Читать книгу Unfinished Business - C. A. Walters Walters - Страница 5

April, 1978

Farmington, Connecticut. It was a great place to be a kid. There were old buildings that had been around since the days of the revolutionary war, many of them looking like the mansions in television shows. There were cemeteries with headstones dating back to the days of the Pilgrims.

In the woods, if you were lucky, you could find flint arrowheads from the days when the Indians lived in the area. The entire valley, for in reality that’s what it was, the Farmington River Valley, was lush with trees. It seemed you could not go anywhere without looking like you would get lost in a primeval forest, though in reality, modern roads ran throughout the entire region.

Small towns dotted the region, the nearest “city” being Hartford, some six miles away. Or Waterbury, around fifteen miles in a different direction. Of course, to an eight-year-old boy, the entire world seemed to be nothing but woods, trails, and parks. Not to mention, hills. There didn’t seem to be a flat piece of land for miles around, and indeed, there wasn’t. This is the foothills of the White Mountains. And though most people in the Country thought of the Atlantic Ocean when they thought of Connecticut at all, the reality was that the ocean was over 70 miles away by highway.

The Devil’s Playground, a State Park, was not far away. And the Farmington River ran right through town, so there were plenty of fishing spots, and places where kids could go swimming. Even if you didn’t have a suit, you could either swim in your underwear, or skinny-dip. Nobody cared if a few kids were cavorting in the river. It was a simpler time, in a quiet little town. In short, it was a great place to grow up.

Robbie Lacombe, age eight, and his family (mom, dad, and grandma) lived in Farmington. Gran lived in a house near the river, and Robbie and his parents lived around a half mile away.

Robbie loved to go visit his Gran, and it wasn’t a really long bike ride. Most of it was uphill until you got near Gran’s, then it went down a little. But that meant that on the way home, it was mostly downhill, and that made it much better, especially since Robbie liked to help his Gran around the house, and would sometimes be a little tired when he finally headed home.

One day in August, Robbie looked out the window of his bedroom, and saw it was going to be another beautiful fall day in New England. School had not yet started, and it being a weekday, there were no cartoons on TV, so he decided to take a ride on his bike to see grandma. Riding down the lane, he could smell the sweetness of the fallen leaves, and enjoy the beautiful colors. It was a great time to be alive, and a great place to be a kid. When he got to grandma’s house, she was tending her little vegetable garden, getting the last harvest in before closing it out.

“Oh good!” she exclaimed, “Here’s Robbie! Just in time to pick the last few veggies, so we can mulch and close down the garden for the year.” Of course, Robbie was thinking of strawberries, not veggies, but it was a start. He was already tasting grandma’s strawberry rhubarb pie, when she said, “Just imagine the nice squash and zucchini we will have.” So much for visions of pie! But Robbie loved his grandma, so he enjoyed being there, even if he had to work the garden, and think of veggies. There weren’t a lot of kids his age in his neighborhood, so Robbie spent a lot of time either riding his bike, or helping his grandma. Mom and dad worked a lot, so he really didn’t spend time with them until suppertime.

After breakfast, Robbie’s Mom would give him his lunch (or lunch money), and send him off to school. Most days he would ride his bike to school, unless the weather was really bad, then Mom would give him a ride, and pick him up after school. When school was out for the day, he was free to ride around until supper time, as long as he didn’t have a lot of homework to do. Mom would have a nice supper ready for him around 5:00, so he knew not to be late.

After helping grandma in the garden, she took him into the house for some milk and cookies. Homemade chocolate chip cookies! Robbie’s favorite. Just being with grandma made Robbie feel warm inside, loved, protected, and safe.

August flowed into September, and school started once again. Now Robbie had a little less time to ride his bike, but since he liked school, it was okay. Never one to really spend a lot of time with the other kids, Robbie got along okay with them, but preferred to be by himself. The teachers all said Robbie was a good student, but very quiet and withdrawn. Not sullen, he was happy enough, just not a loud and rambunctious child. Since he was starting third grade this year, Robbie knew who his teacher would likely be. Hopefully not old Miss Simmons, who it seemed had been teaching there for the last two-hundred years. And he really hoped it wouldn’t be Mr. Grisko, who talked in a monotone all the time, and made it very hard not to fall asleep in class. Robbie had a love for math and anything to do with logic. The math just came easily to him for some reason, and the logic was a holdover from his favorite TV show, Star Trek. The way Mr. Spock could figure out the solution to just about any problem was really cool.

