The Orphans in the Woods

Rohan put the car key into the driver's door handle and unlocked his mother's 65 Mustang. He had looked around outside first to see if there were any people anywhere spying. Their house in Branchville was about a mile down the country road, alone on an acre of land, but still close enough to the small neighborhood of family houses that were built right on the lake. No one was around so Rohan sat inside the Mustang without worrying about nosey people questioning anything.

He remembered when his father had let him drive the Mustang. He never told Gertrude or his mother about it. He didn't want Dad to be called "crazy" for doing it. Dad had taken Rohan to an old cemetery, Spartan Memorial. It was a large beautiful cemetery with quiet unused paths. Dad felt like it was a safe place for practicing since there were never any cars there. Rohan learned a few things that day. His Dad was super cool. The Mustang was easy and fun to drive. And a cemetery is a great place to hang out when you want to get away from people.

As Rohan reminisced about the day with his Dad in the Mustang in the cemetery, he remembered something weird. Dad had let him drive around the cemetery about three times for practice and had praised him on good driving skills. But after the third lap around, Dad had wanted to park and go look at a grave. He got out of the car and began walking up to a large headstone. Rohan followed out of curiousity.

Dad just stood there, quietly, staring at the headstone. The name on the stone was Thomas Williams, Beloved Husband and Father. The Stone had another space next to the name, not etched yet, as if the person who was going to be buried next to Thomas Williams had not died yet.

"Was he a friend of yours?" Rohan asked his father wondering.

"My father," Stefan began, but Rohan thought he was kidding.

"You're funny Dad," Rohan laughed, "Did you think I'd fall for that? Um, duh, our last name is Hamberg. C'mon, really who is this?"

"You didn't let me finish," Stefan said patiently, "My father brought me here to show me this grave before he passed away. His plot is on the other side of the cemetery by the willow trees. Thomas Williams was his best friend and he was supposed to make sure that Mrs. Williams was buried next to him. But nobody knows what happened to Mrs. Williams. She's been gone, missing for years."

"Huh," Rohan thought outloud, "That's weird Dad. Why are you telling me? Do you feel bad that you can't bury her or something?"

"I don't know," Dad said, "It just bothers me. I thought I found her a few weeks ago. There was a lady waitressing at one of the truck stops I was refueling at. I was shocked. I said 'Mrs. Williams?' and she went ghostly white. She looked at me like I was crazy or holding a gun to her head. Then another waitress came to serve me instead."

"That's weird," Rohan said again trying to understand the mystery and trying to understand if this was some kind of lesson his father was trying to teach him along with driving.

"Yeah," Stefan agreed and added, "Well, let's go home. You did good son. I think you're going to be a great Scout Leader next season."

Rohan laughed again, "Yeah but you know the other guys are gonna hate that a 10 year old beat them to the job. Neal is 13 already and if I get it before him, he's probably gonna try and pick a fight with me."

"It will be worse for him if a 10 year old kicks his ass!" Stefan mocked as they got back into the car.

Rohan liked thinking about his memories with Dad. He looked at the gages to make sure he was right about the gas tank. It read full tank. He got out of the car and opened the trunk to see how much space there was for their gear and bags. He closed the trunk and thought that it was a shame that he couldn't bring the wheelbarrow. It would take up too much room even if he could squeeze it into the backseat. He'd have to find something like that though. It made carrying things so much quicker and easier. As Rohan locked the driver's door and looked at the front porch of their family house, he wondered if his sister had stopped crying. He wondered if he was really ready to survive out in the cabin through the winter. He wondered if he should just disappear the way Mrs. Williams had. Rohan started walking towards the porch when he noticed a large brown dog running through the front yard. Both Rohan and the dog were headed to the front porch, but the dog had gotten there first.

The dog sat on the porch and began scratching at his pointy ears as if he was trying to knock out a flea. Rohan tried to pretend he hadn't seen him as he neared the front porch steps in front of the front door. The dog barked, a deep basey wolfish bark like that of a German Shepherd.

"Hey," Rohan looked into the dogs eyes talking calmly and confidently, "This is my place buddy. I should be barking at you."

The dog seemed to smile as he was panting as if he'd run a long way.

Rohan stepped unto the porch towards the front door and the dog barked again, twice, just as strong and loud. Rohan frowned at the door and took another step towards the door when it came flying open with Gertrude poking her head out.

Gertrude looked at Rohan suspiciously.

"I heard a dog barking," she told him.

Rohan frowned again and pointed at the dog at the end of the porch.

Gertrude looked at the dog and her face lit up like Christmas morning.

"Oh my God!" she sang as she started towards the dog, "He's so cute."

Rohan grabbed his sister's arm stopping her in her tracks.

"Are you crazy or stupid?" Rohan snapped at his sister, "You don't know that dog."

"So?" Gertrude snapped back giving her brother an angry snarl and a dirty look. "Neither do you."

"Exactly, get back in the house. Pretend he's not there. He'll go away."

"That's stupid," Gertrude chided, "He's probably hungry."

"He's not ours," Rohan said firmly getting annoyed that his sister wasn't thinking right.

"Maybe he's lost. Maybe someone's looking for him," Gertrude said with equal annoyance feeling like her brother hadn't found his heart yet since Mom and Dad died. Gertrude smiled at the dog and walked back to the front door.

"Don't worry Pooch," Gertrude called out to the dog, "I'll get you something to eat."

As she walked back into the house with her brother following her, she stood in front of the refrigerator listening to her brother lecture her.

"Gretch, don't be stupid. If you feed that dog, he won't leave. You're asking for trouble. If someone is looking for that dog, we don't want them to come here to find him."

"Look Ro, I'm not trying to be stupid, but what if we were like that dog. What if we need help sometime. Do you want people to treat us the way you're treating him?"

Rohan was silenced for a moment. He was stunned. His little 7 year old sister, only in the 2nd grade, had used some kind of feminine logic to perplex him. He didn't know whether she was a genius or a witch. How the heck did his little sister just outwit him?