Mom woke me up early on Friday morning. She was all rushing around. Mom said we had to get all packed up because we were moving to some house way out on a farm somewhere because Rodger got all mad and drunk Wednesday night. He teased Hank and made him cry. Sam started yelling at Rodger telling him to leave Hank alone, but then he started punching Sam in the shoulder. Sam tried to fight back, but Rodger hit him hard. Mom tried to stop Rodger and that’s when he hit her in the eye and the stomach. I was so scared and hid behind the door. Rodger gets really mean. Momma said we’re gonna move today so that he won’t bother us no more. I’m glad we’re moving, but Sam doesn’t wanna go with us. He doesn’t wanna move far from his friends. Mom says he has to go with us and they’ve been fussing all morning. She told Sam that we only have to stay there long enough till we find an apartment somewhere. Sam was still mad, but said okay as long as we move to an apartment in Bourbon County before school starts back in the fall.

Aunt Cindy came over to help pack up our stuff. Mom rented a big van and wanted us to get everything moved before Rodger got out of jail. She doesn’t want him to try and stop us. Momma told me that I might even be able to have my own room. I wondered if this guy was mom’s new boyfriend, but she said that Mr McAllister was just a nice man who was letting us live there until we find something else. I’m worried that I might not get to see my best friend Candice, but momma said she would take me to see her.

Hank says he doesn’t ever want to go back to school. He cries a lot and says kids tease him. Rodger’s always being mean to Hank, and Hank just wants to stay in his room and play video games. He just finished Jr High School this year and said it’s worse than elementary school. I like school and I hope when I get to Jr high school the kids will not be mean to me like they were to Hank. My best friend Candice says we’ll always be best friends so she’ll be my friend when we’re both in Jr high school.

A big white van pulled up outside. Aunt Cindy and her boy friend Arnie got out and knocked on the door. Momma told Sam to get the door. She was carrying a big box of clothes.

“Sweetie, have you found all of your dolls and clothes? Try to grab all your stuff because after today we won’t be coming back here,” said Momma.

“I think so Momma,” I said as aunt Cindy walked in the door.

“How much have you guys got packed?” said Aunt Cindy looking around.

“Most everything’s in boxes except for the furniture,” said Momma. “You can pick up anything that I have in this pile. Don’t take any of that stuff over by the couch. That’s all Rodger’s shit. I don’t need to give him any more reason to be pissed off.”

They all started loading up the van. Momma said she wanted to do it all in one day and hopefully one trip. She heard that Rodger might be getting out of jail on Monday. I was trying to help load the van, but Sam yelled at me and said I was getting in the way. I know I’m little, but I can carry stuff too. Sam’s just mad because Momma said we was moving to Nicholas County. I was mad too and sat on the porch with my Malibu Barbie doll. It wasn’t fair that he wouldn’t let me help. Momma usually tells Sam to leave me alone when he’s being mean, but she’s so busy that she doesn’t notice me. Every time Sam walked by I stuck my tongue out at him and he gave me a mean look. I felt something rub past my back and looked around and saw Brutus, our neighbor’s big yellow tom cat. He turned around and did it again, trying to get me to pet him. I liked Brutus because he’s big and fat and lets me dress him up in doll clothes.

I sat on the porch for a long time. Brutus soon got tired of me and ran off to chase a bird. My friend Candice from next door came over to see if I wanted to come over and play with her new Barbie townhouse. I said that I couldn’t go to her house because momma wanted me to stay close by because we would be leaving soon. Candice said she was going to go back and ask her mom if she could come over here to play with me. She ran back across the yard and disappeared.

We was at school yesterday when Mrs Preston called Candice up to the blackboard. She was wearing her new pink dress she got for Easter and when she was facing the black board writing out the answer to the math question, we saw a big purple spot on her butt. Some kids in the back started laughing and pointing. Mrs Preston got mad and asked why we were laughing, but then Angie Bell raised her hand and said that Candice had something on her butt. Candice looked shocked and put her hand back there and said, “EWWWWWW! I got bubblegum on my dress!” I heard some snickering in the back of the room and saw mean Paul Tinkle and his friend James Layson whispering to each other and laughing. Mrs Preston got all mad and said, “Okay, who put the bubblegum in Candice’s chair?” Paul and James stopped whispering and sat up straight, but Mrs Preston was looking at them. “Did you do this Paul? James? I know one of you knows something.” Candice was mad and gave Paul a mean look. “I didn’t do it,” said Paul. “Yes you did. You’re always doing mean things,” Candice said. “Paul you’re coming with me to see the principal and Candice you come with me too. I think maybe we can get some of the bubblegum off if we put ice on it. You all behave until I get back.”she said, and then they all walked out the door. The bubblegum did not come out and Candice said the dress was ruined.