Robbie had started learning Piano when he was five, and though he liked to be able to play songs, the practice was reeeeeeaaaaaallllly boring! And Mom always had the egg timer ready to go after supper, so he would practice his scales for exactly half an hour and his finger exercises. Then the song he was learning at the time. After that, if he wanted to, he could play whatever he wanted.

Robbie wasn’t much for team sports, but he loved to run, and jump, and climb trees. In gym class, he always did well in strength and speed contests, but he really didn’t care for the ball games and such. Dad was teaching him archery, and he really liked shooting at targets. He didn’t shoot at any animals, dad told him not to, and he couldn’t see hurting an animal just for sport. Robbie still spent a lot of time riding his bike, because he knew winter was coming, and with the snow, the bike would be put away for the winter. Of course, then came toboggans, sleds, ice skates, and all that. But Robbie’s favorite pastime was riding his bike in the beautiful New England woods. He would find trails, and imagine himself as an explorer, the first person to ever find this particular trail. Of course he knew that someone had to have made the trail, but that was part of the fun. He would be the one to finish the exploration.

One 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 each other” Robbie replied.

“Hang on a sec” Michael said, then yelled into the house, “I’m going out for a while to ride my bike, Ma. Back in a while!”

The two boys took off, racing down Main Street, across the bridge, and up Center Street. They stopped to catch their breath for a minute, then decided to go look for possible sledding hills. Later in the winter, when the snow fell, it would be important to know where the good hills were.

Around five o’clock, the boys decided to head home, it was going to start getting dark soon, and neither of them had any lights on their bikes. Plus, it was starting to get a little chilly. So home they went. Robbie followed Michael to his house first, then went home alone.

In the days that followed, thoughts turned to Christmas, and presents. Robbie thought long and hard about his Christmas list. He didn’t really know if Santa was real or not, but to be on the safe side, he figured it would be best to make out his list.

Dear Santa,

I have been good this year, and did my best in school. I made Gran a card, and she really loved it. And I saw an old lady in some big building; it looks like a haunted mansion of some sort. So I want to ask for a few toys, but the first thing is the most important one.

1.Rescue the old lady from the Haunted House.

2.If you know God, please tell him that I love my Gran, and to please make her feel better.

3.A new pair of ice skates, mine are getting too small.

And the list continued, with the usual toys boys that age would like to have. Robbie went to sleep that night feeling a little better; maybe Santa could help the old lady, or at least get a message to Gran.

As December started, Robbie looked at the Farmer’s Almanac, trying to figure out when the first real snow of the year would be. But he could never really figure it out, so he decided to ask his dad.

“Too soon, if you ask me” said his dad, who then went on to rant about shoveling driveways, being late for work, and having to put something called “snow” tires on the car. Robbie couldn’t figure out how you could make tires out of snow, but that’s grown-ups for you!

Report cards came out, and once again Robbie came home with a good report, six A’s, two B’s and an A+ in math. Robbie’s parents rewarded him with a night at the pizza place, followed by Dairy Queen. They let Michael come along too, since he was Robbie’s best friend.

On Pearl Harbor day, Robbie and Michael made a wreath, and got a ribbon to put on it. On the ribbon they wrote “Rest in Peace” with a magic marker. Then they went to the local cemetery, and put it down in the section where the veterans were buried from the war. Robbie’s uncle was in that part of the cemetery; he had died in World War II. Robbie knew that the men in his family traditionally spent a few years in the military, “doing their duty” as his dad put it. He didn’t really know what that meant, but it sounded good, and made him feel proud to be an American.

A couple more weeks passed, and Christmas vacation got closer and closer. The boys still looked forward to the first snow of the year.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” came on TV, along with all the other favorites, Rudolph, Frosty, and the rest. Robbie made a point of watching all his favorites, especially Frosty. He just loved when the snowman came to life, and said, “Happy Birthday!”

