Stranger in the Woods

by Geof Johnson

  Jason glanced around warily and said, “Fling it over the fence when we’re done. Me and Justin can sneak back here later and get it.” He tilted his head toward the neighbor’s house. “Throw it over there into ol’ lady Schultz’s yard. She won’t know.”

  Zach rubbed his chin and stared at the home of his aged neighbor. “Somebody there might see you, like the home care nurse.” He pointed toward the gate that led to the side yard. “I can put it in the garbage bin. I have to take out the trash after dinner, anyway. I can put the saw in a garbage bag and hide it in there, but I’ll probably have to wait ’till my mom takes her bath. She’s got paint all over her arms and stuff, so she’ll want to do that early.”

  “Perfect. Me and Justin can sneak it out of the garbage later.”

  “The bin is over there by the gate, by Mrs. Schultz’s house. Wait ’till it’s almost dark.”

  * * *

  Liz stood on the front porch with her father and Zach and waved to the Ross kids as they rode away on their bikes.

  “Sorry I worked you guys so hard, Zach,” her father said. “I know y’all were hoping to go to the river, but I wanted to get the shrubs finished today while I had the help.”

  “I couldn’t swim right now if my life depended on it. I’m worn out.”

  “Liz, those Ross boys are good workers, if you can keep ’em from killing each other.”

  “Do you think I paid them enough?”

  “They’re only thirteen years old. Thirty dollars is a lot of money to a kid that age.” He looked at the porch railing with a critical eye. “This seems like it turned out pretty darn good. Did you do most of it or did Shelby help?”

  “Shelby did a lot of it. She’s a good little painter. It took me a while to get her to try it, but once she got going, she was fine. She’s very careful.”

  “Maybe you can get her to help you paint the inside of the house. She’d probably be good at doing the trim and cutting in. I hate doing that, especially over the baseboards. Little kid like her, it won’t be hard, squatting down there all day. My knees couldn’t take that.”

  “Or my back.” Liz rubbed hers, thinking about it. “Maybe the boys can help, too.”

  “I wouldn’t use her brothers for that. They’re hard workers, but they’re kinda rough. They’d be too messy.”

  “They’d probably fling paint at each other,” Zach said.

  “Maybe they can paint the back fence instead,” Liz said. “It looks pretty shabby now without the bushes hiding it, though I don’t know what I should pay them. I need to be careful with my money. Are you sure I paid them enough today?”

  “They were happy to get it, Mom,” Zach said. “Justin told me they’re always broke. They don’t get an allowance, and they’re too young to get jobs.”

  Liz’s father pulled at his chin and glanced at the other houses nearby. “They might be able get some work if they asked around, doing yard chores and such. Most of our neighbors are my age, at least. It’s hard, raking and mowing and what all, when you get older.

  “But what about Shelby?” Liz said. “That’s not exactly suitable work for her.”

  “No,” her father said, “but she’s old enough to babysit.”

  “There aren’t many families around here with young children.”

  “That’s true, and she seems like she’s too shy to ask for the work.”

  “She really is. It took forever to get her to talk while we were painting, but I like her. She’s a sweet, smart girl.”

  “Seems like she doesn’t have much self-confidence,” her father said.

  “She doesn’t.” Liz looked down the street in the direction the kids had gone and was suddenly reminded of a bouquet of flowers, how there was always one bud that wouldn’t open, hiding among the other blossoms. She just needs the courage to bloom and show her colors.

  * * *

  After dinner that night, Zach waited until his grandfather had gone home and the dirty dishes were almost done before saying to his mother, “I can finish up in here if you want to go take your bath.”

  “Thanks, honey.” She pulled her hands out of the soapy water in the sink and appraised them. “Most of the paint has come off of my fingers, but it’s still all over my arms, and there’s a little bit on my legs, too.”

  She dried her hands on a small towel and headed for the door to the hall. She said over her shoulder, “Don’t forget to take out the trash. It’s full.”

