even move. He disappeared under
a wall of white. He was gone.

The man gave a sigh of relief. Poor Meg. All alone with
that little queer son in Boston. She would need a man to take
care of her. But he would give her time. He had lots of that.
Not like he had friends to occupy his time. The job took very
little time and was quite lucrative. It all depended on the stock
market. Jennifer handled the paper work and all he had to do
was invest money and make money for other people. The more
he made for other people the more he made for himself. It paid
well enough that he had been able to buy this little cabin in the
mountains on 40 acres. Solitude. It was just a short commute
into Denver and far enough away from civilization that he was
not bothered by anyone. And that is how he had found Meg and
Tommy. He had met them on a walk in the woods. They had
nodded to each other. But Meg had looked directly into his eyes
and smiled. Not many women did that. Well, actually, none.
The scars he had brought home from Viet Nam usually stopped
people from coming any closer. He did not need anyone close.
Even his own mother had shuddered when she saw him. Her
mistake.