Finally, just before Christmas, that magical first snow fell. Making a snowman, building a snow fort so he and Michael could have a snowball fight, and, best of all, sledding. Michael said he knew where there was a really great hill, so the kids grabbed their sleds and were off. When Robbie saw the hill, he gasped! This had to be the biggest hill in all of Connecticut! Lots of kids were sledding down one side, and riding toboggans and discs down the other. Some of the poorer kids were sliding down the hill on pieces of cardboard, but it was all fun. When their turn came, Robbie and Michael took a short run, and then flung themselves down onto their Flexible Flyers. Whoosh! Down the hill they went. Robbie could have sworn he was moving at a hundred miles an hour. When he finally reached the bottom of the hill, and crashed into the soft snow bank everyone was using for a brake; he was laughing so hard his stomach hurt. When he stood up and looked around, he froze. Right there, not a football field away, was the old haunted house! There was some kind of sign in front, but from the angle he was standing at, he couldn’t see what it said. Then Michael said, “Come on, let’s go again”. After a day of sledding, they went home, to find his mother had hot chocolate ready for them, and some grilled cheese sandwiches and hot tomato soup. A little taste of heaven after a day in the snow.

School was okay, as usual. Robbie did well, getting decent grades, and staying out of trouble. He and Michael enjoyed the winter as much as any eight year olds would, reveling in the unexpected bonus of a day off from school due to a snowstorm, and laughing quietly when his Dad grumbled about shoveling the driveway, and missed time at work.

But the winds of change were beginning to blow, though Robbie didn’t realize it right away. His gran had less energy to do things, and needed more and more help to get through her day.

Then one day, Robbie came home to find his grandmother had been moved to a nursing home. Sitting the little boy down his mother explained to him that she was very ill.

“Your grandmother had a stroke sweetie. That means that something broke in her brain, and part of it is injured. She may be paralyzed on one side, or worse. You have to be prepared, she may never come home from that place.”

“Mom, when can I go see her? I have to give her a birthday card I’m making.”

“We’ll see honey, it’s up to the doctors.”

The strain was on Robbie’s mother, and it began to show a little, an argument with his Dad over something unimportant, an angry response to Robbie when he really hadn’t done anything to deserve it. But this really didn’t bother Robbie; he just chalked it up to a normal part of life.

By the time spring rolled around again, things seemed to have pretty much come back to normal. Gran’s birthday was approaching. He knew her birthday was April second, only a couple of weeks away, and it would be here before he knew it. Robbie was planning to make her a card nicer than the one he made for Thanksgiving, but time seemed to get away from him. Games, hanging out with Michael, the days just seemed to fly by. Without his knowing, April came, and when one of the kids at school “got” him with an April fool’s joke, he realized he was out of time. He hurried home to get his stuff together to finish the card he had started for her. When he arrived at home, he saw a strange car in the driveway. He quietly snuck in the back door, intending to go to his room without disturbing his mother and whoever her guest was. But as he passed the living room door, he saw the pastor of their church sitting in the living room. Robbie ducked behind the door so he wouldn’t be seen. He didn’t know exactly why he didn’t want the adults to see him, but he felt like he wasn’t supposed to be there. As he listened, he heard the pastor telling his mom, “She was old, and tired. She knew it was her time. She had led a good life, and was content. I saw her just before she passed, and she said she loved you and her grandson very much, but she couldn’t understand why she didn’t get a card from Robbie.”

Those words struck like a dagger in Robbie’s little heart. He hadn’t yet realized quite what had happened to his gran, but he knew he had hurt her. Robbie rushed upstairs to make the card, hoping that he could make everything okay again. With tears in his eyes, Robbie got the paper, pens, and other stuff he needed out to begin making a birthday card. Then came the dreaded sound of his mother’s voice as she softly said, “Robbie dear, I need you to come downstairs for a minute, there’s something we need to talk about.” Filled with dread, Robbie made the long walk down the stairs, and into the living room.

The Pastor smiled encouragingly at Robbie, but all Robbie saw was the black clothes he wore, like some villain in an old TV show. Robbie’s mom told him to sit down, and she sat on the hassock in front of him, and took him by the hand. She looked into Robbie’s tearstained face, and said, “Sweetie, I have something to tell you, which is just not going to be easy. Last night, your gran passed away in her sleep. She had been sick for a long time, and she was tired. She didn’t suffer, she just went to sleep, and passed away during the night peacefully, and now she’s with God. He will protect her until we can all be together again.” All Robbie really heard was a loud buzzing noise, though later he would remember every word. He knew he had to get away, and just do something, or he would explode.

