Meadowview Acres (6 page)

“What’ll it be, guys?” Ms. Leezil asked them.

“Cherry Coke for Heather and I’ll have a Lemon-Lime,” Jake answered.

“It’s an exciting game tonight,” Ms. Leezil said as she filled their cups with ice. “It sounds like our guys are tearing them apart out there. I just hope no one gets hurt like last year.”

Last year, while playing Glovercroft, Mark Knichter was tackled so hard that he had flipped over and landed directly on his head resulting in a concussion and bruising on his brain. He was lucky his spine wasn’t injured, but he had spent a week in the hospital. No one wanted a repeat of that scare.

Ms. Leezil handed the kids their drinks, collected the money and handed back the change to Jake. As Jake was looking down putting his change away, Ms. Leezil caught Heather’s eye and made a hand motion like she was pulling up her sweater. “You’re showing a lot of cleavage there, Hon.” She whispered. “Pull your sweater up just a smidge.” Ms. Leezil smiled and turned to help the next person in line.

Heather looked down and saw nothing out of place, so she just turned and walked back with Jake. They found Jake’s friends standing by the forty yard line on the track circling the field. Jake’s friends didn’t play football; they were basketball and tennis guys. Heather thought a couple of them were really cute, but she and Jake were serious, so she tried hard not to flirt with anyone. She noticed them looking at her and smiled inwardly, confident about her “hotness” and loving it. “Maybe I should have a Plan B”, she thought as she smiled at one of the tennis guys. As they were talking, Darren Jackson made a touchdown, bringing the score to 21-7. It was almost halftime, and Heather wanted to find her friends and watch the band and Dance Team perform, so she pulled Jake away, and they went to find seats in the bleachers.

On their way, Jake ran into another one of his friends and stopped to talk. Heather stood by his side and waited patiently for him to finish. “Like a good wife,” she thought. She heard a crackling noise and turned to see Sheriff Buchanon talking on his walkie-talkie.

Heather couldn’t hear much more than a few crackling words, but she did pick up “Meadowview on Route 68”, “kids” and “in trouble”. She strained forward to hear the rest, but Sheriff Buchanon had already turned on his heel and was making fast toward the parking lot.

A weird little feeling crept into Heather’s belly. She knew it couldn’t be Eli.
He was home, right?
Well, actually, he hadn’t been there when she left with Jake. Heather felt a weird panicky feeling. Suddenly she wanted to go home right away. She didn’t get nervous about many things, but the thought of something happening to her brother made her surprisingly anxious. He was a pain in her ass most of the time, but, after Dad left, it made her feel good that Eli was still there – more secure, safer. She tugged on Jake’s arm and said, “We gotta go. Now.”

CHAPTER 9

Eli & Hunter

B
y the time Eli had followed Brody back into the house, the dog was nowhere to be seen. He closed the front door and started for Heather’s room to tell her off for being so forgetful and irresponsible. Halfway down the hall, he noticed the door to her bedroom was open. She had already left with Jake for the mall.
Doesn’t matter.
He would definitely let her know the next time he saw her.

Next, he went in search of Brody. He just wanted to see if he was alright. The dog had been very agitated in the woods and that was unusual for Brody. He usually loved the woods and everything in them. Brody wasn’t in his dog bed in the living room. He wasn’t in the kitchen on the tile floor or lying in the patch of sunlight in the hallway. The only other place Eli could think to look was his own bedroom. Brody was there, under the bed. The poor dog looked completely freaked out. Eli got all the way down onto his stomach and reached for the trembling pup.

“Come here, Buddy. Come see me,” Eli coaxed as he rubbed the Border Collie behind his left ear; the only part of the dog he could reach. He stretched a little farther and tried to grab his collar but Brody shrank back from Eli’s hand.

Eli empathized with him. Whatever the dog had seen or heard had really shaken him up. Eli remembered his own fear while running in the woods. He still wasn’t sure what it was that he had been afraid of, or what he had been running from. It was just that Brody had seemed frantic to get home, and that had made Eli very nervous. Dogs are known to have a sixth sense; it seemed like there was a reason for the fear. Eli reached the dog’s ear once again and continued scratching it. He was trying hard to remember anything else about what had just happened when he discovered that his headache was gone. He noticed that he wasn’t burning up and sweating any more either. He knew that those things could easily be attributed to chasing the dog through the woods and the stress of trying to find him.

