All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood)

by Diane Greenwood Muir

  Polly laughed. "I think every kid does."

  "So what are we looking for down here?" Sylvie asked.

  "Well, I want to drag the two green chairs over to the stairway so the guys can carry them up for me tomorrow. We're going to have to haul stuff off them and stack it up somewhere else. Then, I would like to find the boxes with my winter clothes. It's going to get cold pretty soon.”

  They'd already taken the tour. The boys had the run of the place with strict orders to leave the upstairs bathroom alone and they seemed appropriately intimidated by the crime scene tape which sealed the door shut.

  "There's so much space here, Polly. I can't imagine only one person living in this place!"

  "Oh, I hope it doesn't take long for things to get busy. If I have my way, the place will be full all day long and then, if I can get a few artists to come live in the rooms upstairs, it will never be completely quiet. I'll probably miss all of this alone time." Then she said, "Not that I've had very much. With all the noise of construction, I find that I like my weekends."

  "Mom! Miss Polly! You have to come see what we found!" Andrew and Jason were messing around in one of the back rooms of the basement space. Polly had given them a couple of flashlights and their mother had admonished them to be careful.

  "Hold on a second, boys." Polly turned on a Coleman Lantern she had and handed Sylvie another large flashlight. They wove through two smaller rooms until they got to what looked like a crawlspace.

  "What's in there?" Sylvie asked.

  "It's another big room," Andrew said, "but you have to crawl through this part first." He got down on his hands and knees and crawled into the space. He turned around and shone his flashlight back out at them. "Come on! It's no big deal. It's not like there are rats or anything down here."

  Sylvie looked at Polly with a smirk on her face, "Yeah. I want to get into a small space behind my son, who thinks rats are cool because it's not like there are any down here." She sighed. “Alright. Here I go." Down on her hands and knees she went, then sat up and slipped her flashlight into her waistband and began crawling through the hole.

  "It's cool, Polly. The crawlspace is only about three and a half feet long."

  Polly got down, and pushed the lantern in front of her while she crawled through to the other side.

  The crawlspace opened up into a room, eight feet square. There didn't seem to be any light other than the lantern she had and the three flashlights. Crates lined the outer edges of the room, stacked three and four high. At the opposite end of the room from the crawlspace was another full size door Jason was attempting to open.

  "What is this place?" she asked and turned to the crates at her right. Lifting the top one to the floor, she began rifling through it.

  Sylvie had walked over to where Jason was trying to pick the lock on the door and then tapped on it. There was a dull thud. "Jason, honey. I don't think anything is behind this door. It sounds like it's been walled up.

  "Well, why didn't they take the door out?" he asked.

  Sylvie turned around a couple of times. "This door would face the old gymnasium. I don't remember there being an entrance to the basement out there, but I suppose at one time there could have been." Then she said, "What are you finding, Polly?"

  Polly said, "It's the weirdest thing. It looks like detritus from kids' lockers. I can't tell if this was stuff left behind at the end of the year, lost items, or what? But there are scores of crates in here and I can't believe there hasn't been more damage."

  "You know what?" Sylvie said. "I think this was an old root cellar. They closed it up long before I was around. Something tells me it was before I was even born. Kids used to talk about it being down here, but I don't remember anyone ever knowing where it was. And I NEVER came down to the basement, it was way too creepy. Those old boilers made weird sounds and I didn't like the janitors ... I mean, custodians."

  She started peeking through some of the crates, then heard Andrew say, "Look! Cool!" He pulled a microscope out of one of the crates. "Can I have it mom?"

  "These things aren't ours, honey. Let's wait before we start taking stuff out of here."

  A muffled sound came through the crawlway. "Oh!" Polly said, "That's the door chime. I'll be back. I don't think I need a light to get out, so I'll leave the lantern."

  She crawled back into the main portion of the basement and ran for the stairs. When she arrived at the top, she opened the door to find Aaron Merritt standing there.

  "Aaron! What are you doing here today?"

  He was dressed in jeans, so she was fairly certain it was nothing official.

