The Ghostly Hideaway (9 page)

Norman made a hasty decision. He’d follow him, but
he’d have to stay at a safe distance behind him. It looked as
though they were heading out of town, so he began to tail them. The
weather was lousy; it had been drizzling all day and now it began
to come down by the buckets full. He could barely make out the
taillights up ahead. As he rounded a sharp bend in the road, they
disappeared completely. Fearing he might lose them altogether, he
sped up and thought to catch up with them any minute. When he had
gone several miles without any sign of them, he decided they must
have turned off somewhere, but where? He turned around in someone’s
driveway and retraced his route driving relatively slowly. The rain
had diminished somewhat but he still almost missed the turn-off. A
mailbox on the right said, “The Wroe Family” on the side of it.

“He lives back that road,” Norman reasoned. He
probably wasn’t in town often. Did he dare take a chance on meeting
him face to face at some point in time? If he stayed out of
Fordsville, could he count on not being discovered? What other
towns would Ed be likely to frequent? Actually, there wasn't any
way to know, was there? What should he do? He couldn’t just walk
away. He would have to have some money for another fresh start. He
knew Bill Weedman didn’t have the funds to rescind their
partnership agreement and give him his money back. What kind of bad
luck would have him and Ed relocating to the same damn area? He
wondered if there was any way he could talk to Ed, apologize, and
convince him not to turn him in. No, he didn’t think he could
afford to take a chance on trying that.

Oh, shit.
Looking at his watch, he realized
that the lumberyard he was supposed to go to in Fordsville would
already be closed before he could get back there.
The one in
Owensboro stays open a half hour later but it’ll be closed, too,
before I could get there.
Now what was he going to do about
that? What could he tell Bill as to why he didn’t get the stuff he
needed? Damn, when things went wrong, they went all the way wrong.
Just when he thought things were looking up. Maybe he could pretend
he had car trouble. Or maybe a flat tire. He’d have to think of
something.

He sure couldn’t tell him the truth. “Oh, I just saw
a guy that I framed for grand theft because I had raped a
fifteen-year-old girl and had to get out of town." No, that
wouldn’t go over too well. Bill wouldn’t think too highly of
that—particularly since he had two daughters who were teenagers.
Well, he’d damn sure have to come up with something.

On the way back to Dundee, he finally came up with
something he thought should work. “I’m sorry I’m late. The store in
Fordsville didn’t have what we needed." That would keep him from
having to make another trip there and run the risk of seeing Ed
again. “Then the car started making a funny noise and I decided I
shouldn't go on to Owensboro. But, wouldn’t you know it?—on the way
home, it quit making the noise and now it’s running fine
again.”

“Of course, I’m disappointed. I had thought we could
start attaching handles in the morning. But if you couldn’t get
them, you couldn’t get them.”

“If you want me to, I can stay here and work while
you go to Owensboro tomorrow and see if Lowe’s has them."

“Well, I guess that would be alright." He thought
Norman was being nice. He didn’t realize that Norman was afraid to
go anywhere right now for fear of running into Ed again. He’d have
to go back there some night, though, and see exactly where Ed
lived.

“There it is again,” Penny was considerably unnerved
by all of this door slamming. “I’m going up there. Right now." She
suited the action to the words and climbed the stairs quickly. She
went into all the rooms and checked in each closet, cubbyhole, and
corner. No one was there. She couldn’t feel any drafts that would
cause the doors to shut by themselves. While she was in one of the
bathrooms, the door across the hall slammed again. Chrissy had been
coming up the stairs when it slammed. She stifled a small scream
but still forced herself to go on up the stairs.

“Where are you, Mom?” she called. She couldn’t
truthfully say she wasn’t spooked but she wasn’t afraid, either.
“Mom.”

“I’m in the bathroom across from your room, Chrissy.
Did you slam a door before you called out to me?”