Candice used to be my best friend, but she started being best friends with Tiffany. She plays with me sometimes, but only when Tiffany’s gone. I feel kinda guilty and scared. I put the bubble gum on her seat when I came back from recess first. It was dark like her seat, so she didn’t see it. I was mad at her, but I didn’t think it would ruin her dress or get Paul in trouble. Paul really didn’t do it, but he usually does other bad things. I want to tell Candice I did it and that I’m sorry, but if I do she’ll hate me. If I don’t tell, she’ll still be my friend.

Candice came back over and we played with our Barbies on the porch. I didn’t say anything about the bubblegum. I tried to pretend like it didn’t happen. Candice said she wished I didn’t have to move. I said we have to because Rodger was mean and hit my Momma. She asked if we would be still going to the same school next year and I said I didn’t know yet. I wish Candice was still my best friend, but I know that her and Tiffany will be best friends now. Especially now that I was moving. I wish I’d put the bubble gum in Tiffany’s seat instead.

It was getting really hot outside. Momma said the van was almost full. She asked me to go back inside and make sure I’d gotten all my toys because we wouldn’t be coming back. The house looked so empty and different. It sounded louder, and echoed when you talk. Echo echo echo echo. I never noticed how a house could look like a shell and be so different. A lot of the furniture was gone and in the van. This felt exciting.

Around six o’clock, momma said she was going to meet Mr McAllister at six thirty at the filling station on the other side of town. I said goodbye Candice and she said maybe her mom would take her out to my new house sometime. Deep down I knew this wasn’t going to happen. She was already starting to slip away when she started spending more time with her new friend and my moving away was just going to make it happen faster. I felt sad.

Arnie’s this short skinny man, with red hair, and big glasses. He’s kinda goofy and funny, but he’s really really nice. Momma says he works with computers. He asked if I wanted to sit up front with him and Aunt Cindy and ride in the big white van. That looked really fun. We got inside and closed the big doors. It smelled funny like pine and skunks. Aunt Cindy asked if I was all excited to be moving to a house in the country and I said maybe. I’d been on farms before, walking across them to go somewhere. I always wondered what it would be like to live on one. Maybe he’s got cows and pigs and chickens. It would be so fun to pet animals. Maybe he’s got rabbits. Sally said she had rabbits. It would be nice to pet them. But even better than rabbits, maybe he’s got horses! I was getting myself excited thinking about what sorts of animals he might have.

Mom drove her car with Sam in the front seat and Hank in the back. Hank seems happy to be leaving. He smiled a little, but he doesn’t get all excited and happy the way Sam does. But he also doesn’t get as mad and lose his temper like Sam does either. If Sam likes something or hates something, everybody’s gonna know it. It’s hard to tell what Hank’s thinking. He’s quiet. He’s nice to me, but he doesn’t like to talk much and he likes to stay in his room a lot. He ain’t got any friends like me and Sam does. He says he’s got one or two friends at school, but he never sees them outside of school. They never come to our house. I feel sorry for Hank because I don’t think he’s got any friends. Sometimes he pertends to play with me, but I can tell he really doesn’t like to play girl stuff like me and Candice. He does like to play checkers with me sometimes.

We followed Mom’s car and I got to ride up front with aunt Cindy and Arnie. We stopped at the filling station in Judyville at the other end of town. Mom got out and was talking to the man we saw at the laundromat. They all got back in the car and Momma followed his red truck. We drove a long way out in the country with lots of farms and trees. The roads were really little and we had to pull over on the side to let the other cars get by. His truck slowed down then he got out and opened the gate. He waved for us to go through. There was lots of trees on either side on the road where we turned off. We rode down this rocky bumpy road through all these dark trees. Then past the trees it got sunny again. The road went up this hill to a big white house. There was fields on both sides of the road. Way back in a field was a big black barn with a green roof. This was a really big farm and I couldn’t see any other houses from this one. When we got closer to the house, I thought I saw a man walking through the field, but when I looked again it faded away. I don’t know what I saw, but it scared me. I scrunched down in the seat because the scary man might still be out there. I wasn’t sure it was real, so I didn’t say nothing.

Arnie parked the van besides Momma’s car and said, “Wow! So this is where you’re gonna live. This place looks cool.”

“Yeah, that’s a big house and Susanne says they got the entire upstairs to themselves,” said Cindy.

She asked if I was excited and I said yes, but I’m not sure. The place does look big, but I don’t see any houses nearby with kids for me to play with. I heard the truck coming up behind us. It parked on the other side of Momma’s car. We all got out and started walking towards the front porch. Travis opened his door and this big pretty dog jumped out and started running up to meet everyone.

“Don’t worry, that’s Buddy. He’s a friendly dog and just likes to say hello,” said Travis.  

