Saltar's Point (3 page)

“Come on ring damn you,” Ellie muttered to herself still nursing the tender fingers on her right hand. “Come on damn you Ring!”

The phone came to life with buzz and a crackle.

“Oh thank you Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she prayed quietly to herself.

“4-1-1 inform---, how ma-, I –elp you?” The voice on the end was distant and filled with static.

“Yes, hello. I need the number for a tow truck. I’m just outside…”

“I’m sor-- --am, I can bar-- -ear you. Pl--- speak up.

Desperation crept into Ellie’s voice. “I need the number for a tow truck. My car broke down and it’s very hot and I have my four year old son in the back…”

“I’m so--- ma’am. I ca— hear –ou. Please ca-- --ack later.”

The phone went dead.

“Mommy,” Aiden cried from the backseat. “I’m hot!”

“I know baby, just sit tight while mommy fixes the car, okay?”

“I want a drink of water.”

The words stung Ellie’s ears and elevated her panic. “I know honey, just be patient and we‘ll get you some water very soon.”

She opened the back door and unbuckled Aiden’s car seat.

“Are we there yet?” Aiden rubbed his eyes, still groggy from his nap.

“We’re close baby.”

“And then we get to see grandpa?”

“Then we’ll see grandpa.” 

She managed to get the last strap free despite her sore hand and lifted Aiden from the car. Holding him close she looked around and debated her options. It was too far to walk and Aiden was getting heavier by the minute. Off into the distance she thought she could make out a car coming over the hill. Squinting in the bright glare she checked to make sure her eyes were not playing tricks on her. As the car neared she began to make out the distinctive lights of a police cruiser. Immeasurable relief ran through her body.

Do you believe in miracles Ellie girl?

The police cruiser turned on its hazard lights and pulled in behind the Bronco. The door opened in one fluid motion. A tall skinny deputy with a well-groomed mustache poked his head over the roof standing with one foot on the ground, the other still inside the cruiser.

“Ma’am, are you in need of assistance?”

Denny Haskins smiled as he motioned to the Bronco. At that moment Ellie thought it was the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.

“So where you from?”  Denny inquired shortly after they had made their introductions.

The interior of the police cruiser was hot and sticky, despite the cool breeze wafting from the air conditioner.

“Well here originally, but if you mean within the last eighteen years then the answer’s San Francisco.”

Ellie clutched Aiden to her chest. He had drifted back to sleep, his head bobbing slightly in tune with the bumps in the road.

“You must be visiting family.”

Ellie peered at him, her eyes narrowly slit from the sunlight. “What makes you say that?”

“People don’t often move back to Saltar’s once they’ve left.”

Ellie’s gaze returned to the window. “Well then I guess I’m one of the exceptions.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No apologies,” Ellie said. “It actually feels good to talk to someone about it. Besides, there aren’t any secrets in a small town right?”

Denny chuckled. “No Ma’am, I guess there isn’t.”

“I just went through a divorce and thought a change of scenery might be nice. I also thought it was time Aiden met his grandfather.”

“And who’s that?”

“Cletus Pritchard. You know him?”

Denny laughed. “Everybody knows Cletus. They’re no strangers in a small town either. ”

He took a hard left onto Main Street.

Ellie couldn’t help but take a liking to Denny Hastings; he had that small town charm she missed in the big city. He was cute too. Too bad he was just a kid she thought. She guessed that he couldn’t be more than twenty-four. A quick glance at the ring on his index finger and any thoughts she had of a budding romance quickly dissipated. Ellie sighed quietly to herself. Why are all the good ones already taken?

“I hope you don’t mind me saying but you look a bit young to be Cletus’ daughter.”

She laughed. “I am. He’s my grandfather, and I guess you could say he’s Aiden’s too. I never knew my dad. He took off when I was just a year old.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. My mom always said he was a good for nothin’ lowlife.”

“Nice to have those close family ties,” Denny chided. “My parents split when I was two, so I know the feeling.”

“Yeah, well I wouldn’t wish that feeling on anybody.”

They rounded the bend. Saltar’s Point began to take on a familiar image, stirring memories in Ellie she thought were long lost. Denny pulled the cruiser to a stop just in front of Bernie’s General Store. Cletus was perched in his usual spot, on the bench just to the right of the screen door. Ellie looked at Denny with genuine appreciation.

“Thanks for the lift. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”

Denny nodded and winked.  “I’ll have the local mechanic tow your car in and take a look at it free of charge. He owes me a favor anyway. What he’ll charge for repairs is up to him.”

“Great. Thanks again Denny.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Ellie opened the door and stepped out onto the hard-packed earth just in front of Bernie’s General Store for the first time in eighteen years. Cletus rose from his bench and ambled his way down the cedar steps. He stopped just a few feet from his granddaughter, as if she were a buzzing hornet’s nest, only to be approached with caution.

“Been a long time Ellie girl.”

Ellie fought back her tears, a cascading avalanche of emotions and memories came back to her as she stared at the man who had been both a father and grandfather to her. She shook her son gently.