  “Yes ma’am. I’m on it.”

  She left and he listened to her footsteps going up the stairs, followed by the squeak of the faucets in the bathroom. Just a few more minutes and I can do it. He passed the time by washing the few remaining dishes, then he went out to the foyer and listened again. He heard the bathroom door close, and he knew that the time had come.

  It’s now or never. He pulled two plastic trash bags from the box under the sink and stuffed one of them into the waistband of his shorts. The other he laid on the floor beside the garbage can, and he stepped on the pedal. The lid popped up.

  Phew! He had to turn his head away from the pungent odor of day-old food waste, coffee grounds, and other trash. He held his breath and lifted the bag out with both hands, then carried it to the back door and out to the terrace. He followed the short flagstone footpath that led to the garbage bin, raised the hinged top, and dropped his load inside.

  He looked over his shoulder to make sure his mother wasn’t watching, and hurried to the garage. He retrieved the bow saw from where he’d left it earlier, and took it to the garbage bin. He stared at the large, plastic container, and thought, I can’t believe I’m doing this. He was about to deliberately disobey his mother. I’ve never done anything like this before. He was sure that Jason and Justin had, probably many times. If Shelby had, it was only because her brothers coerced her into it.

  I’ve got to do it if I want to see the clubhouse.

  He pulled out the bag he’d stuck under his waistband, placed the saw inside it, and dropped it into the bin.

  * * *

  Zach was reading in bed later that night when his mother came into his room. She sat on the edge of is mattress and gave him a gentle smile. “Is that the book you got from the library?”

  He turned it over and glanced at the cover. “It’s The Chronicles of Narnia. I never read it before, but some of my friends back in Raleigh have. I want to read it before I get too old.”

  “You’re never too old for that book. It’s a classic.”

  “They had some other stuff I want to read, too. I was surprised.”

  “It’s a good little library. I used to spend a lot of time there when I was young.”

  “Is that why you became an English teacher?”

  “It was either that or become a librarian, but there aren’t a lot of job openings for those, so I stuck with English. I just wanted a career that had something to do with books.” She patted his leg. “It’s good to see you reading again. It almost makes me wish we weren’t getting the cable hooked up tomorrow. I’m afraid you’ll just watch TV instead.”

  “Mom, give me a break. You won’t have to give me limits on TV time or anything.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want you sitting there for hours at a time, like….”

  She looked across his room as her voice trailed off, and he knew what she was going to say. Like your father. “Mom, do you think that watching so much TV had anything to do with why he, um…you know.”

  “No. It was a symptom of his depression, not the cause.” She patted his leg again and her expression saddened. “Watching television will not make you want to end your life. But I don’t want you watching it day and night. I want you to do other things, like read, or help me get this house fixed up, or play with your friends.”

  “Mom,” he said flatly, “we don’t play. We hang out. Playing is what little kids do.”

  “Oh, excuse me. I forgot how grown up you’d become.”

  He frowned at her and she laughed softly, and he felt hi
s face pull into a smile despite his best efforts. She nodded toward the book in his lap. “How do like that so far?”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Shelby said she likes to read. She wants to go to the library with us next time we go.”

  “Just Shelby?”

  “I don’t think her brothers like to read very much.”

  “No, probably not.”

  “But Shelby doesn’t have a library card, so I need her mother to fill out the form. Will you ask one those kids to have her call me, or stop by?”

  “She works all the time. When is she going to be able to do that?”

  “I don’t know. But it would be nice for Shelby to have some books to read this summer so she’d have something to do besides follow her brothers around.” She pursed her lips and nodded slowly. “I had my doubts about those kids at first, but now I think they’re okay, they just lack supervision. I don’t believe they’re juvenile delinquents, but I do think the boys are a little reckless. They seem like risk-takers.”

  She gave him a steady look before adding, “It’s all right if you spend time with them, as long as you make good choices while you’re with them. Just because they do something rash doesn’t mean that you have to.”