Buddy was a big black and white dog with a little orange. He kept wanting to lick me all over. Mr Travis looked at me and said, “I remember you.”  

“Travis, this here is Arnie. He’s a friend of my sister Cindy and this here is my oldest boy Sam, and that one checking out the porch swing is Hank, and maybe you remember our youngest here Bella May,” momma said.

“Yeah, but didn’t you have a little boy with you?” said Travis.

“Yeah, that’s my little cousin Stevie,” I said, happy that he remembered me. “Stevie is still in the car in his car seat.”

While they were talking, Arnie said that he recognized Travis from somewhere. They said their names sounded familiar. Then Arnie asked Travis if he went to Bourbon County high school. He said yes and then they realized that they were in the same grade. I don’t think I would have forgot somebody I went to school with.

We were all kinda standing around the porch and Hank was sitting in the porch swing when Mr Travis said, “Who wants to see the upstairs?”

I raised my hand and said, “Me Me Meee!” I climbed up the steps and looked at Hank and said, “Beat you up there!”

Hank hopped off the swing and ran for the door, “Nuhh uhhhh.”

Momma yelled and said, “Don’t you two go running up Mr McAllister’s stairs!”

Then Mr McAllister looked at my momma and said, “No, It’s okay Suzanne. If you guys are going to be living here I might as well get used to kids running about.”

I looked at momma for permission and she sorta shrugged her shoulders, so me and Hank raced each other going up the stairs. The house looked big and there was a creaky wood floor almost black. The hallway and the stairs looked pretty bare. Hank beat me to the top and was looking down a long hallway. This house was so big. There were three doors to my left side and three to my right side. We started opening doors. Everyone else was right behind us. The two front rooms were the biggest. The bathroom was at the other end of the hall. It looked pretty big inside but the room wasn’t finished. Some of the walls were still being built. Mr McAllister said that he was working on it and maybe we could help. Momma decided she wanted the front bedroom. Sam wanted the bedroom across from the bathroom and Hank wanted the front bedroom across from momma. There was two middle rooms left. One was a lot bigger than the other, but I really wanted the little room. It looked different inside. I walked in the room and somehow I felt like I belonged there.

They spent the rest of the day moving furniture up the stairs. Hank seemed really happy to have a room by himself. I think even Sam was liking the house even though he didn’t say so. Cindy and Arnie stayed until it got dark and then went to return the van. Everything seemed to happen so fast and it felt so new and exciting to have a new bedroom. I couldn’t believe we were going to be living on a real farm. I imagined getting cows and chickens and horses. Momma was making my bed. I was really tired.

“So how do you like your new room Bella?” Said Momma looking up from being bent over the bed.

“I like my new room. It feels like I belong here.”

I got into my pajamas and then brushed my teeth. When I came out of the bathroom and walked back to my room, I saw the tall narrow window at the end of the hall. I stood in front of the window noticing the individual little panes. Old white cracking paint peeling in small long slivers made the window look like it had white bark peeling off. I looked out over the lawn and saw Mr Travis’s red truck and Momma’s car shiny from the porch light. The barn was too far away to see in the dark, but then I noticed an object alone by itself in the field. It was too dark to see clearly. It looked like a post or maybe a person. I squinted trying to see better. It didn’t look like it belonged there and I don’t remember seeing anything in that spot when we drove up. It wasn’t moving and just looked dark. Maybe it was that man. I was scared and felt a cold chill going up my back. I turned and looked behind me out of fear and looked back towards the field. I looked back and forth but it was gone. It either fell down or it ran really fast, or maybe… it disappeared. I turned and ran to Momma’s door, knocking until it opened.

“You should be going to bed Bella, it is getting late. What’s wrong?”

I told momma that I saw something standing in the field, but she said it was likely a deer. I was still scared and begged her to let me sleep in her bed.

“Sure sweetie. You can sleep here tonight, but you gotta sleep in your own bed tomorrow.” I climbed into Momma’s bed and curled up next to her. She told me there was nothing to be scared of. “So how do you like it here so far? A lot bigger than our other apartment huh?”

“Yeah, and maybe Mr McAllister has horses and chickens and bunnies. You think he will let me pet Buddy?”

“I’m sure he won’t mind. Buddy’s just right downstairs and you’ll see him outside all the time. We best be going to sleep. You want to say your prayers?”

I got down on the floor on my knees and prayed, “Now I lay me down to sleep… Mom, do lots of people die in their sleep?”

“What? Who died in their sleep?”

“The people. Do you think I could die in my sleep?”

“Well, I suppose any of us could, but highly unlikely. You have to be really really sick or hurt or old before that could happen. Now don’t you be thinking of such things tonight. We won’t die for a very very long time. You get some sleep. Night Bella.”

“Night momma.”