Robbie jumped up, and ran out to the driveway where his bike was waiting, and rode away. He rode like the devil himself was chasing after him, not caring where he ended up; he just had to get away from home. Eventually, he realized that he had ridden through the woods to the area where the haunted house was. He decided to see if the old woman would be in the window again, so he went around the side of the house instead of the back as usual, and looked up. There she was! Looking out the window at the backyard where he would normally appear. Robbie didn’t know why she was watching for him, or even if she was watching for him, or just looking at the woods. But in his mind, she was looking for Robbie. He walked around to that side, and she saw him looking up at her. Just before the curtain on her room closed, he noticed a tear drifting down her cheeks. He determined to see what he could do to help the old lady, there had to be something wrong for her to be trapped in the old haunted house, staring out the window all the time, and crying when she saw him. He would rescue her from whatever evil people were keeping her captive like that.

Robbie went home to plan how he would get into the old house without anyone catching him. He figured that he would be better off wearing an all-black outfit, like the ninjas he saw on the morning shows. He had a pair of black corduroys and a black t-shirt, with his black sneakers, that should do the job. He decided to wear his dark blue ball cap, to hide his hair. He figured he would have to watch the house for a few days, to see if anyone went in or out of it at various times. Since Easter vacation was coming up, that should be easy. He would get Michael to help him, either Michael could go in with him, or act as lookout in case someone was coming when he went in. Either way, having a partner would make it a lot easier. During the days between now and Easter break, he would plan, and try to figure out how to get into the house. He had only noticed one door, at the front, and had not gotten a good view of that, since he had been standing sort of in the side yard at the time. So he knew he had to look at the whole house, find out where the doors were. Wait a minute! There might be a cellar door, so he could sneak in without anyone hearing him. After all, nobody spent much time in their cellar.

Robbie decided to get out a pad of paper and a pen to make notes, so he wouldn’t forget anything in his plan. When he opened the drawer to get out his pens, he saw the card he had started for his gran. Instead of getting sad again, it just made him more determined to help the old lady in the haunted house. He carefully put it away, so he would always have it. Robbie sat in his room planning and thinking, until he fell asleep sitting at his desk. When he woke up, it was late, so he got ready for bed, and went to sleep for the night.

For the next few days, he made sure to spend time checking out the old house. Each time he tried to go around the front of the house to see the entry way, the groundskeeper would be there, either working on the front of the house itself, or just sitting on the front porch. So he never did get a good look at the front of the place, though he did see both sides and the back. There were two entrances to the cellar, but both of them had big padlocks on them. There was a back door, and it looked like it might be a possibility. If not, the best he could figure was to climb into one of the maple trees near the house, shinny out onto a branch that was hanging over part of the roof, then climb in through a window. It could be dangerous, but if he was going to be a hero, then danger was expected. He managed to get a piece of rope around 20’ long, and coiled it up so he could get to it when he needed it. With most of his plan in place, he decided to go see Michael, to get his opinion on the best way to get into the house. With all of his planning and scheming, it had been over a week since he had seen Michael. Since they were in different classes in school, they only saw each other after school was out for the day, or at recess. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Michael at recess lately, but then again, Robbie was spending a lot of his time at recess sitting under a tree and writing plans in his notebook.

He took his bike, and rode over to Michael’s house. But when he got there, what a shock! The house was empty, and there was a for rent sign in the front! Michael was nowhere to be found. Frantic, he raced home to ask his Mom if she could find out where Michael was. Mom made a couple of phone calls, and found out that Michael and his family had moved to Illinois, because Michael’s grandmother had passed away, and most of the family was in Illinois. Robbie didn’t know what to think. He was furious with Michael for leaving without telling him that he was moving. He was broken hearted that his one friend in the world was gone. He was upset that all of this was happening, and he had no control at all over what was going on in his life. First gran, now Michael. It seemed like everyone he cared about was going away.