  "I wanted to return your key. I don't need it any longer. I've got my son in law in the Wrangler and we're going to do some fishing, while the womenfolk," he chuckled, "are talking about babies."

  "Are you in a real hurry?" Polly asked.

  "No, I don't suppose so. We needed to get out of the house. Is something up?"

  He pulled the key out of his pocket and handed it to Polly. As she walked over to the newel post, she said, "Well, I found something interesting in the basement. Actually, Andrew and Jason Donovan found it. There's a room tucked away in the back and it's filled with …" Polly gasped as she looked in the space in the newel post. Then, she shut her eyes and thought for a moment.

  "No, I’m right. There were two left."

  "Two what, Polly?" Aaron asked.

  "There were two keys left in here when I gave one to you and Danny Boylston. Now there's only one. I don't know who could have been in here and taken it since Wednesday. There's been no one around!" She took the remaining key out and pocketed both.

  "Oh, I hate that," she said. "When was someone around to take a key and why would they want one? I mean, this place is wide open all week long."

  Aaron said, "Why don't we call a locksmith. I can have someone here right away. I don't want you in this place alone without knowing where your keys are. Are all the doors keyed to the same lock?" He asked.

  "Honestly, no. I had the rest of the doors keyed differently because I didn't want anyone coming in without me knowing. This key only unlocks the front door. Maybe I forgot and gave someone else a key and didn't count correctly."

  "It's okay, Polly. We'll get a locksmith here and he'll make new keys for you. Then, I'll call Boylston and tell him he needs to see you before he can get in again. It’s no big deal. Give me a minute to make some calls and then you can tell me what you found in the basement." Aaron walked outside and put his cell phone to his ear. Polly went back downstairs and over to the crawlspace.

  "Sylvie? Can you hear me?" she called.

  In a few moments, she heard, "Yes. What's up?

  "Aaron Merritt is here. I'm going to bring him down to see what we've found. You know you don't have to stay in there if you don't want to."

  Sylvie responded, "Oh, we're fine. I've told the boys to make sure things go back in the crate they’ve removed them from. I think there might be some kind of organization with it, but I haven't figured out what it is."

  "Alright. We'll be in there in a few minutes."

  Polly went back upstairs as Aaron was walking up the outside steps with a big, blonde young man.

  "Polly," Aaron said, then gestured to the young man, "I'd like you to meet my son-in-law, Brian Erikson. Brian, this is Polly Giller."

  Brian stuck his hand out to shake hers and she found her hand enveloped in an immense, warm paw. His hands were calloused and strong and his face was ruddy. He had bright blue eyes filled with laughter.

  She looked at him and then she said, "Don't tell me. You know, too."

  "No ma'am. I don't know anything about anything," he said.

  Aaron clapped him on his back. "That's the smartest thing any man can ever say, especially when the alternative is walking into a trap."

  Polly shook her head and backed up into the school.

  Aaron said, "Lance Alston is going to be here in twenty minutes or so to change the locks on this door. He said he should
be able to re-core the cylinder. He'll make keys for you and you'll be ready to go.

  "So," he went on, "what did the boys find?"

  "Well, there's a crawlway back into what might have been an old root cellar and there are some things in crates back there that don't make much sense to me."

  "What kind of things, Polly?"

  "It looks like items that belonged to kids through the years. I can't imagine all of this stuff was left in lockers at the end of the school year. Why would anyone want to keep it?"

  She gestured through the basement door and the two men went down the steps.

  Polly crossed in front of them and wove her way through the boxes and furniture to the crawlway. "Sylvie?"

  "We're still here, Polly."

  "Aaron and Brian are coming in." Polly yelled.

  Brian got down on his knees and crawled into the space.

  Aaron looked around. "Hmmm, no one would have seen this when the boilers were sitting here," he remarked.

  "Okay," Polly responded. "I wasn't sure what was up."

  Aaron picked up an old piece of plywood. "I'll bet the boys pulled this off the wall to find the space."

