No Way Out by Fern Michaels (great books for teens .TXT) 📗

In addition to that, ever since he had retired, he had gotten into the habit of keeping every piece of paper that came through the mail, even junk mail.

The exterior of his house was similar to the way he dressed—simple but impeccable. The landscaping company where Hector worked was in charge of mowing his lawn and trimming the trees. Colleen would stop by and water the few flowers he had growing in containers on his front porch. She wouldn’t take money, so he would rummage around the house, trying to find things he thought she might like. But as the months went by, it became more difficult for him to navigate from one room to another, let alone find something buried under the piles.

Neighbors would check in on him if they didn’t see his car leave the driveway, which wasn’t often. He was determined not to waste away in the heap of stuff he had collected.

He hoped his new neighbors were as kind and considerate as the other families on the block. There weren’t many of them, and it was a dead-end street, so it was important that they all get along or keep themselves locked up in their houses like his neighbor. Andy had no ill will toward the woman, just curiosity about her circumstances.

He knew next to nothing about her other than that she had a dog and a cat. The dog’s name was Buddy, and the cat was Percy. He never saw Percy, but Buddy spent a lot of time in the yard. He was a well-behaved pooch and only barked when a strange car or unfamiliar people came down the street. Buddy was almost everyone’s watchdog.

His owner seemed nice enough. She’d leave candy for the kids on Halloween and modestly decorated her house for the holidays. Andy knew it was actually Hector doing the labor, but Andy appreciated the idea that the woman wanted to be part of the neighborhood, if only in spirit. She also made sure that her yard was immaculate. Andy liked that she was letting Jackson play in her yard. Clearly, she wasn’t one of those crazy-hermit types. Or maybe she was. From his point of view, she seemed rather normal except for that one little thing about never leaving the house. Yes, Andy decided she was a good neighbor, even if an invisible one.

There were dozens of mirrors hung all over the house, but there was only one he could actually see himself in. All the others were behind some pile of something or other. Andy put on his blue blazer and inserted a four-square handkerchief in the pocket. He was pleased with his attire. Picking up his cane, he wiggled through the maze and found his way to the front door. Checking that he had his keys, he ambled toward his car. He thought he might visit his car collection and trade the Cadillac for one of the others. Maybe the light blue Lincoln Continental Mark V. It was spring, and it seemed fitting to have something a little more colorful.

He donned his cap and slowly meandered toward the car. He gingerly folded himself into the driver’s seat, turned over the engine, put the car in gear, and carefully pulled out of the driveway. As he made his way to the end of the block, he saw Colleen and Jackson heading to school. He would have offered them a lift, but he didn’t want to be responsible if he got into a fender bender. His luck had been with him for a long time now. No scrapes, scratches, tickets, or accidents. He wasn’t necessarily a superstitious person, but he didn’t want to press his luck. As he passed them, he honked the horn and waved. They both waved back, and Andy proceeded to the stop sign at the end of the street. He waited so long that Colleen and Jackson caught up to him. He rolled down his window. “Good morning! And how are we today?”

“We’re just fine, Mr. Robertson. How are you doing?” Colleen asked.

“I’m as good as can be.”

“Did you hear about the new neighbors?” Jackson asked.

“I did,” Andy replied. “I also heard there will be two more children on the block. More fun for you, Jackson?”

“I sure hope so, Mr. Robertson,” Jackson said.

“And I suppose you’ll have the little girl in your class?” he said to Colleen.

“Probably, but no one has spoken to me yet.”

“Well, I think it will be nice to have some new people around. Not that I don’t appreciate all of you!” Andy always made sure not to offend anyone. “We can use a little excitement.”

Then he realized that Colleen had probably had her fill of excitement.

“I’m sure you mean the good kind?” Colleen flashed him a smile.

“Well, of course. We never want to confuse excitement with agitation.” Andy gave her a little salute.

“No, we don’t.” She smiled again.

Chapter Twenty-two

Jeanne and Frank Chadwick lived on the other side of Colleen and Jackson. Frank was a retired military officer and Jeanne a retired nurse. Frank had been in Special Ops, and Jeanne had worked in the emergency room. Both had served their country and communities for twenty years.

Frank and Jeanne had met during a blood drive Jeanne was supervising. After dating for a year, they decided to get married. Frank was constantly being deployed, to parts both known and unknown. Depending on how long he would be gone, Jeanne would often follow and get a job in a local hospital. Nurses were always a hot commodity, and she never had trouble finding work.

After several years, they decided it was time to put down permanent roots, so they moved to Hibbing, and Frank took a job at Fort Leonard Wood, while Jeanne went to work at the local hospital. When Jeanne was twenty-nine, she knew her biological clock was ticking, so they decided to have a child. It was a boy, and they named him James after their favorite folk-music hero, James Taylor.

They lived a