Robbie went to his room, so he could think, and try to understand what was happening. He was very sad, and decided to just go to bed early. For the next few days, Robbie was very quiet and just kind of moped around. His parents were worried about him, and tried to cheer him up. But he just needed to work through this on his own. He had not forgotten his plan to rescue the poor old lady; he just needed some time to figure things out. He set in his mind that he would go on Saturday, the first weekend after school let out.

The rest of the year went by with no major problems, Robbie passed into the fifth grade, and his parents had a small party for him to celebrate. After the party, Robbie felt a little better, after all, he had summer vacation to enjoy, and he had passed all of his classes, so he didn’t have to worry about the dreaded “summer” school. He spent some time riding his bike, and even played ball with some kids on another block. Friday morning, Robbie went out to ride around, and enjoy the day.

The fateful day was closing in, and Robbie decided to make one more pass to see if anything had changed at the house. Imagine his dismay when he arrived, only to see that the branch he had planned to use was gone! Of course, he had no way of knowing that it had become dangerous, it was too close to the house, and if it loaded up with snow and ice it could have caused damage, so the caretaker cut it down.

In Robbie’s mind, somehow “they” had figured out what he planned to do, and removed the branch. Now he had to find a way into the house. He cautiously made his way around to the front, and for the first time could actually see what the sign in front said.

“Connecticut Valley Rest Home”! This place was a nursing home all the time. But why then was the old lady standing at the window, crying? Something still had to be wrong.

Robbie made up his mind that he still had to help this poor old lady, nobody should be so sad. So he decided he had to change his plans, and find out what he had to do to see the lady. He went home to think things out, and to write notes about all he had learned into his notebook.

Later that evening, Robbie’s parents said they were going to have a “family meeting”. Usually that meant that they were going on vacation for a couple of weeks during the summer, to visit relatives in Massachusetts.

When they had gathered in the living room, Robbie’s dad told them that he had earned a promotion at work, which meant more money, always a good thing. But it also meant that in two weeks, the family was going to move to Newburyport, Massachusetts, where his new office would be.

Robbie was floored! “Moving!” he all but yelled, “But I’ve lived here all my life! And... and..and I’ve got school, and friends, and the river, and …

“Robbie, everything will work out. There is a very nice school right down the block from where our new house is; you can ride your bike to school, or just walk.” said Mrs. Lacombe. “And I’m sure you’ll make new friends; just like you did here when Michael moved in.”

Robbie was thinking about the old lady he wanted to help out, but he couldn’t bring himself to mention it. “What about gran, who will put flowers on her headstone?” he asked.

Mr. Lacombe said, “I have made arrangements with the funeral home to make sure there are fresh flowers on her birthday, Mother’s day, and every two weeks through the year. In the winter, they put a wreath on her grave for Christmas, too.”

Robbie couldn’t think of any other arguments, so he just mumbled “Okay, I guess”, and slowly made his way to his room.

Robbie tried to get into the nursing home, but he didn’t know the names of any of the patients, and since he wasn’t family, he was not allowed in. The day before the big move, he sat at the edge of the woods just staring at the window on the third floor, but the lady never appeared.

Just when he got ready to go home, he saw movement at the window, and an old man in pajamas appeared, looking out at the woods. Robbie was puzzled, where is the lady? But he never did find out, it was time to go home, and the next day was moving day.

Robbie had no choice, he couldn’t disobey his mom and dad. So he reluctantly went outside, and climbed into the backseat, to make the long trip to a new town. Robbie had to make new friends, learn about a whole new town, new teachers, new everything. It just wasn’t fair! And, most important, he never had a chance to help the poor old lady in the old house. And they were leaving Gran behind. Mom said, “She’ll always be here with us, in our hearts.” But it just wasn’t the same. Nothing would ever be the same again …

So you see, the pattern of my life was forming, even at that early age. I just couldn’t help but think of the fact that I had left so much unfinished. I had not been able to help my grandmother. I had failed my every attempt in the nursing home. I had been too small, too young, unable to do what needed to be done. I resolved that I would never be that defenseless again. I would be strong, trained. Able to take care of the people I cared about, able to hurt anyone who wanted to hurt them, able to protect them, in any way necessary …