The Chase

Laney stepped from the bus, shoulders square, chin jutting defiantly. Jeers burned her ears as the bus whooshed into motion. She marched forward until the bus was out of sight then, drug her feet rhythmically, kicking bits of gravel while her shoulders rose and fell as if conducting a concert punctuated by gasping sobs. The sobs subsided to sniffles as she crested the rise where woods gave way to a swath of dark earth Pawpaw cleared when he was young to harvest lumber for their home, and grow crops.

Usually the sight of home acted as a salve dampening the sting of the mocking instigated by her cousins, J.W. and Tommy. Usually the kids picked on her for being poor, or for being raised by Granny and Pawpaw…usually…but today was altogether different. Today J.W. said her parents abandoned her. AND, Granny AND Pawpaw were too old to work that hard. AND, Granny AND Pawpaw were going to work themselves into the grave and it’d be ALL HER FAULT. The eight year old’s eyes welled at the memory of the boys with their red faces and frightening words. Granny had told her, “Not to let any of the kids, least of all J.W. and Tommy, get the satisfaction of seeing her cry.”

Laney moved to a stump, and sat down. She allowed her attention to drift along with a trail of ants just beyond her shoe, imagining herself ant sized moving in line with the ants. As the ants explored how to move around a stick, Laney heard baying. She looked up to see two heads bobbing toward her in the tobacco field. “WILL-UH, BLUUUE,” she called. As the dogs approached she saw their paws and faces were dirty, and Blue had something black in his mouth. “What on earth,” she wondered? “What could that dog have possibly gotten into now?” As they got closer, Old Willa came right up to Laney for a scratch but, Blue held back to show off his prize. “Whatcha got there Blue Boy,” Laney asked? Blue hopped and pounced wagging his tail, instigating a great game of keep away. Then, took off like a shot, black tail disappearing into the woods. Willa bayed, and gave chase. Laney frowned, and ran toward the woods.

“WILL-UH,” she called. “WILL-UH GIRL.” The baying echoed, sounding further away. Old Willa, almost never ran off. Pawpaw doesn’t even take her hunting anymore. He said, “she’s more’n earned her spot on the porch.” But Blue was Willa’s last pup and whenever he got free he was darn near impossible to catch. Laney knew Pawpaw couldn’t lose the rest of the day trying either.

She ran to the woods listening for more baying. “Ahhrooo,” came from deeper in the woods. Laney took off like a shot, running toward the sound. “Ahhrooo.” “Shoot,” she muttered. It didn’t seem as though she was catching up at all. “Ahhroo.” She stopped, bent over, hands on her knees gulping air, and looked around. “They’ve gotta be near Miller’s pond!” A couple gulps more, and she was back on the chase.

As Laney broke free of the woods, she saw the dogs near the stone ruins by the pond. Willa bayed circling a mound of freshly dug earth. All her life Granny had told her stories of how these ruins were all that is left of beautiful home that had burned. Granny brought her here once when she was very small, and told her that her daddy had promised to someday buy the land and build a home for mama. He had even secretly planted buttercups all around the ruins because they were mama’s favorite. That was when mama and daddy were sweethearts, long before Laney was born. Now the entire hillside was covered in buttercups. “ARROOOHH,” Willa’s baying echoed off the stone, startling Laney back to the present.

Reaching the dogs, Laney could see Blue had dropped his prize to continue his excavation of a large hole near the stones. The item Blue had been carrying, was already partially covered in dirt and debris. She tugged it free, to discover a rather dirty, somewhat slobbered and punctured, little black book. She smoothed the edges as much as possible, and peeled back the cover. She could see some areas on the page were smudged and ruined, but other areas still showed drawings, doodles, and words. “Oh Blue, it’s like treasure,” Laney exclaimed! She pried apart page after page, trying to find out the secrets of this new find. Some drawings looked like the pond and hills beyond. Some words were printed, they were much easier for Laney to read than the cursive writing. A lot of them looked like a list, things like nails, hammer, bucket, corn, hay were all on there.

Laney turned page after page, she wondered how old the book could be. Could it be from when the house was here before? She turned another page, and her mouth fell open. There written on the page was a list of numbers. It looked like the longest math problem Laney had ever seen. Next to the numbers written in plain old letters, just like she practiced in school, was her daddy’s name! Her legs felt like jelly. Before she knew what was happening, she was sitting on the ground next to the hole with Blue flinging dirt in her face. “BLUE!” she yelped, pulling at his collar. “Come outta there.” As Blue backed from the bottom of the hole Laney saw an odd looking mound. She sat there, stunned, with Old Willa laying by her for some time.

“LANEEEYY,” she heard her name. “LANEY, WILLA!” another shout. “LANEY, BLUUUEEE!” There were voices. How long had she been here? Dazed she looked around and saw the sun had almost gone. She blinked. Had she fallen asleep? She could see spots of light in the distance. Did she dream everything? No, she saw the little black book next to the hole. “PAWPAW,” she called. Everything got quiet. “PAWPAW, I’M HERE!” she yelled again. She could here shouts, “This way!” “She must be over by the pond!” Should could see the spots dancing along, getting brighter coming closer.

Laney found herself ringed in light, questions swirling around her from her Uncles, and her Pawpaw, overwhelmed she began to cry. Her Pawpaw got down on his knees next to her, “are you hurt child?” he asked. She shook her head no, sobbing too hard to speak. All she could do was hand him the little black book. He gingerly thumbed through the pages, and gasped when he came to the page with his son’s name and the list of numbers. “Well, I’ll be” he exclaimed, “After all this time!”

The Uncles, and the other men rapid fired questions, “What, what is it?” Pawpaw answered, “It is Sam’s book!” “This belonged to SAM!” He turned to Laney, “child wherever did you find it?” “Blue, found it in that hole,” Laney sniffed. “Did that book really belong to my daddy?” “Yes, child it did,” Pawpaw voice was soft and low. He had a small tear in his eye. Laney had never seen Pawpaw like this. The Uncles were all quiet. “Pawpaw,” Laney said, “I think there is something else.” She pointed toward the odd lump at the bottom of the hole.

Uncle John knelt and fetched the mound from the bottom. He sat back on his heels, opened the potato sack, and pulled out a wooden box. He looked at all of the men standing around. Laney couldn’t understand what was happening. Uncle John handed the box to Pawpaw, who opened the lid and showed the contents to everyone. Tucked inside was stack after stack of money bound by thin pieces of string. Uncle John inhaled and exhaled a huge whoosh of air. “Ooh whee, that’s gotta be several thousand dollars there!” Pawpaw answered, “Well, according to this book of Sam’s, it should be exactly twenty thousand dollars. I don’t believe it. After all this time.” His voice was funny. It scared Laney a bit. “Pawpaw, wh...what is it,” she asked? His eyes softened as he looked at her and answered, “Child, this was the money that your daddy was saving to buy this land for your mama. You see all these years’ people in this town… even some of your Uncles and Aunties have spread rumors and lies. They thought that your daddy and mama took the money and abandoned you. Now you and Blue Boy have just proved them wrong. This money will be put to use by making sure you have the things you need in life, and maybe, just maybe we will find out someday, what really happened.”