Installment 7
Him
He watched her pull into the garage. He watched as the
lights came on in the house and imagined the dogs running to
meet her. The idiot that was tending the place had locked them in
their crates. He knew that was not right. When the overgrown
boy had left he had gone into the house and let them out. They
had not even barked at him. Was it because they liked him? Or
because he had let them out of their crates? Or because he had
given them a treat from the little jar on the shelf?
He had parked his jeep behind the chicken house. Then
realizing that the light in the chicken house shone on his fender
he had turned it off. The switch was located sensibly right inside
the door with easy access. Then he settled back in the seat to wait
for her to come home. Just to be sure she was safe. He could
have stayed at the airport and followed her, but this way was
better. This way she was coming home to him.
He watched her in the moonlight on the veranda. He
wondered what she was thinking. Panic seized him as he
realized she would know the light was not on in the chicken
house. What if she came to see what the problem was? What if
she found him there? He was not ready for that. When she
turned to go into the house he thought it best to leave. He
quickly turned the light back on and drove out of the drive in the
dark. As he reached the road he saw her returning to the
veranda. That was a very close call. He must be careful from
now on and not take any more chances. He pulled the light
switch on and the light flooded the road ahead of him. He gave
the Jeep more gas and began to hum a tune under his breathe. A
Garth Brooks tune. The one about the lonely woman and the
summer and the hot kid that got lucky with the older chick.
Then he laughed out loud.
Installment 8
Home
Meg grimaced as she settled at the computer. 63
emails. She ran the cursor down the list. Nothing from
redranger. She started with the junk, then the forwards.
Next she looked for the PayPal’s that announced that she had
received a payment. There were six of them and she quickly
printed them.
Then she clicked on the eBay “your item sold emails “
that corresponded with the payments. Those out of the way she
clicked on the other eBay correspondence. Six were questions
which she quickly answered. Two from peepster25 who told her
first how much she liked her new necklace and then the next one
wished her a good vacation. Eight items were ended and needed
to be relisted . At last she stared at a blank screen. She gathered
the items that had sold and loaded the shipping labels in the top
bed of the printer. Before she could call up the shipping list the
mail box clicked. Redranger. She opened the email and began to
smile.
“Meg?”
“Eldon?” And the conversation was on. She told him
how great the short vacation had been and how good Kevin
looked and how they had ran and gone to the Golden Gate
Bridge. It felt good to visit with Eldon. It was such a
comfortable feeling. No pressure. And she could set at her
computer in her ragged tee shirt and her gym shorts and he
would never know. Long distance, Internet romance, what ever
you called it, was exactly what she needed this morning.
He was the first to break off since he had to go to work.
It was after 8:00 AM where he was which was two hours ahead
of her time here in the Mountain Standard Time. So he must be
on Eastern Standard Time. She made a note to call Fred about
the light in the chicken house. Fred was the retired Marine who
helped out with odd jobs around this area. He lived a little ways
up the mountain in a small cabin and worked cheap. Fred was a
sad specimen as were many of the characters who lived on the
mountain. Not bad people, just sort of misfits.
“I will be in early tonight and we can catch up. OK? ;)”
Eldon always signed off with the little smiley face and Meg
always smiled when she saw it.
She tapped back an “OK” and headed for the kitchen.
She needed to make cookies for the luncheon on Tuesday for the
AIDS clients. Once a month she sponsored a social luncheon in
the conference room at the ACS office in town. AIDS Client
Services had been active since 1987 when the epidemic was
reaching new heights and help was not to be found. Currently
the office served 145 people, but only about 20 of them were
active in social events. The climate of the disease had changed a
lot over the years and now it was more a chronic disease as
opposed to a death sentence as it had been back then. It was
much easier in this day and age to get on Disability Income.
Meg was glad that Kevin was working. She could not picture
him sitting and waiting for the next shoe to drop. He had put
himself through college and he would put himself through life.
Meg gave Fred a quick call and made arrangements for
him to come by later in the morning to check out the light in
the chicken house. That being taken care of she headed for the
shower. She loved a nice hot shower especially on a cool
morning like today. Most mornings were cool here in the
foothills as were the evenings. That was one of the great
things about Colorado. Kansas had been hot and humid. True
she had never needed chapstick in Kansas, but then she rarely
used it now. Just some times. The humidity was very low in
this area so the heat and the cold did not affect her like they
had in Selda. She suddenly thought of her sister and instead of
the shower she picked up the phone.