When I closed my eyes I kept thinking back to that dark thing standing in the field. I guess it could have been a deer. I never lived this far away from other people before. Or could it be, a monster? The idea of death scared me.

The next morning I was lying in bed and heard something loud like an engine coming closer down that gravel road. I heard Buddy barking. I jumped out of bed and ran over to the window. It was already light outside and I saw a black motorcycle kicking up dirt and it parked near our car. A guy wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans and cowboy boots was getting off his bike. Buddy ran up to meet this person and was wagging his tail. Buddy knew this guy. He took off his helmet and got down on one knee to pet him. I never saw this guy before and wondered who he was.

“What’s going on outside?” said momma.

“Some man rode up on a motorcycle. He’s talking to Mr McAllister.”

Momma got up and peeked through the curtain. “Who’s that Momma?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s a friend of Travis. Looks like they’re going fishing.”

“Momma is it okay if I go look at the barn? I want to see if Mr Travis has any animals. It would be so cool if he had animals to pet.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. Animals might be dangerous.”

“Pleeeease Momma. I’ll be careful. I won’t touch them. I just want to look”

“Well okay, but don’t be messing with any of Travis’s tools and stuff. He’s letting us stay here until we can find something else, and don’t want him getting mad at us. You understand.”

“Yes Momma, I’ll be very careful.”

I went to my room and put my clothes on. I was all excited to go exploring. My room felt small and cozy. I liked how one corner of the room was slanted. There’s this tiny little closet back in the corner next to the slant. I could put my dolls in here. It’s much too small for regular clothes. I put on a pink pair of short pants in my dresser and a blue t shirt. I ran to the bathroom and opened the door.

“Dammit! You’re sposta knock first. What do ya want?” said Hank. He was bent over the sink and looked like he was pinching one of his zits.

“Momma says you’ll make it worse if you pinch them,” I said.

“It’s none of your business Bella. Now out!” he yelled.

“I gotta pee.”

“Okay, but hurry up.”

“I will…Hank! You wanna check out the barn with me?”

“Yeah, okay. Did Mom say you could go?”

“Yeah, she said so this morning as long as I’m careful not to mess with anything. I want to see if he’s got cows or pigs or horses to pet.”

Hank was standing there in his white underwear and his light brown hair was sticking out in every direction. Hank left the bathroom, I peed, pulled up my panties and short pants, and looked down the hall and yelled, “I”m Done!”

“Quiet Bella! I’m trying to sleep,” I heard Sam yell behind the door.

“Sorry,” I said running down the stairs. I decided to take a quick look around the rest of the house now that Mr McAllister was gone. He really didn’t have much furniture except for a couch, a chair and a small table with a TV on top of it. On the mantle above the fireplace was a picture of a bunch of soldiers posing in their camouflage uniforms. I wanted to get closer, but the picture was too high to reach. I pushed the chair over and climbed up to get a better look. There were about 20 guys in the picture. They were standing in the desert holding guns. Mr McAllister was on the end holding the biggest gun of all of them with a cigarette in his mouth. They were all wearing tan army pants. I saw a camel behind them in the background. I heard footsteps running down the stairs and I hurried to climb down but I was scared by the sound of Hank’s voice.

“What are you doing snooping through Travis’s stuff?”

“I was just trying to look at the picture he had on the mantle. I’m too short to reach it.”

I jumped down on the wood floor and it let out a creak. This was an old house. It looked different than the other houses I’d lived in. This had high ceilings and the windows were taller and divided up into these four little windows on the bottom and top. Houses like this usually have really old people living in them. Usually old bony women with old lady dresses and ugly glasses with a cup of water on their bed stand where they keep their teeth at night. But Mr McAllister didn’t look old and I think I would be afraid to sleep by myself in such a big house all by myself.

“Hey Come on! I ain’t gonna wait all day for ya,” he said.

“I’m coming, butt bird.”

I opened the big heavy door and then pushed open the creaking old wooden screen door and it slammed back with a wham. Hank was standing in the driveway in the sunshine. I was under the coolness of the front porch. I looked out squinting through the brightness.  I ran off the porch and joined Hank standing on the crunchy gravel driveway.

“Hey! What do you think is in the barn?” said Hank.

“ Maybe they got some animals there?”

Hank smiled and cocked his head slightly and winked. “Beat you there!” and he bust out running towards the barn through the waist high grass. I ran after him but couldn’t catch up. As I ran through the grass and weeds, my pant legs got all soaked.

“Wait up! My clothes are getting wet,” I said trying to catch up.