As he scratched, Brody eased toward Eli, and, in a few minutes, the dog was out from under the bed with his black and white head in Eli’s lap. Eli could tell that the dog was still afraid, though. He smelled too, and the froth from around his mouth was dry and crusty in his fur. Eli decided a bath would make Brody feel better, so he coaxed the dog out into the side yard. He gave him some dog treats to make him stay put while he got the shampoo, the garden hose and a towel.

At the last minute, while walking back to where Brody was waiting, he veered to the right and went to Hunter’s side door. Hunter answered almost immediately since he was scarfing down cereal in the kitchen.

“Hey, Bro. What’s happening?” He said as he opened the door to see Eli standing there.

“I’m giving Brody a bath. Come out here, I wanna tell you about something.” Eli replied soberly.

“Sure. Give me a sec to finish and I’ll be right out,” Hunter replied.

By the time he was lathering Brody’s fur, Hunter came bounding down the side steps and crossed the two driveways to where the Red Tomato was parked. Hunter glanced across the street to see Clara Stagg waving. Feeling awkward, he nodded his head then leaned against the car. Chomping on an apple, he said, “Okay, KemoSabe, the wise one is here. Lay it on me.”

Eli didn’t know exactly how to start telling Hunter about what had happened. He really didn’t know himself. He was about to say forget about it and talk about something else when he noticed he was holding a huge ball of wet hair in his lathered hand. He looked down and saw more clumps of fur on the wet driveway beneath Brody. Hunter followed his gaze and his eyes narrowed. He looked at his friends face and, for the first time, noticed that Eli looked really worried.
And something else – afraid? Yeah, that’s it.
Eli looked scared.

“I think you better let me in on what’s happening with you,” he said as he moved closer to where his friend was rinsing the dog. More and more fur was coming off of Brody as Eli washed the soap out of the dog’s coat.

Eli started at the beginning. He told Hunter about coming home after school and the door being open. He told him about running through the woods to find the dog and about feeling hot, sweaty and headachy. He told him about the clearing and the bulldozer. Then he told him about the dog’s reaction and its foaming jaws as Brody came charging back past Eli. He told Hunter about frantically running through the woods until he was home again. He even told him that he felt afraid in the woods – afraid of something behind him, but not knowing what it was. He ended his story recounting how he had found Brody under his bed and how long it had taken him to coax the dog out.

Hunter listened quietly. At first he thought his friend was overreacting, but then he looked down at the fur blowing away in the wind and realized that something had happened.

“Something happened,” he thought. “But what? Eli didn’t actually see anything. He didn’t hear anything. He didn’t even smell anything like a fire. What could have gotten him so bugged out?”

When Eli was finished, they both were quiet for a moment. Eli had finished rinsing Brody and had used the towel to dry him while he told Hunter his tale. The dog, clean but with somewhat less fur, sat quietly between the boys. He seemed a little better, so they led him into the house and settled him into his dog bed.

“Well, I think there’s only one thing for us to do,” Hunter said.

“What’s that?” Eli asked.

“We’ve got to go back to where you and Brody were. Well, more like where Brody was, by that bulldozer. The fact that you didn’t see, hear or smell anything is really weird to me. There must have been something that spooked Brody. We need to find out what that was. We have to go back and really look around.”

“I don’t know, Hunter. I mean, I doubt I could even get Brody to go into the woods anymore. And honestly, I don’t know if I want to go back either.” Eli felt a little ashamed, but the fear was still there, and if he couldn’t tell Hunter, who else could he talk to?

“Listen,” Hunter replied, “we don’t even need Brody. He might even be a distraction. We’ll just go in real quiet and listen for signs of anything weird. When we get to the dozer, if everything is still cool, I’ll just go closer till I can see what’s what. I promise if there’s anything that looks off, we’re out of there. Deal?”

Eli was reluctant, but still a little curious to know what had happened. “Okay. But really, Hunter, if any little thing is fishy, we’re out, okay?”

“No worries, Bro. I got you covered,” Hunter replied and clapped his best friend on the back. “Let’s go out the back and leave Brody home.”

They decided to be prepared for anything, so Hunter grabbed a Swiss Army knife and a flashlight. He threw them into a light backpack along with a couple bottles of water. At the last minute, Eli grabbed a garden spade to add to the pack. The boys headed out the side door.

