A Life for a Life - Lynda McDaniel (whitelam books TXT) 📗

was wandering round a building, opening all these doors, but no one was inside. The building wasn’t spooky. It felt good being there, but those empty rooms felt all wrong. I lay there, kinda sweaty from being all twisted up inside, and thought about that for some time. Then an idea just popped into my head: those empty rooms were waiting for me.

The next morning, no one said a word at breakfast. I gobbled down some eggs and bacon and a couple of biscuits, and asked to be excused. I expected Daddy to say no, but he just sat there, looking sadder than ever. Mama nodded.

I took the steps too fast and almost landed on my butt, but I steadied myself and ran to the store. It was only seven-thirty, so I was the first one there. I took my seat and watched the stairway. I could hardly wait to see Alex and Della.

When Della came down, she smiled but looked sad. “Sorry if we caused you any trouble, Mister.”

“Trouble? Are you kidding me? I can’t believe my good luck meeting you. And Daddy’s always a big grump. I can deal with him. You didn’t do nothin’ to upset me or even Mama. We’re both grateful.”

“Anything.”

“You didn’t do anything to upset us. Mama didn’t say much at breakfast because of Daddy, but last night she told me she was proud of me. Proud of me!”

I followed her into the store and started helping out, putting stuff on the shelves. Della said she could get it, that it wasn’t my regular workday, but I told her today was on the house! She smiled and poured us each some coffee, which we took a few minutes to drink, sitting round the wood stove. I told her how happy I was that I had such a big savings account—thanks to her. 

“You earned every penny, Mister,” she said. I’d noticed she hadn’t been ruffling my hair lately. I’d overheard Alex telling her I was getting too old for that, and as much as he was right—it had started to annoy me—I kinda missed it, too.

We worked together all morning, and I caught myself whistling from time to time. Alex came down later, all shaved and fresh looking. He was off to Boone to check on a few things for me. I wanted to go along, but I knew better than to ask Daddy today. Alex seemed to think the same thing, though we didn’t talk about it.

He stopped long enough to tell me he was planning on writing a book about the school, and he wanted to follow my progress over the next two years. Man, that really scared me. He knew it, too, because he patted me on the shoulder and told me I’d do just fine. He said he’d start with how it all came about—how earlier that spring someone had lost her life, while later on, someone had found his. I told him that sounded good, though I hoped I could be a worthy character in his book. He told me that he wasn’t worried, so I guessed I shouldn’t be either.

He got back about closing time. We were all standing round in the store while he shared a bunch of stuff about the school and other things, like my dorm room and meals. He warned me that the school cooks couldn’t hold a candle to Mama’s cooking, but even so, he’d found the food pretty tasty. Finally, he told Della he wanted to talk to me more about the school, just us, not with Mama and Daddy, at least for tonight. Della called up to the house and got permission for me to have supper with her and Alex.

And that was when it hit me. Everything was going so good—too good—that I had this funny feeling. Something about the way Alex and Della looked at each other and spoke quiet-like, almost whispering, gave me a chill.

Della locked the store’s front door, Jake running like a dog let out of stir. But his happiness wasn’t enough to stop me from worrying. I asked round a big lump in my throat, “Will you be here when I come back for weekends and holidays?”

Della smiled and took my hand. As we headed up the steps, Jake leading the way with Alex close behind, she said, “You know what Elbert says.”

I had to think for a second, and then I started laughing, even before she added, “We’re not moving. We’re here to stay.”

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