Elise was excited about Scott’s progress too … until she found the gun Tom left behind for us. I’d say she was upset. Lilly said she went ballistic. I agree with Elise. The idea alone of a gun in the house with all the kids … I shudder. With non-existent firearm skills, we are bound to do more harm than good. After she had her moment, Elise marched into the garden and buried the thing where nobody could find it!
She hadn’t counted on Mikey, though. He found it in no time and stuck it under the blackberry bush at the end of the back garden. I’ll have to tell Sky that the boy is up to some mischief. He sneaks about the house as if he’s looking for something.
I prepared a stack of peanut-butter-jam-sandwiches for them for supper. That always gets them into their rooms without complaints. I’m surprised they left two for me. They wink at me from the plate on the nightstand.
Of course, they don’t wink at me. They are sandwiches. No winking involved. But in the flickering light of the candle, it seems as if they do. I put the book I’m reading aside and pull the blankets up. There is a cold bite to the night air that sneaks in through the gaps and cracks around the window and makes the curtain waft in the draft. I don’t mind. What are blankets for if not for keeping us warm?
The bedroom looks inviting, half-lit in the candlelight. There is a cozy armchair Elise found at the Salvation Army shop in Port Somers next to the small table under the window. It has our black book and some pens on it. Did I bring it upstairs? I couldn’t remember.
Auntie Amanda’s wardrobe with the hand-carved panels on the sides dominates the opposite side. I like the homestead as it is, old-fashioned and without all the modern trappings Lilly, Elise, and Scott are planning for the renovation. At least, renovating was the plan before Scott’s cabin burned down.
I pick my book up again. Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump. They turned it into the movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but I prefer reading books. We all do. Cinemas are creepy. Too dark and too many people. You never know if and when someone might sneak up on you. And then getting away quickly? A nightmare!
We all relate to the storyline of running away into the wilderness, feeling the freedom, but ending up being chased. By the looks of it, we are about to run again, if Elise has anything to say about it. She’s dead-set on selling the house.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Alarmed, I sit up. My book slips off the bed.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I’m a light sleeper. Amadeus thinks I’m always sleeping with one eye open. That’s what you do as the mother of fifty souls. I can’t tell you how many times I stop kiddies from creating havoc at night. It happened more often when we lived with Horace. He had a cunning way of scaring the little ones, so they only came out at night. Thank heavens that time is behind us.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I’m not mistaken. A soft knocking coming from downstairs. Did I leave a window open that is now banging about in the night breeze? Or did kids sneak past me and create a mess in the living room? At two in the morning? I’m not keen on leaving my warm bed but we have to have order. I reach for my dressing gown and put on my slippers.
The house is dark and whispers are coming from our living room.
I hold my breath.
Goosebumps are forming on my arms and warning lights go off inside my head.
Danger!
It can’t be us making the noise because I’m in the body. No matter how we move through space and time when we are in our tree house, the rules of physics restrict the body. It can only be in one space at a time.
I step onto the landing and take a peek. All I hear is a clatter and muffled talk.
“Have you found it?”
“Shut up and make sure nobody pays us a surprise visit.”
Someone stands outside and whispers through the open front door.
Open front door?
I’m sure I closed up before I went to bed. Why is Prince not barking? And why didn’t the alarm go off? I’m trembling. I’m not a ninja fu fighter or whatever they call them.
Help!
I spot a shadow leaving the pantry and going into the laundry, while another is moving to the bookcase behind the loom. He picks up one book after the other and leafs through them, shaking them out. What on earth are they after?
I’m holding on to the banister so hard, my fingers hurt. What shall I do? What can I do? Adrenaline washes through me, making my heartbeat frantically. Part of me wants to run and hide and part of me wants to leap down, maul the intruders, and throw them out like yesterday’s trash. I have to do something. I can’t let the Tribe down. I just can’t.
A surge in my energy tells me Amadeus is close. As the body shifts and goes into fighting mode, I slip into the background. Not quite gone, but also no longer in control. Amadeus is.
“Did you find it?”
“No, nothing. It would be easier to burn this place down. We’ll never find it. Who knows where the old bird hid it.” The shadow returning from the laundry knocks a chair over as he comes into the living room.
“Idiot, can’t you watch out?”
A feeling I didn’t recognize is growing inside the body like an avalanche that takes trees, boulders, and houses with it. Amadeus is stretching and getting ready while I try to blend into the background.
“Who is down there?”
Amadeus’s voice