  They won’t be my friends if I don’t. “I know. I can make the right choices.”

  “Good.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “I trust you Zach. Try to remember that. I just want you to be safe. Let’s not have to make any trips to the emergency room, okay?”

  Trust. Zach felt his face and neck grow warm and he struggled to keep his expression neutral while he thought about the bow saw in the garbage bin.

  Chapter 6

  Zach walked his bike around to the front of his house where his friends waited for him, all three of them astride their own two wheelers. Zach’s mother stood on the porch and called to him with a wave of one hand. “Don’t stay too long, okay? I’ll worry about you. If you get lost in the forest, I’ll never be able to find you.”

  Zach grumbled to himself as he rolled across the grass near the steps. I wish you wouldn’t do that in front of my friends. “How long can I stay?”

  “Try to be back by five o’clock.”

  “How am I supposed to know when that is?”

  She held something up, black and slender, that dangled from her fingers. “I thought you could take your father’s watch.”

  “Really? His good one?”

  “Not his gold one, his sports watch.”

  “And I can wear it? Awesome!” He dropped his bike on its side and bounded up the steps to join her. She handed the watch to him and he wrapped the band around his wrist and fumbled with the clasp. “How do I do this?”

  “I’ll show you.” She deftly adjusted it and cinched it closed, then patted his arm and said, “There you go. It’s still set to the correct time, so you have no excuse for being late.”

  “Cool,” he murmured as he admired the timepiece. “What do all these little buttons do?”

  “They change the modes and the settings, but I don’t know how to work them. Maybe when you get back you can find the user’s manual on the Internet and figure it out. It should be hooked up by then.”

  “Hey, that’s right!” He turned to his friends, who still waited below. “We can play online games and stuff when we get back.”

  “You got more than one computer?” Justin said.

  “Only one regular one. My Mom has a laptop, but we can’t use it.”

  “First dibs, then.”

  “Second,” Jason said.

  Shelby’s face fell. “What am I going to do?”

  “You can watch TV,” Zach said. “That’ll be connected, too.”

  His mother shook her head. “If you can’t play something that includes everybody, then don’t do it.”

  “But Mom, we want to —”

  “Don’t argue with me now. Be happy that I’m letting you go off in the forest today.”

  “Fine.” He snorted and said, “We can all watch TV, then.” Zach hopped down the steps, mounted his bike, and he and his friends pedaled across the lawn.

  “Where’s Beepee?” Shelby said.

  “Grandpa said she can’t go with us because she might run off and get lost.”

  “We don’t want to look after her, anyway,” Justin said as they turned onto the sidewalk. “We got work to do.”

  Zach maneuvered his bike closer to Justin and lowered his voice. “Did you get the you-know-what from my garbage bin?”

  “Last night, right before dark. We hid it in the bushes around the corner so our mama wouldn’t know about it.”

  They passed a pair of houses and Justin pointed at the gap between them. “If we were walking we’d cut through there. Can’t do it on our bikes ’cause we gotta jump a fence.”

  Zach realized that it was the same spot where he’d first seen them, when they’d been shooting at each other with their BB guns. “How far is it?”

  “To the woods?” Justin said. “Not far at all.”

  They turned left at the next street and Jason led them to a clump of overgrown azaleas near the corner. He dismounted, knelt beside the dense shrubs, and withdrew a white plastic garbage bag from underneath them. He started to pull the bow saw out of it, but Zach said, “Leave it in it, in case anybody sees us.”

  “Who’s gonna care?”

  “I don’t know. Just do it anyway.”

  Jason got back on his bike with the bag dangling from one hand and they resumed their journey. They soon turned left again and rode past more houses like Zach’s, spooky old Victorian behemoths, and then they took a right onto a street that stopped abruptly after the fourth home. The end of the road was blocked by a narrow wooden barricade that extended from curb to curb, with red reflectors set at even intervals along its length. Beyond it was an ocean of trees that stretched as far as Zach could see.

