The Great Escape

Today was a gloomy day. We were up early on a Saturday morning to prepare for Grandpa’s funeral. As Sassy looked outside, it dark as the rain clouds moved in swiftly.

“Damn, it’s about to storm!”, my sister, Clara blurts out in frustration as she is in the bathroom of my grandpa’s house curling her hair.

“Sassy!” she yelled for me. “What?” as Sassy finally broke my gaze from the clouds. “Do you have an extra rain bonnet? I’m about to have to just throw a hat on so we can get to the funeral on time!”

“Yea, it’s in my closet behind the door!” Sassy yelled back while looking up at the clouds. About 5 minutes later, Clara calls out, “You ready to go? What chu looking at anyway?'

“Nothing,” I said as we were walking to the car. Clara drove to the church. The 1st thing we see is Aunt Mae crying hysterically on the ground and another church mother standing there trying to comfort her. “Hello, Aunt Mae” Sassy said in the driest tone. Aunt Mae reaches out to hug Sassy and Clara. Aunt Mae was Grandpa’s sister. She loved her brother dearly, but she loved attention even more. Sassy always thought something was off about her and never trusted her. “Lord, you are so mean,” Clara said to me as we made our way as far away from Aunt Mae as possible.

“I need to use the bathroom.” Sassy whispered to Clara and run off before Clara could even turn around to say “OK”. Sassy was in the restroom and could hear the voice of a woman whom she did not quite recognize. “Yes, I will get into the house today. Mae is going over there after the funeral.” The male voice on the other end said “We have to get that book.” “I got you,” The mysterious woman stated as she flushed the toilet. I put her feet up on top of the toilet so she couldn’t see me when she washed her hands and exited the bathroom. Trying to hold my breath, my heart began to race as I was certain this woman heard her enter the restroom but the woman just washed her hands, checked her makeup and left. “Mae!” the woman yelled as she exited the bathroom. I sat there and wondered, who is this woman to my grandfather and what book are they looking for? “I bet I'll find out before you do”, Sassy thought to myself as I was washing my hands and leaving the bathroom. Sassy left out of the side entrance of the church while the funeral was still going on without even telling her sister. She went back to her grandfather’s house and searched everywhere. Looking for loose floorboards and under the mattress, Sassy grew frustrated. She sat down on the bed and said herself. “Grandpa, where did you put it?” Sassy’s eyes went back to the closet. She had already looked on top of the shelf in the closet. She moved his old suits over to the other side of the closet. In the bottom corner, there was a small door. It was locked. Sassy went into the garage to get a crowbar and she opened the lock after a few tries. In this compartment was a small box with another lock. The box had a symbol on the top. A symbol that Sassy was not aware of the meaning. She opened the dusty box and it had a .38 gun in it that looked like it was in an old western movie. Next to the gun was a handkerchief that had the same symbol on it as the box. Sassy wanted to know what the symbol meant but she had no time to look it up at that time. She lifted the perfectly folded handkerchief and under it was a black Moleskine Stationary book. It was small and had the same symbol custom-made for this book. “What was my Grandpa a part of,” Sassy thought to herself as she heard the front door opening and Aunt Mae’s loud laugh get louder as she and the mysterious woman enter Grampa’s home. Sassy panics, throws everything back in the box and runs out the window. She ran for a few blocks and she sees a bus approaching. She hops on that bus to get across town to get home. When she gets home and opens the box, she gently opens the black book and 2 bank deposit receipts fall out. She reads them and her grandfather had this money paid to him for a service he did. He never told us the details of what he did while serving in the U.S Military. Sassy called the bank and the money was still there.

Sassy runs to the corner to catch the bus the to the bank on the reciept. It was across town but she knew it was worth a try. After a 45 min bus ride, she arrived at the bank on the deposit slips, the only branch in town. She withdrew the money and bought a ticket to move as far away as a cold. While waiting for the next metro, Sassy got a phone call, it was Aunt Mae. “Baby, have you been back to your grandpa's house since the funeral?” “No, “Sassy answered “Hmm okay, how you holding up?” Aunt Mae asked as her tone slightly lowered. Sassy calmly answered “I’m doing ok. I left early because I was very tired. The entire planning process for this funeral took more of a toll on me than I thought” Sassy said, hoping that would get Aunt Mae off the phone. “Okay, well get you some rest and I’ll talk to you later.” Aunt Mae said. “Alright” Sassy said quickly then hung up the phone. She quickly finished packing and catch her bus to the train station.

When arriving at the train station, there stood Aunt Mae with an evil scowl on her face. With her was the mysterious woman from the funeral and a man, who is assumed to be the man she was speaking to on the phone. “Where ya going girl?” Aunt Mae said to Sassy. Sassy stood there in disbelief. Sassy saw a train in the distance coming towards them. As the three of them walked closer to Sassy, Sassy walked closer to the train tracks. “Just hand over the money and we won’t hurt you.” Aunt Mae said. “Did you hurt my grandpa?” Sassy said as she was timing the train that was approaching. Aunt Mae laughed. The mysterious woman came closer and tried to grab Sassy. Sassy jumped on the moving train. The trio ran back to their car to try to chase the train. They were able to catch up to the train and ride next to it. Aunt Mae yelled from the passenger seat “You won’t get away with this! We will find you!” Sassy walked to the back of the train and rode it until it stopped. She then transferred to a different train and made it all the way to Canada to start her new life.

Upon finally settling in a place where she is safe, Sassy was able to finally read everything in the black book. This book contained the secrets of the U.S government. “Was my grandpa some sort of assassin or secret service men?” She thought to herself as she read the secrets. The deeper she got into the teaching of this book; the more fear grew within her. Will Aunt Mae or anyone else come all the way to Canada for this book? Only time will tell.