Beginning

Lennie sat very quiet as she hid in the small grove of trees in the field between her school and her home. She waited for the shouting and sounds of bicycles to pass and fade before daring to peek around the little bracken that shielded her so many times. What if her secret shelter was discovered? She knew she would never be safe from the bullies that seemed to stalk her every day. Punches, taunts, name calling, it was all just too much to bear.

Lennie was 14, but she felt so old. The things she had endured should never have fallen on any human, let alone a child, but they had. They had fallen on her, and she refused to be a victim...she was a survivor. Spending endless nights planning routes to make it safely from point A to point B.

She had worked babysitting since she was 11. Watching 13 kids in the neighborhood allowed some benefits. The parents either owned the local pub or were friends of the owners, and they partied a lot. It gave her the ability to learn to adult very quickly. Lennie enjoyed the company of the kids, and from 4pm every Friday to 6pm every Sunday, she was the adult. The kids adored her, and the bullies were far away.

Most of the $500 she earned every week went to her Dad. He decided she needed to contribute, but $100 a month was hers to keep. She bought her food and clothes with this. Sure it was unfair, but she was a kid, and nobody really cared what she thought anyway, except her little charges. Mom tried to object, but Dad made it clear he was in charge.

When the danger had passed, she crept out of her hiding place, and began the journey home. Suddenly, Rusty and Shawn came from around the corner and blocked her path. She had been found. She held her breath and waited for the worst, but they just stood there, looking at her like they didn't know what to say.

"Hey Lennie," Shawn looked down. "I'm really sorry. You need to get home. Something happened."

"Yeah, right. Just get it over with. I'm not falling for your tricks."

"He's right. Go home Lennie. Can't you smell the smoke?" Rusty asked.

Lennie started to answer, then realized there was a burning stench in the air. She ran as fast as she could, legs shaking, stumbling as she made it from the field to the gravel road. She fell a few times, but kept running until she could see the firetrucks pulling away. The house looked okay. But the smell was strong. She ran to the back, and noticed the back was completely burned. Piles of smoldering debris lay in the alley, Most was unrecognizable, but a few items were laying around that Lennie knew what they were.

Her Mom came around the corner. Her arm had been bandaged from burns leaving the house. She had saved Tricia, Lennie's sister and her nephew Ricky. She even saved the dog, Scout, who was running around sniffing everything.

Lennie didn't know what to do. Her head spun, and she couldn't focus on anything being said. She heard something about Dad, and an ambulance, about trying, but it all just blurred together. She turned to try to sit, and saw all the neighbors, kids from school, and Kathy, the mom who owned the pub. Lennie tried to walk to her, then passed out cold.

When she woke, Lennie was in a bed, safe and quiet. It took her a minute to realize she had no clue where she was. She sat up and tried to make sense of everything. Kathy came into the room, and said they were at rent house her and her husband Ben had owned. It had been between renters, and Lennie and her Mom were going to stay there for a while. Lennie didn't even ask about Dad, she already knew. And Tricia and Ricky, well, she knew Tricia had friends. Scout laid quietly at the foot of the bed.

Lennie walking into the living room, and Mom wrapped her arms around her tight. "We will be okay Lennie." Mom looked tired and old in that moment. They stood there for a bit, then headed to pick up a bite from McDonald's before going to see if they could salvage anything. Lennie thought how funny it was; they were never allowed to eat out. Dad would have never agreed to that.

The afternoon was spent moving debris and picking things up, just to decide it wasn't worth saving. Mom had just about given up on finding anything, and turned to walk away from the rubble. She tripped over pile of something burnt, and sat there sobbing. Lennie went to her aid, and there they sat, the two of them crying and coughing, and holding each other.

"Oh, Lennie! What are we going to do now?"

"It's going to be okay Mom". "How, Lennie, how? My job can't support us. Dad controlled everything. I don't even have access to the bank account."

"Well, I don't know. But it will." She went to stand and noticed what Mom had tripped over, and old metal box. The lock was busted, probably in the commotion of firefighters and what not. The box was beat up and scorched, and the lid was difficult to open.

"Lennie what is it?" A few crumpled bills, some pennies, old pictures and something else. Lennie pulled a black notebook from the box, It was cloth covered, and undamaged. Mom asked again, "Lennie, what is that?"

Lennie opened the notebook, and found records of money. Debts, loans, money leant and borrowed. And a key. One key, with nothing but a single word. "Shed".

The shed didn't have a lock. Lennie and Mom weren't allowed in there, but there was no lock. They looked at each other, then ran to the shed. It was small, barely big enough for a lawn mower and a few tools. How quickly they were able to take everything out. Nothing.

Mom threw her hands up. "Well I should have known better. He didn't care for us before, why should he care for us now?" She picked up an old baseball bat and swung at a raunchy poster hanging on the wall. An old wooden box tumbled to ground, breaking and spilling its contents.

Lennie and Mom stood there for a moment, staring at the money. It was more money than they had ever seen. Twenties, Tens, Singles. They began frantically picking it up before anyone came and saw.

Mom tore all the raunchy posters off the wall, and three more boxes were found. The key worked on each box, and each box contained $5,000. Twenty thousand dollars! They counted the money quietly, not knowing what to think of it all.

They became aware of people outside, knowing it would be the fire marshal, who said he would be popping by to investigate. They made their way outside, to a slew of people in protective gear rummaging through the ruins. Nobody had noticed them in the back corner of the yard where the shed was.

Mom shoved the cigar boxes in an old cardboard box. She quickly grabbed a couple of odd and ends from the yard that weren't too badly damaged and threw them on top. The fire marshal spotted them and walked to where Lennie and Mom stood, picking through the litter.

"Mrs. Samuels, I am so sorry for everything. But it looks like your husband was smoking in his chair and had fuel on his clothes from working on his old truck. It just went very fast, and you were lucky to get your daughter and grandson out. There was nothing you could have done for him."

Mom just nodded.

"Mrs. Samuels, nothing here is any good. That little box of trinkets is all your probably going to find. It's not good for you or the girl to be here. Y'all go ahead and rest a bit. We will take care of everything. Don't worry about anything. We all know how your husband was. You go try and rest now. Lennie, you take care of your Mama now."

Lennie and Mom were quiet the entire ride back to Kathy's rent house. They needed no words, they knew this was their new beginning.