Crossing the street to the Miller’s house, Eli got a butterfly in his stomach. He had never in his life been afraid of the woods. He had played in them his whole life, ever since his mother had deemed him old enough to go in with Hunter. It felt strange for him to feel such trepidation about entering them.

They passed through the rough undergrowth at the edge and plunged into the shadowed world beyond. Nothing looked unusual or out of the ordinary. The leaves blanketed the ground, and a rough path was stretched out before them. All of the kids in the neighborhood played in the woods, especially the part closest to the houses. It was empty now, though. The trails were vacant, just as they had been earlier that afternoon.

Continuing down the rough path, they saw squirrels, chipmunks and birds galore. The smaller wildlife in the woods was abundant as evidenced by the fat cats in the neighborhood. They usually didn’t see any of the bigger animals, maybe a deer once in a while, but nothing more than that.

The path ended causing the boys to make their way past tree stumps and clumps of rocks and branches while heading in the general direction of the clearing. Eli was feeling a little better since they were well into the woods, and they hadn’t encountered anything out of the ordinary.

A few more yards in, Hunter stopped and turned slowly around to face Eli. “Do you hear that?” He whispered.

Eli stopped abruptly. “No. What?” The only thing he could hear was his heart beating.

“Nothing,” replied Hunter, “nothing at all. Why aren’t the birds chirping? When’s the last time you heard something running around in the leaves or the trees? I haven’t heard anything at all for the last few minutes.”

Eli had noticed that it was quiet, but the strangeness of it hadn’t occurred to him until Hunter pointed it out. A cold sweat broke out on Eli’s brow. That in itself was weird because he felt extremely hot again, and another headache was coming on.

“Let’s just keep going and get a little closer. My stomach’s starting to act up a little. Probably nerves,” Hunter whispered and started moving again.

A few minutes and yards later, they were close to the clearing. They could see where the shadowy woods ended in a bright sky. Both boys were sweating now, but neither wanted to turn back. They had come that far, and they wanted to keep going. Hunter got the bottles of water out of the pack and handed one to Eli.

“What do you think about skirting the edge of the woods over to where the dozer is?” Hunter asked. “I kinda think we should stay as hidden as possible until we see what’s what. Plus, if it’s this hot in here, it must be really hot out there.” He poked his finger in the direction of the clearing.

“That’s a good idea,” said Eli. “I like the idea of having some cover.”

Still sweating, the boys started to make their way along the edge of the woods. They had both sucked down their water bottles and put the empties back in the pack. They were halfway around the curve where the bulldozer sat when Eli saw a glimmer.

“What’s that? Can you see it in front of the Cat?” Eli said, not realizing he was whispering.

“Yeah, that shiny thing? Can’t tell what it is. The glare is too big. Let’s get closer.” Hunter had seen it earlier but didn’t want Eli to become anxious, so he had kept it to himself.

“You know,” said Hunter, “Mr. Jackson works out here on one of those big Cats. I’ve heard Mrs. Jackson tease him about driving to work when he could just clear a path to their back yard. You don’t suppose that’s his rig, do you?”

“I don’t know,” replied Eli. “I’m sure there are other people who work out here, too. He can’t be the only one.” An uncomfortable feeling had come over Eli when he realized that it could be Mr. Jackson’s bulldozer. Eli had always liked Claymont Jackson. He was one of the grownups that actually played with the kids at the neighborhood parties. They would all be playing ball, and Mr. Jackson would leave a crowd of adults talking and run over to snatch the football then start running for the imaginary goal. He had always come to the Shazaam Brothers shows, too. He was one of the only parents beside his own and Hunter’s to ever show up. Eli remembered him trying to buy a ticket and telling them to think of the money as an “investment”. Eli really liked Mr. Jackson; he knew Hunter did too.

They were almost at the front of the cab. Still relatively far away inside the woods, they couldn’t see inside, but it was turned off, and it looked to be empty. They were getting used to the quiet now and weren’t as jumpy, so they continued to where the glare was coming from. As they got closer, Hunter could see that it was coming from a box – a steel box, half buried in the ground. It looked like the bulldozer had been digging it up along with the trees surrounding it. He got a few feet from it, with Eli close behind. Then, without warning, Hunter bent at the waist and vomited. Out came the bottle of water along with the apple chunks and half-digested cereal he had eaten earlier. Violent spasms racked his body until there was nothing left to empty.