Chapter 13
The children whirled around and stared at a man blocking their escape route. They should have toughed it out in the sweltering loft. Now, they’d been caught, and didn’t know if he’d turn them in or let them go.
The man wore a curious smile. He was short and thin. . .just like everyone they’d seen so far.
“Do you like horses?” he asked.
Reece swallowed and tried to smile. “Oh, yes!” she said, never having given it a moment’s thought in her entire life. “We don’t see them very often, but we really like them when we do.”
The man blinked his eyes. “You don’t see horses very often?”
“Well, only when we go outside,” said Sean, glancing at Reece. When she didn’t cue him either way, he continued. “Actually, we see them at the fair and sometimes we drive by a pasture and see them,” he added then waited to see how that settled.
“I see.” The man swallowed what they said without choking, but his eyes were confused.
The children exchanged knowing looks. Obviously, they’d said the wrong thing. The Professor told them not to ask anyone “where are we” or “what date it was”, so they were safe so far. . .they hoped.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two before. But then I’ve only been coming here for a few months. Are you from around these parts?”
Sean nodded his head perhaps a little too ferociously. “Yes, we are definitely from around these parts.”
“Yes, we know where we are. I mean where we live,” said Reece then casually looked behind to see if there was a rear exit. There wasn’t.
The man was dressed much like the storekeeper and the man who carried the Professor’s dinner tray, but he was cleaner. The man’s eyebrow lifted just a little, and his smile broadened. “I’m sure you do. So where do you live?” he continued pleasantly.
The children hesitated just long enough that he asked another question. “Are you sure you’re not just plain lost?”
“Lost?” Reece asked. “Oh, no! We . . .went for a walk this morning, and now. . .”
“We’re going home,” Sean finished.
“I see.”
Reece decided that a little more information might save them. “We live on Spruce Lane just through the woods. Our school is across the street right at the end of our lane,” she said, using her hand to indicate the direction that she meant.
“I see,” said the man again in a voice that told them he didn’t understand at all. “Well, my name is Johnson. I’m the traveling preacher in these parts.” He drew his hand across his face and gave a short, but gentle laugh. “I must say that as much as I’ve ridden through this part of the country, I don’t remember any place like that. I mean there are farm land and a few villages here and there, but I’ve never heard of anything called Spruce Lane.”
Reece wondered why he’d ‘ridden’ through this part of the country rather than driven. Were questions about a car off limits, too? “You see, our family lives back a little lane. . .and there are a lot of spruce trees around it.”
“Probably hundreds.”
“Maybe ten or twelve.”
“That’s why we call it Spruce Lane,” said Sean, finishing the summary.
“So, it’s not called Spruce Lane, it’s just that you live back a lane that has a number of spruce trees around it.”
The children looked at each other for confirmation then nodded their heads.
“And you say there’s a school at the end of your lane?” he asked frowning slightly. “I don’t remember seeing a school like that in these parts.”
“You don’t?” asked Sean.
The children thought feverishly about some plausible reason they could explain away their neighborhood school. In the end, their eyes just drifted away from the man’s until they were looking in totally opposite directions from each other.
These children worried Mr. Johnson and he probed further. “Well, I don’t remember seeing you in church, but then I only preach here one Sunday a month. Of course, there was a funeral today, so I made a special trip. Did you come in for the funeral? I didn’t see you there.”
“No,” said Reece. “We didn’t know him, so. . .we didn’t go.”
“Actually, it was a woman. Mrs. Walker died.”
“We didn’t know her either,” said Sean.
Mr. Johnson continued to study them as Reece and Sean continued to avoid his eyes. He seemed decidedly unsettled by their answers.
Why hadn’t they stayed in that stinking loft? They’d been distracted by Abby, and now Mr. Johnson was between them and the only way out.
Taking a deep breath, Mr. Johnson finally expressed his deep concern. “You didn’t run away from home, did you?”
The children’s heads shot up and they stared mouths agape at Mr. Johnson. Leave Mama and Daddy and all their pets? They hardly knew where to begin, so they just stood there and shook their heads instead.
“Because if you did, you only have to tell me, and I’ll try to help you and your folks work it out. I’ve helped out families and kids before. It’s part of my job. You see I have another boy I’m taking into my home, because it was his mother who died. He’s an orphan now, and he doesn’t have anywhere to go.” He shook his head. “It’s been a terribly sad case. His father died last year in a farming accident then all five children came down with scarlet fever last month. They all died but the oldest boy. Adults don’t usually get scarlet fever, but Mrs. Walker was so weak from caring for the children. . .”
“You mean the mother died, too?” asked Sean softly.
Mr. Johnson nodded his head.
No disaster in Reece’s short life ever measured up to this. “Everybody died,” she murmured then her mind connected the dots. “Is it James?”
“Yes.” Mr. Johnson looked at her in surprise. “His mother died three days ago, but I had other services to attend to. It took me this long to get here, so they held off the funeral service. Do you know him?”
James’ father had been killed in a farming accident, then his brothers and sisters had died, and now his mother, too? Why hadn’t he told them? But then he did tell them. He said he had no family. “We sort of know him,” said Reece in a state of shock. “We met him, but he didn’t tell us anything about his whole family dying.”
Mr. Johnson drew his lips inside his mouth. “No, I’m not surprised. The people here are kindly for the most part, but they were so afraid for their own children,” he said drawing his brows together. “The Walker family lived way out in the country, you see, but the villagers did take food out to them. They couldn’t risk getting close to anybody inside the house, so they didn’t walk up to the door. They just left it at the gate. I’m sure no one would catch scarlet fever from James now, but they’re still fearful and don’t want him around. They’re fearful of things they don’t understand,” he chuckled without amusement. “Like most of us, I suspect.” He drew a deep breath. “Anyway, my wife and I don’t have any children, and we’d be glad to have him.”
Sean had been deep in thought. “What’s scarlet fever?” he asked. “And, why didn’t they just go to the doctor and take medicine for it?”
“Yes, why didn’t they?” Reece added. “They should have gone to the hospital.”
Mr. Johnson was so shocked by their questions that he merely stared at them.
Both children stared back. Their safety net just developed some serious holes. They had positively avoided any “where are we” or “what date” questions, but now they realized that there were other unknown questions they shouldn’t ask, and they’d just asked some of them.
The Door Into Time Page 13