“Eleanor! How are you? I have not talked to you since
forever.”
Her younger sister laughed softly. “Course not. You
just stay holed up out there and don’t talk to anyone. When are
you coming for a visit? You know Betsy is getting married
again, don’t you?”
“Well, how could I? Nobody ever calls. You know you
could come out here and see me. I always go to see you.”
And she suddenly remembered why she never called.
She was the outsider. Mom had always been close to the three
sisters. When Dad had left and moved to New Jersey with his
secretary, Eleanor, Betsy and Merilyn had turned their backs on
him and taken care of Mom. Meg had been in Montana then
and saw no reason to return. Mom was in good hands and
apparently so was Dad. Now Dad was dead and Mom was still
not going to let it go. Nor were the girls.
“OK, Ellie, let’s try to get together for Christmas. I
would love to have you all out here. Want to?” Eleanor
promised to talk to the sisters and Mom and let her know. So
Meg rang off and started the shower with warm water. She
stepped under the spray and turned the cold down a little. As
she relaxed under the hot water she reached for the soap. Her
hand stopped in mid air as she looked at the strange bar of soap
in the tray. Irish Spring? She did not use Irish Spring. She
bought all her soap from a girl on eBay who made it in her
kitchen. It was all coordinated. Tahitian Vanilla Soap, Tahitian
Vanilla Body Butter and Tahitian Vanilla Lotion. She had not
bought any thing else in the last three years. She suddenly felt
very vulnerable and small in her nakedness. She stepped
quickly from the shower and wrapped in her lavender towel.
The towel smelled of Irish Spring and she discarded it in a heap
of the floor.
What was going on here? Who had been in her home?
Was she alone now? The door bell chimed and she jumped.
Grabbing her robe she ran down the hall, pulling it on and
belting it as she moved. She wrenched the door open and
encountered Fred on the porch with his hat in his hands. She
must have been a sight because he stepped back and almost fell
off the porch. Suddenly she felt very foolish.
“Oh , Fred! I am sorry! I forgot you were coming.
Please excuse me. I must look a mess. Come in.” She stepped
back while opening the door wider.
“Oh, no, Miss. I will just go check out the chicken house
if that is all right with you. If you’ve got a problem I will get
right on it.” He hurried down the steps with a confused look on
his face. Meg sagged against the door jamb. What a damn fool
she must look like.
She left the door ajar in case Fred got back before her and
hurried down the hall to dress. She quickly grabbed a pair of
jeans and a flannel shirt, panties and white cotton socks. In less
than 10 minutes she was back at the door fully dressed and
watching Fred ambling across the yard towards the house.
She met him at the door with two cups of coffee.
She handed his to him and motioned to the glider. “Well,
Fred. What did you find?”
“Not a thing, Miss. Light seems to be fine and I
checked all the wires. Must have just been a trick of your
imagination or a gremlin.” He sipped his coffee and looked
toward the chicken house. “I did notice though that when I
walked by the side of the house on the way out there that you
got a loose screen right there on your garage.”
He gestured and Meg’s eyes followed his finger. Loose
screen? The whole bottom half of the screen hung loose. How
had that happened? As she realized how it had happened her
stomach went ice cold with dread. Some one had been in her
home while she was in California! Nothing was missing, she
was sure. She would check, but she knew suddenly that if the
intruder had meant to do harm to anything he would not have
taken a shower and dried on her towel.
In a very controlled voice she turned to Fred. “Yes,
Freddie, I want you to fix that, but let’s do this. Go into town
and get the screen and while you are at it, I want to burglar proof
this place. See Mr. Watts at the Iron and Metal place and have
something nice and sturdy installed. You work with him and I
would like to have it done sooner rather than later.”
Fred smiled. This would be a job worth doing. Put a little
money in his pocket. He liked money. If he didn’t like it, why
did he have it buried all over his property? He pulled his tape
measure off his belt and took a notebook and pencil out of his
shirt pocket.
“Yes, ma’am! I will get right on that!” He whistled as he
walked to the first window.