  He indicated Polly should go on through, so she did and he followed closely behind her. When they stood up, Jason and Andrew were still carefully digging through crates. Sylvie, though, was holding a jacket and had a strange look on her face.

  "What's that, Sylvie?" Polly asked.

  "It's my jacket. I didn't leave it in my locker. It was stolen." she said.

  "Are you sure it's yours?" Aaron asked.

  "I'm sure." She put her hand in a pocket and pulled out a small plastic case, with what looked to be a picture of a boy band on its face. "This was a Christmas gift and I carried my lip gloss in it." She unzipped it and sure enough, several tubes were inside.

  "I also found two CDs in the same crate with Barb Pierce's name inside the case. She would never have left them in her locker after school was out. She was particular about her CDs." Sylvie thought for a moment. "I think someone was stealing from us and these crates are from different years. I'll bet if we get it figured out, we'll find a long history in here."

  "Okay, boys," Aaron said, air chuffing out of his lungs. "I need you to stop playing in the crates."

  Both boys looked chagrined, but stopped what they were doing.

  "Polly, I know you didn't expect all of this when you bought this old school, but I'm going to bring in some people to run tests on these things and see what's going on. It does seem odd there is such a large collection down here and I want to make sure it's all normal stuff. What a historical treasure, though. I'll bet there are years and years of items. The statute of limitations on theft is only three years, so I suppose we aren't going to prosecute anyone."

  "Sheriff,” Polly said. “After you’ve done all the investigating down here you need to do, we could probably haul these crates up to the auditorium and let people look through them. Maybe we could get them organized by their decade and photographed and see what we find!"

  "That's a great idea. I know a few people who might enjoy doing just that. I’m sorry boys, but I have to get everyone out. Take your flashlights with you."

  Sylvie was still holding her jacket. "Sylvie. I promise you'll get that back,” Aaron said.

  "No, I was thinking about the day I discovered it was gone. I had to ask for a ride home because it was so cold and I didn't have a coat. Principal Mayfair was going to take me, but luckily Crystal Jensen overheard and took me home. Mom and I had to go out that night to buy a new coat for me. We couldn't afford another school jacket. I can't believe it’s here. I never thought I'd see it again. I assumed someone else was wearing it. Weird." She laid the jacket back on top of a crate and followed her sons out of the room.

  Brian went next, then Polly followed with the lantern. Aaron was right behind her. When they all got into the main basement, he asked Brian to go up and grab a hammer and some nails. They closed the basement off again from the strange little room.

  Sylvie looked at the Sheriff. "You know, Aaron. I hate to say something terrible about someone, but Doug Leon always had dirty or ripped knees in his pants. We figured it was because he cleaned the floors or something. Everyone talked about it. Neither of the other janitors' was that bad. But, I suppose none of them worked here as long as he did either."

  "I'll talk to him, Sylvie. If he can tell me what this is all about, we'll figure the matter is settled. If he can't, we'll keep looking." Aaron ruffled Andrew's hair as he walked toward the steps. "You boys don't need to go looking for anything else around here, but you did a good job today. That was a good find."

  Brian followed him up the stairs and they walked outside.

  Polly said to Sylvie, "Oh, I'm getting the locks on the front door changed. I wonder if the guy is here yet."

  "Why are you doing that?" Sylvie asked.

  "I'm missing one of the keys in the newel post. I'd left them there to hand out to some of the workmen and one is gone. I don't know who would have taken it, but Aaron thinks it's better to be safe."

  "He's right. Here, let Andrew go up and watch for you. He'll come down and get you when the guy shows up."

  Andrew and Jason both ran up the steps, then Andrew came running back down. "He's here, he's here!"

  Polly said, "I'm sorry. This isn't getting much done down here."

  "Send the boys back down. We'll move things you obviously aren't going to need for a while so you can get to the other stuff. That will help when you return."

  "Thank you, Sylvie,” and Polly went up the stairs to find the boys waiting in the outside doorway. "Andrew and Jason, thank you. Would you mind going back to help your mom?"

  Both boys looked at her in shock. Jason said, "But we want to watch!"