“Aiden, wake up honey. I’d like you to meet your great grandfather.”

THREE

It was exactly as she remembered.  The worn oak tables just across from the deli counter sat in their original positions, rickety legs resting in the grooves they had worn into the hardwood. She could almost smell the bitter sweet aroma of the pipe tobacco and cigars the men smoked while they played checkers and spun tales about the one that got away. She recalled countless Sunday afternoons sitting there enjoying soft-serve ice cream or a frosty chocolate malt. The men always made sure to include her in their games, eager to regale her with one of their stories while their wives shopped and caught up on the latest gossip.

Wooden shelves displayed a variety of goods ranging from toothpaste to taco shells, everything that one needed for life in a small town. Canned goods, if not stacked neatly in a pyramid display were always behind the counter, the patrons having to ask the clerk for the items they needed. She recalled her grandfather retrieving the six-foot wooden pole with the dull metal hook he used to pull items from the top self before catching them deftly in one hand. Ellie had been to numerous baseball games and listened to the fans yell “can of corn” whenever their team made a routine catch, always smiling quietly to herself knowing that few, if any knew the origin of that phrase.

Ellie moved around the old store slowly taking it all in. They had put Aiden to bed upstairs in the small apartment that sat atop the store. Cletus sat on the old barstool he kept behind the counter, nursing a Coke and saying nothing. Ellie’s attention was drawn to the cedar support beam that spanned from floor to ceiling bisecting the center of Bernie’s general store. There she found what she was looking for, three small letters crudely carved two decades earlier. Ellie traced her fingers along them reliving the innocence of her youth.

E. J. P.

Ellie Jean Pritchard. Her maiden name had a small town ring to it. She had stolen her grandfathers buck knife and carved the letters one night while he slept. The switching she had received was a small price to pay in order to leave her mark on the town she had once loved, a long time ago. In the years that followed the residents and tourists of Saltar’s Point had left their legacy on the walls, tables, and posts. Even the counter Cletus had made sure to polish every morning couldn’t escape the wrath of amateur graffiti artists. The carvings had become a trademark of the general store and Cletus had grudgingly given in to the new custom, allowing patrons to carve their names and initials anywhere they pleased. Ellie moved slowly about, reading the crude markings trying to get a sense of who carved them and why. Initials, hearts, love letters and slurs, they were all here. Insignias forever left in homage to the people who carved them. And then the disparaging thought occurred to her.

“I don’t know them,” she whispered.

“Know who?”

“Any of them, I don’t know any of them.”

“Like I said, you’ve been gone a long time Ellie.”

Ellie continued to make her rounds trying in vain to remember anyone, anyone at all. It was as if someone had erased the blackboard in her mind. Just one face she told herself. If she could just put one face with a name, an initial, a symbol, then maybe it would all come back to her. But the memories would not come. She had enclosed them behind a vaulted door and welded it shut forever. It was nothing more than a defense mechanism she knew. Subconsciously her mind had begun to erase the memories of Saltar’s Point after the night it had lost its small town innocence, the night she had lost her innocence, willing or unwilling.

“I can’t remember.” It was more of a concession than statement.

“Well, don’t be too hard on yourself now. Lots of them are new, tourists passing through, relatives visitin’ kin, gals who got married and changed their names. Heck, most of the kids who graduated this year were born after you left town.”

“It’s so different,” Ellie stammered. “I mean it looks the same, but it’s changed somehow.” She traced her finger down the banister feeling each individual line of the unique carvings.

“Time may stop for you when you hold on to a memory of the way things used to be, but even a little town like Saltar’s Point keeps changing. There’s been eighteen years of living gone on here since you left town.” Cletus took a long swallow of Coke. “That’s a lot of living, and dying.”

“I just wish I could remember someone.”

“They all remember you.”

“I bet they do.” Her tone was bitter.

Cletus’ eyes went wide. “Now just what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what it means.”

Ellie paused, her eyes welling with tears before she willed them back inside. She put her head down and tried to speak but the words felt glued to her throat.

“Ellie girl, there ain’t a person in this town that gives two rips about anything you gone and done damn near twenty years ago. But what does ruffle people’s feathers is the way you left, not saying a word to anyone, causing us worry. Making us fear the worst. Hell you know we had people looking for you for two weeks. And despite all that, when I told them I’d finally heard from you, and that you were living down in California, there wasn’t a day gone by a dozen people didn’t ask me how you’re doing.”

Cletus grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and turned away from Ellie. He dabbed gently at the corner of his eyes. When he turned around they were dry and hard. “Point is you hurt a lot of people when you left Ellie. You hurt people who loved you. And you hurt me.”

“I guess I got a lot of fences to mend.”

For the first time since she left Saltar’s Point Ellie felt regret. It swirled around her like a swift eddy threatening to pull her under and drown her in a torrent of guilt. Cletus scooted around the bar and embraced his granddaughter. It was then that she broke down. The tears that she had so dutifully suppressed just moments earlier came cascading down her cheeks in rivulets. It was several minutes before either of them spoke.

