Unfinished Business. C. A. Walters Walters
day, as Robbie rode his bike past his school, on the way to the trails in the woods, he spotted another boy standing next to a bicycle in front of a small mom & pop grocery store. Robbie decided to stop, since the boy didn’t look familiar. When he got to the front of the store and parked his bike, he asked the boy “what’s your name?
“Michael, but everyone calls me Mikey” said the boy.
“Are you just visiting, or did you move here?” asked Robbie.
“We moved here last week, my dad got a better job offer here, so we came to this town. I used to live in a small town outside Chicago, but dad wanted to get away from the really rough winters there, and his company had an opening here, so here I am” said Michael
Robbie had a feeling that he and Mikey could get along well, so he asked if Mikey wanted to go out and explore some of the trails in the woods.
“Sure, sounds great!” said Mikey. “I love a good ride in the woods, and I hope there are plenty of trees to climb, too!”
Robbie had found someone he could really be friends with. Although not one to hang around with friends much, Mikey was different. He could climb a tree almost as fast as Robbie, and ride his bike along the same trails Robbie did without getting lost or tired out. They both had the same strawberry blonde hair, same general build, and the same height. But where Robbie had hazel eyes, Michael’s were blue. The two of them made a good pair, acting like lords of the jungle. Life was good, and Robbie was making the most of it. Now when he went to help grandma, he had an extra pair of hands sometimes. The two of them cleaned out grandma’s attic, and found lots of interesting stuff, even some old clothes from the 1800’s, and an old bayonet from the civil war. Of course, Robbie gave the bayonet to grandma, even though it was rusty and dull, because he didn’t want to mess with a weapon. Funny thing, like all boys his age, he carried a Boy Scout pocket knife all the time, and whittled with it, but he knew the difference between a tool and a weapon.
A few days later, grandma supervised as they cleaned out the old shed. It was a lot of work, but he enjoyed it, because it was helping grandma, and because he was finding all kinds of interesting stuff. There were toys from many years ago, and grandma said he could have anything he wanted.
One afternoon, when Michael was not around, Robbie set off to explore a new set of trails he had found. It was a bright sunny day, and he was in the mood for adventure. Traveling as he always did, Robbie decided to try some new trails. He found one he hadn’t traveled yet, that didn’t seem to be used much, the trees almost growing over the trail, and small trees growing up from the trail surface itself. This trail took him over a couple of hills, and past a small stream. He knew he had gone a couple of miles, and stopped to have a drink from the canteen in his backpack. The Kool-Aid was a little warm, so he put it in the stream for a few minutes, to cool it down. The water was pretty cold, coming down from the mountains as it did. Once the drink was cooled down, he drank it, and ate a few crackers. Then he set off once again to explore. As he rounded a corner in the woods, he could see that the trees were thinning, and there was something in the distance. Curious, Robbie rode closer, until he could see that one of the trails passed through what seemed to be a natural fence of bushes, and wound around a building. It was an old Victorian style mansion, with gables, peaks, and ornamentation on the outside. There were even gargoyles on the edges of the roof. He called it the “Ghost” house, because it reminded him of the haunted house in the old TV show.
When he heard someone walking around the other corner of the building, Robbie left, and went back into the woods. Robbie pondered the old house, it seemed pretty cool, something he wanted to explore further, but he didn’t know who was there, and he didn’t want to get caught gawking at someone else’s house. After that day, Robbie made a point of riding by the old house as often as he could, because it seemed really cool to him.
One day, as he looked at the East gable, he noticed a movement in the window on the third floor. From where he stood, he couldn’t see much, so he cautiously crept a little closer, leaving his bike in the edge of the woods for a quick escape. It may have been his imagination, but as he crawled across the open space from the edge of the woods to a place where he could see better, it seemed that the air grew still, and a cold wind swept across the grounds. When he looked up, he noticed that the clouds had closed in, looking ominous and gray. Remembering all the ghost stories he had heard, he gulped, and wiped nervous sweat out of his eyes. By the time he managed to once again look up at the third floor window, the curtains were closed, and there was no sign of life. Puzzled, Robbie made his way back to where he had left his bicycle, and pedaled home. He thought about what he had seen and felt at the old house, but he couldn’t figure it out. He told Mikey about the new trail he had found and said there was a really cool house off the trail a little way, but he didn’t mention the old lady, or his fears that the old place was haunted. After all, he didn’t want his new friend to think he was a baby.
The weather turned cold and rainy for the next few days, so the boys didn’t return to the old house. When the weather finally turned decent again, and the ground had had time enough to dry out, Robbie set out once again to check out the old house. After a short trip through the woods, he found the path he was looking for, and followed it to his destination. When he arrived, and looked around, he noticed that though the lawn had been mowed, it was overgrown with weeds, and ivy was taking over most of the walls of the old mansion. It seemed as if someone was taking care of the place, but not doing a really good job of it. The paint on the outside was a little faded, and peeling in places. The windows were all intact, but ivy had grown over the walls, and in many places had caused the window frames to crack. The chimneys weren’t looking good either, with missing mortar in their joints, and a lot of black soot around the tops.
Robbie started riding by the house every day after school, but didn’t notice anyone looking out of the windows after the first time, though he did suspect that the curtains seemed to move a little on the third floor when he passed by.
Time went on, and as all things do in the life of a young boy, the thrill of the old house faded away, until he rarely thought about it at all. With winter coming in, Robbie helped his grandma to ready the house for winter, closing the storm windows, sealing the cellar windows with plastic and tape, putting the garden hoses away, and all the little things that had to be done for a home in New England when old Jack Frost was getting ready to make himself known once more.
Thanksgiving was right around the corner, and Robbie spent some time making a special card just for Grandma. He took his time carefully copying the picture of a turkey he found in a coloring book, and then he colored it in so it looked really neat. Then he copied the letters from a book on lettering that his Dad had, called calli … something, he couldn’t pronounce the word, but it had pretty letters in it. He put an extra special message inside, because he loved his grandma so much.
When the big day came, he waited to see what she would say when she opened her card. When she looked at how much work he had put into making her the perfect card, she hugged him tight, and told him how much she loved him, and just how special he was to her all the time. Grandma’s special helper. Robbie felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest; he was so proud and happy.
Everyone ate too much turkey, and when his father sat back to watch football, and the ladies went to talk about “woman” stuff, Robbie went outside to play for a while.
Robbie walked to Michael’s house, to see what his friend was doing. The weather wasn’t too cold yet, being around two in the afternoon, it was still around fifty degrees.
Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees now, so they looked somewhat skeletal swaying in the fall breeze. There weren’t many kids out playing; most families were together for the holiday.
When he got to Michael’s house, he rang the doorbell, and waited as he heard people inside. To his delight, Michael answered the door.
“Hey, what’s going on pal?” Michael asked.
“Nothin’ really, just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out, or go ride our bikes for a while. It’s not too cold today, and all the grown-ups want to do is watch football, or talk about