“No, it banged as I was coming up here. Mom, I think
there’s something you should know. I probably should have told you
a long time ago." Chrissy pointed to a fresh bouquet of flowers on
her nightstand. “I found the first little bunch of flowers on my
nightstand the same morning I found the picture album. Ever since,
they’ve been magically appearing two or three times a week. They
have all been simple little clusters that you could find growing
wild or in a flower bed—nothing extravagant or sophisticated. I
liked getting them and it seemed so romantic. It felt a little more
special if I kept it a secret. You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“No, but it might have been better if you’d said
something. I can’t say I feel good knowing someone or something has
been in your room in the middle of the night while you’ve been
asleep. You don’t have any idea how they’ve been getting there, do
you?" Penny was aware that Chrissy and Johnny were interested in
each other and he visited fairly often these days.

“No, I sure don’t, Mom. I remember one night when I
was about to drop off to sleep, I thought I heard something in the
Coy’s bedroom. However, I went on to sleep and nothing else
happened that night. At least nothing that woke me up. I don’t know
what’s going on. I really don’t. I guess it is a little sinister,
though. If they can get in to leave flowers, I guess they could do
anything else they wanted to, too.”

About that time, they heard JoJo bark and Johnny’s
whistling and so did the twins. Andy and Candy forsook the cartoons
they had been engrossed in and ran out to play with JoJo. At almost
the same time, they heard the SUV pull up out front. That meant
Edward was home from working at the Tinsley’s place.

Chrissy blushed when she asked her mom not to say
anything about the goings-on in front of Johnny. “I’d be
embarrassed if he knew I’d been getting flowers in the middle of
the night. You understand, don’t you, Mom?”

“Okay, but as soon as Johnny leaves, we’ll put the
little ones to bed, and we’ll discuss this thoroughly.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Penny went directly into the kitchen and put supper
on the stove to warm up before she put it on the table. Then she
heard it again. The door that slammed this time, though, sounded as
if it came from the third floor. They hadn’t done a thorough job of
searching up there. Maybe that was the next step.

Johnny stayed for supper…..again. It was getting to
be a habit but they didn’t actually mind a great deal. He was a
very likeable young man; they weren’t sure but that he and Chrissy
were getting too friendly, too fast. However, they didn’t think it
would be likely to get too serious. After a while, it was Andy and
Candy’s bedtime so they put them down for the night and Johnny and
Chrissy slipped off to the front porch swing. Penny began telling
Ed about the doors slamming and about Chrissy’s flowers that showed
up on her nightstand two or three times a week. That troubled Ed as
much as it had Penny.

“Do you think he,” Ed nodded toward the front porch,
“could be doing that? He is obviously quite taken with Chrissy, but
I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of him or anyone or anything
else being in Chrissy’s bedroom when she is asleep—or even if she’s
not asleep.”

“I think we need to talk to her and try to figure
some things out. Moreover, another thing I think we need to do is
to do a thorough search through the third floor. We’ve gone up
there; but we’ve never done a systematic investigation.”

“I agree." Ed went to the front door and turned on
the porch light. “Chrissy, it’s time to call it a night. Johnny, if
you still want to help me at the Tinsley’s tomorrow, I’ll see you
about seven in the morning.”

“I’ll be here Mr. Wroe. Goodnight. Goodnight,
Chrissy. I’ll see you tomorrow, too.”

When Chrissy came inside, they began to discuss the
unnatural events that had been happening including her flowers.

“Dad, I promise I have no idea how the flowers get
there. They’re always there when I wake up in the mornings; but
I’ve never seen anyone or any—. “At that moment, they again heard a
door slam but far enough away it sounded as though it were on the
third floor again.

“Get the flashlights, Penny, we’re going up there. I
hope it didn’t awaken the twins." But all seemed quiet as they went
up the stairs to the second floor. They walked as quietly as
possible down the hall to the stairway that leads to the top floor.
They tried to balance their weight near the ends of the steps being
as stealthy as they could. When they reached the top of the stairs,
they noticed the door at the entrance was open a crack. Ed opened
it gently and stuck his head inside; the beam from the flashlight
slithered from side to side throwing eerie shadows everywhere. He
flipped on the lights in the hallway and the three of them tiptoed
down the hall looking in each room they came to in turn. They were
about to open the last door when suddenly they felt a drafty chill
and the entrance door at the other end slammed shut. Penny and
Chrissy both emitted a little startled scream and Ed even gasped
audibly.