I was a lot shorter than Hank now. Last year he was just a little taller than me but then he got taller. Almost as tall as Sam but so much skinnier than Sam. I looked to my right towards the plowed field to see if any kind of tree or log or object might be lying in the field, but I didn’t see nothing. A cold shiver ran up my spine and it made me shudder when I thought about it. I tried to brush the weeds back with my arms to keep my clothes from getting wetter. Hank was standing in front of the barn door cupping his hands over his eyes so he could peek through the cracks. His jeans were soaked and the bottom of his white t shirt clung tightly like wet toilet paper next to his stomach. My socks were wet. I could already feel it soaking through and it was what I was trying to avoid.

“Hey Bella come here! I see a tractor and a little room. It looks like rafters and things up on top.”

“Let me see.”

Hank stepped back and I peeked through the big gap between the door and the wall. It looked dark and dusty and I could see pigeons flying about in the rafters. Long golden slivers of light poured through the gaps in the boards that made up the wall and fell across towards the center of the barn making the fallen hay and dusty dirt and cobwebs glow and sparkle. It would be a perfect place to play in I thought.

“Can we go in?” I said looking up at Hank.

“This door has a lock on it,” he said.

We ran around to our left and saw a small door on the side. There was a window beside the door on the far end of the barn. It was kinda dirty and we tried to look in by cupping our hands around our face flush with the glass. Inside was a room with a long table just below the window running from end to end. It looked dusty and had lots of cobwebs. Hank tried the door and it opened.

“Hey look I got it open. You commin’?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go inside. Might get in trouble,” I said.

“Hey you was all for checking out the barn earlier. Maybe he still has animals in here somewhere.”

I hesitantly followed Hank through the door, but I was already thinking about the spiders. Some of them must be huge to make such big webs and the thought of having one of those big fat ones plop in my face just terrified me. The room was dark, and not much light was getting through those dirty windows. They were caked with dust and huge cobwebs. There was a strong musty odor of dirt and old tobacco. It was spicy and the leaves were so old they had fallen into a fine powder. There was a little pot bellied stove on the other end of the room. A black stove pipe went up and then curved towards the wall going outside.

“This is the strippin’ room. Momma worked in one of these rooms just this past winter at Darrell’s farm,” said Hank.

“Hopefully they didn’t have big spiders like this one has,” I said.

“Looks like this one hasn’t been used in a long time,” said Hank as he tried the door to the main part of the barn. He jiggled the latch. I looked up and saw a small board nailed to the door. It had been turned so that the door would not open.

“You gotta turn that board up there,” I said.

He turned it, then the door opened up into the barn. I felt like I’d just walked into a church. It was so big and spacious inside and the light spilled in through the cracks. We walked over to the tractor.

“Wow, wouldn’t it be cool to ride on a tractor?” I said.

“Yeah I guess so.”

“Maybe if we ask nice, Mr McAllister will give us a ride.” I started to climb up. I got up and sat in the seat. “Hey let’s pertend that the tractor is a spaceship and all these levers are the control panels. I want to be Tasha Yar. You can be Captain Picard.”

“I don’t feel like playing,” said Hank.

“How come? You used to play with me all the time.”

“I don’t think it’s fun to do anymore. Boys my age shouldn’t be playing with little girls.”

“Who says? I’m your sister. You can play with your own sister. Anyway Candice said that if you didn’t have me to play with you wouldn’t have any friends. Do you have friends at school?” I said looking over at Hank, but he hung his head and looked away.

“I thought Tommy Rankin was my friend but he won’t talk to me anymore. He’s friends with the popular kids this year. He pretends like he doesn’t know me. I hate school,” said Hank looking frustrated.

“I like school sometimes. I hate homework and I hate that Candice has a new best friend. What do you think about this place Hank? Ain’t it cool?”I said.

“Yeah, it is kinda cool. I like being way out in the country away from lots of people.”  

“I don’t think Sam likes it very well,”I said, “He’s afraid he’ll go to another school and won’t get to see none of his old friends.”

“I don’t miss school at all,” said Hank. “They all treat me mean. Darcy Martin called me pizza face last week. She was making fun of my zits. I don’t understand why I had to get zits. It’s not fair. Other kids don’t have them.”

“How did you get them?”

“I don’t know, but Mom said she got them when she was my age.”

I took my hands off the steering wheel of the tractor and rubbed my finger across his face.

“Stop it!” he yelled.

“Do they hurt?”

“Not really…It’s just that it makes your face look terrible and other kids are just looking for any excuse to pick on you.”

“Well maybe a new school will be different,” I said as I stood on the seat of the tractor. I braced myself with my left hand on the steering wheel and jumped to the ground. My shoes hit the powdery dirt and hay on the floor and it sent up a cloud of dust.

Hank looked over at me and said, “Bella, want to climb up in the rafters?”

I thought about it but looked up. It looked really high and then I saw a huge spider web just above me with a big fat spider sitting in the middle dark, unmoving and ready to pounce.