  “This is it?” he said as they neared it. “This is the national forest?”

  “There’s a fancier entrance a few miles away,” Justin said, “with a new visitors’ center and walking trails and stuff. We never go there. It’s for tourists, mostly.”

  Zach tailed the Ross kids as they steered their bikes around the barricade, barely slowing their pace, and they pedaled onto the dirt path that followed. They were immediately swallowed by the woods, with trees scarcely an arm’s reach away. The air turned cooler and darker, and smelled sharply of pine.

  The riding was more difficult over the bare ground, every root and rock jarring Zach’s bones and making his jaw clatter.

  “How much farther?” Zach said between gasping breaths.

  “It’s close,” Jason said over his shoulder. “We’ll have to ditch our bikes soon and walk the rest of the way.”

  They rode in single file up a gradual rise, the path narrower and strewn with more rocks and thick roots that made Zach’s bike rattle, and the muscles in his legs began to burn. He pedaled after the others without complaining, though he wanted to. The Ross kids didn’t seem to be bothered by the arduous terrain, even skinny little Shelby. He gritted his teeth and focused on her back as they chased after the twins.

  They crested the ridge and coasted downhill for a short distance before Jason suddenly swerved to his left off the trail, and the rest of them followed. They stopped and Jason dismounted with the bag in one hand and said, “We stash ’em back here, where nobody can see ’em.” He pushed his bike behind a dense thicket, and his brother and sister did the same.

  “Are you sure they’ll be safe?” Zach said. “What if somebody steals them?”

  “You can’t see ’em, for one thing,” Justin said, “and hardly anybody ever comes this way.”

  “Uncle Marty does sometimes,” Shelby said, “when he’s hunting on the sly.”

  Zach lowered his brow. “Is he…are there hunters out now? What if we get shot?”

  “Ain’t the season,” Jason said, “and Uncle Marty’s in Chattanooga, according to Mama. Ain’t nobody gonna shoo
t us.”

  Zach wasn’t convinced, but he pushed his bike in behind the others anyway. They returned to the path and continued their trek on foot. The going was more difficult, twisting and climbing, sometimes over short, steep places, where they had to hold on to saplings or exposed roots to pull themselves up over boulders.

  “What do you do when it rains?” Zach said, bringing up the rear. “Doesn’t the footing get bad?”

  “We stay home,” Jason said. “Last summer we got caught out here in a freak storm, with hail and everything, and we had to beat it back to the house in a hurry. Shelby slipped and hurt her knee.”

  “Is it going to rain today?”

  “We checked the weather on the TV before we left. Supposed to pour tomorrow.”

  After about five minutes of hiking over the rough, narrow trail, Jason led them off the path and over a steep, granite knoll. Zach was last again, following Shelby, careful to step where she stepped. If I slip, it’ll hurt. Shelby didn’t hesitate, and followed her brothers with the confidence that must’ve come from experience.

  They crested the rocky mound and paused at the top. Jason gestured with one hand and said, “This is it.”

  They faced a small clearing. At the back of it was a ramshackle tumble of something, Zach wasn’t sure what. It reminded him of a crude shelter a homeless person might’ve started building and then abandoned.

  “This is our clubhouse,” Jason said proudly. “Or it’s gonna be, soon as we finish.”

  Zach followed them down to it and got a closer look. It consisted of two pine trees, growing about ten feet apart, with a few long branches and a couple of boards nailed across them to make the beginnings of a wall that only reached Zach’s knees. Another tree made up the back left corner, and a few more limbs were attached to that. The right corner was an old landscape timber set upright in a hole in the ground, and it appeared unstable, as if a hearty gust of wind might topple it. Justin pointed at it and said, “That was hard to get here. We had to carry it the whole way.”

  “Oh,” Zach said, trying to hide his disappointment. “Where’d you get it?”