Him
He watched her pull into the garage. He watched as the
lights came on in the house and imagined the dogs running to
meet her. The idiot that was tending the place had locked them in
their crates. He knew that was not right. When the overgrown
boy had left he had gone into the house and let them out. They
had not even barked at him. Was it because they liked him? Or
because he had let them out of their crates? Or because he had
given them a treat from the little jar on the shelf?
He had parked his jeep behind the chicken house. Then
realizing that the light in the chicken house shone on his fender
he had turned it off. The switch was located sensibly right inside
the door with easy access. Then he settled back in the seat to wait
for her to come home. Just to be sure she was safe. He could
have stayed at the airport and followed her, but this way was
better. This way she was coming home to him.
He watched her in the moonlight on the veranda. He
wondered what she was thinking. Panic seized him as he
realized she would know the light was not on in the chicken
house. What if she came to see what the problem was? What if
she found him there? He was not ready for that. When she
turned to go into the house he thought it best to leave. He
quickly turned the light back on and drove out of the drive in the
dark. As he reached the road he saw her returning to the
veranda. That was a very close call. He must be careful from
now on and not take any more chances. He pulled the light
switch on and the light flooded the road ahead of him. He gave
the Jeep more gas and began to hum a tune under his breathe. A
Garth Brooks tune. The one about the lonely woman and the
summer and the hot kid that got lucky with the older chick.
Then he laughed out loud.
Installment 8
Home
Meg grimaced as she settled at the computer. 63
emails. She ran the cursor down the list. Nothing from
redranger. She started with the junk, then the forwards.
Next she looked for the PayPal’s that announced that she had
received a payment. There were six of them and she quickly
printed them.
Then she clicked on the eBay “your item sold emails “
that corresponded with the payments. Those out of the way she
clicked on the other eBay correspondence. Six were questions
which she quickly answered. Two from peepster25 who told her
first how much she liked her new necklace and then the next one
wished her a good vacation. Eight items were ended and needed
to be relisted . At last she stared at a blank screen. She gathered
the items that had sold and loaded the shipping labels in the top
bed of the printer. Before she could call up the shipping list the
mail box clicked. Redranger. She opened the email and began to
smile.
“Meg?”
“Eldon?” And the conversation was on. She told him
how great the short vacation had been and how good Kevin
looked and how they had ran and gone to the Golden Gate
Bridge. It felt good to visit with Eldon. It was such a
comfortable feeling. No pressure. And she could set at her
computer in her ragged tee shirt and her gym shorts and he
would never know. Long distance, Internet romance, what ever
you called it, was exactly what she needed this morning.
He was the first to break off since he had to go to work.
It was after 8:00 AM where he was which was two hours ahead
of her time here in the Mountain Standard Time. So he must be
on Eastern Standard Time. She made a note to call Fred about
the light in the chicken house. Fred was the retired Marine who
helped out with odd jobs around this area. He lived a little ways
up the mountain in a small cabin and worked cheap. Fred was a
sad specimen as were many of the characters who lived on the
mountain. Not bad people, just sort of misfits.
“I will be in early tonight and we can catch up. OK? ;)”
Eldon always signed off with the little smiley face and Meg
always smiled when she saw it.
She tapped back an “OK” and headed for the kitchen.
She needed to make cookies for the luncheon on Tuesday for the
AIDS clients. Once a month she sponsored a social luncheon in
the conference room at the ACS office in town. AIDS Client
Services had been active since 1987 when the epidemic was
reaching new heights and help was not to be found. Currently
the office served 145 people, but only about 20 of them were
active in social events. The climate of the disease had changed a
lot over the years and now it was more a chronic disease as
opposed to a death sentence as it had been back then. It was
much easier in this day and age to get on Disability Income.
Meg was glad that Kevin was working. She could not picture
him sitting and waiting for the next shoe to drop. He had put
himself through college and he would put himself through life.
Meg gave Fred a quick call and made arrangements for
him to come by later in the morning to check out the light in
the chicken house. That being taken care of she headed for the
shower. She loved a nice hot shower especially on a cool
morning like today. Most mornings were cool here in the
foothills as were the evenings. That was one of the great
things about Colorado. Kansas had been hot and humid. True
she had never needed chapstick in Kansas, but then she rarely
used it now. Just some times. The humidity was very low in
this area so the heat and the cold did not affect her like they
had in Selda. She suddenly thought of her sister and instead of
the shower she picked up the phone.