“No, it looks too high and look at that big nasty spider. There might even be wasps,” I said.  

Hank looked up and said, “Wow that’s a big fat one! Lets see if we can throw stuff and hit it.”

“No, I think I’m getting out of here before one of those spiders gets me.”

Hank started looking weird and then I saw him looking up. I looked up too, then I heard Hank running for the door to the stripping room. I panicked and ran too.

“Wait! Don’t run so fast!”

I tried to catch up but he ran inside and slammed the door behind him. I was afraid he was going to lock me in here. “HAAAAANK!” I grabbed the handle and the door flew open. Hank was standing just inside laughing. I ran past him through the stripping room and out into the bright sunlight.  Hank followed me out and closed the door. I felt mad but it did feel kinda fun to have a slight scare. “That was scary,” I said. I turned and looked at the plowed field beyond the barn. I walked towards the field.

“Where you going?”said Hank.

I turned around and pointed towards the middle of the field. “I wanna see if I can tell where that thing I saw last night was standing.”

“What thing?”

“I was looking out the window last night before I went to bed and saw something dark standing alone in the middle of the field. I looked at Momma and then looked back and it was gone. Momma said maybe it was a deer.”

“What do you think it was?”

“I don’t know, but yesterday when we first came down the dirt road I thought I saw somebody standing in the field, but when I looked again, it was gone.”

“Maybe it left footprints,” said Hank.

We both wandered out and it was hard to walk across the big clods of dried clay dirt. It was like walking on little mountain ridges. I looked to see if my shoes left a print, but the clods were too hard.

“I don’t think we’ll find any footprints. The dirt’s too hard,” I said walking around in circles.

“Do you remember where you saw it?”

“I’m not sure.” I said. Hank bent down and picked something up. He was rubbing the dirt off of it. “What’d you find?”

“I think it might be an arrowhead.”

“Really? Wow I guess Indians used to live here. Maybe there’s more.”

We walked around looking for a long time, but it was getting hot and I was getting bored. All I could see was dirt and a lot of flies and bugs. We stood at the far end of the field just across the fence from the woods. It looked dark under all the thick branches and tall trees. The shade from the trees felt good and there was a cool breeze. Hank came and stood next to me beside an old wooden post that was cracked and bleached white. There was a small path that was worn and led off into the darkness.

“Wonder if we would be trespassing if we went over the fence?” said Hank.

“We better not. Momma might get mad.”

I could tell that Hank wanted to go as he stood there looking. He climbed up on the fence trying to get a better look and then jumped down.

“Race you back!” he said and took off running really fast. At that moment I felt scared. Hank sprinted leaping like a deer over the clods.

“Wait! Wait for me Hank! Don’t leave me. I can’t run very fast over this dirt.”

Hank was already near the far end. I looked back at the woods and somehow it scared me. I imagined a dark arm reaching out from the woods grabbing my shoulder and pulling me back. I ran as fast as I could. Hank stopped when he got to the edge of the field and turned and waited. I felt less scared and more mad as I got closer.

“That wasn’t nice!” I said shaking and out of breath. “You always like to do that.”

“What did I do wrong? You usually don’t mind when I do that,” he said.

“Not this time,” I said.

“Why?…You scared of the woods?” he said.

“Yeah, maybe a little.”

“Nothing gonna hurt you in the woods. Maybe a snake or bees or ticks, but they might be here in the grass also… Oh my god! What’s that?”

He took off running again. I started running behind him and he slowed down for me to catch up and was laughing. “That was fun.” I looked at him and started laughing also.

“Yeah, it was kinda fun.”

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the yard. I really liked the little grassy mound with the little clay pipe sticking out of the top. Momma said it was a cellar and people would keep canned foods cool down there because it stayed cool. It looked like a little mountain to me. I took my dolls up on top and pertended like we was having a picnic on top of a high mountain overlooking the city far below.

I heard the sound of something driving down the gravel road, then I saw a motorcycle. I grabbed my doll and ran around to the front of the house to see the what all the excitement was about. Mr McAllister was pulling stuff out of the back of his truck. Buddy ran over and tried to get me to throw a slobbery wet tennis ball. I picked it by the little tiny hairs and tried to toss it, but it flopped on the ground in the dirt.

“Ewwww- that’s really slobbery, Buddy.”

The man dressed in a leather jacket took off his helmet and walked over towards me. He looked very friendly and got down on one knee to pat Buddy.

“Hey little girl, I hear you just moved in upstairs. My name’s Ben, what’s your name?”

“Bella.”

“That’s an unusual name. It means pretty in Italian. How do you like it here so far?”

“I like it a lot. I have my own room. I didn’t have my own room at the other place.”

“So how do you feel about a picnic? We got some fish and coleslaw and potato salad. Gonna fry it up here in the front yard.”