“You know I remember that when you were a kid a chocolate sundae always used to cheer you up. Remember when we went for ice cream you just knew everything was going to be all right?”

“I’m not twelve any more granddad.” Ellie paused a second. “Extra sprinkles?”

“Of course.”

The screech of a rusted screen door flung open filled the store.

“You think you could set me up with one of those. Sure would be nice on a hot night like this one,” Randall said as he stepped inside. Ellie smiled broadly.

“Randall Jackson! Now that’s one face I still remember.”

“Now if I recall, we used to call you Ellie girl, but that doesn’t seem to fit quite right anymore. All I see now is one beautiful woman.”

He eyed her up and down taking her all in. That skinny girl with the freckles had certainly turned out to be one striking woman. Her long legs once gangly and awkward now fit her frame beautifully, complimenting her curvy hips and ample breasts. Her auburn hair spilled over her shoulders, and her green eyes though lined with a few crow’s feet shone brilliantly even in the dimly lit store. Randall did some quick math and figured she would be about thirty-four now.

Ellie felt a warm rush in her cheeks as they reddened. “Randall you always did know how to sweet talk a girl.”

“Well then get on over here and plant one on me.”

Ellie rushed over to hug her long time friend. A lot of years had passed since the last time they had seen each other but Ellie still felt a connection to Randall Jackson. He had been like the brother she never had, always sticking up for her when the older girls teased her and protected her from all the guys that tried to get in her pants as soon as she sprouted breasts. It was a sad day for Ellie when Randall had left for college. She was fourteen and entering that awkward phase in every girl’s life, but she had matured early and the high school boys had taken notice. Without Randall there to protect her they were like vultures circling a wounded animal. Ellie wondered if things would have been different had Randall been there the night… She stopped herself before she could finish the thought, choosing instead to focus on the present. He hugged her tight and Ellie found herself wishing that the moment would drag on forever, but then Cletus’ voice shattered the silence.

“Why don’t I grab us a few beers? Seems like we all got some catchin’ up to do,” Cletus said.

He disappeared through the door that led to the bar located in back of the store. Randall looked right through Ellie the way he used to do. It made her knees wobbly.

After a moment he said, “I’m too old to go standing around this long. Let’s grab some chairs and you can tell me what you’ve been up to the past two decades.”

They sat down in a corner booth. Ellie wondered if he knew how she felt about him back then. Tonight she was a schoolgirl again, reliving her first crush.

“I’m more interested in finding out if you’ve been keeping out of trouble yourself Randall Jackson.”

Cletus pushed his backside through the swinging door, beers in hand. “He better be. He’s wearing the star now.” He set the beers down in front of them and took a seat next to Ellie.

Ellie tried to hide the surprise in her voice. “You’re kidding me, Sheriff?”

“Yes ma’am, pride of Jefferson County.” Randall stuck out his chest in a mock showing of arrogance.

Ellie goaded him a bit. “What, none of the honest men in Jefferson were up to the task?”

“None of them dumb enough to take the job I guess.”

“I met your deputy earlier. There enough crime in Saltar’s now to fund two law officers?”

Randall scratched his head. “There’s not even enough for one. Mostly we just rescue kittens from trees.”

They all had a good laugh at this.

Cletus turned the conversation. “Did that Darrow fellow come by to look at the old Porter place?”

“Yeah, just got done showing it. You know him Clete?”

Cletus’ nod was barely perceptible. “Met him this morning. Made my skin itch a little bit, that one.”

“Yeah, he’s a bit odd, but harmless I think.” Randall took a swallow of beer.

“Don’t be too sure. I got a funny feeling from him.”

“How so,” Randall asked.

“When you get as old as I am you just learn to pick up on things like that, don’t ask me how.” Cletus gulped his own swallow of beer and pointed a crooked finger in Randall’s direction. “But you mark my words sheriff, you keep a close eye on him or you’re going to have trouble.”

Over the next few hours the conversation and the beer flowed freely. Ellie talked about her life in California, her divorce, and of course Aiden. She was careful to not to mention the reason that she left Saltar’s Point in the first place and neither Randall nor Cletus pressed her on it, happy to take note of the stories she offered up willingly. Randall talked about his duties as sheriff, the real estate business, and the painful departure of his high school sweetheart. Cletus offered a witty comment or observation here and there but mostly he was content to listen to the two kids retell the events in their lives that had meaning for them. They talked well into the early morning hours and Ellie found herself wishing the evening would never end.

Two miles away something stirred in the basement of the old Porter place, something that had lain dormant for quite some time.
It felt good to be awake!
Like the Phoenix out of the ashes it rose upward, drawn like a flower to a warm spring sun. Unlike the sun there was nothing warm about the presence. It sucked the energy from the room like a vacuum, chilling the air and quieting the deafening silence. Someone or something had awakened it from its slumber. It had slept a long time, far too long, and like a bear awakening from hibernation its first instinct was to feed.