“Eleanor! How are you? I have not talked to you since
forever.”
Her younger sister laughed softly. “Course not. You
just stay holed up out there and don’t talk to anyone. When are
you coming for a visit? You know Betsy is getting married
again, don’t you?”
“Well, how could I? Nobody ever calls. You know you
could come out here and see me. I always go to see you.”
And she suddenly remembered why she never called.
She was the outsider. Mom had always been close to the three
sisters. When Dad had left and moved to New Jersey with his
secretary, Eleanor, Betsy and Merilyn had turned their backs on
him and taken care of Mom. Meg had been in Montana then
and saw no reason to return. Mom was in good hands and
apparently so was Dad. Now Dad was dead and Mom was still
not going to let it go. Nor were the girls.
“OK, Ellie, let’s try to get together for Christmas. I
would love to have you all out here. Want to?” Eleanor
promised to talk to the sisters and Mom and let her know. So
Meg rang off and started the shower with warm water. She
stepped under the spray and turned the cold down a little. As
she relaxed under the hot water she reached for the soap. Her
hand stopped in mid air as she looked at the strange bar of soap
in the tray. Irish Spring? She did not use Irish Spring. She
bought all her soap from a girl on eBay who made it in her
kitchen. It was all coordinated. Tahitian Vanilla Soap, Tahitian
Vanilla Body Butter and Tahitian Vanilla Lotion. She had not
bought any thing else in the last three years. She suddenly felt
very vulnerable and small in her nakedness. She stepped
quickly from the shower and wrapped in her lavender towel.
The towel smelled of Irish Spring and she discarded it in a heap
of the floor.
What was going on here? Who had been in her home?
Was she alone now? The door bell chimed and she jumped.
Grabbing her robe she ran down the hall, pulling it on and
belting it as she moved. She wrenched the door open and
encountered Fred on the porch with his hat in his hands. She
must have been a sight because he stepped back and almost fell
off the porch. Suddenly she felt very foolish.
“Oh , Fred! I am sorry! I forgot you were coming.
Please excuse me. I must look a mess. Come in.” She stepped
back while opening the door wider.
“Oh, no, Miss. I will just go check out the chicken house
if that is all right with you. If you’ve got a problem I will get
right on it.” He hurried down the steps with a confused look on
his face. Meg sagged against the door jamb. What a damn fool
she must look like.
She left the door ajar in case Fred got back before her and
hurried down the hall to dress. She quickly grabbed a pair of
jeans and a flannel shirt, panties and white cotton socks. In less
than 10 minutes she was back at the door fully dressed and
watching Fred ambling across the yard towards the house.
She met him at the door with two cups of coffee.
She handed his to him and motioned to the glider. “Well,
Fred. What did you find?”
“Not a thing, Miss. Light seems to be fine and I
checked all the wires. Must have just been a trick of your
imagination or a gremlin.” He sipped his coffee and looked
toward the chicken house. “I did notice though that when I
walked by the side of the house on the way out there that you
got a loose screen right there on your garage.”
He gestured and Meg’s eyes followed his finger. Loose
screen? The whole bottom half of the screen hung loose. How
had that happened? As she realized how it had happened her
stomach went ice cold with dread. Some one had been in her
home while she was in California! Nothing was missing, she
was sure. She would check, but she knew suddenly that if the
intruder had meant to do harm to anything he would not have
taken a shower and dried on her towel.
In a very controlled voice she turned to Fred. “Yes,
Freddie, I want you to fix that, but let’s do this. Go into town
and get the screen and while you are at it, I want to burglar proof
this place. See Mr. Watts at the Iron and Metal place and have
something nice and sturdy installed. You work with him and I
would like to have it done sooner rather than later.”
Fred smiled. This would be a job worth doing. Put a little
money in his pocket. He liked money. If he didn’t like it, why
did he have it buried all over his property? He pulled his tape
measure off his belt and took a notebook and pencil out of his
shirt pocket.
“Yes, ma’am! I will get right on that!” He whistled as he
walked to the first window.
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