“That sounds really fun!”

Momma came walking out the front door. Mr McAllister grabbed the bags of groceries and walked towards the porch.

“Anything I can do?” said momma.

“Nah, you should take it easy with your ribs all banged up. We can get it.” said Mr McAllister.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” said momma.

“Well I have some pop in the back of the truck if you want to get that.”

Ben got up and headed towards the truck. “You wanna see the fish we caught?” he said turning back towards me.

I was walking over to the truck and saw Momma looking over at Ben and then looked down and covered her black eye with her hand. Ben took a big plastic yellow bucket and lifted up a string of fish and smiled over at me.

“I hope you like catfish,” he said then turned and froze for a second. Momma was reaching for the pop. “Here, let me help you with that,” he said nodding, then winked at her with a big smile. “Howdy, my name’s Ben and I’m guessing that you must be Suzanne who Travis was telling me about.”

“Yeah that’s me. Travis was nice enough to let me us stay here until we can find a place of our own. I just didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Travis is a good guy,” said Ben

It was late in the afternoon and it felt really warm and humid. The bugs in the trees were screaming loud and I could smell the weeds. Travis built a big fire in his BBQ pit and Ben was turning the fish as he fried on the grill. Momma got up from the front step, walked over and started talking to Ben. Mr McAllister was sitting in the porch swing when Hank came down from playing a video game and sat with me on some white plastic yard chairs on the porch. He was petting Buddy who was lying on the cool concrete on his side trying to keep cool. I asked Mr McAllister if that was a picture of him on the mantle, and he said it was him and his buddies in Kuwait just before they attacked Iraq. Hank was asking him all sorts of war questions. I thought it was so cool that he saw an actual camel. He told me to call him Travis, because Mr McAllister made him feel old.

I could smell the fish frying and it was making me hungry. Then Buddy raised his head and I heard someone running down the stairs. The screen door opened and Sam peeked his head out the door.

“Hey, you got here just in time. Supper’s almost ready. I hope you like fish,” said Travis.

Sam just looked around and said, “Where’s mom?”

“She’s over there helping Ben fry the fish,” I said.

Sam said okay and didn’t even look at Travis, but just walked off the porch and over to the fire.

I looked up at Travis and whispered, “I don’t think he likes it here. He’s mad because he thinks he might not get to go back to the same school next year.  Travis, do you have any farm animals here?”

“No, not yet, but I was thinking about starting off with some chickens. I always wanted to have fresh eggs.”

“Yeah, that would be cool. What about cows and pigs and horses and rabbits?”

Hank looked over eagerly as well wondering what Travis would say.

“Well first I will just start out with chickens and see how that goes.”

“Could I help take care of the chickens?”I said.  

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

“What about me?” said Hank.

“The more help the better,” said Travis.

Ben turned around and yelled, “Who’s ready for some fried fish?” Hank and I both jumped up and said “Me, me!!” Momma put a tablecloth on an old wooden picnic table near the BBQ pit. We all took a seat on the picnic table except for Sam who filled his plate and took it upstairs.

“How come Sam’s not going to eat with us?” I said.

Momma looked over and said, “He’ll be okay, He’s just mad at me right now. I don’t blame him, but there is nothing I can do about it.”

“Well, I guess I’d be pissed off too. Maybe he’ll join us later,” said Travis.

Supper was really good and it was fun to eat outside. We sat around in plastic yard chairs talking until it started to get too dark to see. When the mosquitoes started biting, Momma, Travis and Ben started putting things away. I saw lots of lightning bugs flashing on and off and I ran inside and got a canning jar. Hank and I ran around catching the lightning bugs and put them in the jar.  When all the food was put away, Momma sat on the porch swing and Travis sat on one of the white plastic chairs. Ben walked over to Travis’s truck and pulled out his guitar.  He came back and sat down on the edge of the porch and started plucking the strings. “Anyone know this song?” he yelled out.

I stopped my hunt for lightning bugs when Ben began to play and sat down on the porch swing next to momma. Hank sat down on the other plastic chair next to Travis.  

He kept playing and then Hank said, “I know! I know! That is Gilligan’s Island.”

Then Ben started singing the lyrics and then we all started singing. “Okay that was an easy one. Lets see who can guess this one?” Ben started playing again and then I said, “She’ll be commin round the mountain when she comes!” I kept singing and then Ben joined in and then my mom and Travis. Ben was playing like this for a while. I heard Sam come down the stairs watching from the doorway. He didn’t say anything but I could tell that he wanted to join in. Sam could be stubborn like that.

Soon it got really dark and I could hear crickets chirping under the porch. It was still really hot and humid but the mosquitoes were getting worse. “Ouch, these mosquitoes are bad tonight,” I said smacking my arm.

