You'll Just Know

Chapter 2

It never did get around to raining that night. When I woke up the next morning, the skies were still gray and the clouds still full and heavy. Thunder rolled lazily across the heavens.

My room was a half-unpacked clutter of boxes and paper and junk. I pulled a tee shirt from the bottom of a box and shrugged it on with the same shorts I'd worn the day before. Out of my room and down the hall, I followed the clatter of dishes to the kitchen where I found my mom unpacking her extensive culinary collection.

"Morning sleepy head. I was about to go in there and wake you up. It's just about noon." Mom smiled. "How'd you sleep in your new bedroom?"

I shrugged, searching the boxes for the one with the good junk cereal in it. "Same as the old, I guess."

"Well, don't go running off today because I think your father needs your help moving some stuff into the attic."

      "I will tonight," I said, opening the refrigerator and finding it bare except for a bag of apples on the bottom shelf, "I'm supposed to meet someone in town at noon." I fished out an apple and wiped it clean on my shirt.

My mom stopped what she was doing and turned to me. "Who are you meeting?"

I bit into the apple, chewed bitterly for a moment, then answered with a mouthful. "This kid named Josh that I bumped into yesterday in town."

Mom considered this. "Well... what's he like? What do his parents do?"

"Um... I think they’re mass murderers. They kidnap people, torture them, that sort of thing… although it may be more of a hobby than an actual profession."

Mom sighed as she put up another dish. “Yes, yes. Very witty.”

I smiled, apple still in my mouth, "Just kidding. His father owns the hardware store downtown. I guess his mom just works at home. It sounds like they're pretty rich."

"Well, we still have a lot to do around here. Make sure your father didn't want you to do anything before you go."

I glanced at my bare arm where I never wore a watch. "Whew! Is that the time? Gotta go mom."

"Casey..."

"I'll work twice as hard tonight when I get home. Promise."

And before she could argue that, I had slipped out the back door.

*               *               *

The smell of rain hung thick in the air and the wind had become decidedly cooler. When I arrived again in the town square, I found Josh and his little devil-hound, Spanky, there. Josh was sitting on top of the old hollow Coke cooler in front of the hardware store. Spanky was looking up at him longingly, apparently begging for one of the jawbreakers Josh was munching on. The little mutt stepped cautiously aside when he saw the bike approaching. Josh smiled at this. "See? He aint such a dumb dog after all."

I wasn't convinced.

We talked idly for awhile. He asked how the unpacking was going. I shrugged. I personally hadn't done any yet. Probably wouldn't for at least a week. He laughed, offered me a jawbreaker, and the ice was broken.

Josh said that there was someplace he wanted to show me, so I told him to lead the way. I walked beside him, pushing Flash, and Spanky followed in a random, wandering pattern, sniffing and testing and marking everything he came upon. We walked out of town in the opposite direction I had come in.

The houses and yards were much bigger here. Most were too big to even be called houses. They had huge, perfect green lawns with stone fountains and sweeping circular driveways. All looked perfectly maintained, but strangely empty. Josh explained as we passed that Devon was sort of a spring retreat for rich families and Indiana politicians. The house we were passing at the time, a huge, white-columned castle with an American flag in the lawn, was owned by a senator, he said. It was empty for the season.