“Where in the hell did that gust of air come from?
Let’s go back through each room and see if there’s a window open or
something that could have caused the door to close." They went on
into the last room and checked that room thoroughly finding nothing
amiss. Only two bedrooms were up there on one side of the hallway
and on the other side was only unfinished storage space. No light
fixtures had ever been installed in the storage area but they did a
fairly extensive search with the flashlights. They carefully went
through the other bedroom and the closets in each as well as the
bathroom on that level. They found absolutely nothing. When they
were about to open the door that had slammed at the head of the
staircase, they stopped abruptly. Ed put his finger to his lips in
a shushing gesture and motioned them to turn off the flashlights
and he flipped off the hallway lights. They stood so they wouldn’t
be seen as they watched the door slowly open on creaky hinges. Ed
had his hand on the light switch and when the door was fully open,
he pushed the light switch up, and everybody screamed. The activity
above their heads had alarmed the twins and when they hadn’t been
able to find their parents or their sister, they had sneaked
upstairs to see what was going on. The screams, though, gave way to
giggles, the giggles turned into laughter. However, the laughter
suddenly became cries of terror. The cold gust of wind seemed to
rush past them—or through them—and once again, the door slammed
shut in their faces.

It was a solemn and sober quintet who went back down
to the first floor. They huddled together on the couch, rubbing
their hands up and down their own arms trying to dispel the icy
cold effects of the third floor experience.

“D-Daddy, do you th-think that was a g-ghost up
there?" Andy was shivering and his stammering was completely out of
character.

“Oh, don’t be silly, Andy, there’s no such things as
ghosts; right, Mama?" Candy’s teeth were chattering.

Chrissy pulled an afghan off the back of the couch
around her shoulders and said nothing. She was thinking about her
flowers and wondering if she would be finding any more on her
nightstand. As much as she had enjoyed them, she wasn’t sure she
wanted any more magic flowers.

Ed and Penny did their best to reassure the kids,
but that wasn’t easy when they felt they might need some nerve
pills themselves. Even though they didn’t sleep well, no more
manifestations disturbed them during the remainder of the
night.

The first thing Chrissy did when she opened her eyes
the next morning was check her nightstand for flowers. It was
empty. The only things on it were a lamp, a clock, and a box of
tissues. A few moments later, her mom knocked on the door and poked
her head in to check also and she looked relieved at the absence of
flowers.

Johnny came in and had a cup of coffee with them
before going with Ed to help with the cabinet building at the
Tinsley’s place. The twins came down while they were still drinking
their coffee.

“Where’s JoJo, Johnny?” Andy wanted to know.

“JoJo is about to have puppies, Kids, any day,
now.”

“Oh, how many baby puppies will she have?” Candy
asked excitedly.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“I wish JoJo had been here last night. Maybe she
could have catched the ghost before it scared us nearly to deaf."
Andy still wasn’t feeling too confident.

“Ghost? Where was a ghost?" Johnny asked.

“Oh, ever since we’ve been here, we hear doors
slamming and we’ve had some other peculiar events that are
certainly difficult to explain: things appearing without us knowing
how or why or by what means. I’m sure eventually we’ll figure
everything out, but last night was unnerving." Ed tried to sound
matter-of-fact. “Well, I guess we’d better be underway, Johnny, if
we’re going to get anything done to those cabinets today.”

Two weeks later Ed and Johnny had the job done and
some totally satisfied customers. They had also been asked to make
a bid on another job. The Ohio County Board of Education was taking
bids on various facets of the new school building that was under
construction. Ed had told his family that Johnny was learning
exceptionally fast and was as good a helper as he had ever had.
He’d also offered to hire Johnny for the new job if they were the
successful bidders and if Johnny was interested. Johnny had
declared he really enjoyed the work and could certainly use the
money. Ed had estimated that the new job would probably take about
three months to complete. Johnny had said the only thing he would
need to do was to get up some wood for his grandmother before cold
weather. Ed would need some firewood also so they decided to work
together to get the wood for both families. The deal was set.