“Yeah, I think it is probably time we headed inside,” said momma. “We’re gonna get eaten alive.”

Ben looked up and said, “I probably should be going. It was sure nice meeting you all.”

Momma and Travis walked with Ben towards his motorcycle. “Bye Ben! Bye Ben,” I yelled.

“Hey maybe next weekend we can go camping?” said Travis.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Ben.

Travis gave Ben a hug and then Ben put on his helmet. I saw momma and Ben talking again. He got on his motorcycle and started the engine. Momma stood there and waved. Ben revved the engine and took off down the dirt road with his high beams lighting the gravel road ahead of him. Momma seemed happy.

“Well time for me to head inside, how about you Buddy?” said Travis .

Buddy was running around from all the excitement. “Y’all have a goodnight and I’ll see y’all in the morning.”

“Night, Travis, and thanks again for the cool picnic,” said Momma.

I felt tired and followed momma and Hank up the stairs. Sam had already gone back to his room. This turned out to be a really fun day.

I got undressed and Momma said, “You gonna be okay sleeping here all by yourself tonight little lady?”

I had forgotten about being scared the night before until she said this, but I was not feeling scared tonight. “No, I think I’ll be okay Momma.”

“Well if you do get scared, I just remember I’m in the next room over.”

“I’ll be okay Momma.”

“Night sweetie.”

“Hey Momma? Do you like Ben?”

“Yeah, why did you say that?”

“Well he just seems really nice and you smiled a lot around him.”

“I did? Hmm. Well you have a good night Bella.”

Momma kissed me on my forehead then turned out the light. “I think I’m gonna like it here,”I said walking out the door.

The next morning everyone seemed to be sleeping late except for Travis. Buddy was barking in the front yard and it woke me up. There were also a bunch of crows outside cawing. Travis was yelling at Buddy to come back. I got up and couldn’t see anything out my window, so I walked outside my room and ran down the hall to the big window. Crows were flying everywhere diving at Travis and Buddy. Travis was trying to pull Buddy back from something on the ground. I couldn’t really tell what it was but Travis seemed worried. I ran back to my room and put on a t shirt and short pants and ran down the stairs.  

I got to the screen door and yelled out “What’s Buddy barking at?”

Travis looked back at me and yelled, “It’s a snake. A big ole Copperhead and they’re poisonous.”

“Can I see?” I was all excited. I have never seen a poisonous snake before. I slowly walked from the porch towards Travis, and Travis raised his arm to me to stay back.

“Don’t get any closer Bella.”

“Where is it?”

“Look a little to your right.” I looked and then saw a huge snake. It was a dark snake with a light tan colored head. Buddy kept trying to grab it by the tail, and Travis said “Leave it alone Buddy!” He managed to get hold of Buddy’s collar and pull him back. I watched as it slithered on past. The crows were screaming and making all kinds of racket.

“Aren’t you gonna kill it?”I said.

“No, I don’t like to kill snakes. They are good.”

“But didn’t you say it was poisonous?”

“Yes, poisonous snakes are good too. They use their poison to kill for food and if they are attacked. If we leave him alone he will leave us alone. He is a creature who deserves to live just as much as we all do.”

“Rodger would’ve killed it. He hates snakes,” I said.

“I like to let them live because they eat rats, but it is a good thing to have crows living nearby. If they see a snake, they’ll caw and yell and tell all their other crow friends to be on the lookout for a snake. So I know when I hear crows like that it probably means some type of predator is nearby. So how do you like it here so far?” said Travis tossing the stick away.

“I like it a lot. So many places to play and I have my own room…Travis do you believe in ghosts?”

His eyes got big for a moment. “Yeah I guess I do. Why did you ask that?”

“Well the other day, when we were moving in, I thought I saw someone standing in the field over there, but when I looked again, it was gone. And then that night I looked out the window and thought I saw something dark standing in the same field. Momma said it was probably a deer.”

Travis looked out at the field and sighed and then looked back at me. We started walking back towards the house. “You know, sometimes I thought I saw something out there myself but I thought it was just my imagination.”

I was really excited and said, “Do you think it was a ghost?”

“Maybe.”

“Do you think ghosts can hurt you?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Are you afraid of ghosts?” I asked.

“I was at first when I first moved in, but not anymore.”

“How come?”

“Well whatever it was it didn’t seem to want to hurt me, I guess it was just curious.”

I climbed up on the porch swing and said, “Maybe it’s a friendly ghost.”

“Yeah, maybe so. I think if you go walking in the grass or fields you should carry a stick and smack at the grass to scare the snakes away. They are more likely to hurt you than a ghost.” Travis started walking towards the front door and said, Well I am going back and finish cooking breakfast. You hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“Well you can keep Buddy company and I will make you something. You like eggs and bacon?

“Mmmm yes I do.”