  She laughed. "Of course you do. Alright, no problem." Then she called down the stairs. "The boys are going to stay and watch. Come on up, you don't have to stay down there by yourself doing my work!"

  "I'm fine," came Sylvie's voice from the depths.

  Polly laughed and turned around. A young man was pulling things out of the back of his van as he spoke with Aaron. Then, he turned to walk up to the door. Aaron and Brian got into the Wrangler and waved as Aaron gunned it in the gravel, spinning his tires.

  "Hi," the young man said. "I'm Lance."

  "Thanks, Lance, for coming out in such a hurry." Polly said.

  He laughed. "Are you kidding me? When Sheriff Merritt calls, I don't mess around. I obey."

  "Oh, I hope we didn't interrupt anything,” she said.

  "No, I was on call this weekend. Just watching a little football. Gotta see if my Browns will ever win. Since we're guaranteed there's no chance of that, it makes it easy to leave the game. This will take a few minutes and then I'll cut you some keys and everything will be back to normal."

  He turned to the boys, "You can watch if you like."

  Jason said, "There was a door in the basement we couldn't open. Mom says there’s only dirt on the other side of it, but she doesn't know everything."

  "If you'd like, I could take a look at it," Lance directed the question at Polly.

  "No, that's alright." she said and sat down on the step to wait.

  "The sheriff locked up the room anyway, so we can't get to it, but maybe he'll call you to look at it another time!" Jason said excitedly.

  "Maybe," Lance replied, and went back to his work. After pulling the locks and changing the cores on both doors, he went back to his van. "Boys, I'm going to cut some keys. Will you test them for me?" They followed him and after some grinding and no small amount of giggling, Andrew brought the first key up. "Can I try this, Miss Polly?"

  "You sure can, Andrew. Thank you." She watched as he tested the key first in one door, then in the next. When the locks flipped closed, then open, he announced. "It's perfect! Do you need to test another one?"

  "Jason gets the next one. And yes, we should check every key I cut," Lance said, winking at Polly. "How m
any would you like to have me cut today?"

  She put her head down and flipped her fingers as she thought through her needs, then said, "I think eight might be necessary."

  "Alright," he said, "Eight it is. Are you ready for this, boys?"

  Once the boys had pronounced a key good, they dropped it in Polly's outstretched hand. She'd never been around boys before and found she loved their energy. These were good kids.

  When the last key dropped into her hand, Lance came over with his receipt book. She jumped up, “I'll go inside to get my wallet."

  "Oh, no need. I'll give you this and you can send us payment later. I don't need to be running around with your money today."

  He turned to leave. "Let me know if you need anything else! I'll even come running if it's you on the other end of the phone and not the Sheriff!" He smiled.

  "Thanks so much," she said and walked back inside with the boys. Putting the keys in her back pocket away from the others, she went back down to the basement behind Andrew and Jason who bounced down to tell their mom all about their adventure.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Polly thought as she looked back at her bed. She was up and ready to go early, knowing that no one could get into the school since she'd changed the keys. She turned the locks on the front door and went in to the kitchen to turn the coffee maker on and then began rummaging in the refrigerator for something to eat. Nothing appealed to her, so she opened the freezer and there, like a little ball of sunshine was a fresh container of breakfast sandwiches, with Andy's labeling talent all over them. She pulled the container out and selected a sausage sandwich and stuck it in the microwave.

  How had she ever thought she would be able to do all of this on her own? In a few short weeks she had made a number of new friends, met more people than she could possibly remember and when things got weird, those new friends showed up to take care of her.

  Polly thought back to the year her mother died. There had been darkness and sadness after the death, but it didn't last long. Her friends and teachers, her parent's friends and random people from town had all been there. As she needed them less and less, they'd gone on with their lives, but it had seemed seamless to a twelve year old girl. She'd never felt alone. Mary and Sylvester were always there; she never had to eat breakfast by herself when her dad was in the fields. Mary was there when she got home in the afternoons and if she had a problem or forgot something at school, which she often did, Mary took care of it.